Donetha Groover

PBI
Teaching Reflection

I had the privilege to teach 9th grade pre-AP biology, at Park View High School in
Mrs. Hearns class. Stacy and I worked as a team for this teach. Honestly, I had a
great time. It really confirmed the fact that I want to be a teacher.
One thing that went really well was the use of the folder foldable. Students
loved putting them together. One student even commented, I forgot how much I
enjoy gluing things together. They all took notes using the foldable. I think the act
of actually doing something while listening to the lecture truly helped the students
focus. There was another student who told Mrs. Hearn that they needed to do
things like this all year because it helped keep their mind on the lecture.
Another thing that went well was the lecture itself. I am a big believer that
making the content fun by telling a joke, a cartoon, or even a silly song helps
students recall the information later. There was a number of students in both
classes that routinely fall asleep during class, especially during lecture. It was
surprising, and gratifying, to see that they stayed awake during my lecture. Pretests and post-tests were given to the students. On the pre-test the average score
was a three out of ten. On the post-test the average score was eight out of ten.
This shows that the students retained information, at least for a week and a half.
Of course not everything went smoothly, things rarely do. Putting together the
foldable with the first class took an enormous chunk of time out of the class. Part of
that was a lack of organization, and part was the fact that these kids had never
done anything like this. For the next class we made sure that there was a
completed foldable to show the students so that they could see what the end result
was supposed to look like. With the example in front of them, the second class
completed the foldable much quicker.
One of the biggest things to go wrong was one in which we had no control over.
We had planned on playing the internet game Kahoot!. It was going to be a fun way
to review the content the students had been learning on the previous days. I
thought it would be a great way to introduce technology into the lesson as well.
During the first class the students kept getting disconnected from the internet.
When some rejoined the game they had lost all of their points. I solved this by
telling the students to add their old score to their new score. Our mentor teacher
had agreed to let us give out homework passes to the students with the top three
scores. Since there was so much trouble she went ahead and let us give out passes
to the whole class.
That class was hard, but the kids enjoyed themselves immensely. We decided to
go ahead and give the game another try for the next class. This was a serious

mistake. No students could connect to the game at all. We could bring the game
up on the interactive white board however. I had the students take a piece of paper
and fold it into quarters, then write the colors on them. When a question came up
the students could hold up the color that corresponded to the answer they thought
was correct. On a whole this method just did not seem as fun and interactive. We
should have had a backup game prepared just in case technology decided to not be
our friend. Mrs. Hearn just shrugged her shoulders and said It happens.

c) Describe 2 things that you would change if you could teach these lessons again
and INCLUDE these changes in your revised plan submitted under #1 above.
Discuss what prompted your decision to make these changes, including
conversations with or written suggestions from your observers.

d) If you had a follow up day with your students in the classroom what would you
do?

e) How could this mini-project, your lessons and field experience be used either as
a launch or a significant piece of a bigger unit?

2. What was the high-point/low-point of your teaching experience and why?

3. Based on this experience, what issues have you identified that you want to learn
more about in future

classroom experiences?

4. You were placed specifically in a high needs/low SES school.

Write about your thoughts and feelings during your teach days. As you reflect,
consider the entire experience.

What kinds of interactions do you observe within and between subgroups of the
class (gender, ethnicity, social cliques, etc.)?

Were there any interactions between students that surprised you?

What experiences matched your expectations?

What are your hopes or goals for one of the students with whom you worked?

What would be a challenge/joy of being a teacher in this classroom?

Can you see yourself as a teacher in an environment like the one you have
imagined? Why or why not?