For this class, Saradia and I were tasked with recording our lesson and watching it afterwards to reflect on our teaching. Watching myself teach was a bit uncomfortable, as I’m sure it would be for most people. While I was watching, there were a few things that I noticed. One is that Saradia is a lot more clear than me when explaining things. I seem to stumble a bit sometimes when I speak and then get flustered by that, but she is able to speak without a problem. I really appreciate that she was there to be my backup in case I totally froze, which I’m sure wouldn’t happen but it’s good to have that extra person who is able to explain something if you can’t.

The other part of the lesson I noticed was when the students were not responding. When we asked them questions but got no response, I didn’t really try to encourage them to speak but just sat there waiting. I think that I need to be able to get students to speak by calling out specific names or giving questions to specific students beforehand. Again, I was glad Saradia was there to do the encouraging, and she had the quick thinking to call on specific students.

This lesson was good, however, I see many ways in which I can improve my own teaching abilities, and it was helpful to see where I could strengthen both my speaking and communication skills.