One thing I have really appreciated about this class is the fact that so many of you are teachers—and experienced teachers at that. In class discussions, whether we’re dissecting literary theory, analyzing a poem, or lamenting the state of the educational system, I’ve personally benefited from hearing the perspective of people who work or have worked in the classroom.
As Ginny, Jennifer, Renee, and others have pointed out, teaching kids and presenting to your peers are two very different things. Most everyone who has posted has commented on the anxiety provoked by this presentation. My experience was no different. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking…not being able to turn off the projector only heightened my anxiety…and then there was the sweating…
I am typically not a nervous person. Public speaking has never bothered me. At work and as a volunteer, I’ve led trainings in which I’ve trained other trainers. So why so nervous now?
My nervousness was caused in part by the main issues others have identified: the artificiality of the presentation (not quite teaching, not quite presenting) and presenting a lesson plan to a group of peers who could no doubt teach my lesson better than me.
In addition to these issues, however, I also experienced a lot of general anxiety about the basic nature of the assignment—not the logistics of the presentation, but the actual creation of the lesson plan. As I’ve pointed out many times in various posts and in class, I’ve never taught children. I’ve never prepared a lesson plan. I’ve never taken a single class from the education school. In fact, this class is the first class I’ve taken that even discussed pedagogy. Even with all we discussed this semester, I still felt unprepared to create my own lesson plan—unqualified even.
I suppose it sounds like I’m complaining: “Woe is me, I have no experience and this assignment isn’t FAIR!!!” To be honest, there is a part of me that feels that way. At the same time, I learned a lot from this assignment. It may not have shown during my presentation, but I put a lot of time and research into the structure of my lesson. I had a plan for how I would present, but once I was up there, I felt so out of place, that I only glossed over activities that I put a lot of thought into planning. The dissection of the fairytale, especially, fell flat during my presentation. I think this is something kids would get into, if only because it validates their pres-existing knowledge. Additionally, several activities (the prewrite, for instance) depended on people NOT having read Marquez’s story already.
Despite these snags, I actually really liked the lesson plan I wrote up. If I were to present again, I would have handed out copies of my lesson plan so that everyone could better follow my thought-process. I also would have spent more time adjusting my presentation to work in this classroom (a class full of peers, rather than students). I felt kind of silly walking through activities designed for children in front of a class full of graduate students…I think this feeling was apparent from the way I rushed through many of my planned activities.
In short, there’s a first time for everything. I consider this a learning experience.