{"id":202,"date":"2008-04-19T11:45:13","date_gmt":"2008-04-19T16:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/04\/19\/drawing-conclusions\/"},"modified":"2008-04-23T10:01:08","modified_gmt":"2008-04-23T15:01:08","slug":"drawing-conclusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/04\/19\/drawing-conclusions\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing Conclusions…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know what it is with me. Like I mentioned at the start of my presentation, give me a room full of kids and I\u2019m fine \u2013 dynamic, charismatic, dramatic, passionate about my subject matter. But give me a room full of my peers and I clam up. My (psychologist) husband says I sabotage myself with feelings of inadequacy. In some respects he is right, as I have always feared the judgment of others – that I won\u2019t measure up to the rest of the group or even to my own expectations. Regardless of the reason, though, my nervousness always seems to get the better of me. Why reveal all of this personal analysis in my reflection? Simple \u2013 my trepidation hampered my ability to express myself as well as I would have liked. This is not to say I am completely unhappy with the way my presentation went, but there are several things I wish I had done differently, and probably would have done differently, if I were not so nervous about giving the presentation:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I used too much time giving the pedagogical theory behind the lesson. I could have stated it in a few sentences, but my Writing Project training coupled with an intense desire to express the purpose of the lesson drove me to overly rely on theory. The result? Less time on hands-on activities.<\/li>\n
  2. I stood behind the desk too much, creating a wall between me and the rest of the class.<\/li>\n
  3. I relied on my notes a lot, even though I would have been fine without them. I feared I would misspeak and not explain things well enough. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened because I was so focused on my notes.<\/li>\n
  4. We didn\u2019t get to discuss \u201cA Rose for Emily\u201d because I ran out of time (see number 1). I would have liked to see and hear how my classmates communicated Emily\u2019s destruction at the hands of the very ideology to which she clung.<\/li>\n
  5. We didn\u2019t get to discuss the merits of using alternative learning strategies in a literature classroom, nor did I get to hear from the class their thoughts on the lesson\u2019s ability to help a student connect real life to classroom study (again, see number 1).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The presentation wasn\u2019t a total loss, though:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I was able to try out a lesson I had never done in a classroom setting, and it was good to see that, though my explanation of what we were doing was a little convoluted, people got the general idea.<\/li>\n
    2. My classmates highlighted elements of the illustrations in Olivia which I had never noticed before (such as the contrast between Olivia as a pig and the dancer on her wall as a human).<\/li>\n
    3. I was able to share a children\u2019s story I enjoy and I believe I read it in an entertaining manner.<\/li>\n
    4. I had a good handout which I am confident explained the course of the lesson much better than I did during my presentation.<\/li>\n
    5. I was able to remind myself that, when faced with a 20 minute time limit, I should get to the heart of the matter and not focus so much on theory.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Overall, the teaching presentation was as much a learning experience for me as I hope it was for everyone else. I\u2019ll know better what to do next time and be able to face the situation with less anxiety and more conviction.<\/p>\n

      -Ginny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I don\u2019t know what it is with me. Like I mentioned at the start of my presentation, give me a room full of kids and I\u2019m fine \u2013 dynamic, charismatic, dramatic, passionate about my subject matter. But give me a room full of my peers and I clam up. My (psychologist) husband says I sabotage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}