Reflection #13: Field Experience

What have I learned from my experience? I have learned so much from being in field. Our lessons we did for our field experience went well. Actually, one of our lessons went well with the students drawing the different types of Roman pillars, but the other lesson we had where we integrated process drama into the lesson didn't do too well. The students had been a little more rambunctious that day and it was harder to keep them focused. They did really well with the role-on-the-wall activity, but the pantomime activity, they weren't cooperating very well with it. We did have a good experience with the pillars though. They did a great job with identifying the different types and incorporating them well in their drawings of their ideal home.

So what can I do better? I can better understand now that the students need to have clear directions of what they are going to do in the different activities for process drama or for any other activity we might do with them for the future. I would have to know the students a little better to know what worked for them and what didn't. We found out after we did that lesson was that the students did not do well sitting on the floor trying to listen. They liked to work better in groups and being able to discuss what they can learn from their classmates in their groups. We could have done that in a different way where it would have worked better for them and for us too.

Now what do I plan to do in the future? I plan to be able to spend time and try these lessons again and work with what works well with the students. I hope to be able to keep the same activities, but maybe switch out activities for different ones. It would have probably worked better if the students with partners had an interview with each other about the story and the characters within the story rather than the pantomime. It's just a matter of experimenting and trying of what works and what doesn't work. All in all, I think it comes down to knowing your students well enough to know what would be best for them and their best learning environment.