Self-Evaluation 1

SELF EVALUATION 1

            My second official was done in a seventh graders’ class. There were eight students in the class, and it was a grammar lesson. My topic was reported speech, the students knew reported speech from the previous years, but they had not seen it this year yet. Therefore, I would make an introduction to the topic. As the topic would be introduced to the students for the first time, I thought that it would be a difficult lesson for me to cope with. However, it did not turn out to be so; I think it was a successful lesson because it met the objectives I put.

The lesson was not how I wanted it to be because I had to include what my cooperating teacher told me to do. For instance, she gave me some materials to use during the presentation. I had to obey that because after the day of my official presentation, the class would have an exam which would include the topic I would cover in the class. She gave me the slides and told me to use them while presenting Reported Speech. Therefore, I used about five minutes of the lesson to present the slides to the students, which really bored me because I do not like teaching the students in an explicit way. However, I tried to do my lesson as enjoyable and interactive as possible by adding some activities to the lesson. 

My most significant strength was that I am looking forward to becoming a teacher, and when I have the chance to have the control of the class, I make use of it as much as possible. Therefore, I forget about the cooperating teacher and my peer, I only see the students, and I do not feel any anxiety. This happened again in this official, and thanks to this attitude of me, neither the students nor I felt ourselves as an outsider. I love the students, so it was not difficult for me to create a welcoming atmosphere in the class.

My another strength was that I started the lesson with a game, which was “Chinese whisper”. I got the first student in the first row to find a sentence and whisper it to the friend next to him. Then, I asked the last student what his friend told him. This activity attracted the students very much and helped me to have a good rapport with the students at the beginning of the lesson. My cooperating teacher commented on this warm-up activity, and she said she found it very effective to make a beginning to the reported speech.

            I think the only weakness of my lesson was presenting the topic from the powerpoint. Although it was not my option, I had to do that for the sake of both the teacher and the students. I do not know whether I could do something different instead of presenting it. I made some students read it loudly in order to change the monotony of the lecture part, but I was not happy with that too.

            What I have learnt from this official and what I suggest for my friends is that teachers should not just present the topic, but make them learn implicitly because students enjoy this kind of learning.

            Overall, I managed the class well, created positive relationship with the students, and tried to motivate the students using engaging activities. It was an interactive and successful lesson. I loved it, so did the students.