Danica Finlay (200402114)

Faculty of Education University of Regina

ELNG 326

Professor: Dr. Rubina Khanam

On April 5th I had the opportunity to co- teach alongside my colleague, Gillian Surkan. Together her and I taught a 15 minute, speaking and listening lesson to our ELNG 326 class. I found that micro teaching was extremely beneficial for me as it gave me the opportunity to try to put what we have learned from class lectures into practice. The microteaching I found went very smoothly! Gillian and I decided to do an activity that we had done on March 22 with students who were english language learners from Mexico! Because we were able to complete the activity with students on March 22nd, we were then able to take what we learned and modify the lesson to run more smoothly during our micro teaching assessment. The lesson that we taught was titled: “Show and Tell”. During this activity students were asked to find an object that was closest to the right of their computer. After students found the object they were then asked to draw it on a piece of paper. Next we asked a series of questions about the found objects. Students were required to use their listening skills while we asked a question and then they used their speaking skills to answer each question. At the end of questions there was a writing prompt where students were required to practice their writing by answering the  question of, “What can you do with this object”. Because this class was so large I think that students would find it intimidating to answer all of the questions aloud, so Gillian and I provided students with comfort by allowing students to share answers when they felt ready to do so. I believe that this lesson plan was very realistic, and we were able to follow the lesson as we intended. I do think that this lesson would be easier with a smaller class size, but I think a smaller class size would be better for ANY lesson plan! It is necessary to make adaptations each time the lesson is taught, and we did so by making adaptations after completing this activity on March 22nd. With a smaller class it would be easier to engage with more one on one conversation. For this micro teaching assignment we made adaptations because we knew that not everyone would feel comfortable speaking. Because of this we added that students would draw their object, as well as write about it, so they would still be engaged in critical thinking and practicing their listening skills at the same time. You would also have to change the lesson in some ways depending on the time you have to complete the activity, by making it shorter or longer. A way that this lesson could be expanded is by completing this activity again, but also using an object that is found on the left side of our computers. If I had the opportunity to teach this lesson again I would add in more of an opening activity to get students engaged before the main activity took place. I would also provide more time for students to practice their speaking aloud. I think it would have been ery beneficial to have the entire class practice their answers aloud but with their microphones off. This way students would feel comfortable but still be able to practice their speaking skills. After students have practiced with their mics off, then students could volunteer to share their answer with the rest of the class. Moving forward I could use this lesson for reading and writing as well, by making a few adaptations! So I think that this is an excellent activity to keep as a teaching tool in the future. As I teach I need to be remindful of myself to speak slower and engage as much as possible with students. I feel that within the micro teaching lesson I could have engaged more with my students to create a connection with them. Overall I am extremely grateful for this teaching opportunity and it makes me even more excited to become an educator within the near future!