Running head: EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION

HES 470 External Micro Teaching Reflection Fontbonne University Walaa Mouzayen

EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION 2 As my goals stated in my lesson plan, during my external micro teaching at Zumwalt North High School, I practiced primary prevention by educating the high school students about general nutrition and healthful eating habits to support the position of the Academy of Nutrition and dietetics (Hoelscher et al, 2013). This was done by talking about general nutrition through a discussion and a Power Point presentation that explained MyPlate thoroughly. Also, looking back at my second goal, I did provide an overall understanding of sensible food choices to emphasize healthy lifestyle (Position of the academy, 2013) by playing the two games we played in class together and tying in why certain foods are important for the high school students health and how to incorporate them into their lifestyle. On the other hand, the national standards for family and consumer sciences competencies goal was to analyze the effects of nutrients on health, appearance, and peak performance and design instruction for health maintenance. I think I met those competencies when we played the game of guessing what eat nutrient was good for in their bodies and how to those nutrients were affecting their bodies. I thought that the environment was perfect in the family and consumer sciences classroom for teaching and for the kids to hear me. It was located in a kitchen/classroom setting. When the bell rang, the students automatically gave me all their attention and were definitely interested in the material I had set for them. There was a lot of interaction between me and the students, they were all asking questions and applying it to themselves. I started out with a powerpoint to highlight all the information and see what the students already know to tailor the learning experience to the audience. The powerpoint was very short and only highlighted the MyPlate information. The students already had

EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION 3 an idea of what MyPlate was and how their plate should look like, but did not know the detail of why their plate needs to look like that and what benefits there was to the certain things that they were consuming. I thought the content was very appropriate as I was teaching the class. The students knew some of the information that was being presented to them, they had an overview knowledge of nutrition, but definitely did not know the details we were going through in the Power Point and the games. The repetition of the food items in the two games really helped them stick the information in their mind because after putting away their notes on what each food was good for, from the first game, they really struggled to try to remember what we had said earlier in class during the first game in order to answer the questions. I brought candy for the second game to motivate the students to try to get the answers correctly and they were very excited to guess the answers and they even tried to tell each other the answers because some werent paying attention. The repetition of the food items in the two games, I think, really helped the students not forget the information that was presented because a lot of it was repeated so many times. For example, Vitamin D was repeated in many of the foods we talked about and by the end of the lesson almost everyone knew the importance of that specific vitamin. I think the least effective strategy I used was talk about MyPlate in the beginning of class because the students already knew what it looked like and the foods that were contained in it were obvious to where they belonged on MyPlate. The Power Point presentation definitely was supportive of my teaching strategies but probably the least effective. This is because it was very general and the students already knew some of the information. Maybe it could

EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION 4 have been about different vitamins and minerals instead of about MyPlate, which was a little bit obvious to the students. One of the assessment tools used was that the students were going to demonstrate MyPlate on the board by drawing their three daily meals and at least two whole grains will be added to the days foods. I think that this assessment tool was great because it really showed my how the students were listening to the video and if they actually understood the idea. A lot of the items they drew for whole grains were actually repetitive and they needed more information on what other whole grain items were out there and about the variety of these foods. The other assessment tool were the verbal statements used in the games while having a discussion during and after the game. The verbal statements they said about vitamins and minerals during the second game really confirmed their understanding of the material I was trying to teach them. The students, after the lesson, were able to include at least 2 servings of whole grains according to their drawings on the board of MyPlate. The whole grains did not have much variety but were included. Also, the students were able to evaluate the nutritional significance of the thirteen foods that were talked about in the game. The students, confidently, described the meaning of MyPlate in groups and drew their three daily meals and shared how it contributed to their health. I would say that all the outcomes of the session were met. If I would do this again, I would include some more information about vitamins and minerals in the Power Point for the students to get a background information on it before the games. Also, I felt like I was running out of time towards the end of the lesson, maybe I could have kept the talking short during the Power Point and went straight to the

EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION 5 games. I felt like I was very comfortable when I was teaching my lesson, I was interacting with the students and they were comfortable asking me questions. I think that an area I could improve in my teaching is talking louder to a bigger group of people, I felt like I had to try to yell for the class to hear me because my voice is somewhat low. I think this teaching experience has been very rewarding to me because I feel like I have learned so much about teaching and how to lead a classroom. I learned also about how to get the attention of high school students and I would feel now comfortable any day to get up in front of a class and teach them a lesson after these experiences.

EXTERNAL MICRO TEACHING REFLECTION 6 References Hoelscher, D. M., Kirk, S., Ritchie, L. Cunningham-Sabo, L (2013). Position of the academy of nutrition and dietetics: intervention for the prevention and treatment of pediatric overweight and obesity. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113 (10), 1275-1394 Position of the academy of nutrition and dietetics: total diet approach to healthy eating (2013). Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(2), 307-317