Paul Pearson

ECUI 531
Scott Reilly
Reflective Self Analysis
This is my final semester that is primarily composed of curriculum and classroom
instruction, and there is still a wide rane of areas upon which I must impro!e" #hile I am
loo$in forward to my time in student teachin, I am %ecomin aware of how much wor$ is still
re&uired of me to %e an effecti!e teacher" ' ma(or lesson I ha!e ta$en away from my o%ser!ation
time has %een the esta%lishment of a relationship with students" The teachers I ha!e o%ser!ed
ha!e many years of e)perience and ha!e rapport with their students, which ena%les them to foster
an en!ironment that is focused on learnin"
There is certainly somethin to say a%out the personality of a teacher" *ein a student
o%ser!er who is tryin to deli!er a lesson to a roup for hih school students you ha!e ne!er met
can %e challenin" It ta$es a lot to $eep them all interested in the su%(ect, no matter what it may
%e" Concernin my time instructin, I feel I spent more effort on composin a lesson than I did
enain my audience and creatin a more comforta%le atmosphere" Part of this comes with time
and e)perience, %ut ha!in a more personal and approacha%le attitude can o a lon way"
'nother area that I still need to impro!e is my instructional strateies" Too often I et
cauht up in the importance of relayin material that I use too much of the class time for lecture"
E!en my e)amples are ones that I tal$ throuh, and I rarely ha!e incorporated ones that capture
the students+ attention" There are many different ways to display and e)plain physical
phenomena, and allowin students to et e)perience with physics hand,on in the classroom is
crucial to increasin the comprehension of the concepts" -a$in physics interestin can %e a
challene, %ut it is up to me to research e)ercises and demonstrations to ma$e a topic one that
ma$es a lastin impression on students"
I am radually %rea$in away from the type of teachin to which I am accustomed
throuh my military ser!ice, %ut I still ha!e many impro!ements to ma$e in preparation for
student teachin" It is my oal to de!elop lesson plans o!er the summer prior to ne)t semester in
the hopes that I can focus more on my methods and strateies" I hope to incorporate more
technoloy, more practical applications, and many e)periments and acti!ities that will $eep the
students enaed throuhout my lessons" I ha!e found that teachin is anythin %ut automatic
and scripted" .e!elopin a lesson plan and followin it as if it were a script is not effecti!e"
Teachin is spontaneous, and I must find more inno!ati!e and inspirin techni&ues if I e)pect
students to learn"