Kelsey Hoover

October 9, 2014
Mini-Lesson Reflection
After Alex and I taught our mini-lesson, I noticed some areas that worked well, but I also
recognized some areas that needed improvement. I felt that the information Alex and I provided
on the PowerPoint presentation was appropriate for an introductory lesson on the Ancient Indian
caste system. Though we were actually instructing and monitoring college students, I perceived
that many of the groups had little background knowledge concerning the content. However, each
student researched the specific level they were given and really tried to discover more
information to contribute to their presentation. I also realized that allowing the students to
choose between producing a poster and crafting a song worked really well. Originally, Alex and
I had only planned to have each group complete a poster. After discussing it further, we decided
to add in the option of creating a song to allow the various personalities in the classroom to feel
comfortable when presenting.
Though our mini-lesson had several noteworthy qualities, it also shown areas that needed
enhancement. For instance, just as our feedback mentioned, the free-write posed at the
beginning of the lesson did not properly lead into the activity that followed. Instead of asking
the students to relate the free-write prompt to a real world experience at the beginning, Alex and
I should have pushed the writing activity to the end of the lesson in order to assist the concluding
discussion. We would have been able to talk about the free-write activity and then segue into the
more relevant issues related to the caste system in Ancient India. Another aspect of the minilesson that caused some anxiety was the crunch for time. During the planning stage, Alex and I
were very concerned that time would be an issue. We really wanted to include a discussion at
the end of the lesson but we also knew that the activity and presentations would take up majority
of the allotted time. Consequently, we were not able to facilitate a deep and meaningful
discussion due to time constraints.
All in all, the most difficult aspect of planning our mini-lesson was the content area.
Alex and I researched various aspects that would complement the culture standards we were
given however, we just did not feel comfortable teaching our students information that we fully
did not comprehend. Though we may have not entirely understood or grasped the Ancient
Indian caste system, we did try very hard to incorporate effective pedagogical strategies into our
mini-lesson. For example, our lesson integrated collaborative and cooperative learning, learnercentered teaching, as well as humor. The emphasis of our lesson was pointed to active learning.
Each student was required to participate and contribute in the research and creation of his/her
groups product. The role of teaching was in the hands of each student and distributed through a
shared effort.