Abby Tierney Video Analysis November 15, 2012 After analyzing my lesson video, I was sure that I had

asked mostly yes/no questions, lectured, and repeated student comments far too many times. Although I did exhibit a lot of these poor teaching behaviors, I also had a fair amount of great teaching moments. According to my SATIC coding sheet, I also asked more thought-provoking short-answer questions and short-answer questions than yes/no questions. However, a lot of my bad teaching habits had to do with unintentionally asking yes/no questions like, right? or anything else?. Furthermore, some of the yes/no questions I asked, I had meant to be short-answer questions and the students responded to the yes/no questions with short answers. For example, one question that I mean to be a short-answer question but was coded as a yes/no question was, did anyone else draw anything different? Some student responses to this question were, I drew a heart with another heart in it, I colored over it and Mine was purple. What I had intended to ask was, if you drew something different, how did you know the human heart looked different than the shape? What did your drawing look like? Although I had good intentions in what I meant, I need to be more aware of what I am asking so that I can better avoid these yes/no questions and truly ask what I intend to be thought-provoking short-answer questions. Unfortunately, I also spent a lot of time lecturing or making statements (21 times total). Also, according to my coding sheet, I didnt have a distinct pattern of behaviors. For example, my first 15 behaviors were coded as: 3A, 2, 11, 8, 3A, 8, 3A, 3C, 3A, 3C, 6, 2, 6, 3B, 8. Another strong behavior that was highlighted in my SATIC coding was that the most prevalent way in which I responded to the students comments was by repeating their comments. This is a behavior that I was well aware of before partaking in this assignment and have had a hard time stopping. I think that I do this so that all students are able to hear what one student has said. Instead, I need to start working toward asking the student to repeat what they said so that the rest of the group or class can hear it. I think that Wait Time I was fair during this lesson. I tried to make a conscious effort to wait and give students opportunities to respond; I rarely feel like I had to reword the question in order for students to be able to answer. However, I still think that this is something that I could work on. I feel that I would be distracted by posting it anywhere or looking at the clock and trying to improve weight time that way. Instead, for me, I think that I would see the most

improvement by counting in my head after each question, as if it were part of the question. Another nonverbal that I think I could improve on is Wait Time II. I tended to make some sort of remark, ask another question, or repeat the students response after each student answered. Instead, I would have liked to give students more of an opportunity to respond to to each other and practice some of the goals that I have for students such as communicating with each other and collaborating with one another. I also wish that I wouldnt have nodded so much while students were answering questions or giving responses. I think that I do this as a habit when people are talking to me to show respect and that I am listening. However, as in the constructivist learning theory, I want to explore the students thinking; by nodding students may begin to simply tell me what they think I want to hear, which I show them by nodding while they answer, instead of telling me what they truly think. Finally, I wish I would have written some of the student responses that correlated to my goals and objectives on the whiteboard for students to reference and help to assist dialogue. I think that it also would have helped to guide me in using students responses and questions to work toward the lesson objectives. The pattern that I was hoping I would achieve, or at least get somewhat close to was: 3C/4, 6, 11, 12. This pattern is ideal because it begins with the teacher asking a thought-provoking short-answer question. By beginning with a short-answer question, it allows the teacher to somewhat guide and scaffold students toward the idea they are trying to teach. Furthermore, asking how and why questions also places the work and responsibility for learning on the students, instead of simply lecturing and telling students what to know. After students have answered the question, teachers should respond to the students comments by simply acknowledging it. Teachers should avoid confirming student responses and clarifying and repeating student comments. By confirming student responses, teachers may be inadvertently teaching students to be constantly seeking approval or developing extrinsic motivation instead of learning to be intrinsically motivated. Clarifying student responses should also be avoided because by clarifying what students say, teachers may not have the right understanding of what they think the students know. Furthermore, teachers should do their best to not repeat students comments or ideas either, for similar reasons as stated before; by repeating student responses, teachers may again be assuming students said something or meant something that they really did not, and thus, not gage a true understanding of what students know. Ideally, if more clarification is needed, teachers would ask the student to clarify, state again, or elaborate on their own comments or responses. This is important to

remember because it allows students to speak for themselves and get their point across instead of the teacher clarifying for the student and misinterpreting what they had said. It also ensures that the student truly understands what the teacher is trying to teach. This can be rationalized by looking into the constructivist learning theory. In the constructivist learning theory, teachers should aim to achieve active mental engagement and explore students thinking to obtain student understanding. If the answer is beneficial to the lesson and conversation, then the teacher should use the students question or response to guide the lesson or conversation in the intended direction. The goal is to then repeat this pattern. After comparing the ideal SATIC code to my own teaching behaviors, I have identified a few behaviors to focus and improve upon. First of all, I think it is important that I begin by working toward establishing an actual pattern. After analyzing my own lesson, I noticed a definite lack of a pattern; I was a little all over the board. I think that to ensure that I am working toward the 3C/4, 6, 11, 12 pattern, I should begin by scripting out my lessons. Then, maybe when I get more comfortable with this pattern, I could simply write the pattern at the top of each of my lesson plans as a reminder while I was teaching. Another area I would like to improve on is not repeating student comments; repeating student comments was one of the most prevalent ways in which I responded to student comments. I think that this will be one of the toughest teacher habits to break because it has been a habit of mine for so long. One strategy that I have in mind would be to post some sort of sign at the back of the classroom to remind me. It could be a big question mark to remind me to ask the student to clarify or repeat their comment instead of clarifying it myself. Another behavior I would like to work on is asking more thought-provoking short-answer questions and extendedanswer questions instead of yes/no questions. I could improve this by drafting my questions before my lesson to make sure that I have some well-prepared questions that will lend themselves to thought-provoking answers or comments. One final goal that I would like to focus on improving would be to use student questions or ideas to guide the lesson and scaffold students toward the learning goals and objectives. I think that this will be my most difficult goal to improve on because it will take a lot of practice and there isnt really a clear way to prepare to exhibit this behavior when teaching a lesson. The best way that I think that I could improve this is by taking more time between student responses and questions and keep the learning goals and lesson written at the top of my lesson plan. By taking more time between student responses and questions, I will have more time to think and figure out how I want to guide students toward those goals

and objectives. Furthermore, by keeping the lesson goals and objectives written at the top of my paper, it can serve as a reminder while students are responding that I should be trying to connect their responses to one of the goals listed. Ten Questions 1. 3A: Did anyone draw anything different? This is one of the questions that I had intended to be a short answer questions but instead is technically a yes/no question. I shouldve reworded this question into something else like: What is the difference between the heart that I drew and the human hearts that you drew in your packets from last week? 2. 3C: Brooklyn, why did you draw yours (heart in the pre-assessment) red? 3. 3C: Why do we draw hearts that look like this (shape)? What does this heart mean or remind us of? 4. 3C: Why do you think its (the heart looks) bloody? 5. 3A: Does anyone know our hearts job is? What is our hearts job? 6. 3C: Why do we need our hearts to live? 7. 3C: What do you think its doing when its beeping? 8. 3A: Has anyone ever pumped their bike tire full of air or pumped up a balloon? Instead of phrasing this question in a yes/no manner, I could have phrased it as: How is pumping up a balloon or a bike tire similar to our hearts pumping blood to our bodies? 9. 3B: Where can we feel our heart? I meant this question to guide students into finding their pulse in their necks, wrists, fingertips, etc. I think to make this question more thought-provoking I could change the question to: Where are two places that you can feel your heart beat? That way students would be challenged to think of other places where they could feel their pulse other than their chest. 9. 3C: What do we do to make our muscles strong? 10. 3C: What sorts of things can we do to make sure our hearts stay healthy?