As a member of the Teacher Education Program, our field placement

and practicum experiences are a crucial part of our program, and this was
certainly true in my personal experiences as well. These experiential learning
opportunities gave me the chance to implement my course content into the
classroom. Because every classroom evolves around a unique community of
learners it is difficult to discuss pedagogical techniques generically because
it becomes very abstract. On the other hand, when working with a specific
classroom of students I was able to more easily understand these
pedagogical techniques as I applied them in a realistic, concrete manner.
In my supporting document (Supporting Document #7: Economics
Lesson Plan and Teacher Evaluation) I planned and implemented an
economics lesson in a first grade class at Waterman Elementary School.
Within this experiential learning opportunity I was able to put into practice
several pedagogical strategies that I learned during my Curriculum &
Instruction course. For example, during this course, we learned about the
strategy of using movement techniques in the classroom and how it helps
with retention and behavior. After seeing my Cooperating Teacher implement
these same type of movement techniques in lessons that I had previously
observed, I decided to try them myself as I taught this lesson in her
classroom. At the very beginning of my lesson I had students access and
review their prior knowledge through a question game. During this game,
they moved to different parts of the room depending on their answer choice.
I had them walk, skip and hop as we reviewed the content they had learned

the previous day. This was not only an effective review tactic, but I believe it
also helped students to get some energy out and be more focused and ready
for my lesson. This experiential learning helped me to apply my Curriculum &
Instruction content to a real-life situation, and I discovered the benefits of
applying this specific pedagogical method. Although I liked the idea of
movement activities when discussed in my Curriculum & Instruction class,
this field experience is the reason why I will surely continue using movement
activities in my future classroom. Seeing the content enacted in the
classroom was a great experience that changed my pedagogical mindset for
the better.
This document also shows my Cooperating Teachers Formative
Evaluation of my lesson when delivered in her first-grade classroom at
Waterman Elementary School. The areas of strength that she identified from
this presentation gave me a boost of confidence, while her areas of growth
demonstrated feedforward, a subject greatly discussed during my Curriculum
& Instruction course. Her feedforward allowed me to take this constructive
criticism and use it to make myself better as I reflected on the lesson. This
ability to reflect upon this lesson and improve my pedagogical abilities was
one of the most beneficial aspects of my field experiences.
Additionally, this lesson plan and the SMART board presentation
corresponding to it demonstrates by oral communication skills. My

Cooperating Teachers evaluation also praises these communication skills

and the planning I put into this presentation.