Reflecting and Perfecting
In the profession of teaching I think there is often times a misunderstanding of what teaching really means. Teaching is a CRAFT. You don't perfect it overnight. You have to have many first hand expereicnes in order to have something to refelct on and change for future lessons. Then your future lessons get better and better. Having a framework to help perfect your craft can be very helpful! During a graduate course, I had the opportunity to partake in a redesign of instruction. This process seemed a bit intimiditating to the say the least, but having a great professor to help break it down and an entire semester of time, a beautiful thing came to be. Time to REFLECT and PERFECT parts of my craft that needed a change. The framework was as follows.
Empathisize- get to know your audience (your students)
Define- stating your goals
Ideate- come up with ideas
Protype- make a draft of your ideas
Test- try it out with your audience (your students)
I used this framework to get to know my students and their needs better as mathematicians. I asked them what they liked about math and wha they didn't like. I had an overwhelming response that lead to redesigned engagement pieces for mini-lessons and games during COIVD restrictions. What I though was cool about this was that I felt what the kids felt. We needed better and more engaging COVID safe games and lessons that were interactive. This led me to Nearpod and Wordwall.net. Nearpod enhanced the engagnement of my lessons and worldwall provided computer based games that the kids love! Taking the time to go through the steps of this framework kept me on track and gave me an end goal to keep my sights set on. I now have improved part of my *COVID teaching* craft.
Living in the world of teaching can be exhausting. At least August-May đŸ˜‰. Take the time, even though you feel like you don't have it. Reflect, make changes, and continue bettering your craft so you can be the teacher you always needed when you were in school!
