On reflection : how did I miss this?

Authors

S Jackson, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Crib Point Vic)

Abstract

What seems like a successful lesson to the teacher is not always a success for all of his or her students. Every week the author teachers Environmental Studies to five different gender-based classes. Most of the lessons follow a similar format: introduction, practical activity, then discussion, and the author has always believed that discussions were productive. But when a guest speaker came in and taught a six-week unit on water, the author observed and reflected. It was then that she realised that many of her lessons were only engaging for a particular group of children. The same children who were not engaged by the guest speaker were the same ones who had been silent in the author's classes. She then developed a unit that would cater for all the different interests and strengths of all the students. Now this teacher knows that to judge a successful lesson she needs to take the time to reflect on her teaching. [Author abstract, ed]

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