Chrissy Hinkle

UTL640E, Haug
December 4, 2015
Final Lesson Reflection
I finished my UTL640 semester with a lesson on the context of The
Great Gatsby, where the students created their own presentations about a
specific topic from the 1920s. Another was about persuasive appeals with a
review about comma usage. After we did a traditional grammar practice
about commas, the students took notes on ethos, pathos, and logos, then we
watched different video clips that had the different appeals. Lastly I taught
about correct quotation punctuation, and the kids transcribed comic strips
into paragraphs of dialogue.
Im really happy with how these last lessons went. I was wary of having
to teach two conventions or mechanics lessons to my inclusion class, but
they were engaged for most of the time, which I think is a success,
considering what I was working with. My biggest strength in these lessons I
think was my modeling and explaining. I actually impromptu created a
sample visual for my PreAP kids to look at before they made theirs. (It was in
the video for Ob7.) Usually, Im so nervous that its hard for me to talk
questions out with my kids when they ask me nitty gritty things because Im
not prepared for it so I panic a little bit, but with both the comma lesson and
the dialogue lessons, I was sure to field questions and talk it out with the
students who were confused. I was able to make up different examples from
those on the notes or the activity and step-by-step explain. During the

comma lesson, I made the mistake of saying something along the lines that
commas tend to come when we naturally pause in our speech. I know now
that if you say things like that, the students will take it as a hard and fast
rule, and when we were reviewing answers, two kids questioned where we
had put them because they wouldnt pause in those places. This made me
back up and explain that its not really one of the grammar rules we use for
placing commas, but it can help if theyre going back and forth on whether or
not they need one. They can think about if they were to say the sentence out
loud, would it help with clarification if they paused there, or add emphasis, or
serve a purpose that mirrors the purposes we use commas in writing.
This semester has really emphasized for me how much of an effect we
really have on these kids futures. I know that we have a responsibility, but
so much is said about how kids dont retain anything, and they dont care
about school, or they dont pay attention, but in both of my classes, the
students have held on to some of the things Ive said, and its almost a little
scary to realize what, not a burden, but responsibility it is to be in front of
them every day. To follow that little revelation, Im going to say that because
of how much Im realizing what I do affects my students, my next biggest
strength in these lessons, and really all semester is my enthusiasm. I dont
want to sound overly braggy, but Im really proud of how upbeat I stay when
Im teaching. I feel like a lot of the engagement I got from my students in
these lessons had to do with my, sometimes annoying, amount of perkiness.
Both Pat and Andrea have commented on my constant pep, and Im pretty

sure that when I actually have to do it for more than one class, I wont be
able to keep it up, but for now Im proud of myself and I love seeing the kids
feed off of my energy and it keeps theirs up.
The biggest weakness I think Ive found, not only when I was teaching
these lessons, but also maybe all semester was that I found myself being a
distraction sometimes. In my first two reflections I spent a lot of time talking
about how I thought my biggest weakness was my lack of classroom
awareness, but I think this is related to that in a way. I think this also just has
to do with my classroom management style (or lack of development of one
just yet). I love spending time and talking with this age group of students so
much that a couple of times Ive found myself being the distraction when I
had to redirect students. I got into one conversation about the PBS TV show,
Arthur and I did catch myself, but I was upset with myself because I still
havent developed that teacher-mode versus friend-mode. I dont say
friend in the sense that I tried to become friends with them, but Im realizing
how important it is to me that the students like me as a person, and thats
just how I am in my every day life, so I need to work on making that
distinction next semester during student teaching. Thats one of the goals I
have set for myself.
I have learned so much this semester, from Andrea, from Pat, from the
students and from Professor Haug (you ). There were a couple of days this
semester when I was having a rough time of it in my personal life, and I
thought about calling into my placement to say I wasnt going to be able to

make it, but I went and every time I was so glad that I did. Being in the
classroom gives me the most amazing feeling, and I feel like thats probably
a good sign for the future. I cant wait to keep learning and just work with
more grades and see how theyre different and where Im comfortable.