Reflections on

Classroom
Simulations
STUDENT TEACHER INTERACTION IN THE
CLASSROOM
DANIEL BARTON MARKEY
 Tutorial Lesson Reflection
Reflection 1
For my first teaching lesson, I decided to look at
transcription and the transfer of information from DNA to
Protein. My lesson began with a diagram and explanation
of the process on the whiteboard, followed by an
interactive activity where the students designed and
created their own mRNA strands.
Overall, I feel that my lesson went relatively well- the
students seemed to enjoy the activity and were able to
relate the ideas behind it to the focus point discussed at
the beginning upon review.
Preparation for this lesson mainly consisted of:
- Constructing a rough lesson framework, then
relating it to the key ideas I wanted to convey
- Design and production of the activity and its
components. I strived to design a visibly appealing,
interactive and easy to use activity that was memorable and engaging.
I found my particular preparation method to be effective, making the flow between
activity and concepts very smooth. In terms of body language, I tried to minimize
distracting body movements and the tone of my voice, but after viewing my own
recording I found that my walking and hand gestures would at times take the
attention away from the board. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, despite being
close to the students, my volume was not loud or aggressive. I believe use of the
whiteboard was sometimes ineffective, only utilizing two colours while drawing my
diagram. I believe this to be somewhat boring for students and, when trying to
address key segments of the diagram, may cause confusion. In future lessons I will
strive to use more colours for diagrams.
When giving instructions to the students, I feel that I was not fully clear with some
of the details and components of the activity. I received feedback post-activity that I
should have made some of the assumed/prior knowledge a bit clearer before
starting the activity. I do understand how confusing it would have been for those
that had not covered the topic, so for future lessons I shall be clearer and supply all
necessary information before commencing the activity. When addressing the
students I used open ended questions that required descriptive answers which
allowed me to get an idea for how well they were understanding the covered
concepts and encouraged open-minded thinking. As such I will utilize this, and build
upon it, in future teaching sessions.
Overall, I feel that I designed an effective activity that successfully conveyed the
key point in a memorable manner. However, I will strive to build on my board work,
physical presence and verbal explanations in future lessons.
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Reflection 2
For this lesson I decided to teach about Reaction Rates in Chemistry, a topic with
very challenging concepts. My lesson began by outlining the main learning
objectives and reiterating assumed knowledge. During the lesson diagrams were
used with group discussions to construct concrete understanding of the basic
concepts being taught, then abstract ideas understood through the use of an
interactive analogy. Finally the lesson was finished by discussing a challenge
question then returning to the learning objectives. Overall, I feel that the lesson
went very well with particular focus given to the areas identified from last week.
The preparation process was similar to the previous week, but also included
generating a worksheet that students could follow during the diagrams and
discussions. I began my lesson by clearly laying out information such as prior
knowledge and learning objectives, which helped set the framework for the focus of
the lesson. Feedback confirmed that I was able to minimize unnecessary hand and
body gestures that would take attention away from the board or myself. Something
that I focused particularly on this week was my use of the white board. A picture of
the overall layout on the board is shown below:

A larger variety of colours was used, particularly when drawing molecules. This
made diagrams much easier to follow and more distinguishable. While I feel that my
writing was relatively descriptive and succinct, the diagrams could have been a bit
clearer and better laid out. My initial diagrams and writing was too large, so I found
that I was running out of board space as the lesson progressed. In future lessons, I
think it would be wise to plan out and designate board space so as to prevent this
from happening.
I believe that my decision to approach this lesson from a diagrammatic/interactive
way proved to be very effective. Through simulating molecular movement with
diagrams rather than verbal descriptions I believe that concrete understanding was
developed. However, the worksheet proved to be useless, as the engagement with
the board drew attention away. Some students may feel conflicted over choosing to
shift their attention to the board or to the worksheet in classroom situations. In
future lesson planning, I will try to recognize when worksheets are acceptable.
An interesting activity I chose to run this week was an interactive analogy where
two students would hug to simulate the productive collision of molecules. While it
could be inappropriate in some situations, I felt that is was acceptable in this
circumstance due to my relationship with the students involved and having sought
permission before hand. In the feedback, the students said that this analogy was
memorable and a nice change to whiteboard learning that allowed visualization of a
difficult concept.
Overall, I feel that the lesson was effective and memorable. While improving on
points recognized from the previous lesson, such as body movement and verbal
explanations, I have identified several areas that I will work on in future teaching. A
particular focus for me in future lessons will be the effective whiteboard use,
especially concerning diagrams.
510 words
Reflection 3
The initial plan for this lesson was to have an interactive, explain as you go along
journey through the heart. As seen below, a large diagram of the heart was printed
off and different coloured markers utilized to provide a visual representation and set
the base level of understanding by showing how blood moves throughout the heart.
For the abstract concept of valve function I used a hands on hose and balloon
analogy, which according to feedback was received well and understood by the
students. The heart itself was broken up into four sections, with each student given
a section, with structure, function and role in circulatory system then re-explained
back to the class after the completion of the activity. I chose to finish my lesson by
having the students re-explain the concepts as, according to blooms taxonomy and
higher order thinking skills, students learn best when they are teaching others.
The specific purpose of this weeks lesson was to utilise a variety of behaviour
management strategies for a variety of misbehaving students. I had a particularly
challenging bunch of students, who struggled to stay on task or follow instructions
for the entire lesson. A summary of particular misbehaviors is outlined below, along
with the strategies implemented:

Misbehaviour What I did to Result

example handle it
Student 1
- Writing on board - Glassers Triplets - Short-lived
- Engaging other - Direct Appeal and cessation of
students in off- Reminder of misbehaviour
topic Classroom rules
conversations
Student 2
- Playing with hand - Broken-record - Some initial
held resources - Planned ignoring response but
- Off topic chatter eventual relapse
back into role
- Attention seeking
behaviours
gradually became
less intense as the
lesson progressed,
but the more
serious cases
required proximity
interference
Student 3
- Inappropriate use - Gentle reminder - Not given a
of language in the of classroom rules chance to directly
classroom and organised meet with
meeting after students, but
class would have
followed up after
class and
discussed
classroom
etiquette
Overall, I found the sheer amount of misbehaviour to initially be quite
overwhelming. In real classroom situations, I would have put a variety of
preventative strategies in place to ensure that behaviour did not reach the level
that was present in the tutorial class. It was an eye-opening experience for me in
recognizing and utilizing a variety of corrective techniques, as well as taking into
account that with classes like this you may struggle to get through large amounts of
work.
One particular case where I believed that behaviour was handled well was with the
student that would take whiteboard markers or write on the whiteboard. I believe
my special use of proximity interference was an appropriate choice in this occasion,
and by specifically referring to him as my helper for the lesson it built on the
relationship with the student reminding him of the effects of his action on others in
the class. Another example was through my use of praise and encouragement when
students answered the questions, even if the answer was wrong. This was
particularly emphasized in misbehaving students, also highlighting the positive
effect of their good behaviour.
398 Words

Final Thoughts
Looking back at the tutorial lesson teaching experience, I believe it has been very
beneficial recognizing my preferred teaching styles and the ways in which bad
behaviour can be detected/acted upon. I realize now that all my lessons were built
around kinesthetic learning, which is targeted to hands on learners. I will strive, for
future lesson designing, to design a variety of activities that cater to many different
learning types.

Total Word Count: 1338

(excluding final thoughts)