Lesson Reflection

On Tuesday, April 28, Mike, Craig, Erik, and I performed our lesson about LGBT
students. The objective of the lesson was to educate future teachers about the LGBTQ
community and their learning environment, and to create an action plan to make their
classroom a safe environment for ALL students. There were areas of our lesson that
flowed well, and there were parts that were a little flawed.
First off, our Into presentation was a bit controversial. I noticed that when we
were shouting out the terms at each other, a couple people felt offended, and some of the
people did not understand what some of the terms meant. For the future, a good Into
would be even telling some of the stories that we heard at Positive Images, so people can
have more of an open-mind about what these people are going through.
I feel that the Through and Beyond helped teachers be more aware of the
treatment of LGBTQ students, and what we need to do to stop the harassment. The
discussion was very powerful, and we had some really brilliant questions and comments
from our fellow student teachers. I think they were shocked by some of the statistics
shared and some of the questions that were discussed in the small groups. Our message
came across much better on this day.
The Beyond was thought through well. The Pledge to Act is something teachers
can hold onto for the rest of their careers, and it will remind them what kind of classroom
they need to have. I even signed the contract and it will be kept with all of my teaching
materials.
There were some classroom management strategies that I feel were flawed. First
off, we did experience technical difficulties with the computer and Smartboard. Thanks
to our teacher, Susan, we were rescued with the projector. Still, for the future, we need to
have an alternative in case we experience difficulties again. Also, we need to manage our
time a little bit better next time. Some of the discussions went a little too long. We
should have shortened questions and comments a little bit so we were not tight on time.
Other than these flaws, everything else flowed better.
This project helped me figure out what kind of teacher I want to be in the future.
I want to be someone who is accepting of EVERYONE who walks into my classroom. I
want students to feel like they are safe in my class and hopefully they will be able to
come talk to me about anything. Like I said before, there will be absolutely NO
harassment of any kind in my classroom!