Reflective Teaching Lesson: The First Lab!

I'm the kinda person who likes to have everything planned out. I like to know what i'm going to do and how i'm going to do it. Therefore, when I was given two days to plan a lesson on "magic squares" I was a little freaked out. I was nervous that my lesson wasn't going to be perfect and I was going to fail at the task. 

A Magic Square! Using numbers
1 through 9, each column, row
and diagonal adds up to 15 

After spending time trying to figure my lesson out on my own, I wrote out a short lesson plan, practiced what I was going to do and what I was going to say. My lesson was on magic squares and the task was to get my lab group to successfully complete a magic square by the end of my teaching. If you're wondering, a magic square is one where all rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same number but you can only use each number once! 

I was so nervous for my first lab, especially since we were being video taped! However, as soon as I got to the room, I wasn't nervous anymore. That's one thing I love about my major, we have all become so close that I wasn't afraid to teach my lesson for them. I knew they were going to help me and make this experience fun. My lesson went pretty well and the feedback that I got from my peers will be so beneficial in helping me move forward.

One thing I need to work on is making sure my directions are as clear as they can be. After explaining how to complete parts of the magic square I had a lot of questions. I feel that if I would have been more clear in my instructions that could have answered those questions. 

 I thought this was a great way to kick off our AEE412 lab. It gave us the chance to understand what was expected, got us comfortable in the room, with the video tape and with each other. This experience taught me that as long as you prepare, have an idea of what you are doing and have confidence in yourself and your lesson, things will turn out okay. I'm looking forward to the rest of our labs. I think they are a great learning experience and are gonna help prepare us to be the greatest agents of change that we can be! 

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."

~Joesph Chilton Pearce