Day 5/11 - Demo Lesson

Today several of us gave our demo lessons. I went second, after being the cooperating teacher for Amanda's lesson on Character. I was glad to have the opportunity to do the teachbacks for her before I did my own lesson, because it warmed me up to teaching the whole lesson myself. I liked the way Amanda taught her lesson, because she did it calmly, but with energy. When it came time to teach my lesson, I wanted to carry on some of that same energy.
My lesson was on plot. I chose this lesson because of the final activity for the students. I read them a story, but stopped before the end. Then I had them, in groups, come up with alternate endings and perform them for the class. I was a little disappointed with the lack of creativity with the groups, but they're adults, what can you expect? I think that with younger kids, and more students, it would be a lot more fun. In hindsight I could have said something like, "The end of the story isn't something you would expect, so be creative when you try to come up with a resolution."
I'm not much for pedagogy, which is why I doubt I'll ever become a school teacher. There are two kinds of teachers, those who teach required courses, and those who teach elective courses. Most school teachers, especially K-8 school teachers are the first kind. Trying to teach to such a broad demographic as a required course forces you use specific techniques to reach all students. Teachers of elective courses have the luxury of not having to reach all students. My best teachers have been the ones who provided an environment for learning and discover, then stepped back. Rather than walk the class through every step, they would share their knowledge when asked a question. Often in those classes I would hear, "That's a good question. If anybody wants to know , you should come over here."
That's the way I teach my improv troup, because we only cast people who actually care about learning. That's also why I think my demo lesson lacked, because I didn't make myself accessable to 4th graders. Add to that the fact that I'm teaching 20-somethings, and you can see why I had a hard time imagining myself in a true classroom situation.