Presentation Critique
Being videotaped was a new experience for me, but one that I am learning to embrace. Soon enough I will be videotaped while I am student teaching. My commentary on myself in this critique will help me to be a better educator since I have seen some good and bad in my presentation.
Since I am new to teaching, I have plenty to learn. My videotape showed some specific areas for improvement. My top priority will be to speak louder. Unfortunately during significant portions of the recording, I cannot be heard at all. I will not forget this lesson for many reasons, not the least of which being that it made my video editing difficult. I was able to find one coherent section about factoring that is audible, and it will be prominent in the final edited version. I presented toward the end of the class session after we had been warned that we were running out of time to complete videotaping everyone. This situation led me to speed through my explanation as I found the factors of 72. In the future, I need to always be mindful that explanations need to be given the amount of time necessary for understanding. It is not acceptable to “cover” the material. Another area of improvement for me will be to spend more of my time looking at my students. Presenting to a group of my peers was not the same as instructing secondary students about mathematics. I know from my experience teaching during my Methods observations that I did spend most of my time looking at the students to gauge their understanding and receive feedback from them through their responses. But I certainly need to keep in mind that more eye contact is better whenever I am in front of a group of people. Also, I am disappointed that I did not explain more clearly as the sieve of Eratosthenes progressed that after removing all multiples of a prime number, the next number in the sieve has to be a prime number since no preceding number was a factor. I have plenty of room for improvement in working on the craft of being clear, coherent, and complete when I am instructing.
All is not lost because I did see some positive aspects of my presentation in my video. Most importantly with regard to content, the material was mathematically sound. Also, having an animated PowerPoint presentation for the sieve of Eratosthenes made the process come to life, which is difficult when the ideas are presented from a mathematics book. I was surprised during the presentation when the vast majority of the group answered that “1” is a prime number. I was not expecting that response, but I handled the correction well by emphasizing that “1” is not a prime number “by definition.” Hopefully, the visual of seeing the “1” fall off the sieve will help everyone remember that definition. Tying together the history of Eratosthenes and a number of his accomplishments using the YouTube video, the concept of the sieve, and the application of the sieve to finding the factors of a number was another strength of the short lesson. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for people to readily admit to not liking mathematics. The video provided a pleasant respite for those who think they are not inclined toward math and allowed everyone to learn something without realizing it. Sometimes the best learning happens when we think we are not really doing anything.
All in all, I have room for improvement, and I am not surprised by that. But I believe I have strengths that I can continue to build upon. I look forward to more improvement as I continue my studies as a pre-service teacher.
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