Jenny Yurky- The Secret of Instruction

I found this section of the text to be particularly helpful because sometimes it is hard to judge how lessons should be paced.  These tips can be helpful when planning lessons and during the teaching of a lesson.  By keeping these tips in mind, I can see myself being able to make slight adjustments to improve my pacing.

I feel as though I apply a lot of these, if not all of them, at different points in different classrooms.  While I think I have applied them all at least once, I know that I do not apply them all the time or consistently across different classes or different days.  However, I do believe there are a few that could be observed frequently in my classroom.  For example, the tip about transitioning from one activity to another is one that I believe I apply very well in my classes.  Whenever we transition between activities, I always use a timer and tell my students you have so many minutes to put these materials away and get these materials out.  This makes the transitions very smooth and holds the students accountable during that time.  One thing that helps this strategy’s effectiveness is that my students are used to it and know the expectations.  Another tip that I think could be easily observed in my classroom is the one about students understanding.  Because I’m in a math classroom, my students almost always work on guided practice problems after a more formal portion of lecturing- typical direct instruction.  When my students work independently, they are able to solve the problems and show that they understood the concepts that we discussed in the lecture.

The three tips about being enthusiastic, I think, are really important.  I think that this is something I would like to work on.  Despite the fact that I am usually a bubbly and enthusiastic person, it is sometimes hard to be enthusiastic about certain topics.  I think if I can show my students that I am genuinely excited about the topic, they will feed off of that and be excited too.