Presenting on Israel

This past Friday, I had the unique opportunity to present a lesson based on my experiences overseas last semester. It is not often that students have the opportunity to have a learning experience that is outside of the textbook and explained first hand. Mr. Trentacosta was equally excited to hear about my experiences in Israel, and allowed me to teach the entire day!

I must say, I was a bit nervous, having only taught a few, sporadic lessons thus far. Yet I knew that this would be a great opportunity to break the ice with my classes and to work on my communication skills while I was teaching something I was passionate about. So, it was a full day for me!

First period I presented my power point to Honors level US Civics. I was a little surprised by the lack of focus in the honors class, but considering that it was Friday, students across all learning levels were seemingly out of control. For all their rowdiness, Period 1 had a great deal of intelligent questions. In fact, there were so many questions and comments that I actually did not have an opportunity to finish my presentation before the bell rang.

As disappointed as I was that I did not finish my lesson before the bell rang, I told myself that time management is one of the most difficult components of teaching for student teachers to get a grasp of.  I saw the lesson from Period 1 as a learning opportunity for Period 2, 3 and 5.

As the day progressed, each lesson was delivered more smoothly than the first. All the while, I began to realize what I could cut out from my presentation and what was more important to emphasize on. Even my ability to ask thought provoking questions increased immensely by the time I arrived at fifth period.

With my voice almost gone at this point and my head slightly dizzy from the amount of talking I had done, I headed down to the Cafeteria to watch over student conduct during lunch. To my surprise, two other social studies teachers in the school approached me on possibly teaching some of their classes about my trip to Israel. I was really shocked by that, but told them that I gladly would.

I once heard it said that a pastor will always leave the pulpit feeling like he failed to deliver the message well. I think the same can be said about teaching. I beat myself up for all my small mistakes rather than looking at any of my positives. And while I may have thought myself a failure, others found it to be a superb presentation. That sure was the encouragement that I needed!