Samantha’s TIW Reflection

I really enjoyed the experience of having a chance to present a lesson that I was proud of to a group of teachers and future teachers. I found it exciting, if absolutely nerve wracking, to stand up as the presenter and show people something that I was proud of and spent a lot of time working on.

Keep It:

I think that overall, my presentation went well. I felt that the teachers there were engaged and excited to learn and talk about how to use the feminist lens with fairy tales. I think that people were drawn to the idea of using these stories we all know the basic plots of to introduce the idea of critical lens especially that of the feminist lens to students. I felt that people enjoyed getting a chance to rewrite a fairy tale or make their own as my students did. I think there is something powerful in taking a well known narrative and turning it on it’s ear. I found that people were engaged with the topic and gave some really important and thought provoking feedback such as having the students write reflections after finishing their fairy tales.

Cut It:

If I were to do my TIW again I think I would shorten the excerpt I used in the workshop. I think it was just a little too long for the time constraint that we had and it would have been more effective to have more time to talk about the student work and how other teachers might implement this into their own classrooms. I also think I would let people have more time to flesh out their own fairy tales next time so they get a better feel for the kind of activity the students were doing.

Change It:

There isn’t a whole lot that I would change about this TIW in particular. I think this was a really exciting look into what it is like to share your practice with other teachers and that was exhilarating for sure. I am excited to think of other TIW I could put together from the amazing work that I do with my students and to create new ones and test them out on my students to help their learning. I found that by having this TIW scheduled, it really made me examine my own teaching practice and what I wanted to showcase but also what I really wanted my students and the people participating in my workshop to do and learn.

Overall Reflections:

I had a really fun and informative time conducting this TIW for other teachers and prospective teachers. I think it was a great experience in dipping my toe into making my practice public. I do agree with Caitlyn that I felt like some of the TIWs suffered from the overabundance of prospective teachers. I think that sometimes they lack the understanding of how things work in classrooms because they have not experienced yet but I do think it is important for them to attend these workshops to see what classrooms can be like. I really enjoyed my TIW experience and would love the chance to present again and make my practice public.