Kaylynn Wohl

ELP
Teaching Reflections
5/18/20

April 23, 2020: Native/invasive plants

This lesson was taught by Lenora within a class of about 4. I was glad to see some core
content of our fieldtrips get brought into our online lessons. The example species of Oregon
grape and Himalayan blackberry we’re going parallels to use as examples when discussing
invasiveness. She explained how common these plants are to depict how easily the students can
find them.

For growth, I’d say we don’t necessarily need a slide on zoom etiquette as I’m sure
they’re using this feature a lot right now. Maybe we should just include a brief reminder on their
own group agreements and how they’re applicable here too. I also felt as if it became boring
during plant ID due to the duration of staying on that topic. I think towards the end there were
slides asking which species was invasive or non-native and the answer was a little too obvious
that it got tense in the zoom. It was a sacrifice of time that also felt redundant. Maybe this
could’ve been done at the end of the previous slide just as a check-in type of question. As a
visual person, I would like to see more images on our slides that are engaging and enforce the
learning material.

April 30, 2020: Salamanders

My experience with teaching went rather well compared to the worst case scenario I
prepared for. Earlier in the day, Drew messaged me saying she wanted to help teach my lesson
with me, which simultaneously gave me relief but also (mild) disappointment. My confidence in
teaching the topic of salamanders/newts was through the roof; reflecting back, accepting aid that
I did not need ultimately hindered my success. I now know to go full force into what I’m
confident in doing as I had all the passion and knowledge to make the lesson successful. One
thing I wasn’t prepared for was not being able to see the students’ names when sharing my
screen. Luckily, I wrote their names down as the teacher welcomed them into the space. We
should do this going forward and ask them to pronounce their name if we are unsure. This class
was our largest with about 7 or 8 students.
From the beginning when making my slides, I knew how important an ‘objectives’ slide
would be. I’m sure every person present for any online lesson is wondering ‘what’s the point’
right now. I wanted to make that clear and transparent from the beginning, and I think that set us
up for success. I included vocabulary words that I thought were important, like adaptations.
Going forward with new lessons, this is something I want to utilize more. I also need to improve
on furthering the art of inquiry, such as when the student answers a question with observations or
experiences they had. I was ultimately most needing improvement in my worksheet area. I came
to find out the teacher was unable to share my worksheet due to the text-heavy aspect for her
students whose first language is not English. Inclusivity is key, but accessibility is first.

May 7, 2020: Fire

Daisy taught this lesson with very few kids-- about 3 with cameras on. I really liked how Daisy
spoke to the students, the inflection in her voice during certain places in the lesson/ in her speech
were necessary for emphasis. It was done in a way Michael explains things that create clarity and
precision. Her tone wasn’t ever fake, and although casual, it made for stepping away from the
teacher power role. She asked follow-up questions when students spoke up on their experiences.
I think this is an area we could all improve on, but it essentially requires us to be quick and on
our toes with clever and significant responses to enhance the learning experience. As a student, I
always looked deeply into what the teacher would say directly after the student. So those are
important moments.
I really enjoyed the flow of this lesson. It was probably really successful for a variety of
learning types as it called for hands on drawing. I think it would’ve been important to emphasize
the layers aspect of old-growth forests throughout this process. It was there, but needed to go just
a little further to piece everything together. I loved being a part of the process; when Daisy filled
some of the space by pulling her own peers in to share, I was prepared due to how engaged I was
in her lesson.

May 14, 2020: Douglas Fir/Fire

This lesson by Lenora was as if the field trip was brought right to us. We mainly had 2
kids active this time. It utilized content we created in the beginning during winter term. She gave
us a ‘tour’ to get to know the species that conveniently live in her back yard-- which was great to
share to show how common our native tree is. This is something she was able to teach
successfully. She even brought in branches to explain the needles and the branches. I was glad
she shared the story with the mouse and the fir cones as it was something we were looking
forward to sharing during the field tips. However, as it is originally a Native American story, it
would’ve been nice to bring in audio and have those voices share the story. I think it would’ve
been more engaging as well as giving voice to these things we as colonizers have taken.
Nonetheless, I saw great growth in this lesson for Lenora compared to her first!

May 21, 2020: Pollinators

I will be teaching this lesson on Thursday! My worksheet is simpler this time so hopefully the
students actually get to use it. I will run through my slides and practice a script as I’m doing this
solo.