Final Exam Drama

Daphne Yoner
June 17, 2020

C&I for Non-Majors; Drama
Final Exam
1) How has this class contributed to your growth as an educator?
When we first started this class I thought that this was going to be a content heavy
course, mainly because there was a final exam and we needed to read 3 teacher resource
manuals for the final exam. However in the end our final has become a reflection which in my
opinion is a better way to assess a student on what they have learned rather than an exam that
the information will be forgotten as soon as the exam is over. So that leads me to my first point
is that teachers should not be completely teaching for content reasons but rather for teaching
students new skills that they will actually take away from the course. If you can, you should
make an experience out of a lesson, of course not every lesson can be memorable but if you
make topics interactive and fun then the students will learn more and value that experience. In
mathematics it is very difficult to make math fun in the older grades. In PS II they require you to
stand out and be creative, however that is typically not how math is taught. Although I believe
full heartedly that if you can make a topic fun then students will get the material faster. For
example for my PS II I made a lot of games for my grade 11’s and one of which was factoring
bingo (and yes that is factoring polynomials that no one remembers how to do). The first lesson
I taught my students to factor polynomials on paper and then the second day we played
factoring bingo where they had to factor the polynomial and then on the bottom sheet they had
the answers for those questions and that would have to be their response. This method of
teaching worked very well and most of my students flourished in this unit (it also helps when you
give them jelly bean incentives). I fully believe that this should be at the forefront of all teachers'
minds.
Another thing that has helped me grow as a teacher is the emphasis put on building
relationships in the classroom. I was always aware that you have to have a good relationship
with your students to get the best results however this course has reinforced that idea in my
head. I am always worried that I won’t have enough time to get through the material that we
would have to get through but I have learned that taking a day or two to really connect with your
students will pay off in the long run. Students typically produce their best work when they feel
comfortable so students may really flourish with a close knit community environment and then
they may plow through several lessons at a time. Also if students feel safe and comfortable with
addressing you then they will ask more questions which will lead to better learning opportunities
that then will then produce better results. I have really reflected on this course in particular, I find
it very interesting that even though this course is only like 6-7 weeks long that we have become
such a close knit community. I think that we all feel very comfortable together as a group and
with that produced the best results. I know that if we didn’t feel comfortable in this drama class
then those monologues that we did would have been severally different. It is amazing that we
have become so close, and with all the content that we were required to learn there was still
time to build those connections in the first and second class. Taking that time will always pay off
and you will be remembered for it. Every teacher wants to be that best teacher and the teacher
Daphne Yoner
June 17, 2020
C&I for Non-Majors; Drama
that is remembered and I think that comes from building those relationships and giving those
students the experiences to make your class memorable.
Another thing that I have taken away from this course is the need to give a break. In
every case you have no idea what your students are going through, they may be tired from not
sleeping all night or they may have gotten into a big fight and these things are out of our control.
However as a teacher we need to be there for our students, we need to observe what is
happening within our classroom and assess what the students need. In some cases they may
need a break before starting new material, their days are constantly busy and it is good to
meditate or do physical activity depending on the mood of your students. Breaks during your
class are also necessary in some cases, especially if you are teaching younger students they
constantly need breaks so that they can refocus and reset their brains. Even writing this
reflection, an hour to write what we feel is definitely doable but even we as adults need tiny
breaks, and we must acknowledge this in ourselves and apply it to our students. It is also
important to keep in mind while teaching that if you are bored with the content then so are your
students, in which case they may need a break or you need to adjust the way you are teaching
the topic. This builds into knowing yourself for your students, as I mentioned in my last reflection
it is important to immerse yourself in a topic so that you can better relate those feelings to your
students. For example, with our monologues it was very beneficial because if we ever do teach
drama in the future we will now know the nervousness and anxiety that can come with doing
monologues in front of your peers because we have experienced that before. This type of
approach to learning can better you as a teacher because then you can make those better
judgments about how to do this assignment with your own students. Empathy as a teacher is
very important and I think that as a teacher you have to try to empathize with your students
academically and as well as emotionally. Be there for your students and observe their needs.
The last thing that has been an insight for me in this course is in regards to confidence.
As a teacher we say fake it until you make it which is definitely true in this profession. Eventually
you will start putting pieces together and figuring out how to do this job but until then you have
to come off as a confident student teacher with big ideas. This can seem very intimidating
however students are also faced with this every single day. They are expected to learn new
material quickly and then expected to know how to do it and in an efficient manner. We expect
students to be confident in their own work that they produce and really we are all going through
the same thing. We have to realize that we are all human and that we could all use a confidence
boost whether that is to learn something new (as a student) or to get up in front of the class and
teach something new (as a teacher). The one thing that a group did in their lesson plan was to
have an inspirational phrase to say at the beginning of class, this can be beneficial for many
students and for the teacher as well. This is a good way to prepare you for a new day. Also the
superman pose can be a great inspiration for students to tackle something new. Students and
teachers need to feel confident in their abilities so that they can accomplish anything that they
set their minds too.

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Daphne Yoner

June 17, 2020

1) How has this class contributed to your growth as an educator?

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