Media Reflection Paper

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Institutional Affiliation

After listening to the YouTube video, the speaker shares information about a guided Math lesson for kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 children. The speaker basically takes the listeners through a typical Math lesson, from warming up the students for the lesson to whole group interactions to small group interactions, and finally to the reflection section. The speaker is Reagan Tunstall who takes her listeners through Math lessons and interactions with younger children (Reagan, 2018). She explains the importance of teaching students using materials set aside for each session, with the need to ensure a smooth transition from one session to the next. Reagan further encourages the use of interactive ways such as PowerPoint presentations, writing for the children to see, and engages with them individually for progress assessment to lead to ease in understanding give the young age of the students.

The most important aspects from the video are the strategies employed by the teacher, the amount of time spent on an aspect, the objectives in place, amount of interaction with the students, and the materials in use. However, the most important aspect is the preparation of the minds of the students for the next step through certain activities. The verbal and non-verbal messages are in form of the lesson taught in kid-friendly terms and the use of fun materials to learn, respectively. This encourages the students’ engagement. In the whole group setting for instance, the teacher uses pumpkin cut-outs to remind the children about October as the Halloween month, thus becoming easier for them to understand the months of the year and how to attach the cut-outs to the pieces of paper provided (Webber). This kind of engagement keeps the children more interested to learn more fun things. In the case of the small groups, noise is reduced to a minimum to help with ease in learning individually and better interaction with teachers, materials, and peers. In the same way, my interaction with children I tutor really improves when fun materials are used to introduce and reinforce concepts. Children are willing to learn in the process. With the breaking down of whole groups into small groups, children are able to know the difference between group building and individual roles, even though slowly and enjoy them in the process. They learn skills in the classroom that can be applied in real life when interacting with various groups. Feedback from the lessons is clear during assessments conducted in small groups.

Important questions arising from this video would be, “How often is the material completed during each lesson?” and “How does the teacher get to balance between the whole group and small group sessions, in light of the various understanding capacities of children?” I find that these questions are important for a highly interactive class, and more so, students who easily communicate their thoughts given the settings and mode of learning (Webber). One more question would be linked to the need to understand how the relationships between children, their peers, and teachers generally improve the relationships with their parents and other people. How they communicate may also be determined by such class interactions, therefore, these questions help give a better picture of the type of communicator that the child grows up to be.

To summarize, I really liked the video, mostly because it gives an understanding of how various settings affect a child’s understanding and how best to improve their group and individual interactions. I chose the video because there is a greater difficulty in trying to explain concepts to children, especially given their young age, and this video helps describe how to reduce this difficulty (Webber). I liked the ideas and concepts put forward because I got see the lesson through students’ eyes, and the video helped me identify the types of materials that I ought to use with my students, and how best to consider timing in that regard. They become better communicators with the right learning environment.

References

Reagan Tunstall. (2018, Mar 17). Guided Math Start to Finish Video. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbLCBSTUA0.

Katie Webber. “Unit 1: Basics of Communication & Perception.”

Katie Webber. “Unit 2: Verbal, Nonverbal and Listening.”

Katie Webber. “Unit 3: Interpersonal, Conflict & Relationships.”

Katie Webber. “Unit 4: Small Group, Organizational, & Professional Communication.”