Teaching Demonstration 2: Cause & Effect

Self-Evaluation:  I feel the most confident on my cause and effect model presentation than on anything else I did in this class.  I really liked the model, felt very confident in using it, and therefore I felt the presentation was strong and smooth.  My classmates were really engaged in the activity, and I think the topic was very relevant to their experiences.  It gave them a very clear picture of how to use the model, and they were thinking critically, creatively, and metacognitively.  I felt my presentation was very relevant and easy to follow, and I clearly communicated to them the importance of the skills practiced through the cause and effect model.  We had very good discussion of the strengths, weaknesses, and how it tied into the other models and ways of thinking, and they came up with good ways to adapt the model to fit the classroom.  Again, I think the only thing I would have changed was the time we spent on the activity, but I really didn't want to stop my classmates because they were having such good discussion and looking deeply into the topic.  I feel my quality of work and the presentation itself warranted an A on this project. 

Learning: I feel like I learned so much through diving deeper into this model.  I think out of all the models we have talked about, this one is the easiest to implement and very original in the value of what it teaches the kids.  If everyone in the United States thought this way, we would have an incredible nation free of the overwhelming struggles from which we suffer greatly.  I didn't realize before how easy it could be to teach students to think in such a profound, life-altering way!  I love the idea of looking at prior causes and subsequent effects.  People don't usually see that undervaluing of teachers can lead to a nation full of uneducated people with low self-esteem, but that's the type of thing you uncover in this model.  Also, the generalizing principal take-aways are so good, and students/people can learn important concepts they can apply to any occupation in which they work.  It is a very deep, critical and creative way at looking at life and people.  I also liked the thought process behind the sequence of steps.  I think initially, I would see it making sense to first do the cause, and then the prior causes; but upon reading the model details, I really see value in and appreciate going back and forth between the causes and effects.  I really enjoyed my classmates' ideas for how to apply this model in the classroom, and I feel that we all learned something as I was presenting.