1st 'worst' lesson

I did a lesson on 'breaking down essay questions' and as promised to my mentor - I did not practice it. My mentor said I should get into the habit of winging it as my lesson should be based on students needs. If I over prepared for it or stuck to a rigid lesson plan, I will loose my flexibility and possibly sight of my learners needs. So I went in and totally panicked! He let me teach the first half and then we did a bit of team teaching for the second half. I came out saying it was the worst 30min lesson I have taught but he said:
"Did they learn?"
Me: "I think so..."
Him: "how?"
Me: "through the tasks I gave them"
Him: "well there you go... It wasn't an amazingly mind blowing lesson but it was solid."
I felt better and it did help my confidence. I really want to teach more lessons.

My thoughts and ideas for future improvements:

My resources Dead PowerPoint: I created one but I did not need/use it. I need to think in more depth about the purpose of my resources Use: Although I think my hand outs benefited the class, I did not use them as well as I could have.  I gave students a hand out which consisted of 3 questions I made up. They deconstructed them appropriately but I could have enabled them to also discuss how they would have answered them to give me an idea of their knowledge on structuring. Lesson Plan Detail: I need to expand on the points I make. I need to imagine that if a member of OFSTED was to read it, they need to understand what I will be doing in the lesson and how I go about checking and making sure learning is happening. Rigid plans and timing: Although the lesson plan helps give me an idea of the structure of my lesson, I should not stick to it strictly. I should be able to ‘reflect-on/in-action’ so that I am catering to my student’s needs. Learning Assessment: I need to look at the way in which I measure learning as there is a clear difference between understanding something and putting it to practice. Keeping this in mind, I need to make sure I assess students with both to ensure they understand what I am trying to teach them. Good lesson/bad lesson: This all depends on whether the students have learnt. Just because I felt like the lesson did not go well, doesn’t mean the students will too. Level & understanding Pitch: I need to consider my use of language and not over complicate or confuse students. To aid me, I can demonstrate tasks and get them to do so or use visual aid which they can copy. Note taking: Although there is a lack of note taking, this does not mean students have not learnt or taken on board what has been taught to them. Nonetheless, in future lessons I will try to encourage students to note take and highlight that this is a key skill in university. Differentiation Targeted questions: judging on the student’s personality, I should take advantage of this technique as it enables me to check the understanding of certain learners. Some learners will say they understand even when they don’t. This would also be a good opportunity for me to use this technique to check and enforce theirs and others learning. Body language & facial expression: I need to take this into account as it is a key signifier to whether the learner has understood or not.