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Strategy Lesson Reflection: Clustering and Mapping 
Our group presented clustering and mapping as a helpful strategy to use in our future classrooms. This strategy is very effective for students to make connections between their own prior knowledge and new concepts. Overall, the lesson went well. Our peers wrote that they appreciated the clarity of our learning objectives stated at the beginning of the lesson. It was helpful for them as students to know what to look for in the upcoming lesson. This provides some structure and scaffolding for students to build off of as they learn in our classroom. Our peers also liked that we incorporated a video as our text. It was a fun and engaging way for them to absorb the content. 
Although there were a lot of glows from our lesson, there were also some much needed grows. Many of our peers wrote that they did not have enough time for the lesson we prepared for them. Time constraints proved to be a challenge as we attempted to teach a small lesson effectively. Towards the end of our lesson, we had no time to “wrap up.” This made our peers lose focus on everything just taught as they exited the door. Another helpful suggestion one of our peers wrote was the keep the questions posted on the board as the video played. The questions were more to scaffold students thinking going into the video, but I agree that this would be a better way for students to maintain their focus on the information we want them to know. 
The biggest take away for me as a future educator is to pay attention to the role time plays on your ability to maintain goals in a lesson. I am sure this is something I will continue to hone in as I become an experienced teacher, but it is very challenging. Overall, I think this lesson proved how effective clustering and mapping is in the classroom. It gives teachers and students their own opportunity to show their creative side and how they make connections in their mind.

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