Tuesday seems like it was forever ago thanks to the snow day we had yesterday. One thing I've been trying to do consistently is take notes either during class when students are working on their own or right after class so any observations are fresh in my mind. This has been useful in not only writing my reflections but also talking with H about how each class went.
Period Five - English 9
First, I collected student work. The students had three things to turn in, all of which they had plenty of in class time to work on. That being said, I would estimate that I received about half to three-quarters the amount of work I should have received. And this was after students tried to hurriedly finish their assignments in class as I was collecting them. Which reminds me that I need to talk to H about the policy for this. While I'm totally fine with a rolling deadline of sorts for students, I know that SMHSNC has a specific late work policy for the freshman, and since I am part of the school, I need to make sure I am following the policy. After I started to feel like turning in their homework was taking way too much time, and H spoke to them about this, I told them that we were just going to move on, which we did.
Because this was the second day of this lesson with the freshman, I felt comfortable leading the lesson about The Poison Tree and guiding students through the poem. Between the Springboard Teacher's Edition and having H model the lesson for me with Period One, I knew which areas of the poem to focus on and how to help them make the connections that they needed to. With a small class like this, it was harder to get them talking, but that might also have been partially related to me being the one leading the lesson. We're still getting to know each other and they're trying to figure out what kind of a teacher I am, so I expect there will be some awkwardness/discomfort for a little while longer. One benefit of small class sizes, however, is that I'm able to move students onto the next activity at their own pace. This is helpful with classroom management because it keeps students from having down time to cause trouble and distract their classmates. It also means that I've got different students at different stages of the lesson plan, some finishing earlier than others. I'm going to start using any free time students have after they finish to work on vocabulary and roots. I'm thinking that using exit tickets more might also be helpful, so that the students are accountable and I'm able to see what progress they're making.
Period Six - English 10
Even though I don't have H to model what the lesson is supposed to look like, I have the Springboard teacher's edition, so I can pretty much figure out what to do with them. During this class we went through their homework, which was to deconstruct the prompt for their assessment. Springboard does a nice job of scaffolding the activities so that students are ready for the assessments. After a quick review of the elements of a prompt, students were able to start working on their essay in class. I'm always a little wary of giving students in class time like this, not because I don't want them to have the opportunity to work on their homework, but because a lot of students won't use their in class time wisely if not being constantly told what to do. Period six surprised me though. Not everyone worked the entire time, but for the most part, there was some significant progress made. Some students even managed to finish their essays in class. (I wish I could remember the last time I was able to start and finish a draft of an essay in class!) For homework they are to finish their drafts if they hadn't done so. I am curious to see how many come to class with a completed draft.
Period Seven - English 9
Round two with the 9ers today. This class was pretty much identical to period five. Some areas I noticed in my teaching that could use improvement are my transitions and my classroom management. I don't really have any transitional strategies other than verbal cues, and so far they don't seem to be working that well for me. I'm losing a lot of class time because of this, so I need to find some ways to improve my strategies. As far as classroom management, I tend to stick to proximity and the "teacher stare" because those typically are the strategies that work best for me. I also prefer proximity because when students are working independently I am able to check in with each of them to see how they are doing. However, I don't really use proximity when I'm doing whole group instruction, so that's when I rely on the teacher stare. So far this works for the most part, but I could benefit from adding a few tricks to my bag.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Manic Monday
Today really feels like I'm a teacher. I don't know if it's because it's the first Monday I've been in a classroom, or if I'm starting to take over more responsibilities, but it's starting to feel real. And I love it. I just finished entering student grades into the gradebook for the first time.
It's been a bit of a struggle with a few students who are challenging my authority/role in the classroom, but I'm sure that by the end of the semester I'll have won most, if not all of them over. One student in particular is challenging, not necessarily behavior-wise, but more in a defiance to do any work.
Because periods one and two are the same section and end up doing the same thing each day, I observed Mrs. H during period one for part of the lesson plan, then I was able to teach that part of the lesson plan during second period without feeling like I was overwhelmed. Even though I was working on the second part of the lesson plan while Mrs. H was teaching, I was listening to her teach the poem to the students, which gave me an idea of how to teach the poem to the period two folks. After Mrs. H taught the poem to the students, I took over and taught them a little bit about catacombs and Carnival, then had them start a word sort. Period one was a bit of a dry one, but considering that, I think it went well.
Period two felt like it went much smoother, even though it was a bit more challenging because some of the students in the class know how to push buttons, and they like to do it as much as possible. It's certainly a multi-ability level class, and because of that, Mrs. H and I did things a little differently than with period one. I felt totally comfortable teaching the poem to the students, so I did that, then I had them do the next two activities. Because of their different ability levels, some students finished the activities sooner than others, so instead of teaching the entire class about the catacombs we just pushed them along onto the next section as they finished. This was a little chaotic, because we had students constantly asking for help, not on task, etc., but I think it's important to experience the classroom this way, especially since I'm interested in customized learning. While this isn't exactly a model of customized learning, it's a model of differentiation in regards to pacing. It also gives me more opportunities to work with individual students, and since I'm still getting to know them, I find this incredibly helpful. The students aren't all fans of it, but I think they'll get used to it. And as I learn their work ethic and ability levels better, I'll be able to leave them alone more instead of constantly pacing and checking in with each individual student several times.
Seniors today were...challenging. I got a lot of resistance from most of the seniors I worked with, some were more frustrated with actually having to do work than they were frustrated with me, but a few of the seniors actually shut down when I tried to help them. This is the area I struggle with the most right now, knowing how to handle each situation. And every student is different, so there's a different answer each time. Sometimes there isn't an answer at all. When a student shuts down on me, my instincts are to keep pushing them, but I know that won't work, so I tend to just walk away and not go back to check on them, but I'm afraid that if I don't go back to check on them, they're going to feel as though I don't care about them/I'm ignoring them, when that really isn't the case. Again, I think that as I get to know them, things will improve, but it's still a transition period so I need to just be patient!
It's been a bit of a struggle with a few students who are challenging my authority/role in the classroom, but I'm sure that by the end of the semester I'll have won most, if not all of them over. One student in particular is challenging, not necessarily behavior-wise, but more in a defiance to do any work.
Because periods one and two are the same section and end up doing the same thing each day, I observed Mrs. H during period one for part of the lesson plan, then I was able to teach that part of the lesson plan during second period without feeling like I was overwhelmed. Even though I was working on the second part of the lesson plan while Mrs. H was teaching, I was listening to her teach the poem to the students, which gave me an idea of how to teach the poem to the period two folks. After Mrs. H taught the poem to the students, I took over and taught them a little bit about catacombs and Carnival, then had them start a word sort. Period one was a bit of a dry one, but considering that, I think it went well.
Period two felt like it went much smoother, even though it was a bit more challenging because some of the students in the class know how to push buttons, and they like to do it as much as possible. It's certainly a multi-ability level class, and because of that, Mrs. H and I did things a little differently than with period one. I felt totally comfortable teaching the poem to the students, so I did that, then I had them do the next two activities. Because of their different ability levels, some students finished the activities sooner than others, so instead of teaching the entire class about the catacombs we just pushed them along onto the next section as they finished. This was a little chaotic, because we had students constantly asking for help, not on task, etc., but I think it's important to experience the classroom this way, especially since I'm interested in customized learning. While this isn't exactly a model of customized learning, it's a model of differentiation in regards to pacing. It also gives me more opportunities to work with individual students, and since I'm still getting to know them, I find this incredibly helpful. The students aren't all fans of it, but I think they'll get used to it. And as I learn their work ethic and ability levels better, I'll be able to leave them alone more instead of constantly pacing and checking in with each individual student several times.
Seniors today were...challenging. I got a lot of resistance from most of the seniors I worked with, some were more frustrated with actually having to do work than they were frustrated with me, but a few of the seniors actually shut down when I tried to help them. This is the area I struggle with the most right now, knowing how to handle each situation. And every student is different, so there's a different answer each time. Sometimes there isn't an answer at all. When a student shuts down on me, my instincts are to keep pushing them, but I know that won't work, so I tend to just walk away and not go back to check on them, but I'm afraid that if I don't go back to check on them, they're going to feel as though I don't care about them/I'm ignoring them, when that really isn't the case. Again, I think that as I get to know them, things will improve, but it's still a transition period so I need to just be patient!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Days Two and Three Recap
Day two was my first day with two sections of English 9ers, and a section of seniors. Like the day before, we went around the room in each class and had students introduce themselves to me, and I introduced myself to them. I was surprised by the number of students who were reluctant about this. But one of the things Mrs. H is working on, with all of her students, is making them pro-social individuals who can communicate effectively in society.
Even though this was my first day with this group of students, I felt much more comfortable jumping in and helping students with the different activities for the day. The students also seemed more accepting of my help, I think partly because some of them had seen me around school the day before, and some of their friends had probably told them about me.
Thursday was a Green day, this is what the schedule looked like:
Period 1: English 9
We started with introductions, then we did a DDHW (Due Diligence Homework Check), basically making sure the students attempted the homework and worked on it up until they got stuck and had questions. Before Mrs. H went around the room to check homework, she got them started on the next activity, which was making writing goals for semester 2. The students had a lot of questions about how to do this, what they needed to do, etc., so I went around the room and helped the students with this and answered any questions they had. After the students finished making their goals for the semester, they made posters for Unit 2 in their curriculum. The requirements were on the board and explained everything they needed to do, but they still struggled with understanding what was being asked of them. Mrs. H was fielding questions about it left and right, and trying to create an example poster for them, so after I finished putting the vocab they needed on the word wall, I made an example poster that we put at the front of the room. The period was over by then, so this class wasn't able to benefit from it, but we used it with the following classes.
Period 2: English 9
This class had the same agenda as period 1, but because it was a smaller class size, it was not quite as chaotic as period 1. They had the model poster to look at, and that helped them a lot. I spent more of the class helping individual students, answering questions and directing them more. Being able to work one on one with them in this setting helped me to learn most of their names faster, but that was partially due to the smaller class size.
Connections:
This was one of the dedicated days for reading. It was a little like pulling teeth, getting the students to read for twenty minutes, but by the end almost all of them were reading quietly. I particularly enjoyed this time because even the teachers are supposed to be reading, so it gave me a chance to read during school. I started Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Period 3: Prep/Study Hall
I had never seen a class set up this way, but the way the schedule works, students have study in one classroom, then after lunch finish study hall in another classroom. We have prep for the first half of the period, then study hall for the second half.
Period 4: English 12
Mrs. H's senior English class is more of an individualized class. Some of the seniors are working on pre-professional skills, such as resumes, and some of the students are participating in a modified lit circle. I worked with three students on their resumes, specifically the skills section. I would have liked to work with the lit circle students some, but I will do that next class.
Day 3
Day three was a repeat of day two, with different sections of freshmen. These classes do better working independently compared to the sections from the day before.
The sophomore class had a non-party party, with chicken curry, basmati rice, and naan, then they started working on deconstructing a prompt. One of the things I like about Springboard so far is that it teaches different strategies to students, such as breaking down a prompt. I was actually able to take over part of this section of the lesson plan because the Springboard teacher's edition provides the teacher with different steps to take with the students. Mrs. H has been really good with allowing me to take over parts of the class like this, almost as though she is scaffolding my instruction too.
Definitely ready for the weekend. I've got some student work to grade (yay!), but most importantly I'm going to relax and get rested up for next week.
Even though this was my first day with this group of students, I felt much more comfortable jumping in and helping students with the different activities for the day. The students also seemed more accepting of my help, I think partly because some of them had seen me around school the day before, and some of their friends had probably told them about me.
Thursday was a Green day, this is what the schedule looked like:
Period 1: English 9
We started with introductions, then we did a DDHW (Due Diligence Homework Check), basically making sure the students attempted the homework and worked on it up until they got stuck and had questions. Before Mrs. H went around the room to check homework, she got them started on the next activity, which was making writing goals for semester 2. The students had a lot of questions about how to do this, what they needed to do, etc., so I went around the room and helped the students with this and answered any questions they had. After the students finished making their goals for the semester, they made posters for Unit 2 in their curriculum. The requirements were on the board and explained everything they needed to do, but they still struggled with understanding what was being asked of them. Mrs. H was fielding questions about it left and right, and trying to create an example poster for them, so after I finished putting the vocab they needed on the word wall, I made an example poster that we put at the front of the room. The period was over by then, so this class wasn't able to benefit from it, but we used it with the following classes.
Period 2: English 9
This class had the same agenda as period 1, but because it was a smaller class size, it was not quite as chaotic as period 1. They had the model poster to look at, and that helped them a lot. I spent more of the class helping individual students, answering questions and directing them more. Being able to work one on one with them in this setting helped me to learn most of their names faster, but that was partially due to the smaller class size.
Connections:
This was one of the dedicated days for reading. It was a little like pulling teeth, getting the students to read for twenty minutes, but by the end almost all of them were reading quietly. I particularly enjoyed this time because even the teachers are supposed to be reading, so it gave me a chance to read during school. I started Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Period 3: Prep/Study Hall
I had never seen a class set up this way, but the way the schedule works, students have study in one classroom, then after lunch finish study hall in another classroom. We have prep for the first half of the period, then study hall for the second half.
Period 4: English 12
Mrs. H's senior English class is more of an individualized class. Some of the seniors are working on pre-professional skills, such as resumes, and some of the students are participating in a modified lit circle. I worked with three students on their resumes, specifically the skills section. I would have liked to work with the lit circle students some, but I will do that next class.
Day 3
Day three was a repeat of day two, with different sections of freshmen. These classes do better working independently compared to the sections from the day before.
The sophomore class had a non-party party, with chicken curry, basmati rice, and naan, then they started working on deconstructing a prompt. One of the things I like about Springboard so far is that it teaches different strategies to students, such as breaking down a prompt. I was actually able to take over part of this section of the lesson plan because the Springboard teacher's edition provides the teacher with different steps to take with the students. Mrs. H has been really good with allowing me to take over parts of the class like this, almost as though she is scaffolding my instruction too.
Definitely ready for the weekend. I've got some student work to grade (yay!), but most importantly I'm going to relax and get rested up for next week.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The First Day
It's official. I survived my first day as a student teacher. I knew I would survive of course, but I had no idea how the day would go. The night before, my biggest concern was sleeping through my alarm and/or being late. This has happened before, so I was afraid it would happen again. I don't have the best luck waking up in the morning, so I set a dozen or so alarms. Luckily, I only needed a few of them, but I had them just in case. Even though I didn't make it out the door as early as I would have liked to, I still arrived at the school by 7:35 a.m. I was hoping for 7:30 a.m., so I think I did a pretty good job.
When I got to my classroom, Mrs. H was standing in the hallway for morning hall duty. She was talking with a group of students, so she had each of them introduce themselves to me.One of the things that amazed (surprised?) me the most was how much the students struggle to properly communicate with others. I was raised to always shake someone's hand when meeting for the first time, but for most of the students, a handshake is a foreign gesture. When I first went to visit SMHSNC (long acronym, I know), Mrs. H introduced some of her students to me, and both times she made sure that her students told me their name and shook my hand. When she introduced me to individual students today, she did the same thing. After meeting a few of the students in the hallway, the first warning bell rang and it was time to meet my first class!
SMHSNC operates on a rotating block schedule with four classes a day meeting every other day. Today was a black day, so first period was English 9. This group of kids was great. They introduced themselves to me by telling me their first name, last name, and something interesting about themselves. It's a small class of ten or twelve students, so it shouldn't take me too long to remember their names. There is also an Ed Tech in the class who I'll be able to work with, and I'm looking forward to that opportunity. Where today was the first day of the new semester for this class, we spent some time free writing because that is one thing that Mrs. H wants to focus on, along with free reading. After the students wrote for 15 minutes, they went through and marked two things in their writing that they thought they did well on and one thing they would like to improve. Mrs. H calls the activity two stars and one wish. I really like this activity actually and I think it's something I will continue to use in the classroom, both now while I'm student teaching and when I have my own classroom. It's an easy way to get students to start assessing their writing. Mrs. H then had the students use a rubric for the 6+1 traits to relate their two stars and one wish to. Things got a little wonky after this because we tried to introduce their homework to them, which was to use the 6+1 rubric and the MUGS definition to self-assess their writing in general, which they seemed to understand. Then we jumped back and had them fill out an exit ticket about their free writing pieces. Mrs. H then tried to get them started on the next activity that she wanted them to work on, which was going through unit two of the Springboard book and looking for academic vocabulary, but most of the students were missing the document she had asked them to create, so this made it difficult for the class to do what she asked. At this point, time ran out, so I think we'll pick back up from there on Friday.
13 minute break between periods 1 and 2...
Period two is English 10 with a large group of sophomores. Most of the students are in their second year with Mrs. H, so they have had extra time to create a bond, and you can certainly tell with the way most of the students respect her. They have their behavior issues like any other group of teenagers stuck in a classroom together for 70+ minutes, but really there doesn't seem to be much more than a few students talking when they're not supposed to be. Just like period one, everyone introduced themselves to me, then we planned the not-party we're having next class. They're studying different cultures right now, so Mrs. H is going to bring in some curry and a few other dishes for them to try. Some students are bringing in drinks and cups, and I think I'll make some brownies. They might not be from another culture, but what party isn't complete without brownies? After students signed up to bring different items for the party, Mrs. H went through the sections of unit two that she is going to be collecting on Friday. The students had a majority of the sections complete, and because some of the sections overlap, they only have to turn in one out of three options.
Mrs. H told me that this section of sophomores needs to be challenged more than what the curriculum is doing, and she wants me to take over this section soon, so I'll be looking at the Springboard curriculum to see where I can push them further. I'll also be working on incorporating grammar and vocabulary into my lessons, which might possibly be two of my favorite topics to teach. There's a book coming out in February, called Word Nerds that has some strategies for implementing vocabulary in the classroom. The full text is currently available online, so I'm going to check it out and see if there's anything I can use in it that my students will benefit from.
After period two is a 20 minute "Connections" period, which is basically homeroom. 2-3 days of the week the students have what is called a Guided Work Period, where they work on homework and sometimes have group activities that they do. The other 2 days of the week are for independent reading, which at SMHSNC is called Free to Read (or as the students say, Forced to Read). Tomorrow is a reading day, so it looks like I'll have to bring a book to school with me (worst thing ever, right?). I don't know if this daily structure is the same in other rooms, but I do like it and look forward to seeing how it goes this semester.
Lunch comes right after Connections and because our classroom is on the first floor, we have first lunch. Mrs. H eats in her classroom, mostly to avoid the politics that happen in the teachers' room. This is not the first time I've heard this, and I think it's a good piece of advice. It's really easy to get swept up into the negativity of other teachers and forget why you wanted to do what you're doing.
Period three was another group of English 9ers. This section was bigger than the first and within the section there are several different ability levels. Mrs. H said that she's been trying to differentiate but with the way Springboard is set up it is challenging, and having looked at Springboard, I can see why. One of the important things for student teachers to learn how to do, in my opinion, is differentiate, so this section will be really good for me to work with. It will certainly be challenging, but I'm definitely up for the challenge. Mrs. H let me teach most of the class, with some help from her, because it was almost the exact same as the first section of freshmen from today, so I had already seen the lesson once. I think my explanations were a little rough, mostly because I wasn't entirely sure what the lesson was. I had seen her teach it, but I hadn't been paying a lot of attention because I wasn't expecting to teach it the same day. Thinking about how the lesson went with this section, I think that a lot of the students would benefit from small group work. I found that I was explaining myself to each student, and some students needed multiple explanations. Group work would not eliminate my having to explain myself again, but it would allow the students to feel comfortable about asking a peer for help. One of my favorite moments from the day came from this class. One of the more vocal students, D, was sitting next to a quiet student, T, who was struggling to follow along and did not really understand what was being asked of him. I had approached T a few times and offered more explanation and tried to answer his questions, but he didn't have any, at least not that he was comfortable sharing with me. At one point, I looked over, and instead of goofing off like I would have expected, D was explaining to T what the assignment was and going through it step by step. Mrs. H says that D sees me as a fresh start and she thinks he is trying to impress me. I'm hoping that this means he will be a good student and will actually do his work for me. I'm going to try and push him a little because from what I've seen, he seems totally capable of doing the work, but just doesn't want to do it. There's a group of students in the class who are also capable and have a lot of potential, so I'll be working on pushing them more too.
Period four was prep, which was a nice way to end the day. It gave Mrs. H and I a chance to talk about the day and tomorrow, and a chance to unwind. We took a trip to the library, where the librarian offered me any of the reference books that they're getting rid of! I was really impressed with the amount of YA Lit I saw when I first walked in. Not what my high school library looked like when I was in school!
When I got to my classroom, Mrs. H was standing in the hallway for morning hall duty. She was talking with a group of students, so she had each of them introduce themselves to me.One of the things that amazed (surprised?) me the most was how much the students struggle to properly communicate with others. I was raised to always shake someone's hand when meeting for the first time, but for most of the students, a handshake is a foreign gesture. When I first went to visit SMHSNC (long acronym, I know), Mrs. H introduced some of her students to me, and both times she made sure that her students told me their name and shook my hand. When she introduced me to individual students today, she did the same thing. After meeting a few of the students in the hallway, the first warning bell rang and it was time to meet my first class!
SMHSNC operates on a rotating block schedule with four classes a day meeting every other day. Today was a black day, so first period was English 9. This group of kids was great. They introduced themselves to me by telling me their first name, last name, and something interesting about themselves. It's a small class of ten or twelve students, so it shouldn't take me too long to remember their names. There is also an Ed Tech in the class who I'll be able to work with, and I'm looking forward to that opportunity. Where today was the first day of the new semester for this class, we spent some time free writing because that is one thing that Mrs. H wants to focus on, along with free reading. After the students wrote for 15 minutes, they went through and marked two things in their writing that they thought they did well on and one thing they would like to improve. Mrs. H calls the activity two stars and one wish. I really like this activity actually and I think it's something I will continue to use in the classroom, both now while I'm student teaching and when I have my own classroom. It's an easy way to get students to start assessing their writing. Mrs. H then had the students use a rubric for the 6+1 traits to relate their two stars and one wish to. Things got a little wonky after this because we tried to introduce their homework to them, which was to use the 6+1 rubric and the MUGS definition to self-assess their writing in general, which they seemed to understand. Then we jumped back and had them fill out an exit ticket about their free writing pieces. Mrs. H then tried to get them started on the next activity that she wanted them to work on, which was going through unit two of the Springboard book and looking for academic vocabulary, but most of the students were missing the document she had asked them to create, so this made it difficult for the class to do what she asked. At this point, time ran out, so I think we'll pick back up from there on Friday.
13 minute break between periods 1 and 2...
Period two is English 10 with a large group of sophomores. Most of the students are in their second year with Mrs. H, so they have had extra time to create a bond, and you can certainly tell with the way most of the students respect her. They have their behavior issues like any other group of teenagers stuck in a classroom together for 70+ minutes, but really there doesn't seem to be much more than a few students talking when they're not supposed to be. Just like period one, everyone introduced themselves to me, then we planned the not-party we're having next class. They're studying different cultures right now, so Mrs. H is going to bring in some curry and a few other dishes for them to try. Some students are bringing in drinks and cups, and I think I'll make some brownies. They might not be from another culture, but what party isn't complete without brownies? After students signed up to bring different items for the party, Mrs. H went through the sections of unit two that she is going to be collecting on Friday. The students had a majority of the sections complete, and because some of the sections overlap, they only have to turn in one out of three options.
Mrs. H told me that this section of sophomores needs to be challenged more than what the curriculum is doing, and she wants me to take over this section soon, so I'll be looking at the Springboard curriculum to see where I can push them further. I'll also be working on incorporating grammar and vocabulary into my lessons, which might possibly be two of my favorite topics to teach. There's a book coming out in February, called Word Nerds that has some strategies for implementing vocabulary in the classroom. The full text is currently available online, so I'm going to check it out and see if there's anything I can use in it that my students will benefit from.
After period two is a 20 minute "Connections" period, which is basically homeroom. 2-3 days of the week the students have what is called a Guided Work Period, where they work on homework and sometimes have group activities that they do. The other 2 days of the week are for independent reading, which at SMHSNC is called Free to Read (or as the students say, Forced to Read). Tomorrow is a reading day, so it looks like I'll have to bring a book to school with me (worst thing ever, right?). I don't know if this daily structure is the same in other rooms, but I do like it and look forward to seeing how it goes this semester.
Lunch comes right after Connections and because our classroom is on the first floor, we have first lunch. Mrs. H eats in her classroom, mostly to avoid the politics that happen in the teachers' room. This is not the first time I've heard this, and I think it's a good piece of advice. It's really easy to get swept up into the negativity of other teachers and forget why you wanted to do what you're doing.
Period three was another group of English 9ers. This section was bigger than the first and within the section there are several different ability levels. Mrs. H said that she's been trying to differentiate but with the way Springboard is set up it is challenging, and having looked at Springboard, I can see why. One of the important things for student teachers to learn how to do, in my opinion, is differentiate, so this section will be really good for me to work with. It will certainly be challenging, but I'm definitely up for the challenge. Mrs. H let me teach most of the class, with some help from her, because it was almost the exact same as the first section of freshmen from today, so I had already seen the lesson once. I think my explanations were a little rough, mostly because I wasn't entirely sure what the lesson was. I had seen her teach it, but I hadn't been paying a lot of attention because I wasn't expecting to teach it the same day. Thinking about how the lesson went with this section, I think that a lot of the students would benefit from small group work. I found that I was explaining myself to each student, and some students needed multiple explanations. Group work would not eliminate my having to explain myself again, but it would allow the students to feel comfortable about asking a peer for help. One of my favorite moments from the day came from this class. One of the more vocal students, D, was sitting next to a quiet student, T, who was struggling to follow along and did not really understand what was being asked of him. I had approached T a few times and offered more explanation and tried to answer his questions, but he didn't have any, at least not that he was comfortable sharing with me. At one point, I looked over, and instead of goofing off like I would have expected, D was explaining to T what the assignment was and going through it step by step. Mrs. H says that D sees me as a fresh start and she thinks he is trying to impress me. I'm hoping that this means he will be a good student and will actually do his work for me. I'm going to try and push him a little because from what I've seen, he seems totally capable of doing the work, but just doesn't want to do it. There's a group of students in the class who are also capable and have a lot of potential, so I'll be working on pushing them more too.
Period four was prep, which was a nice way to end the day. It gave Mrs. H and I a chance to talk about the day and tomorrow, and a chance to unwind. We took a trip to the library, where the librarian offered me any of the reference books that they're getting rid of! I was really impressed with the amount of YA Lit I saw when I first walked in. Not what my high school library looked like when I was in school!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)