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.
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