I am getting slightly frustrated with my practicum experience. To begin with I am stressed trying to keep up with my job, my school work, my life, and my practicum - especially at midterm. I realize we all feel overwhelmed! And I love teaching and I love working with the students, I even like the school I'm at. I realize in the "real world" of teaching we are not going to get support, but as a student learner I feel like I should. I told everyone in Dr. Besnoy's class tuesday my story about getting thrown into my lesson without any instruction or lesson plan and having to teach the students. I thought about it.
If a doctor is learning, would we let him/her operate without a supervisor? If an architect student was building a tower, would we let him/her do it without supervision? No. Definately not. I am a student-teacher, and I was completely left alone for the day working on my craft. It was a great experience and I did ok, but it is a little frustrating. I have students in there that couldn't even read (which how you get this far without reading is beyond my comprehension). I am learning how to modify plans, how to make plans, and how to implement the plans. Sometimes I plan too much, sometimes not enough. Sometimes its too easy, and other times too complicated. I am a person that has to be prepared or my blood pressure is out of control, my heart is racing, and I am short of breath. I have to remember to stay calm! I felt like my teacher was completely inappropriate. I enjoyed the experience, it is a part of teaching, but it should have been avoided or if she was doing it to teach me, she should have been there to back me up if I would have needed it. It's too late now to change that and I'm almost out of her class so I can't address it, but I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on if they think it was appropriate? What would you all have done?
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
teaching my lesson in the classroom...
well last week i finally got to teach my own lesson and it went pretty well. i had the students read aloud and work in groups and they seemed to really enjoy my lesson. one thing that i never thought about until that day was that when those students are done with your work, they become very, very bored!!! the students in my practicum class began to get out of control, so i had some of the students who were interrupting the classroom get up and share some of the ideas from work they had done in front of the class, but this didn't work for long. so when raising my voice, not yelling by any means, the students completely ignored me as if i were a student. it took for my cooperating teachers voice to calm them down. one thing that i have learned is that i need to come to the class prepared with more work for the students to do if they finish early. this way students won't become disruptive like they did in this class and not begin making use out of the extra time!
Middle school students are like rodents
Sometimes things truly aren't at all what they seem. Two nights ago, I felt something scampering over my legs as I slept. Only half awake, my legs kicked out involuntarily, and I heard something hit the closet door. My sleep-deprived mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened. The mysterious creature had felt too heavy to be a mouse, but the thought of a rat in our tiny one-bedroom apartment filled me with such a sense of dread that I didn't even want to contemplate it.
The next day, my wife picked up some mouse traps on her way home, but as I started to bait them, my trusty Border Collie began to act more like a Blood Hound. With his nose to the carpet, he circled the television and followed the invisible aromatic trail all the way to the coat closet. He nudged open the door and went inside. With a slight rustling of the contents of the closet, Fuzz managed to herd the rodent into the corner. Fearing my dog would end up with rabies from a vicious rat bite, I rushed to the closet and slipped on some old gloves. But as I knelt to try to capture what I fully expected to be a mangy, plague-infected rat, I found myself staring into the cute little face of a hamster, which looked up at me with its whiskers twitching. I've never owned a hamster, and I have no idea how the little boogar managed to get into our apartment. Instead of disposing of a nasty rat, we found ourselves adopting someone's wayward pet hamster.
I secured him in an over-sized Tupperware container and dropped in a piece of a hotdog bun. While the hamster stuffed a nearly hamster-sized bun into his jaws, I thought of how things aren't often at all as they seem even in middle school, and my mind drifted to my Practicum.
In my Practicum, I'm finding that middle school students are just as surprising as my little night-time adventure. I recently graded some tests for my teacher, and I often found myself totally surprised by the results. One boy, who often lays on the floor or sits on the window ledge while completing an assignment, aced the test. I guess I'd thought he was ADHD or something, and I expected him to struggle. Another boy, whose answers to the teacher's questions during lectures were brilliant, struggled on the test. As it turns out, this boy has trouble reading (dyslexia), but through shear determination, he is maintaining decent grades. One girl almost always falls asleep during class, and in fact fell asleep during the first portion of the test, yet her test wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. Many of the test results were truly a pleasant surprise to me. There were a few kids, who didn't even try, but for the most part—the results were good. Being pleasantly surprised felt so good, that started thinking that perhaps many of the students would like to be pleasantly surprised by the lessons.
Last year, I heard of a social studies teacher who lamented the fact that his class could never quite make it to the end of his textbook. No matter how hard he tried, with the usual chronological order that he usual went through the book, he never could reach the modern era. For a while, it would seem like he'd almost make it if he rushed, but then would come the usual standardized tests—and he'd be stymied. So he spoke with his administrators and was able to get permission to test the book backwards—starting with the modern era.
The kids totally excelled! Perhaps it was the fact his class wasn't what they expected, or perhaps it was such a pleasant surprise that the kids paid more attention. Either way, the students were able to relate to the subject of history better since they first studied modern leaders before delving into the dusty old powdered wigs of our ancestors. In this way, they were able to relate to the origins of government, having studied how it works currently.
I've begun to think of how I might make my lessons a bit more surprising without diminishing their relevance in any way. I think if we think out of the box, perhaps they will learn to do it, and thinking outside the box might just be as good of a lesson as studying some of the more usual lessons.
Okay, maybe middle schoolers are really all that much like rodents, but being pleasantly surprised rocks—whether its with test results, history teachers who teach backwards, or finding a hamster in your closet instead of a rat.
The next day, my wife picked up some mouse traps on her way home, but as I started to bait them, my trusty Border Collie began to act more like a Blood Hound. With his nose to the carpet, he circled the television and followed the invisible aromatic trail all the way to the coat closet. He nudged open the door and went inside. With a slight rustling of the contents of the closet, Fuzz managed to herd the rodent into the corner. Fearing my dog would end up with rabies from a vicious rat bite, I rushed to the closet and slipped on some old gloves. But as I knelt to try to capture what I fully expected to be a mangy, plague-infected rat, I found myself staring into the cute little face of a hamster, which looked up at me with its whiskers twitching. I've never owned a hamster, and I have no idea how the little boogar managed to get into our apartment. Instead of disposing of a nasty rat, we found ourselves adopting someone's wayward pet hamster.
I secured him in an over-sized Tupperware container and dropped in a piece of a hotdog bun. While the hamster stuffed a nearly hamster-sized bun into his jaws, I thought of how things aren't often at all as they seem even in middle school, and my mind drifted to my Practicum.
In my Practicum, I'm finding that middle school students are just as surprising as my little night-time adventure. I recently graded some tests for my teacher, and I often found myself totally surprised by the results. One boy, who often lays on the floor or sits on the window ledge while completing an assignment, aced the test. I guess I'd thought he was ADHD or something, and I expected him to struggle. Another boy, whose answers to the teacher's questions during lectures were brilliant, struggled on the test. As it turns out, this boy has trouble reading (dyslexia), but through shear determination, he is maintaining decent grades. One girl almost always falls asleep during class, and in fact fell asleep during the first portion of the test, yet her test wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. Many of the test results were truly a pleasant surprise to me. There were a few kids, who didn't even try, but for the most part—the results were good. Being pleasantly surprised felt so good, that started thinking that perhaps many of the students would like to be pleasantly surprised by the lessons.
Last year, I heard of a social studies teacher who lamented the fact that his class could never quite make it to the end of his textbook. No matter how hard he tried, with the usual chronological order that he usual went through the book, he never could reach the modern era. For a while, it would seem like he'd almost make it if he rushed, but then would come the usual standardized tests—and he'd be stymied. So he spoke with his administrators and was able to get permission to test the book backwards—starting with the modern era.
The kids totally excelled! Perhaps it was the fact his class wasn't what they expected, or perhaps it was such a pleasant surprise that the kids paid more attention. Either way, the students were able to relate to the subject of history better since they first studied modern leaders before delving into the dusty old powdered wigs of our ancestors. In this way, they were able to relate to the origins of government, having studied how it works currently.
I've begun to think of how I might make my lessons a bit more surprising without diminishing their relevance in any way. I think if we think out of the box, perhaps they will learn to do it, and thinking outside the box might just be as good of a lesson as studying some of the more usual lessons.
Okay, maybe middle schoolers are really all that much like rodents, but being pleasantly surprised rocks—whether its with test results, history teachers who teach backwards, or finding a hamster in your closet instead of a rat.
Boring Week
My placement teacher had a test scheduled for last Thursday. He allows the students to use the activities from their "student interactive notebooks" on the tests. Therefore, last Tuesday he gave them the entire class period to get caught up any activities they hadn't done yet or one that weren't complete. So last Tuesday I walked around and helped the students if they needed it. However, most were working hard on their activities and didn't need my assistance. Then I turned around on Thursday and sat around waiting for students to finish their test so I could immediately begin grading them. I felt that it was important for me to witness the needs of the students such as getting their activities done so they can use them on the test plus I once again was given the opportunity to grade papers, which is the most boring part of teaching. It wasn't the most entertaining week of my practicum experience but it was nice to see a different side to teaching.
Monday, October 1, 2007
My Struggles....
My struggles continue to be my level of creativity when putting lesson plans together. The goal is to me meaningful and engaging and I'm struggling with that. Last Tuesday I did my first evaluated lesson and it went about as well as could be expected. My teacher gave me a few ideas to get started, but him and his ideas won't be around for ever!! Plus, he gave me the review portion of the chapter which may be the easiest lesson to do. My biggest problem was that it wasn't quite long enough. I was five to seven minutes short of material. My cooperating teacher is really good at keeping the kids busy till the last three minutes of class- till packing up time starts. I have no problems getting up in front of the students in the class, I feel very comfortable doing it- I just need major help/practice with lesson plans!!
I then proceeded to stink up the room with my micro-teaching. I really under estimated how hard it was to "teach" in front of my peers. Plus, I really didn't feel like I knew what was expected of me. Oh well, you live and you learn. I was really disappointed in myself, but that disappointment will only help me do better next time.
I then proceeded to stink up the room with my micro-teaching. I really under estimated how hard it was to "teach" in front of my peers. Plus, I really didn't feel like I knew what was expected of me. Oh well, you live and you learn. I was really disappointed in myself, but that disappointment will only help me do better next time.
Observation of teaching
Well what can I say? It could have gone better.
I want to preface by saying I had a group of kids I never see, in a different seating arrangement than normal, at a different time of day than they were used to seeing my co-op teacher. For some reason the 7th grade had to do practice testing and threw the whole day off. I found this out a couple of days before I had to teach my lesson. Bummer.
Really though, I had too much material for a 40 minute class. I need practice explaining the activity so students know exactly what I want. My co-op teacher wanted to and tried to help. Though I don't want it or need it, how do I say it?
It wasn't horrible though. The students participated and all of them worked on the activity and had something to add or say during the lesson. I encouraged them and so they were excited to participate. I really think they learned something too.
My teacher was encouraging to me as she said it was fine and she couldn't believe how well behaved and involved the students were because it was one of her hardest classes to keep quiet and focused. So that was nice. She planned on sticking with the lesson for her other classes.
I want to preface by saying I had a group of kids I never see, in a different seating arrangement than normal, at a different time of day than they were used to seeing my co-op teacher. For some reason the 7th grade had to do practice testing and threw the whole day off. I found this out a couple of days before I had to teach my lesson. Bummer.
Really though, I had too much material for a 40 minute class. I need practice explaining the activity so students know exactly what I want. My co-op teacher wanted to and tried to help. Though I don't want it or need it, how do I say it?
It wasn't horrible though. The students participated and all of them worked on the activity and had something to add or say during the lesson. I encouraged them and so they were excited to participate. I really think they learned something too.
My teacher was encouraging to me as she said it was fine and she couldn't believe how well behaved and involved the students were because it was one of her hardest classes to keep quiet and focused. So that was nice. She planned on sticking with the lesson for her other classes.
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