anticipation

This week was a week of emotions. Last week I touched on the fact that needed to be stricter with my students...lay down the law of sorts. This week I tried my hand at having a firmer hand. I first thought it would be very difficult, just because that is not my personality, but I did not have a hard time committing to my firm standards. At first, my students tested me, but I stuck with my guns and did not let them walk all over me. I hope to continue this next week.

Since I found out that I was teaching Lord of the Flies and Great Gatsby, I was so excited to do anticipatory activities. I believe that discussing themes of the book before reading the book is extremely important. It allows students to be thinking about certain themes so when they encounter them in the book, they are more apt to noticing them.

For Lord of the Flies I wanted to simulate being stranded on a deserted island. The main goal of this activity was to have students think about what they would do if they were in that situation. What would be their first priority? How would they make decisions? Would there be a leader? How would they get food and water? Obviously, the students would not deal with ALL the issue in Lord of the Flies because there is ...well....murder. After listening to their conversations, I could tell that they were really giving some thought to the situation. Some groups really focused on surviving long term where other groups focused on short-term survival with the hope to be rescued.

I had a lot of positive feedback from this activity from the students. To me it seemed like a sneaky way to have them learn.

The anticipatory set I had for the Great Gatsby involved the students answer a series of questions with true or false. The questions were controversial such as "There is no such thing as true love," "Reality is what you make of it," and "You should not be punished for accidentally doing something wrong." After they individually answered these questions, they then had to defend their opinions in front of the class.

I did this activity with the class that I usually struggle with behavior, but before I had them engage in discussion, I set ground rules. They did really well! And I even had students come up to me after telling me that they loved the activity. Discussion is my favorite classroom tool. I think students learn so much more by discussing with each other rather than listening to a teacher lecture.

Overall, this was a good week.

Teacher First

It is hard to believe that I am finished with my third week of student teaching. It seems as though I just started and, at the same time, that I have been doing this forever.

One thing in particular stands out at me as I reflect on my week.

To give some context. I have four English 10 Honors classes and one English 11 class. My little tenth graders are adorable and attentive and care about what I have to teach. My eleventh grade class is from something not found in the heavens. When I observed this class, I had fun with the kids. But as soon as I transitioned into the role of the teacher, I was not taken seriously. I was just the person from the back of the class that came to the front and tried to take over. They did not take me seriously. And I was at a loss. Beside yelling, how was I supposed to make these kids listen to me?

After this traumatic period, I rushed off to my sweet little tenth graders who were nothing but angels for me. I had time during their period to reflect on my previous and I realized that I cannot be super fun with my eleventh graders as I am with my tenth. My attitude in my eleventh grade class needs to be more stern. I cannot be their friend first, which I think I was trying to do. I need to be their teacher. After all, that is what I am here for.

Fast forward a couple days later when I have them again. I prepped myself by getting into a more stern mood. Even though they were taking a standardized test, they still acted better towards me. I felt more in control and felt that they gave me more of their attention. I know this is something I will have to work with a lot with this class, but I feel as if now I am going in the right direction.

This has been a whirlwind of a week for me. I will be honest and say that I was very emotional. Going into this week, I felt prepared. But after the first day, with my eleventh graders, I felt a huge rush of stress. I think I have been carrying this stress for a while, but it just did not manifest until this week. It was a little shocking and I am still recovering. With that being said, I feel good about next week and my lesson plans, so that is comforting.

I just have to keep in perspective that I am still learning. I am not a perfect teacher and I do not know everything, that is why I am here. I need to rely on my thick skin and become more humble to everything that I can be taught during my time here.

But, I am hopeful!

Week dos (means two in spanish)

I am at the end of week two of my fourteen weeks of student teaching. The past two weeks have been mostly about observing and preparing for my upcoming teaching. Luckily, this week I was able to substitute teach for one of my teachers. That day was much needed. I needed that extra boost that teaching is what I wanted to do. Being up in front of the students helped reassure me that I have  a passion for this.

Since I have had a gargantuan amount of time to prep, I feel prepared for the coming weeks. I have the general idea of what I want to do, I just do not have the day to day lesson plans. That is important for me for a couple reasons. First, I will not feel like I am tied down to a lesson plan just because I spent time on it. I have the flexibility to change my schedule up according to my students. Secondly, I cannot or do not want to think that far in advance. It sort of overloads my brain. Like these past two weeks where I have had time to prep everyday and observe has just fried my brain, which I think is a good thing. It means I need to be up with the students and interacting and not just sitting at my desk.

I noticed one thing in particular this week: complaining. Everywhere there seems to be complaints thrown around. It is exhausting, since I am not one to throw out complaints every few minutes. Maybe this is something that teachers need to do to survive their days, but that makes me nervous! I do not want to turn into a teacher who has to complain to survive. That is a negativity I will not accept for my life. When students complain it is not so bad. I expect that. Teenagers will complain at anything. I mean, I still wish they knew how good, especially at this school, they have it. But that kind of knowledge only comes when they are graduated a couple years, if at all.

Another thing I noticed is how much of a problem cell phones are. I mean. These kids have them out every second of the day. So I am scheming a way to stop that. Basically, I will have a zero-tolerance policy for phones. It I see it, I am going to take it. We will see how it goes...I am hopeful.

So here I am, on a Friday. Preparing for my first week as a teacher, albeit a student-teacher. These kids are going to look to me for what they are learning. It hasn't all hit in yet...but I am sure it will the restless night before.