Today was a really great day, I've gotta say. The kids are really warming up to Shauna and I and are giving us great participation, listening, and asking great questions. We started off the lesson by showing a YouTube video about values in communities and had them respond with ways the video connected to themselves and what we have been working on. They definitely did not let us down with their reflections and created a perfect transition into our value skit activity!
We had the students perform a "whip" around the room and share the value they had previously chosen to write about and had them draw connections to similarities and respect any differences.
This set them up great to start working in their groups writing the scripts for their skits- they are each defending their value and explaining why it is important to them.
They have a field trip tomorrow so we sadly won't be going to th school, but I am excited for Thursday to hear what they are creating within their groups!
Oh as a side note- my favorite part of the lesson was when a student pronounced Aung San Suu Kyi's name as "sushi". We corrected him and wrote the proper pronunciation on the board :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Values and Turkey
Last Wednesday Shauna and I started off our mini values unit with our 8th graders and I have to say that it well really well! They had been discussing the notion of values for quite a while now and I was a little concerned we would be beating a dead horse, but I think we put a fun Turkey Day spin on it and the kids responded to it well!
We did this really cool privilege line up activity where we read a list of statements that consisted of things we as middle class Americans take for granted because we wanted the kids to see just how fortunate they are and how fortunate others might not be. They blew me away with their insights about the activity and rights and values they had themselves not only as individuals but also as a community.
To follow up that mini-lesson on values, Shauna and I began our week-long unit today with a close reading of a speech given by Aung San Suu Kyi. She is a political figure in the South-East Asian country of Myanmar that was held under house arrest for 15 years because of her political views. We had the kids work in groups to annotate her speech and perform a close reading to extract what values she portrays in her lecture and then relate them to their own lives. Our lesson was cut short at the end because we ran out of time, but I am excited to hear what the kids have to say tomorrow at the start of class! They are much smarter than I ever gave them credit for and they have so many brilliant ideas to share.
I look forward to working with these kids more closely this week and realy trying to teach them something of value (no pun intended!) and be able to leave them at the end of the week knowing I gave them something to think about in their lives outside of Feinstein Middle School.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Taking a Second Look
So over the weekend I had decided to take a step back and really think about everything I have seen, heard, and done (or not for that matter) over this past week and let it soak in.
Here's what I have come up with.
Book reports.
Letter book reports.
Revise. Revise. Revise.
Book reports.
Letter book reports.
Revise. Revise. Revise.
I am not sure if this is a middle school thing or a Coventry school thing, but having two assignments consume every minute of class time for over a week strikes me as odd. These kids are continually going over the same two works multiple times and not learning anything new. Maybe I am speaking out of turn here, but how many weeks of class time can be taken to do this?
I am really not sure if I have witnessed that much actual "teaching", as much as spitting back student work over and over again and using class time to send them off to re-type them on computers across the team.
This process makes it difficult to really get to know any of the students or practice any actual teaching. I spent my entire Wednesday of last week helping kids fix the format of their letters and basically cross their T's and dot their I's on their book reports. While this did give me a chance to try and learn and remember some of their names, I still feel like after two weeks I barely know these kids.
Luckily, the students are great sports and quite friendly (some even remember my name which is cool), so here's hoping that teaching Wednesday and four days next week will go smoothly and the kids will learn something new from us!
Here's what I have come up with.
Book reports.
Letter book reports.
Revise. Revise. Revise.
Book reports.
Letter book reports.
Revise. Revise. Revise.
I am not sure if this is a middle school thing or a Coventry school thing, but having two assignments consume every minute of class time for over a week strikes me as odd. These kids are continually going over the same two works multiple times and not learning anything new. Maybe I am speaking out of turn here, but how many weeks of class time can be taken to do this?
I am really not sure if I have witnessed that much actual "teaching", as much as spitting back student work over and over again and using class time to send them off to re-type them on computers across the team.
This process makes it difficult to really get to know any of the students or practice any actual teaching. I spent my entire Wednesday of last week helping kids fix the format of their letters and basically cross their T's and dot their I's on their book reports. While this did give me a chance to try and learn and remember some of their names, I still feel like after two weeks I barely know these kids.
Luckily, the students are great sports and quite friendly (some even remember my name which is cool), so here's hoping that teaching Wednesday and four days next week will go smoothly and the kids will learn something new from us!
Monday, November 12, 2012
A World of its Own
I had certain reservations about this middle school placement before entering the doors of Feinstein Middle School; I was worried I would not connect with my CT, feel comfortable working with such younger students, or connect with the material they were being taught After finishing my first week there, I still have these reservations, but they are less scary now. It is clear that I am better suited for a high school class room, but I am pretty confident I can adapt myself and my teaching for a middle grade room for this placement.
Our CT is great. He works so well with his students and it is clear that he took the time to get to know them, which is so important. He has a ton of energy and is very obviously comfortable in his classroom. My teaching partner and I both noticed this and recognized it as a necessary trait to possess when working with this age group. A trait that I question whether or not I myself possess.
The students themselves are very well behaved, they even applauded our presence in the room (a first for me). None of my high school students ever clapped for my being there, but again, this is a completely different world.
Over the next few weeks I hope to learn to channel the energy that my CT expresses in his classroom and be able to get to know these students who appear to be such great kids. I am excited to learn about this new world called a middle school and anxious to teach these kids something that will be beneficial to their learning.
Here goes nothing!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Making Magic
Magical. The one word I would use to describe this week that has just passed. I was able to teach 5 of my own lessons to my period 3 honors seniors, as well as continue to co-teach my CT's 10th grade classes. This is what I had been working so hard for over the past couple of years. This week, this moment, has finally come and gone and I could not feel better about it all. Pure magic.
Luckily for my TP and I, our CT has allowed us to take part in teaching her classes since our very first week in Burrillville High. She wanted us to test out our skills in a real classroom with real students and we were beyond grateful for such a fantastic and significant opportunity. It took a great deal of trust and risk giving her classroom over to a couple of practicing teachers, but fortunately we didn't let her down. Thank goodness!
Since we had been co-teaching majority of our CT's classes with her each week, we were able to create bonds and relationships with our students very early on in our practicum experience. This made it much easier for us to teach our own lessons for a week straight because the students knew us, respected us, and felt comfortable with us. Our period 3 seniors truly were very special kids and I honestly don't think we could have been given a better group of kids.
Monday's class consisted of introducing our students to the play Everyman through the vehicle of a "Tea Party", where each student was given a character to embody and they had to guess which classmates were which characters from the play. This concept caused a great deal of confusion, since the students so quickly pointed out that we had not read the play yet. My TP and I realized we should have better explained the idea of allegory to them and tried to further explain that the character's names were literally what they were. With this clarification, the students understood much better and the tea party went great! I was so impressed with how creative my students were with their characters (Beauty said he loved to look at himself in the mirror and walked around with a distinct air of confidence). Loved it!
The following two days consisted of reading the play and showing the students a video adaptation with legos on youtube that helped them better understand the basis of the play. They were struggling with the archaic language, so my TP and I provided them with a word bank to help them better understand what was being said.
Thursday was the big day that our professor came to observe us in action and our kids definitely did not let us down! We started off the lesson with a video of Dr. Seuss's Star Bellied Sneetches to show allegory and metaphor because the kids were still trying to grapple the idea in the play. They offered great examples from the video and we decided it was time to start talking about their discussion questions they had for homework. First we placed them into smaller groups of 5 or 6 to talk with each other about them to get their ideas out in the open and fill in anyone who was absent the day before (there was a field trip). Once we moved into larger discussion in the extra room our CT had coined the "salon" (there were comfortable chairs and a calming atmosphere), students from each group wrote "talking points" (areas they struggled with, wanted to discuss further, or felt strongly about) up on the board and our discussion began. My TP and I could not have been happier with the results! These kids were just so smart and willing to talk about the themes and concepts of the play. My TP and I just need to learn to say less and let them say more (we were just so excited), but that is something we are both going to work on!
Friday finished up the week with group adaptations of the play and they were a range of funny, clever, and gangster (yes, gangster). The kids showed that they not only understood the concept of the play as well as the characters, but they also had fun with it and showed their creativity! It was a teacher candidate's dream come true.
Overall, I could not have asked for a better experience at Burrillville High School and I am beyond sad that at 11 am on Friday I had to leave them. We had created bonds with so many of them (many of them asked if we would come back to visit) and it was so hard to say goodbye! They taught us so much more than we could have ever taught them and for that I am forever grateful! During this month spent inside the walls of their school, these kids have taught me who I am as a person, mentor, and educator and I learned more in this short period of time than my entire RIC career! I now am fully aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and cannot wait to progress in my journey as an educator and fine tune my instruments along the way!
Luckily for my TP and I, our CT has allowed us to take part in teaching her classes since our very first week in Burrillville High. She wanted us to test out our skills in a real classroom with real students and we were beyond grateful for such a fantastic and significant opportunity. It took a great deal of trust and risk giving her classroom over to a couple of practicing teachers, but fortunately we didn't let her down. Thank goodness!
Since we had been co-teaching majority of our CT's classes with her each week, we were able to create bonds and relationships with our students very early on in our practicum experience. This made it much easier for us to teach our own lessons for a week straight because the students knew us, respected us, and felt comfortable with us. Our period 3 seniors truly were very special kids and I honestly don't think we could have been given a better group of kids.
Monday's class consisted of introducing our students to the play Everyman through the vehicle of a "Tea Party", where each student was given a character to embody and they had to guess which classmates were which characters from the play. This concept caused a great deal of confusion, since the students so quickly pointed out that we had not read the play yet. My TP and I realized we should have better explained the idea of allegory to them and tried to further explain that the character's names were literally what they were. With this clarification, the students understood much better and the tea party went great! I was so impressed with how creative my students were with their characters (Beauty said he loved to look at himself in the mirror and walked around with a distinct air of confidence). Loved it!
The following two days consisted of reading the play and showing the students a video adaptation with legos on youtube that helped them better understand the basis of the play. They were struggling with the archaic language, so my TP and I provided them with a word bank to help them better understand what was being said.
Thursday was the big day that our professor came to observe us in action and our kids definitely did not let us down! We started off the lesson with a video of Dr. Seuss's Star Bellied Sneetches to show allegory and metaphor because the kids were still trying to grapple the idea in the play. They offered great examples from the video and we decided it was time to start talking about their discussion questions they had for homework. First we placed them into smaller groups of 5 or 6 to talk with each other about them to get their ideas out in the open and fill in anyone who was absent the day before (there was a field trip). Once we moved into larger discussion in the extra room our CT had coined the "salon" (there were comfortable chairs and a calming atmosphere), students from each group wrote "talking points" (areas they struggled with, wanted to discuss further, or felt strongly about) up on the board and our discussion began. My TP and I could not have been happier with the results! These kids were just so smart and willing to talk about the themes and concepts of the play. My TP and I just need to learn to say less and let them say more (we were just so excited), but that is something we are both going to work on!
Friday finished up the week with group adaptations of the play and they were a range of funny, clever, and gangster (yes, gangster). The kids showed that they not only understood the concept of the play as well as the characters, but they also had fun with it and showed their creativity! It was a teacher candidate's dream come true.
Overall, I could not have asked for a better experience at Burrillville High School and I am beyond sad that at 11 am on Friday I had to leave them. We had created bonds with so many of them (many of them asked if we would come back to visit) and it was so hard to say goodbye! They taught us so much more than we could have ever taught them and for that I am forever grateful! During this month spent inside the walls of their school, these kids have taught me who I am as a person, mentor, and educator and I learned more in this short period of time than my entire RIC career! I now am fully aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and cannot wait to progress in my journey as an educator and fine tune my instruments along the way!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Unexpected Surprises
To be completely blunt and one hundred percent honest, at the start of my visit at Burrillville High School, my period 7 Sophomore English class scared me. Yes, the truth comes out here and now.
It wasn't like 'BOO!' scary, but more along the lines of 'these kids try everything they can think of to get the lesson off task, distract their classmates, and call unnecessary attention to themselves' scary and I had to teach them.
Now, don't get me wrong, it was a complete honor and amazing opportunity for my teaching partner and I to teach classes outside of our chosen class that we were going to make lessons for (period 3 seniors). Our cooperating teacher is truly fantastic and wants us to have as much practice and experience as possible during our visit in her classroom and for that I am eternally grateful.
However, period 7 gave me some serious anxiety.
Until today.
I spent over an hour pouring over the article explaining the game for The Devil and Tom Walker and felt pretty ready to teach this lesson two periods in a row. I knew period 7 would be coming in first thing in the morning and that my teaching partner and I were going to have to be on point and ready to start from the ring of the bell. As they walked in we sent them to certain groups (we had already organized the chairs into groups) and much to my relief they listened. We began the game after running through the directions several times to ensure everyone understood what we were doing and it went surprisingly well!
Believe it or not, period 7 gave us less trouble than the following 10th grade class, as well as worked quicker and put a little more effort into their writing prompts at the close of class! I was truly amazed with these kids and had realized how silly my fears of them were. During the lesson they were respectful and paid attention, which was a distinct change from our last meeting. I think the fact that we were familiar faces and we remembered most of their names and used them to call on them gained us some bonus points and we felt a bond truly begin.
It was such a great moment for me as a teacher when one of the most reluctant students in the period 7 class said, "I could literally do this all day." Just wow. I love that they loved the lesson and that they got even more out of it than we had wanted them to by the end!
I now truly know to not judge a book by its cover and to never underestimate my students ability to produce quality work, participate enthusiastically, and pleasantly surprise me!
It wasn't like 'BOO!' scary, but more along the lines of 'these kids try everything they can think of to get the lesson off task, distract their classmates, and call unnecessary attention to themselves' scary and I had to teach them.
Now, don't get me wrong, it was a complete honor and amazing opportunity for my teaching partner and I to teach classes outside of our chosen class that we were going to make lessons for (period 3 seniors). Our cooperating teacher is truly fantastic and wants us to have as much practice and experience as possible during our visit in her classroom and for that I am eternally grateful.
However, period 7 gave me some serious anxiety.
Until today.
I spent over an hour pouring over the article explaining the game for The Devil and Tom Walker and felt pretty ready to teach this lesson two periods in a row. I knew period 7 would be coming in first thing in the morning and that my teaching partner and I were going to have to be on point and ready to start from the ring of the bell. As they walked in we sent them to certain groups (we had already organized the chairs into groups) and much to my relief they listened. We began the game after running through the directions several times to ensure everyone understood what we were doing and it went surprisingly well!
Believe it or not, period 7 gave us less trouble than the following 10th grade class, as well as worked quicker and put a little more effort into their writing prompts at the close of class! I was truly amazed with these kids and had realized how silly my fears of them were. During the lesson they were respectful and paid attention, which was a distinct change from our last meeting. I think the fact that we were familiar faces and we remembered most of their names and used them to call on them gained us some bonus points and we felt a bond truly begin.
It was such a great moment for me as a teacher when one of the most reluctant students in the period 7 class said, "I could literally do this all day." Just wow. I love that they loved the lesson and that they got even more out of it than we had wanted them to by the end!
I now truly know to not judge a book by its cover and to never underestimate my students ability to produce quality work, participate enthusiastically, and pleasantly surprise me!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A Change of Pace
Last Thursday my teaching partner, Courtney, and I were introduced to Lisa Carpenter's period 7 sophomores for the first time. Let me just say, it was quite the change from the honors seniors I had been getting used to. Not to say that I enjoyed these new students any less, they were just very different. Most of the class was made up of students with IEP's and there was even an ELL student mixed into this class. I could tell they were a roudy bunch of kids right from the start because they were already out of their seats, super chatty, and very loud.
Challenge accepted.
Courtney and I positioned ourselves strategically in the classroom while going over the students' Crucible crossword puzzles that they were supposed to have completed for homework. I was walking the aisles while Courtney posted at the front of the room where she could survey everyone. It took a little while and some efforts to get them focused, but we ended up getting a good variety of the students to share their answers before we moved on to reading Act 5 of the play.
It was a struggle figuring out who wanted which parts and getting students to volunteer to read, but once they finally started and got going they did pretty good.
Until there was a bug next to one student's chair. Who knew a single bug could get 7 different students so off track?
Courtney nipped the issue in the bud, though, by brushing it off and urging them to continue. She's awesome, I am very lucky.
Besides a little chatting here and there that we immediately hushed (I was standing right in the middle of the desks where the chattiest girls were), the rest of the lesson went on pretty smoothly.
Lessons of the day for teaching lower level kids:
-Take things slow
-Prevent talking and goofing off by standing right with the kids
-Get them involved
-Don't let them run the room!
Challenge accepted.
Courtney and I positioned ourselves strategically in the classroom while going over the students' Crucible crossword puzzles that they were supposed to have completed for homework. I was walking the aisles while Courtney posted at the front of the room where she could survey everyone. It took a little while and some efforts to get them focused, but we ended up getting a good variety of the students to share their answers before we moved on to reading Act 5 of the play.
It was a struggle figuring out who wanted which parts and getting students to volunteer to read, but once they finally started and got going they did pretty good.
Until there was a bug next to one student's chair. Who knew a single bug could get 7 different students so off track?
Courtney nipped the issue in the bud, though, by brushing it off and urging them to continue. She's awesome, I am very lucky.
Besides a little chatting here and there that we immediately hushed (I was standing right in the middle of the desks where the chattiest girls were), the rest of the lesson went on pretty smoothly.
Lessons of the day for teaching lower level kids:
-Take things slow
-Prevent talking and goofing off by standing right with the kids
-Get them involved
-Don't let them run the room!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Week 1 is done and I'm still standing!
Sitting here at my kitchen table on a Thursday night after a very long week of early mornings, teacher clothes, and lesson planning I am completely exhausted, but also 100% satisfied and excited for more!
[Waking up at 6 am is most definitely not one of my more favored activities as an upcoming teacher, but I'll get over it.]
So all my anxieties and fears were calmed the minute I walked into Lisa Carpenter's 10th grade English class as she gave my partner Courtney and I a warm smile and welcomed us to sit amongst the students in their desks. They were starting to read Act 2 of The Crucible and Lisa allowed Court and I to participate and assigned us both roles from the play. It was a lot of fun being able to take part in the class and with the class so we could familiarize ourselves with not only the students, but classroom structure as well (she later informed us that her 10th graders had assigned seating). The students read pretty well for being in 10th grade and I was impressed with the amount of students who volunteered to read aloud. Court and I observed two of these 10th grade classes in a row (Lisa makes sure to keep all her classes on the same pace) before we were introduced to a short 12 minute advisory period, and then finally both senior classes.
Simply put, these seniors are awesome.
I was in all the honors classes and EEP classes at North Providence when I was in high school, so I am familiar with the curriculum and the work ethic expectancy for the students in these types of classes. However, I felt like these kids exceeded my expectations (maybe because I was observing them with my teacher lens for the first time, rather than when I was actually a student in those classes at one time) and they really hit the ball out of the park more than my honors classmates had done. The seniors were just starting Sam Shepard's play A Buried Child, an American Gothic genre play about a highly dysfunctional family in the 70s whom have lost the American Dream ideal. I was given the opportunity to read aloud in class one of the main character's parts, Halie, but Lisa had forgotten to assign the other role in the first act, Dodge. I began reading nonetheless, as she directed me to, and channeled my crazy mother as I read my lines. When Dodge's first line came up I looked up from my book and sweetly said "I need a Dodge." I was absolutely delighted when a boy sitting across the room just started reading Dodge's lines and quite convincingly, I must add! We bantered our lines back and forth to each other for the next few minutes and the class was light hearted and full of laughter and lines as this old couple shouted to each other across their house. Such a great moment for me as a teacher. I loved it.
Then yesterday, Court and I were privileged enough to chaperone this great group of 12th graders as well as the other class (they were taking a quiz during their period on Monday) on their field trip to Trinity Rep to see a performance of King Lear. Again I was amazed by these 17 and 18 year old kids. We certainly had the best group in there; our kids were attentive, respectful, and most definitely intrigued by the spectacle before them. Some of the boys were even leaning forward on their seats, being so enthralled by the performance. It was really cool going on my first field trip as a teacher and not as a student. I found myself constantly looking over at my kids and making sure everyone was watching, enjoying, and behaving, which of course they were. Their maturity and ability to conduct themselves appropriately really impressed me and gave me a great deal of respect for them. I loved chatting with them on the bus and being able to talk with Lisa outside of the classroom, on a more personal, yet still professional, level.
Now for today's events.
Today really solidified for me that teaching truly is my passion and what I want to be doing for the rest of my life and that is such a great feeling.
Today Courtney and I were able to take the lead and teach two full class periods after observing the first one and reading lines from the Crucible with one 10th grade class. The first class we taught was a replica of the first period 10th grade class and Court and I went over vocabulary words from Acts 3 and 4 of The Crucible and then assigned reading roles to the students as we finished through to the end of Act 3. It was a little lackluster at first, so Courtney and I began motivating the students, explaining how their characters were feeling and what was happening, and pushing them to really convey the emotions of their characters. It worked. These 10th graders who minutes previously were simply reading in monotone voices had suddenly turned into excited readers who were reading with emphasis and laughter abounded. It was such a great moment to watch as these kids got so into such a complicated text and to hear the football quarterback (he was reading Abigial's lines, funny, I know) actually say "that was fun", well I almost fell to the floor.
Our second class we taught was our talented seniors who were now starting the second act of A Buried Child and they entertained us once again with their reading and critical thinking talents. They needed little guidance or encouragement to really get into the text, but we gave it anyway. We were more than pleased with the results and read through half of the act before stopping them. We then introduced them to SDQR charts and worked with them to fill it in for the play so far. Our CT liked this so much she actually made their homework to finish their charts they had written in their notebooks and we would go over it the next time we came back.
This week was more than I could have hoped for and I am beyond excited to continue learning from my CT as well as my students!
[Waking up at 6 am is most definitely not one of my more favored activities as an upcoming teacher, but I'll get over it.]
So all my anxieties and fears were calmed the minute I walked into Lisa Carpenter's 10th grade English class as she gave my partner Courtney and I a warm smile and welcomed us to sit amongst the students in their desks. They were starting to read Act 2 of The Crucible and Lisa allowed Court and I to participate and assigned us both roles from the play. It was a lot of fun being able to take part in the class and with the class so we could familiarize ourselves with not only the students, but classroom structure as well (she later informed us that her 10th graders had assigned seating). The students read pretty well for being in 10th grade and I was impressed with the amount of students who volunteered to read aloud. Court and I observed two of these 10th grade classes in a row (Lisa makes sure to keep all her classes on the same pace) before we were introduced to a short 12 minute advisory period, and then finally both senior classes.
Simply put, these seniors are awesome.
I was in all the honors classes and EEP classes at North Providence when I was in high school, so I am familiar with the curriculum and the work ethic expectancy for the students in these types of classes. However, I felt like these kids exceeded my expectations (maybe because I was observing them with my teacher lens for the first time, rather than when I was actually a student in those classes at one time) and they really hit the ball out of the park more than my honors classmates had done. The seniors were just starting Sam Shepard's play A Buried Child, an American Gothic genre play about a highly dysfunctional family in the 70s whom have lost the American Dream ideal. I was given the opportunity to read aloud in class one of the main character's parts, Halie, but Lisa had forgotten to assign the other role in the first act, Dodge. I began reading nonetheless, as she directed me to, and channeled my crazy mother as I read my lines. When Dodge's first line came up I looked up from my book and sweetly said "I need a Dodge." I was absolutely delighted when a boy sitting across the room just started reading Dodge's lines and quite convincingly, I must add! We bantered our lines back and forth to each other for the next few minutes and the class was light hearted and full of laughter and lines as this old couple shouted to each other across their house. Such a great moment for me as a teacher. I loved it.
Then yesterday, Court and I were privileged enough to chaperone this great group of 12th graders as well as the other class (they were taking a quiz during their period on Monday) on their field trip to Trinity Rep to see a performance of King Lear. Again I was amazed by these 17 and 18 year old kids. We certainly had the best group in there; our kids were attentive, respectful, and most definitely intrigued by the spectacle before them. Some of the boys were even leaning forward on their seats, being so enthralled by the performance. It was really cool going on my first field trip as a teacher and not as a student. I found myself constantly looking over at my kids and making sure everyone was watching, enjoying, and behaving, which of course they were. Their maturity and ability to conduct themselves appropriately really impressed me and gave me a great deal of respect for them. I loved chatting with them on the bus and being able to talk with Lisa outside of the classroom, on a more personal, yet still professional, level.
Now for today's events.
Today really solidified for me that teaching truly is my passion and what I want to be doing for the rest of my life and that is such a great feeling.
Today Courtney and I were able to take the lead and teach two full class periods after observing the first one and reading lines from the Crucible with one 10th grade class. The first class we taught was a replica of the first period 10th grade class and Court and I went over vocabulary words from Acts 3 and 4 of The Crucible and then assigned reading roles to the students as we finished through to the end of Act 3. It was a little lackluster at first, so Courtney and I began motivating the students, explaining how their characters were feeling and what was happening, and pushing them to really convey the emotions of their characters. It worked. These 10th graders who minutes previously were simply reading in monotone voices had suddenly turned into excited readers who were reading with emphasis and laughter abounded. It was such a great moment to watch as these kids got so into such a complicated text and to hear the football quarterback (he was reading Abigial's lines, funny, I know) actually say "that was fun", well I almost fell to the floor.
Our second class we taught was our talented seniors who were now starting the second act of A Buried Child and they entertained us once again with their reading and critical thinking talents. They needed little guidance or encouragement to really get into the text, but we gave it anyway. We were more than pleased with the results and read through half of the act before stopping them. We then introduced them to SDQR charts and worked with them to fill it in for the play so far. Our CT liked this so much she actually made their homework to finish their charts they had written in their notebooks and we would go over it the next time we came back.
This week was more than I could have hoped for and I am beyond excited to continue learning from my CT as well as my students!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Practicum Premonitions
As of this moment, right now, sitting on my bed in my pajamas at 10:45 on Friday morning, I'm feeling pretty relaxed about going to Burriville High School next Monday with Courtney. Ask me how I'm feeling Sunday night, sitting in this same spot (different pj's), and I can guarantee the word "relaxed" will be temporarily lost from my vocabulary.
With that being said, I am actually really excited to get out into the field and start working with real students in a real high school classroom and a real teacher that will serve as a great resource! The idea of being awake, dressed, and out of the house by 7 AM on Monday morning is a little disheartening, but nothing I cannot handle or get used to! :) (I won't be smiling when my alarm goes off at 6 AM, though)
My CT seems really great and excited to welcome us into her classroom, which makes me feel a lot better about strolling into her classroom October 1 and not leaving until Halloween. She has informed us that she teaches 12th grade drama, which I think is going to be fun and exciting to be a part of, as well as 10th grade English. I am interested to see the differences between the two classes and get a feel for the different classroom atmospheres and communities.
Fears and anxieties?
Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying I have any fears for this practicum placement, but I am anxious to get in there, meet everyone, and start getting to know the students so Court and I can start planning our lessons accordingly. I am also anxious to find out what my CT is currently teaching in her classes and what Courtney and I will most likely be teaching!
Overall, I am a tossed salad with a bunch of different emotions and expectations, but a few extra croutons never hurt anyone, right?
I think this is going to be a really great experience and I am going to look back at this blog and laugh at how anxious I was and how much I will have grown in these upcoming four weeks of teacher living!
A little side note to everyone in class, we have been training and waiting for this moment for three years. I believe in all of you and you should all believe in yourselves as well! We got this. Just have fun and be passionate and everything else will fall into place!
-1, 2, 3, out.
With that being said, I am actually really excited to get out into the field and start working with real students in a real high school classroom and a real teacher that will serve as a great resource! The idea of being awake, dressed, and out of the house by 7 AM on Monday morning is a little disheartening, but nothing I cannot handle or get used to! :) (I won't be smiling when my alarm goes off at 6 AM, though)
My CT seems really great and excited to welcome us into her classroom, which makes me feel a lot better about strolling into her classroom October 1 and not leaving until Halloween. She has informed us that she teaches 12th grade drama, which I think is going to be fun and exciting to be a part of, as well as 10th grade English. I am interested to see the differences between the two classes and get a feel for the different classroom atmospheres and communities.
Fears and anxieties?
Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying I have any fears for this practicum placement, but I am anxious to get in there, meet everyone, and start getting to know the students so Court and I can start planning our lessons accordingly. I am also anxious to find out what my CT is currently teaching in her classes and what Courtney and I will most likely be teaching!
Overall, I am a tossed salad with a bunch of different emotions and expectations, but a few extra croutons never hurt anyone, right?
I think this is going to be a really great experience and I am going to look back at this blog and laugh at how anxious I was and how much I will have grown in these upcoming four weeks of teacher living!
A little side note to everyone in class, we have been training and waiting for this moment for three years. I believe in all of you and you should all believe in yourselves as well! We got this. Just have fun and be passionate and everything else will fall into place!
-1, 2, 3, out.
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