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!
Kayla, I'm so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteI'm super impressed with your ability to remember names. I've been studying seating charts, trying to match human beings with names for a few weeks and I'm struggling big time. But I think there's so much in remembering a name. It definitely shows them you think they're important, even though you're not a permanent feature in their classroom.
What exactly did you do- you played a game? I'd love to see it! We'll have to chit-chat tomorrow! :)
Kayla, I'm so proud that you learned not to underestimate or being scared of your "scary" classes. Students can always surprise you in the best of ways. Today, Ashlee and I began our two classes by telling the students that it was our last day and referred them to our email addresses on the board in case they wanted to ask us any questions or simply keep in touch. Period 1 didn't surprise us by sighing and groaning "NOOOOO! You guys can't leave us!!!!" but we were not expecting the same reaction from Period 2. To my surprise, most of them reacted in much the same manner! You need to light a fire under their butts and show 'em ya know what you're doing sometimes to evoke emotion and control. Well done!
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