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!
Cute that you are already calling them "my kids!"
ReplyDelete