Hi everyone! Today was my fourth day of student teaching and it went very well!
My first period humanities class was good...the kids in there are definitely high powered students. They were sort of quiet today but it was basically their first day since Ms. G was absent on Friday. We played an ice breaker with them where they picked a term, defintion, or example out of a hat then had to find the two other people that went with them. Then they introduced themselves and gave their own example of the term they had. It went very well. Next they broke into groups and went over a poem called "Thesaurus" and we discussed it as a class. Finally, Ms. G introduced Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which they will read for homework tonight.
Second period was Modern American Lit with my lower level students. After going over classroom rules and policies they played the ice breaker Student Bingo. They bingo cards had things like "Born in a state other than Massachusetts," "plays an instrument," etc. on them and they had to go around and find people to fit each square. It went well and they did not get out of control or too loud which I was pleasantly surprised about. Next we did a Jump-In response to the short story "The Father." A Jump-In is when the desks are arranged into a circle and the students sit on the desks facing the middle. Someone starts the discussion and whoever wants to respond or bring up a new idea literally jumps into the middle where they get to talk. Only one person is allowed standing at a time. They were sort of shy but several students took turns going in and out of the circle.
My third period Humanities class is a great group! They are already comfortable and talkative with each other which is great. Before lunch we went to the computer lab to look at a comic strip that was a great illustration of "Allegory." The students seemed to like it and said that the visual component helped them understand the story better. Then it was lunch time which is always fun because a great group of teachers, including Drew and Colleen, have lunch at the same time as I do. I feel like all the teachers have really welcomed us and include us in their conversations. Then it was back to class where the students were broken up into groups of four and were given directions on making a skit, story, visual, etc. on a modernization of the "Allegory." They could choose whatever scenario they came up with and some of them sound really interesting so far. They had half the block to prepare today and will get half the block tomorrow, taking the second half to present their stories to the class. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. When I was observing in the fall I saw students in a different class do the same activity and they did such a great job!
Fourth period I had off and I was planning on doing some prep work for my mini unit on Hemingway but I ended up just talking to Ms. G the entire time. That was okay though because we got to know one another better which I think is important.
Oh! And my outfit! Today I wore black pants, flat black shoes and a white button shirt. Somehow (I literally have NO idea how) during first period, my pen got stuck in my hair (I know, right?) and I ended up getting blue pen on the front of my crisp white shirt. So I spent the rest of the day making sure my hair was covering it. I think I succeeded in hiding it all day but I KNOW someone must have caught me with a pen hanging from my hair. Oh well!
So now I'm home listening to the weather and trying to figure out if I'll have another snow day this week!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day Three: First Day With My Students!
Today was my first real day of school! I have 3 classes, 2 Humanities and 1 Modern American Lit. My first 2 periods I have with my cooperating teacher who I will call Ms. G. Ms. G. wasn't there today so there was a sub which was sort of annoying. I didn't really get to meet the kids since they were left some silent assignments to do. First block I had Humanities, which is a Level 1 Honors class. Since they were only writing reflection papers I couldn't get a good sense of who they are but they seemed to be working hard and staying on task. I read their response papers and was able to get some background information on them and their families, what they like to do, etc. I love learning that stuff about them. I want to do my best to try to bring their interests into my lessons and connect with them about stuff that we have in common.
Second block I was in the same room, this time for Modern American Lit. This class is a lower level 2/3 course which will be somewhat of a challenge. They also only did silent work since there was a sub so I didn't get to know them much either. I have only made it through some of their response papers but a lot of them have talked about how they don't really like English as a subject and don't like to read or write. I even have an ESL student so that will definitely be a challenge but I'm glad that I will be exposed to all different types of learners and personalities.
Third block I had another Humanities class, this time with my second cooperating teacher, who I will call Ms. E. The class read Plato's Allegory of the Cave and responded to it in a class discussion. They did really well with it and so many different kids were raising their hands to talk, which was awesome! They had second lunch so after meeting for 20 or so minutes they headed off to lunch and I went upstairs to the English lunchroom. A great group of teachers has lunch that block so they were all there AND Drew and Colleen have that lunch too so it's perfect. After lunch I went back to Humanities for 40 minutes then class was over.
I have fourth block off so I went to grab the keys from Drew to use the restroom then spent the rest of the time in the English workroom reading my students' reflection essays. Before I knew it it was 2:05 and the bell to end the day was ringing. I went to Mr. G's room (he is our supervisor who we had as one of our ed teachers and is one of Drew's cooperating teachers). I met Drew and Colleen there and we got our coats, which we left in Mr. G.'s closet. Then it was off to the car to meet Mary.
All in all it was a reallyyy good day! I love having last block off and I can't wait to start really diving into the material and interacting with the kids. And I didn't even need a nap after school! Yay! Oh, and I figured I would fill all of you in on my new adorable teacher clothes! So today I got to wear jeans because it's Friday, then I wore a light blue collarded button down with flat blue shoes. The other day I wore skinny black dress pants, an off-white cami, and a purple sweater over it with flat black shoes. And, oh so cute, me and Drew have matched both days so far! And he definitely hates me for saying that :)
Now it's the weekend! Tonight Josh and I are going to the Merrimack-UVM hockey game here at school. Tomorrow they are playing again and it's on NESN which is really cool! We are going, obviously, and so are my mom and dad and Josh's dad. It should be really fun!
Enjoy your weekend!
Katie
Second block I was in the same room, this time for Modern American Lit. This class is a lower level 2/3 course which will be somewhat of a challenge. They also only did silent work since there was a sub so I didn't get to know them much either. I have only made it through some of their response papers but a lot of them have talked about how they don't really like English as a subject and don't like to read or write. I even have an ESL student so that will definitely be a challenge but I'm glad that I will be exposed to all different types of learners and personalities.
Third block I had another Humanities class, this time with my second cooperating teacher, who I will call Ms. E. The class read Plato's Allegory of the Cave and responded to it in a class discussion. They did really well with it and so many different kids were raising their hands to talk, which was awesome! They had second lunch so after meeting for 20 or so minutes they headed off to lunch and I went upstairs to the English lunchroom. A great group of teachers has lunch that block so they were all there AND Drew and Colleen have that lunch too so it's perfect. After lunch I went back to Humanities for 40 minutes then class was over.
I have fourth block off so I went to grab the keys from Drew to use the restroom then spent the rest of the time in the English workroom reading my students' reflection essays. Before I knew it it was 2:05 and the bell to end the day was ringing. I went to Mr. G's room (he is our supervisor who we had as one of our ed teachers and is one of Drew's cooperating teachers). I met Drew and Colleen there and we got our coats, which we left in Mr. G.'s closet. Then it was off to the car to meet Mary.
All in all it was a reallyyy good day! I love having last block off and I can't wait to start really diving into the material and interacting with the kids. And I didn't even need a nap after school! Yay! Oh, and I figured I would fill all of you in on my new adorable teacher clothes! So today I got to wear jeans because it's Friday, then I wore a light blue collarded button down with flat blue shoes. The other day I wore skinny black dress pants, an off-white cami, and a purple sweater over it with flat black shoes. And, oh so cute, me and Drew have matched both days so far! And he definitely hates me for saying that :)
Now it's the weekend! Tonight Josh and I are going to the Merrimack-UVM hockey game here at school. Tomorrow they are playing again and it's on NESN which is really cool! We are going, obviously, and so are my mom and dad and Josh's dad. It should be really fun!
Enjoy your weekend!
Katie
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Day Two: Snow Day!
Just got the word that there is no school today! Unfortunately, I'm wide awake since I went to bed so early. Oh well. I'm suuure I'll fall asleep again soon :) Today I'm going to relax, stay in my pjs all day and get some planning done!
Katie
Katie
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Day One: DONE!
Today I started my student teaching journey!
It was not a regular school day today; it was the make-up exam day, so basically anyone who missed an exam last week came to take it today. So there were only about 20 kids in the building all day which was good because it gave us a whole day in the school to just get stuff done, meet people, etc.
Colleen, Drew, Mary and I carpooled in this morning which was good. When we got there Mary headed off to the science wing of the building and the three of us went to the main office where we met some lady who brought us to the English Chair's office. She wasn't there so we looked around at the English work room (where we can go during our prep period) and the English lunch room. We then went over to our coordinators classroom, who is Drew's cooperating teacher. We hung around and chatted with him for a while until the English Department meeting at 9. The three of us sat in on the meeting then afterwards we each went to see our cooperating teachers. We went over a few things with them in terms of the units we will be teaching and how the first few days will go. After a while of meeting we all met for lunch and discussed all the things we are nervous/excited about. I am SO glad that Drew and Colleen are with me; I would have felt so much more overwhelmed today without them. I'm excited that we can share ideas and work together on lesson planning. It's also good that we can have 2 other people who know exactly what we are feeling and going through.
After lunch we each met with our second cooperating teachers. We each have 2 classes with 1 teacher and 1 class with another teacher. My meeting with my second teacher didn't last very long so I went back to first teacher. Drew happened to be in the same room because his second teacher and my first share a room. His teacher decided to take us to the copy room to get us used to using the machines so we did that for about a half hour then went back to the room for a little while. Finally, we met Colleen in the library and got our stuff together to head home.
All in all it was a good day and I'm glad we had such a quiet day to get used to being there. I'm not nearly as tired as I expected to be, although I'm sure there will be days that I am beyond exhausted. Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester so I'll get to meet all of my new students which I'm super excited about. It is supposed to snow tonight though so there is a chance that we have a snow day. We'll see.
Katie
It was not a regular school day today; it was the make-up exam day, so basically anyone who missed an exam last week came to take it today. So there were only about 20 kids in the building all day which was good because it gave us a whole day in the school to just get stuff done, meet people, etc.
Colleen, Drew, Mary and I carpooled in this morning which was good. When we got there Mary headed off to the science wing of the building and the three of us went to the main office where we met some lady who brought us to the English Chair's office. She wasn't there so we looked around at the English work room (where we can go during our prep period) and the English lunch room. We then went over to our coordinators classroom, who is Drew's cooperating teacher. We hung around and chatted with him for a while until the English Department meeting at 9. The three of us sat in on the meeting then afterwards we each went to see our cooperating teachers. We went over a few things with them in terms of the units we will be teaching and how the first few days will go. After a while of meeting we all met for lunch and discussed all the things we are nervous/excited about. I am SO glad that Drew and Colleen are with me; I would have felt so much more overwhelmed today without them. I'm excited that we can share ideas and work together on lesson planning. It's also good that we can have 2 other people who know exactly what we are feeling and going through.
After lunch we each met with our second cooperating teachers. We each have 2 classes with 1 teacher and 1 class with another teacher. My meeting with my second teacher didn't last very long so I went back to first teacher. Drew happened to be in the same room because his second teacher and my first share a room. His teacher decided to take us to the copy room to get us used to using the machines so we did that for about a half hour then went back to the room for a little while. Finally, we met Colleen in the library and got our stuff together to head home.
All in all it was a good day and I'm glad we had such a quiet day to get used to being there. I'm not nearly as tired as I expected to be, although I'm sure there will be days that I am beyond exhausted. Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester so I'll get to meet all of my new students which I'm super excited about. It is supposed to snow tonight though so there is a chance that we have a snow day. We'll see.
Katie
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Only a day away...
I begin student teaching tomorrow and I'm supposed to keep a journal so I figured I would share my experiences with everyone. I will be teaching 11th and 12th grade English at Andover High School.
I am nervous yet excited. I'm nervous about the logistics, like getting up on time, getting to school, what to do with my things when I first get there, etc. I do not take over the classes until mid February so I'm not super nervous about that stuff...yet. On Day 6 I will, however, be presenting a mini lesson for one of the classes so I'm sure I'll start to get nervous about that soon.
As nervous as I am...I think I'm going to be really good at this. Maybe that's naive or unrealistic but I've never wanted to be anything but a teacher and now taking the first step to making that dream a reality. I'm sure I'll be overwhelmed and exhausted at times but I know I can do this. My professor gave me a great piece of advice: "Don't make little things into big things." I'm sure that will come in handy the first time I have something go wrong in class like a lesson or activity that doesn't go well or a student who constantly acts out.
I always get nervous about changes in schedule but I'll have to get used to not being home for lunch with my roommates and not texting my boyfriend constantly throughout the day but I know everything will work out.
So...this blog is a place for me to vent about and discuss what is going on in my student teaching. I hope that this blog will not only benefit myself but all of you, my wonderful family and friends who I know I won't be able to keep in touch with over the next few months as much as I wish I could. Everything in this blog will be anonymous, that is I will not reference students, teachers, administrators, by name. I hope you enjoy going on this journey with me!
Katie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)