In the blink of an eye it can all seem like things can change. Well things definitely changed from teaching experience one to two but something’s remained the same. I felt a little less prepared because I was so busy leading up to teaching the lesson. That’s something I know I will have to deal with as a teacher, but know my lesson was done.
My first period class is like my Achilles heel so to speak. I teach the lesson but they aren’t interested. This often is the same problem when my mentor teacher teaches. I tried a video from funnyordie.com as an icebreaker to get them interested. Some of them laughed, but not with as much enthusiasm as second or fourth period. I then went through my notes and was done within 55 minutes, and off to do their assignments.
Second and fourth were different changes of scenery. They were very into the lesson and my video. Second period we had a discussion for several minutes into the video. The lesson with announcements went about 75 minutes. Fourth period went about 65 minutes. It felt very different between the three periods. Fourth and second period I was having a good report with the class, I believe. We had a laid back atmosphere, they were asking questions and it was fun. First period was tough; they weren’t into it, saw many of them playing with their phone but never took responsibility and take them.
I know a couple things when I teach again on the 13th. I am going to sit down with my first period and clear the air. That I deserve the same respect as the mentor teacher, and that if I see the phones out, I will take them. I don’t want to be the bad guy, but if I have to be so they will pay attention to me so be it. The other thing I need to work on is not believing the kids are smart. My mentor teacher and facilitator both commented that I believe the students know too much, that I need to break it down even more. That is something I know I need to work on.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thank you Kayne....
For the first time ever on September 15th I had the opportunity to teach in front of a classroom. The class was Jennifer Hileman’s Government class at Liberty High School. The topic was the U.S. Constitution.
Originally I had planned for this class to go for the full 85 minutes but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be the case. When first period began, I was so ready to go I got right into everything. Big mistake there because I was done with my notes in about 40 minutes. Then came the group discussion, I learned the hard way of thinking on the fly. The class didn’t participate in the discussion on flag burning at all. So I switched to a topic on Kanye West and the first amendment, which worked for a little bit as well. So I was done with 40 minutes to go with class! Eepp! So my mentor teacher took over for the rest of the time.
2nd period was a little better but still ran into road blocks. The class has a significant amount of kids with learning disabilities in it. I’ve been told from a friend who’s a special Ed teacher that its way more than it should be. So there is a co-op teacher in there. Except he was out on maternity leave due to his wife being pregnant. So I was left with a substitute who was having his third or fourth class EVER, and my mentor teacher. My mentor teacher left me in charge of everything and it was interesting.
I slowed down compared to first period and it worked in terms of time management. However they led to more problems. I slowed down and allowed time for the kids with bad learning disabilities to write things down. This led to a lost of control of the class. Yikes!!! I had to stop myself several times during the class to quiet the class down.
The conversation over the debate was better because I managed to keep them into it switching from flag burning to Kayne to Joe Wilson to Obama it was an interesting conversation.
When I sat down with the mentor teacher I realized three important things. 1) Keep better control of the class. 2) For those with learning disabilities bring extra copies of your notes, so you can share 3) If a class doesn’t want to participate in a discussion give them bookwork. It will help you with your time. These are some lessons I will incorporate into my next lesson.
Originally I had planned for this class to go for the full 85 minutes but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be the case. When first period began, I was so ready to go I got right into everything. Big mistake there because I was done with my notes in about 40 minutes. Then came the group discussion, I learned the hard way of thinking on the fly. The class didn’t participate in the discussion on flag burning at all. So I switched to a topic on Kanye West and the first amendment, which worked for a little bit as well. So I was done with 40 minutes to go with class! Eepp! So my mentor teacher took over for the rest of the time.
2nd period was a little better but still ran into road blocks. The class has a significant amount of kids with learning disabilities in it. I’ve been told from a friend who’s a special Ed teacher that its way more than it should be. So there is a co-op teacher in there. Except he was out on maternity leave due to his wife being pregnant. So I was left with a substitute who was having his third or fourth class EVER, and my mentor teacher. My mentor teacher left me in charge of everything and it was interesting.
I slowed down compared to first period and it worked in terms of time management. However they led to more problems. I slowed down and allowed time for the kids with bad learning disabilities to write things down. This led to a lost of control of the class. Yikes!!! I had to stop myself several times during the class to quiet the class down.
The conversation over the debate was better because I managed to keep them into it switching from flag burning to Kayne to Joe Wilson to Obama it was an interesting conversation.
When I sat down with the mentor teacher I realized three important things. 1) Keep better control of the class. 2) For those with learning disabilities bring extra copies of your notes, so you can share 3) If a class doesn’t want to participate in a discussion give them bookwork. It will help you with your time. These are some lessons I will incorporate into my next lesson.
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