Discuss your first impressions of your PDS classroom. What evidence of engaged learning do you witness? How is engagement cultivated? When there is a lack of engagement, can you discern why that is? How could you reverse apathetic underpinnings that are evident?
The first day in my PDS classroom went well, the classes were more “reigned-in” than I had originally anticipated.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my mentor spent much of the time going over the upcoming curriculum with the students, we would begin with Beowulf and try to get to some contemporary material, he did take time during each class for a game – 2 truths and a lie.
This got the students engaged and, had we had more time, I imagine that my mentor would have tied in some lesson nicely after that. I attempted to take advantage of that by basing my 2nd truth about myself on one of the lessons. As I made my rounds among the students I told them, that I speak 2 Germanic languages, and during the revelation that they also speak a Germanic language – the same dialect that the Anglos, Saxons, et al. spoke when they arrived in England and wrote Beowulf. There was some surprise, and yet other students still did not seem to care.
There was a general lack of engagement, although it was not as bad as I had thought it would be. One student was very disconnected, although that came as no surprise to us. He has difficultly hearing, and his inattentiveness was noted in his IEP.
The idea of engaging the students with a game like 2 truths and then segueing into a lesson seems to be an excellent way, in my humble opinion, of reversing the apathetic underpinnings that seem to be a common problem.
I am absolutely in love with my placement - the kids, my co-op, everything. Every period is different, so sometimes it proves very valuable to just take a few classes to sit and observe my teacher and how she interacts with the students.
ReplyDeleteOn the first day of school, my co-op and I wrote introductory letters to the students and asked them to write on in return. We also did a few icebreakers just to see how kids felt about English and what they expected from the upcoming school year. Of course, we had some kids who loved the subject while others...not so much. It definitely showed in their letter responses.
It was definitely apparent who liked writing and who didn't based on the style and length of the letters, but my co-op still managed to get every student to write at least one page. She engaged them in the writing because of the topic - she made it relatable to every student, and many of them even mentioned the assignment wasn't all that bad because they got to write about topics they enjoyed - that "flow" was evident as the students didn't feel forced and could write about whatever they were interested in or what was on their mind.
I really hope so see more of this in the upcoming weeks, but I am worried about having trouble engaging students in certain topics. Of course, many assignments can be altered to cater to student interests, but there are just some assignments and books that they will just not want to work on, no matter what we do. How do I combat this? Students are obviously going to perform better in assignments they are interested in, so I guess I'm just hoping I can find relatable activities for each subject I have to teach.
When I first found out about my placement, I was a little concerned. But as soon as I met my mentor, I knew it was a perfect fit. She is a fireball with many years of experience and tons of engaging activities planned for her students. I am absolutely in love with her teaching style, and I can only hope to be as good as she is some day. The first week at Hand was primarily focused on discipline and team building activities. We haven't really introduced the curriculum to the students, and next week will be an "awakening" for some of them. Yet, the activities that my mentor had planned for the past week were engaging and most of the students happily participated.
ReplyDeleteMonday started with meeting the students and making sure they were aware of the conduct rules and procedures. Over the summer, the 7th grade teacher team created funny videos of behavior expectations, which the students really enjoyed. My mentor did a "reach for the stars" activity, which required the students to trace their hands and write down their goals for the year. We hanged the completed work on top of the board for students to refer to throughout the year. I really liked that all the students' creative work was put in display cases and on hallway walls outside the classroom.
In order to engage all the students, my mentor gives them time to think about the question, share their opinion with a peer and then discuss in groups. This gives even the shyest students a chance to voice their point of view. If anybody gets distracted, or refuses to participate, there is a "think and reflect" corner in each classroom for students to rethink their behavior. I also love that my mentor encorporates technology in her lesson plans. The students listened to Michael Jackson's song with lyrics on Thursday to refresh their notion of author's message/theme.
On Friday, it was Hand's Pride Day and students were rotating every half an hour to get to know all the 7th grade teachers. Each teacher created an activity of the day. My mentor decided to play "Figurative Language" football on a smart board, which I thought was a brilliant idea. The students got to revise the types of figurative language in a fun playful manner, and everybody participated!
I am looking forward to this year of active learning from my mentor and I really really hope to become a skilled professional, just like my mentor is!
My students had their first day on Tuesday, so I didn't actually get to see them until their third day onthursday. This was their first day of actually starting the curriculum that mentor and I had worked informed them. In our 10th grade classes the students are preparing to read The Odyssey by doing some background reading and work. I was pleasantly surprised at the interest that my students had in the Greek gods and goddesses, and I even had a few students who were so interested that they read ahead to learn more about them and what the Greeks believed in. The first nag that really stoodut to equity their ways of learning was that many students didn't want to try at first beause they believed that they wouldn't be able to do the task assigned. On my first day I had a student tell me that he wasn't good at any of the work that they were being asked to do, and that he was going to fail this class. With some encouragement he accomplished the tasks assigned to the students and on the second day he needed less encouragement and was one of the students who finished early and ended up working ahead to find out more information on the gods and goddesses. So far we have done a lot of group work and partner work with minimal time spent with a teacher in front of the classroom. Luckily, our biggest class is nineteen students, so we have been able to focus a lot on the individual students and their needs, which is fortunate because about 4-6 students in each of our classes has an IEP and could really use benefit from the extra focus in him or her as an individual learner.
ReplyDeleteThe first few days at CVMS were dedicated to teaching students about expected etiquette throughout the school day; these school-wide regulations are positioned in almost every room of the school as a reminder for students. My mentor uses the latter part of the week to engage students in an introductory game where they must match the first letter of their names with a noun of the same letter. One purpose of this game is that it serves as a refresher for basic grammar practice (no students confused nouns with adjectives or verbs so that was a relief!). Students are asked to repeat the name and noun of the students preceding them; this continues all the way around the room and then back again. I noticed that students were very attentive throughout the duration of the game knowing that their turn was encroaching - no one wants to have that dumbfounded deer-in-the-headlights look when the spotlight is put on them. Engaging students in this vocal activity at the beginning of the school year encourages student connection, which fosters a positive classroom environment where students feel comfortable interacting aloud and with each other.
ReplyDeleteI haven't gotten a chance to see how these students are engaged during a more formal lesson yet, but my mentor uses a lot of humor when interacting with the students, which already has an obvious positive impact on the kids. Most of these students have low attention spans but endless amounts of energy, so laughter helps to keep their attention on the teacher. The smallest class we have consists of 18 students; the rest range between 25-30 students. It is important to maintain the attention and cultivate high engagement with this number of seventh graders in one classroom because the distractions of one student would be enough to change the whole environment of the classroom.
My first day of school on Monday left me feeling both exhilarated and exhausted. Mr. Brubaker recommended I stand to give the students the sense that I am another teacher in the classroom, but also to experience what teachers have to do everyday. By the end of the day, my feet were sore and I was drained, and I hadn't even engaged the students. Because Mr. Brubaker teaches 12th graders, engagement is a primary concern and a huge struggle. Remembering back to 12th grade, many kids especially those ready to move on to college, emotionally and intellectually check out. To foster student engagement, Mr. Brubaker opens up his class to questioning. These questions have nothing to do with the course or his expectations, instead he asks the students if they have any questions about him. Providing a list of his personal experiences, Mr. Brubaker challenges the kids to ask questions of him so he can "embarrass himself" The subjects up for questions range from childhood injuries, college experiences and even his first kiss. I noticed almost every student gazed with wonder at the list looking for the most embarrassing subjects or for subjects that interested them. Some of the football players in the 2nd period class asked about his high school lacrosse experience. At least one girl in every class asked about his first kiss, which was one of the more boring stories.
ReplyDeleteMr. Brubaker explained to me that this activity works well on the first day because it creates a classroom where questions are welcomed. He thinks that if kids feel comfortable enough to ask him about his first date, then they will feel comfortable enough to ask about an assignment or reading.
He then continued his class by asking the students to think about graduation, nine months from now. Presenting the classes with a graduation speech, he wanted to know what they would tell their classmates. I found it interesting that he had his 2nd period, a general education track, watch a very disheartening speech about the realities of the real world. Many of these students will enter into the work force after graduations, and this speech seemed like a dose of reality. A short discussion followed. On the other hand, he had his 3rd and 4th period classes, both college prep tracks, read a speech before discussing what they thought about it. I thought that this method of engagement worked well for kids who were entering their last year of high school. I believe that engagement will be important moving forward as I work with these students because the more they are engaged, the less likely they will be to check out and disregard the class as pointless.
I really enjoyed meeting my students this week, and the school has been very welcoming. We only have three classes of 20-25 students each – great numbers for any classroom and especially good for a co-teaching environment. As my co-op said – we shall divide and conquer!
ReplyDeleteSo far, I am reserving judgment concerning the level of engagement, the types of learning and the number and kind of student apathy in my classroom. The first week at Hand Middle School has been spent re-acclimating the students to the school environment. We have spent most of our time going over school and classroom expectations, personal introductions, etc., and have not yet had a ‘typical’ day in class. We have handed out the first novel each class is going to read and I’m looking forward to seeing how much everyone has read come Tuesday.
My mentor had the students write about what they did over the summer – nothing formal – just an in-class assignment to give us a writing sample so that we have an idea of where everyone is at at the beginning of the year, grammar-, spelling-, and voice-wise. The samples also allowed us (me especially) to get a clearer picture of where these kids are coming from outside of school – their family life, interests, etc.
Most of the students responded well to the assignment (on paper – in class there was a great deal of whining and attempts at negotiating). Having them write about anything that excited or interested them made the assignment more engaging to them. As one might expect, the responses ranged from two full pages of entertaining detail to a one-sentence reply (which showed promise, but this boy shuts down pretty quickly; he’ll be one of my special challenges this year).
It’s very early, but things are taking shape. I’ve already got my eye on several students who I will likely have in mind as I design my lessons.
In all honesty, I am still trying to make sense of my first week in my PDS classroom. I learned more about myself, my teaching philosophy, and what I want for my classroom by not having an awesome first week of classes (in my opinion) with my students and mentor.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that this stemmed from co-teaching situations where my philosophy of teaching beliefs crashed hard against my teachers. This became a struggle to deal with because in order to have a non-confusing deliverance of what the expectations for our classroom will be for the students, I felt it would be in the students' best interest for me to "adopt" and preach my mentor's philosophy of teaching beliefs even when every infinitesimal fiber of my being was opposed to what he was saying to his students. It made my heart twist uncomfortably to say the things he wanted to enforce in his classroom. Although a majority of our beliefs overlap in good ways (which I am grateful for and excited to continue the year with my mentor!), the ones that do not seem to overlap are bulls ready to fight in an arena at Pamplona found in the recess of my mind.
Engagement was seldom seen in the classroom for the first week. The first day was a lecture of what is expected of the students throughout the year and an overview of the curriculum. They sat and tried hard to listen to him and me, but lost interest or desire to be in the classroom because it was a strict telling deliverance of rules as opposed to an inviting community sharing environment where "I learn from you and you learn from me" set up. This is where my teaching philosophy strongly opposed my mentor's. I also wanted to get to know my students as people and learners but the activities planned for the week to do this were busy work. The students knew it and I viewed it as so which made me feel weird and ingenuine when I had them complete it for me as my mentor asked me to teach the activity as "pilot" and him as "co-pilot". They were disengaged because it truly was busy work (no application available to get their hearts and minds invested in the activity) and I knew why which I hated!! Why not make an activity that you enjoy to get to know your students and your students enjoy completing instead of worrying about the amount of time that activity will take to grade (if it's a writing activity)!!?!? BAH. Getting to know your students takes effort from day one! I digress.
The only time genuine engagement happened was when we had open discussions and played a brief review game in collaborative groups about the upcoming unit in grammar. They students were building a community feel by refreshing each others' minds about grammar rules learned in previous English classrooms. They discussed, took educational risks by providing guesses, and then listened to their peers when someone else could shed light on the forgotten rule that they would then remember themselves.
Sorry, I wrote a novel, guys! But that really felt good to get out onto paper haha
Take heart, dear one! Though I do not envy your pedagogical issues with your mentor, I know that you will be able to find a balance of conformity and pursuing your own style of teaching as you and your mentor work on your relationship as co-teachers!
DeleteMy first week at CVMS middle school was an amazing learning experience. Our first day was spent as an orientation for all our new seventh graders and we got to teach them the ins and outs of middle school. I loved getting to be there for their first day and see the excitement in their eyes when they got their first lock for a locker and helping them learn how to open them. I got to help them learn about the bus/shuttle system and direct kids to their different periods as they learned the new hallways. No instruction happened but I got to see how my mentor interacted with her students. She was so relaxed and funny, the students felt more relaxed immediately. I could tell she really understood her age group of students. The seventh graders died laughing at her story of her dog eating cat poop and began to share their own gross pet stories. On my second day, I observed and walked around then classroom for different periods and helped with the read-aloud story that was focused on the idea that not everyone is confident in their reading ability. One of the periods is already co-taught so I sat back to watch two experienced teachers bounce off of each other and support one another in one of our more difficult periods. It was a great learning experience to see that first hand. I also was a part of cafeteria duty, which helped me talk to and get to know a large amount of students. We also had a red team meeting one period and I got to hear all the teachers of every subject talk about the students and learn the wide diversity of students and their needs. I'm so excited to begin week two!!
ReplyDeleteI have to echo Mark that my first week at MTHS was exhilarating and exhausting. I'm working with a French and an English teacher, both of whom are luckily in the same hallway, which means that I will have to find a balance between those two classrooms. Hopefully I won't end of speaking French to my English students, which has happened to me with some of my university courses. (Another cool part about this setup is that I have some students twice in one day.) Both of my mentors have different approaches to how they run their classroom which will play a big part into how I develop my own presence when I take on the role of "lead teacher" in the co-teacher model.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to have a wide range of students but am perhaps most nervous for the AP/IB courses. I never took AP French or AP English in high school so I'm not very familiar with the requirements and layout of the exams. Some of my French students are studying very different grammar constructions and challenging texts; I will be brushing up on my skills right along with them.
I got to facilitate a classroom discussion on Thursday in my English classes about the effects of social media and then had my students write journal entries that included a personal experience that had with an effect of social media and a piece of advice they would give to a younger student using social media for the first time. It was a nice chance for me to get involved with the classes, to try to learn some of the students' names, and to see how much grading teachers truly have to process each week. Grading papers is an aspect of teaching that I have not had a lot of experience with, so a goal of mine is to practice with smaller assignments this fall before I am expected to grade bigger assignments in the spring.
Lastly, This school has many great resources for students and the classroom are well-equipped with projectors and even some SMART boards. My French mentor is rather tech savvy and has some wonderful ideas for bringing authentic French materials into the classroom. I've already started organizing some folders and binders of materials, websites, and handouts to use in my own classroom. Despite having taken a tour of the building during my initial introduction to the school and my mentors in May, I would like to check out some of the other areas of the school while students are actually using them such as the band and choral rooms, the planetarium, the pool and gyms, and the cafeteria. This will help me to get a better sense of the school culture and to realize that my students have a lot of other obligations outside of their schoolwork. And, of course, I want to see them win their homecoming football game!
I feel spoiled and lucky with my placements, and know this year will prove itself to be one of the biggest learning years of my educational and life journeys.
The first week at MTHS was a valuable one, albeit a little slow moving. Monday was entirely dedicated to explaining school and classroom rules as well as outlining the year ahead. When I came back in on Friday, my mentor teacher began to dive into classroom learning activities that she continues for the entire year. She has Mondays and Wednesdays as sentence days. The students come in, copy down a sentence or two taken from a novel or poem, and explain as a class why the sentence is good (mechanics, literary devices, etc). She got this idea from the book Mechanically Inclined and flat out told her students she will never make them correct a "bad" sentence, because teachers shouldn't be teaching you "bad" sentences. She, instead, models professional sentences for them. Engaged learning happened a lot throughout this first activity of the period as students were discussing as a class the reasons why these sentences (on Friday they were from Langston Hughes) were good ones. She had them answering open ended questions, going to her smart board and writing their answers in front of the class, and she also had them trying to write their own sentences mimicking those of Langston Hughes. Throughout all of this, she glued it all together with her sense of humor. After the students had written their own sentences, she asked for five volunteers, making sure to state that her classroom is a judgement-free zone. Just trying was enough and everyone in the classroom was required to listen and be supportive. It was great. I was really able to step back and say to myself, "yes. I can do this."
ReplyDeleteMy first impressions are generally good. My mentor and I are working on out relationship as co-teachers, and we have had several discussions on what this will look like in the next few weeks using the one teach, one observe model. I am excited to see how this plays out in practice, and I think we will mesh well together once we become more familiar with each other.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting watching my mentor, because he is somewhat quiet and laid back in general, but when the students come into the classroom he changes. He is dynamic and engaging, and does a very good job of making the students participate in the classroom experience just because of his attitude. The students were very engaged, as evidenced by frequent questions and activities designed to get them to work in groups and share with the class. Mr. Hershey and I worked together as he directed and lead the class, I walked around and answered individual questions and prompted students who were struggling or merely disinterested. This seemed to work well, because as the observer, I was able to notice (or at least attend to) particular students that Mr. Hershey was unaware of or unable to address. Mainly this involved answering questions, but a few times I was able to direct students who were not focused on the task at hand. After the classes we talked about certain students who were engaged and learning and those who did not seem to really be paying attention. I found this helpful because I noticed certain kids at times, but Mr. Hershey, who has much more experience, was able to point out many different examples of engaged or disengaged students. We decided to work on certain kids as we continue to assess our students. My mentor's teaching style is fairly conducive to student engagement, so thus far there hasn't been too much we need to correct. But since this is only the first week, I am sure there will be many opportunities for students to disengage :)
Overall my first week was very helpful, and really got me excited to be in the classroom with the students and to begin practicing some of things I have learned about teaching!
The first week at McCaskey was a mixed bag. Luckily my mentor did not spend a whole lot of time over analyzing the syllabus or rules and regulations; she felt that, by this point, the students would have a good enough idea of what was expected of them. One thing I would have liked to do as an introductory was introduce the class as a safe space for the exchange of ideas and thoughts, and encourage a sense of classroom community as opposed to individual learning. That said, my mentor still did a good job communicating her expectations to the students, and with a commanding sense of classroom presence and management to boot.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see more discussion. So far, the students have spent a lot of time with read for answer worksheets and taking Pearson Success Net tests. I understand that these are important I order to get a feel for where the students are at, but many were intimidated and just blew throu e questions without truly trying, making their results farcical. Can't we determine their aptitude through more engaging assignments?
One bright spot was a class discussion based on an anticipation guide for Of Mice and Men. Students, when discussing whether or not mercy killing was moral, or if women need friends more than men, got really involved in the dialogue. I later discovered that one particular student, who shared a lot of fragmented yet passionate thoughts and opinions and practically led the discussion, had an IEP, behavioral issues, and was an ELL...that was pretty cool. Nice to see that all kids, regardless of ability, can get involved.
My first week at Manheim Township Middle School was a nice ease into middle school and student teaching. The first day was spent introducing our 8th graders to the classroom, introducing ourselves as teachers (Mrs. Quirk introduced me by saying, you guys are lucky, you get TWO English teachers this year!), and doing a Punctuation Personality Test in which the students answered goofy questions to figure out which punctuation mark they would be. The next couple days when I wasn't there Mrs. Quirk assigned a couple of assignments for them to complete (an introductory letter to respond to the letters she and I had both written to the students) as well as a quilt patch (we are constructing a classroom quilt!). Thursday and Friday were both work days, with Pictures Day and a Magazine Drive Assembly cutting into class time only minimally. I was able to situate myself in the classroom and did not feel thrown to the sharks. At Mrs. Quirk's recommendation I walked around the classroom to both answer questions and make my presence known as a teacher. Another side effect of walking around the class that I quickly found was that my presence was also (sometimes...) enough to discourage off-task behavior. I also, at Mrs. Quirk's encouragement, brought in a few things to help decorate my desk!! :)
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm really looking forward to next week when the students start their Punctuation Unit on Thursday. I feel as though the first week was enough to excite me incredibly about the school year, but not more than I could handle. I am ready to start dipping my feet in helping co-teach and be more than the person walking around answering questions like I did in Soph Bloc. I'm incredibly excited because Mrs. Quirk has already asked me to start looking for my own activities to integrate into instruction, such as a free writing prompt/exercise to help break up the monotony of punctuation/grammar (several of the students indicated on their student info forms that something they enjoyed in previous English classes was free writing).
Hopefully things continue to progress smoothly!
My first week in the classroom was a little rocky communication wise, but I love the school and my mentor. She recently went on sabbatical to acquire her reading specialty certification and knows how to incorporate reading into the curriculum really well, especially for struggling students. I feel that I can learn a lot from her.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky, (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it)to be back at my old high school in a very different role. I spent a lot of time introducing myself and catching up with teachers that I have not seen in a while during in-service days. I am really glad that I got a chance to go and sit in on the meetings because I learned so much about the new teacher evaluations and the new district goals for the year. It is a wonderful school (very organized) and is actually my ideal school for a future teaching career.
When I say things were a little rocky, I am generally referring to how co-teaching will look. I was introduced as "Mrs. Sullivan, [her] intern who will be in the classroom part-time this fall and full-time in the spring." I do not have my name on the board or on the door and my desk is not a desk. I have a counter top that faces away from the students in the back of the room. Students often move my things or take my chair to do group work or to play chess during study hall, keeping me from having a place to do work. My mentor wants me to take over DOL lessons and vocabulary, but I am not included in planning for much else. Over the summer, she considered not worrying about the books that the students would be reading because I would not be there often enough to discuss them. I asked her if she had read the intern packet, and she hasn't yet, so hopefully she will have it finished by Thursday when I return so we can better discuss the co-teaching model.
During our 4th period bloc, we have a co-teacher for English learning support. It is amazing how well my mentor and our co-teacher can co-teach together. They really grab the respect and attention of the students as they take turns teaching and listening. However, the co-teacher made a comment to me on Thursday that she "thought [I] was just here to give vocabulary lessons." I am not sure that many people really understand why I am there... especially the students. I don't want this to sound negative, I am just realizing that there is a small road block to co-teaching. I am really excited about my internship and plan to make this upcoming week the Week of Communication!
ReplyDeleteOn Monday of the first week, students went over rules, syllabi, vocabulary, and a basic grammar review. On Thursday, I got a chance to see the students in action a little bit better. There was not much engagement in Mass Media - students wrote a few things down, but were not overly enthused about coming up with a basic definition and understanding of some propaganda terms. Not many students were willing to participate or report. My job that day was to write the definitions on the board as my mentor facilitated the discussion and instruction. Things picked up a little bit later in Novels and Film, the period that we have the co-teacher. I did not really have a role during that class period, so I sat and listened and observed. I did notice that the students seemed very engaged when they got a chance to act out silent movies based on a word or phrase they received. Because it was so vague, students got to use their own understandings and experiences to create something new. It was fun for them - there was lots of giggling, paying attention, and participation. I enjoyed watching their creations. For the rest of the period, the students watched CITY LIGHTS.
As I move forward, my mantra for this year is going to be "Communication, communication, communication!" I hope to work out some of the plans for co-teaching this year and get more of a chance to work directly with students and become an "almost equal" in the classroom. I hope things move on smoothly because I know that, eventually, I will find my groove. I only hope I don't get too comfortable there and that I will continue to learn and experience new things!
I really enjoyed my first week at CV. The kids were great and the teachers were very welcoming.
ReplyDeleteOn the first day of school my mentor had the students fill out surveys regarding their "perfect teacher" and what their feelings were about writing and reading. The next few days were spent going over the 5 page syllabus and explaining what the students should expect over the next semester.
Honestly, the information that we went over was incredibly boring. Who likes reading a syllabus? Dull Dull Dull. So, I can say without a doubt that the students were not engaged. I can't imagine anyone experiencing flow in regards to such a document. Even though the blocks were incredibly dry at points, the students behaved very well and I look forward to working with them when we start to get into the meat of the literature.
If I were to do things my way, I would do away with the 5 page syllabus entirely. I think the first week should instead be spent playing trust building games. Such games would create a sense of community and get students engaged at the same time. The paperwork part of the first week of school could then be split up into smaller chunks over the next few weeks to make it more manageable/bearable.
This week we are going to start reading "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller and I'm interested in seeing how my mentor will go about creating flow in the classroom. I hope to add to that engagement by putting a "younger" or maybe more relevant spin on drama that was written in a different century.
After noting the differences in my enthusiasm between the in-service days and after the first day of school, I came to realize how much of my want to teach really is due to love of the students. Meeting the students as they entered the door on the first day was exhilarating. I was finally standing face to face with people with whom I would have an interdependent relationship; as I worked with them, they would teach me so much. They were no longer just faceless names and examples in a pedagogical text.
ReplyDeleteAt L-S, I am confronted for the first time with bloc scheduling. I have 3 90-minute periods with classes, 1 ‘flex’ period for planning, and an RTII period at the end of the day. My mentor and I started off the week by introducing ourselves. She is very energetic and was constantly drawing lots of laughs from the class, many of whom have had her before. To further engage the students, she invited questions and promised to answer anything they asked. Going over the syllabus was a bit drab, as usual, and my mentor repeatedly mentioned that if they don’t read or study, “it’s not going to work out.” To my dismay, a Spanish exchange student decided to transfer classes after her warnings, but hopefully he found a classroom that will allow him to learn English at a less accelerated rate. It was difficult to gauge engagement on the first day, as most of it consisted of passing out textbooks and discussing expectations for the year.
Thursday: my mentor started the period by reading a poem, as she does every day. She tries to choose poems that are applicable to the students’ lives, and most of the class seemed interested. (A few tuned out the instant they even heard the word “poem.”) She did some grammar review, trying to keep it interesting by telling stories and cracking jokes, but the students just grudgingly took notes without looking at all interested. The first two periods, British Literature, then took a quiz on their Beowulf readings from the night before. None of her questions are simple facts; they are all “make an argument…” or “why do you think…” formats. The rest of the period was spent as a lecture with a bit of discussion. To my amazement, pretty much all of the students were paying close attention. The last period of the day had read an article for homework. We formed a Socratic seminar and had a great time debating the author’s points and whether or not he used facts to form a cogent argument. The students were amazed at how the author might sound convincing and have good credentials but still not support his point well. It was an exciting first week, and though much of the Brit Lit class seems lecture based, my mentor finds ways to make the texts interesting for her students by telling stories or relating them to their lives. I look forward to seeing if this engagement continues.