Fourth and FINAL Observation!

I had my last observation this past Thursday! Finally, Dr. Shannon came to observe a period that is fairly well-behaved and rather academic. I'm not going to lie here, they're pretty much my favorite class.  The period started off pretty well...so far as I saw it, the students didn't really seem to mind Dr. Shannon's presence in the room, and they did not act any differently than they would have if she had not been there. I got the students settled down a bit and instructed them to pull out their TKAM books and reader response journals from the night before. I instructed them to split up into pairs and compare/discuss what they had written in their RRJs. After a  few minutes, I instructed them to select one passage and develop one question they had about the chapters they had read the night before. Once they had done this, I put polleverywhere.com on the screen and directed the pairs to submit one question and one passage. They were also to attach their name to the text. We used their text submissions as a structure for our class discussion that day.

The discussion was incredibly successful. The students were very opinionated on the details of the upcoming trial in the novel and Atticus's involvement/motives/intentions as lawyer for the black defendant. The students were active and engaged throughout the entire period. Though, many reminders were needed for students to raise hands and not talk over one another.

I'd say the only downfall, if you can call it that, of this lesson was that the students were so engaged and fired up about one question, that we spent the entire class discussing it. We were not able to get to any summarization activity. I'm more than okay with that though. And now, I await Dr. Shannon's post observation conference. 

Second Placement, First Observation

My first observation in my new placement occurred this past week. I was slightly nervous to have Dr. Shannon come an observe my 9th graders as they are not necessarily the most well-behaved students. Dr. Shannon cam in for my third period class on the day after the students had finished reading The Odyssey and had also completed the final test on the text. The very first part of class was devoted to going over the correct answers to the test as a class. This went fairly smoothly and we moved on to the next part of class. I wanted my students to do something more than just read, quiz, and test; The Odyssey is just too neat of a story for that. So, I created a project for my students that provided them with three different options for completion. The handout with the three options appears below.

I believe that the options provide enough diversity that the students should not have any trouble picking one that they would be interested in. During class, I explained my expectations for the project overall and my individual expectations for each of the three options. I ran into some behavior issues when it came to explaining the Fake Facebook option. For this one, I made an example so that my students would fully understand what I was looking for in their projects. Once I showed my students the example, however, several of them got off task asking me if I had a Facebook and then talking about how they were going to find it. I tried divert them from this off-topic conversation and bring them back to what we were supposed to be talking about. Unfortunately, there is always that one student who just won't let it go. In retrospect, I probably gave this student far too many chances as he continually talked. I've been working on that since the observation. After going over the individual expectations, I answered questions.I instructed the students to use the last five minutes of class to begin brainstorming and outlining their project ideas on the backs of their project papers. 

This is the example that I provided for my students. Overall, I have been pleased with many of the results that I have seen from them.




I think that student behavior will be my ongoing challenge for my 9th graders. Especially, since my co-op is having me begin a two to three week mechanics and usage unit with them.....engagement is going to be a struggle for that amount of time. 

Second Observation & End of Placement

Dr. Shannon came in for her second observation during my ninth period class! I had hoped [again] that she would be able to see my 8th period students, but alas [again] she did not :( It went well anyway though! My classes that day were beginning to type their final drafts in the computer lab. During 9th period, I began class with a do now that instructed the students to write down [in full sentences] their goal for the period. How much did they want to complete on their final drafts? Thinking back on this part of the lesson, I wish I would have called on a few students and had them share what they wrote so that there would be a higher level of accountability. Next time! After the do now, I demonstrated how the final paper should be formatted on the overhead. The students were quite attentive for this, but that was probably due to the fact there was a stranger sitting in the room [no offense]. After this, I allowed the students to begin typing their final drafts. During this time, I made my way around the room answering questions and individually helping students. Apparently the stranger factor didn't last the entire class. In her notes, Dr. Shannon reported that a student [I guesses who it was immediately] got up behind me and started dancing while I wasn't looking in his direction. /sigh. I suppose you can control it all :P I got a little nervous/anxious when I noticed Dr. Shannon talking with small groups of students. The first three girls she talked with are very good students, but the second three are challenging. I feel that, overall, my meeting with Shannon afterward went well too. I think that I'm doing pretty well, but I still have so much to improve on.

All in all, I have really enjoyed my placement here. I am definitely not ready to leave my students and my co-op. I am especially not looking forward to trying to learn all the names of five new classes of students! I am absolutely horrible at learning people's names, and I was just getting completely comfortable with the names and personalities and needs of all of my students at my first placement. Ahhh!

The First Three Weeks!

The First Week: "Trial by Fire"

The very first week of student teaching at my middle school placement was fraught with altered schedules and impromptu physical fights in the hallways. While this should have scared me enough to request a change of major, I am extremely glad I stuck it out. Unfortunately for my boyfriend, this meant he had to listen to me babble nonstop on the phone every night about what had occurred that day in school. The first week was incredibly enlightening though. I was able to see how my co-op handled stress and the chaos of unexpected changes. This week my co-op and I also began the process of figuring out what I would be teaching and when. With her, I began to construct a general outline of what my 3-4 weeks of teaching would look like. I also began to consider how I would implement my ISLP...this was considerably more challenging :)

The Second Week: "The Takeover"

This week was the beginning of my takeover of English classes. Over the course of the week I picked up a class each day starting with period nine and working my way up to the earlier classes. My co-op and I chose to do it this way so that I could spend the earlier periods observing her and how she taught the day's lesson. This method worked extremely well and I was able to begin learning the students' names and how the school day functioned in a comfortable fashion. My co-op also allowed me to teach a few mini-lessons in our classes. The students seemed to respond well to this and it made me hopeful for the following week when I would be teaching every class with my own lesson plans. When I wasn't teaching during these days, I was conducting observations for both my teaching portfolio and for my ISLP.  With all of that going on, this week was just as chaotic as my first week. I don't think we had a single planning period due to all of the coverages and parent conferences we were responsible for. my co-op actually apologized emphatically at the end of the week for how abnormal the last two weeks were. I just laughed it off, because at that point it was just the norm for me. I look forward to each new day because I never know what is going to happen that day. I think this is a partly what drew me to the teaching profession anyway; I do not want the monotonous routine of the same thing every day.

The Third Week: "Total Control"

This past week, the third week of my student teaching, was the first week I began implementing my own lessons every day. Monday, the very first day, also happened to be the first observation by Dr. Shannon. I was feeling fairly confident in what I had planned for the entire week and was grading papers in my planning period when I suddenly received a text. It was from Dr. Shannon, and she was informing me that she was on her way over to the school now. I went into panic because if she was on her way that moment that meant she was going to observe 6th period instead of 8th period. This may not sound like much to whomever is reading this, but if you know my classes you know that 6th period is my most challenging class. So after I got Dr. Shannon's text I began to panic. I mean, I was already pretty nervous about teaching my own lessons, teaching all of the classes, AND having Dr. Shannon observe....and then I find out she's on her way to see 6th period. I reasoned with myself, however, thinking that both first and second period had already gone extremely well. What could go wrong with teaching it again? Hah. Haha. So, the lesson went well....until I ran out of planned content fifteen minutes before the end of class. I looked back at my co-op who was observing the lesson too and she just had a curious look on her face. I'm fairly sure she also realized how much time remained in the period. Thinking quickly, I just continued with what would be the logical next step for the students in the lesson. As a class, we verbally brainstormed and outlined how we could argue/persuade our administration to not force school uniforms. It worked fairly well, and interestingly enough, in our meeting after Dr. Shannon said she wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't mention it. I enjoyed hearing what Dr. Shannon had to say about everything in our meeting after class. She had many suggestions for how I could improve, and I am grateful for those. I realize how far I have yet to go, but I'm still extremely pleased with the progress I have made thus far. I was the most intrigued to read the 3 pages of observation notes Dr. Shannon sent me the next day. It was really fascinating to see the minute-by-minute break down of how she saw the lesson from the back. Beyond the observation on Monday, the rest of the week went swimmingly. My co-op was out of Tuesday and Friday. I really enjoyed these two days because my students seemed to give me more respect and authority. The best part of this was when she was out on Tuesday, they had other teachers from the building come and do coverages rather than hiring a sub for the day. It was neat to get feedback from each teacher [three of which were English teachers from other grades] who observed. Even better, the next day my co-op hear from almost every teacher who had coverage in there, and they all had great things to say about my lesson and teaching! It was really gratifying.

& Etc...

A little before I sat down to write this blog I went to visit my aunt and uncle. I found it a little alarming when they both informed me that the spaces under each of my eyes look dark and bruised. I hadn't thought that I was overwhelmingly stressed or that I wasn't getting enough sleep, but sure enough when I looked in the mirror, there they were!