Have to be honest... as soon as I think I'm getting a routine or am ready for the day or week.. something changes! I am enjoying my time here in the DR. I am missing family and friends back home, but not too much where it is taking away from my experience. I am blessed each day by the support of the strangers here who are the staff. They reach out to me in ways that seem so undeserving. This week has been my first week of full time. I only teach about 3-4 lessons a day because of how the schedule is set up. As for the students, although they try to test me, I think the change of pace is good for some of them. I know that I will walk away more confidently from this experience. My second placement that is waiting for me will be COMPLETELY different. I know that after teaching these kids.... I can teach anyone :)
One of my roommates went home this week, so yes, yet another thing is changing. Three weeks from today is my last day at this school. It will be weird to just be gone. The students already are wishing that I would return to teach here, along with the staff. Anyone else interested?!?
Next week I'm giving some tests which will indicate how much the students really have learned from me. I'm anxious about these assessments because now it's not just yeah I taught a lesson and they could write something or fill out a graphic organizer. Now, it matters if they understood because there are chapter tests and unit tests that reflect my teaching.
I'm also tackling edTPA this week. I don't even know if I'm hitting everything I'm supposed to, or recording what I need! Being away for this makes me a little more anxious, but I'm trying to cover all my bases so when I return I will be on track.
Hope you're all finding peace at your placements and learning a lot! I know my transition back to Trinity is not going to be easy. After my semester in Spain I had a summer to gear up again... this time I have 3 days!
Take care, praying for and thinking about all of you often!
First of all, what this placement and weather is teaching me is flexibility. I thought I had a plan and then school was cancelled... for three days in a row. So everything had to shift, and I had to figure out how to still get everything accomplished in a decent time -- and, most of all, before I come back to Illinois! Once I did get back to school, the lessons in flexibility didn’t stop. I’m learning to bend as assemblies intrude, or when I might’ve a been a touch over-ambitious in the assignment. Being a girl who always has a plan, I think it’s good that I’m being forced to reorganize my thinking and go with the flow. It’s definitely a characteristic that’s needed when I have my own classroom next year.
I’m also being challenged in the area of classroom management. It’s never been my strong suit, and I’ve known it’s something I have to really nail down. When I met the 9th graders, it became apparent that these kids are going to push me to figure out how to develop those management skills, or we may have some chaotic days in the classroom. I haven’t had major issues yet -- they respect me for the most part -- but there are some issues as far as whether or not they’re really listening that I have to work on. 12th grade, being a little older, doesn’t have the same chaotic and talkative nature as the 9th graders, but there too I’ll have to watch for students who are actually participating or tuning me out. It’s a growing experience, as it should be, but I hope to come away from it having developed a little further in classroom management.
Overall, the placement is a great fit for me and I’m really sad I’ll have to leave it in just 3 weeks. I feel like I’m just starting to get to know the students and I’m having a lot of fun interacting with them and teaching two units on topics I am passionate about. Plus, the staff have truly drawn me and are treating me as a real teacher. They respect me, they want to hear my ideas, they include me in official meetings, and they trust me in their classrooms. They are also there to support me in whatever way I ask them to do so. Most of all, I love being in a school where I can integrate my faith explicitly into the material I teach and be filled weekly by the worship and godly conversations happening around the school. At lunch with other teachers, it’s nice to hear conversations about the Bible, expressions of a desire to help students grow more, discussions about how they see students becoming leaders, and bouncing ideas around about how to connect what’s going on in other’s classes into their own lessons. I didn’t always get that positive conversation in other placements when the students weren’t around. It’s also fulfilling to be able to pray with students, to ask students to consider the material they’re reading or studying from a Christian worldview, and to be able to share my thoughts on how what goes on in school also ties into serving God. I know I can live out my faith in a public school, but there’s something about the freedom to be more explicit about Christianity in a private school that I really love.
So that’s my placement right now. I’m guiding 9th graders through research, and just starting on of my favorite eras of literature -- the Romantic period -- with the seniors. Like I said, I’m disappointed I’ll have to leave again in three weeks, but I know I will continue to learn and grow until that time. Just pray there’s not any more snow days!
I have completed four weeks of my student teaching experience so far, which means I should have had twenty days of observation and teaching. However, I've had six snow days and one professional development day. I have only been in the classroom for thirteen days, and I cannot believe that I have grown so much in those thirteen days. I have had to learn to be flexible because of the weather. It has been frustrating to shift plans, write lesson plans but have to scrap them, etc.
I start teaching full time tomorrow and I am so excited. I have grown so much in the areas of self-confidence and classroom management. I still have a lot to learn, but I am on my way.
My cooperating teacher is teaching me to make learning fun- for both myself and the students. If I'm not enjoying teaching it, they certainly won't enjoy learning it. Learning needs to be fun. She is also teaching me to build relationships with students, and to take interest in them beyond the role of a teacher.
I am also learning the importance of enforcing behavior consequences. Classroom management has never been my strength, but I am beginning to see that it must be developed in order to maintain an effective learning environment. When the students push the line, I give them natural consequences; when one student is given a consequence, the rest of the class notices and corrects their behavior. Behavior management is going well. I am comfortable. I am learning more and more each day.
Each day, my comfort level and confidence level increases. I pray that this continues as I enter my two full weeks.
This experience is providing me with opportunities to observe, plan, instruct, assess, build relationships, collaborate, and be who God has called me to be- a teacher.
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Have to be honest... as soon as I think I'm getting a routine or am ready for the day or week.. something changes! I am enjoying my time here in the DR. I am missing family and friends back home, but not too much where it is taking away from my experience. I am blessed each day by the support of the strangers here who are the staff. They reach out to me in ways that seem so undeserving. This week has been my first week of full time. I only teach about 3-4 lessons a day because of how the schedule is set up. As for the students, although they try to test me, I think the change of pace is good for some of them.
ReplyDeleteI know that I will walk away more confidently from this experience. My second placement that is waiting for me will be COMPLETELY different. I know that after teaching these kids.... I can teach anyone :)
One of my roommates went home this week, so yes, yet another thing is changing. Three weeks from today is my last day at this school. It will be weird to just be gone. The students already are wishing that I would return to teach here, along with the staff. Anyone else interested?!?
Next week I'm giving some tests which will indicate how much the students really have learned from me. I'm anxious about these assessments because now it's not just yeah I taught a lesson and they could write something or fill out a graphic organizer. Now, it matters if they understood because there are chapter tests and unit tests that reflect my teaching.
I'm also tackling edTPA this week. I don't even know if I'm hitting everything I'm supposed to, or recording what I need! Being away for this makes me a little more anxious, but I'm trying to cover all my bases so when I return I will be on track.
Hope you're all finding peace at your placements and learning a lot! I know my transition back to Trinity is not going to be easy. After my semester in Spain I had a summer to gear up again... this time I have 3 days!
Take care, praying for and thinking about all of you often!
First of all, what this placement and weather is teaching me is flexibility. I thought I had a plan and then school was cancelled... for three days in a row. So everything had to shift, and I had to figure out how to still get everything accomplished in a decent time -- and, most of all, before I come back to Illinois! Once I did get back to school, the lessons in flexibility didn’t stop. I’m learning to bend as assemblies intrude, or when I might’ve a been a touch over-ambitious in the assignment. Being a girl who always has a plan, I think it’s good that I’m being forced to reorganize my thinking and go with the flow. It’s definitely a characteristic that’s needed when I have my own classroom next year.
ReplyDeleteI’m also being challenged in the area of classroom management. It’s never been my strong suit, and I’ve known it’s something I have to really nail down. When I met the 9th graders, it became apparent that these kids are going to push me to figure out how to develop those management skills, or we may have some chaotic days in the classroom. I haven’t had major issues yet -- they respect me for the most part -- but there are some issues as far as whether or not they’re really listening that I have to work on. 12th grade, being a little older, doesn’t have the same chaotic and talkative nature as the 9th graders, but there too I’ll have to watch for students who are actually participating or tuning me out. It’s a growing experience, as it should be, but I hope to come away from it having developed a little further in classroom management.
Overall, the placement is a great fit for me and I’m really sad I’ll have to leave it in just 3 weeks. I feel like I’m just starting to get to know the students and I’m having a lot of fun interacting with them and teaching two units on topics I am passionate about. Plus, the staff have truly drawn me and are treating me as a real teacher. They respect me, they want to hear my ideas, they include me in official meetings, and they trust me in their classrooms. They are also there to support me in whatever way I ask them to do so. Most of all, I love being in a school where I can integrate my faith explicitly into the material I teach and be filled weekly by the worship and godly conversations happening around the school. At lunch with other teachers, it’s nice to hear conversations about the Bible, expressions of a desire to help students grow more, discussions about how they see students becoming leaders, and bouncing ideas around about how to connect what’s going on in other’s classes into their own lessons. I didn’t always get that positive conversation in other placements when the students weren’t around. It’s also fulfilling to be able to pray with students, to ask students to consider the material they’re reading or studying from a Christian worldview, and to be able to share my thoughts on how what goes on in school also ties into serving God. I know I can live out my faith in a public school, but there’s something about the freedom to be more explicit about Christianity in a private school that I really love.
So that’s my placement right now. I’m guiding 9th graders through research, and just starting on of my favorite eras of literature -- the Romantic period -- with the seniors. Like I said, I’m disappointed I’ll have to leave again in three weeks, but I know I will continue to learn and grow until that time. Just pray there’s not any more snow days!
I have completed four weeks of my student teaching experience so far, which means I should have had twenty days of observation and teaching. However, I've had six snow days and one professional development day. I have only been in the classroom for thirteen days, and I cannot believe that I have grown so much in those thirteen days. I have had to learn to be flexible because of the weather. It has been frustrating to shift plans, write lesson plans but have to scrap them, etc.
ReplyDeleteI start teaching full time tomorrow and I am so excited. I have grown so much in the areas of self-confidence and classroom management. I still have a lot to learn, but I am on my way.
My cooperating teacher is teaching me to make learning fun- for both myself and the students. If I'm not enjoying teaching it, they certainly won't enjoy learning it. Learning needs to be fun. She is also teaching me to build relationships with students, and to take interest in them beyond the role of a teacher.
I am also learning the importance of enforcing behavior consequences. Classroom management has never been my strength, but I am beginning to see that it must be developed in order to maintain an effective learning environment. When the students push the line, I give them natural consequences; when one student is given a consequence, the rest of the class notices and corrects their behavior. Behavior management is going well. I am comfortable. I am learning more and more each day.
Each day, my comfort level and confidence level increases. I pray that this continues as I enter my two full weeks.
This experience is providing me with opportunities to observe, plan, instruct, assess, build relationships, collaborate, and be who God has called me to be- a teacher.