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Saturday, February 16, 2019

Getting Into A Routine...Student Teaching Week 6


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Monday-full day
Tuesday-Snow Day, off!
Wednesday-2 hour delay
Thursday-full day
Friday-full day, activity period, I was at Penn State

I got into a routine of not having a routine. By that I mean not having a normal week/schedule. Not exactly a good thing but it will be fine. I have become used to not being in school for a full week...is that ever going to change? Are we going to have a full week next week (technically maybe we will even though it is National FFA Week)?

Friday, we had a morning of reflection on the past 6 weeks of student teaching and then we had an afternoon of mock interviews in preparation for jobs! In the interviews, I learned that I just needed to add more experiences into my answers and be more confident in what I'm answering.


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Things I Learned

  • just keep plugging away!
  • we have always been told this but....the goal is to not make you a perfect teacher in these 15 weeks but to make you a better teacher than you were before
  • a point of student teaching is to try new/different things

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BECOV Progress

  • clarity was kind of an issue again...I reverted back on that for a couple of times but I knew that it wasn't right so I fixed it (for the most part) and it was all better
  • VARIABILITY is key again...I struggled with it again this week


Advice Wanted


  • any resources with activities! Or any way to help me connect activities with content...part of my variability problem is trying to get content matched with an effective activity
  • how to not be burned out just in these first weeks of student teaching (overly tired everyday too)

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5 comments:

  1. Sara,

    I think your two questions at the end of your blog are very closely related. What I mean by this is... as you find those activities (or other ways to vary your instruction) that help you with variability, the students will be working more during class than you are. When you are "up front" giving them all of the information, you are the one working. When you give them the content they need and then turn them loose with an activity, they are learning and they begin to work harder than you. While you still work hard to prepare, you are not going to continually be tiring yourself out during each class session, which leads to your feelings of being over tired. Keep working hard, but make sure your students are working just as hard to learn the content.
    Dr. Ewing

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  2. I finished up a graduate class in December on preventing teacher burnout. The book I believe was titled “Never Work Harder than your Students Do.” It was one of those books that I gave you a few weeks ago to take a look at in your non-existent spare time. In it are ways to make you more efficient in your grading, lessons, and other aspects of teaching. I remember a lot of things from that course (and the book associated with it) that really made me become more efficient and put more work on the students than I.
    Efficiently using our time is huge. Learning that now is important because you will have a lot more on your plate once you procure a job. I’d be happy to page through that book with you this week and find some strategies to try.

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  3. Keep in mind the idea that your students have basically one minute of attention per year of age! Change accordingly.

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  4. First. I can't believe it's been six weeks already! Second (I'm taking a little aside here), being a role model for students is tough work. Keep in mind one of the aspects to model for them is digital citizenship. Sure, they're probably not reading your blog, but take a look at the photo with the interviewer. Notice the the faded white X and the camera? That's someone's mark of ownership. Do I always perfectly adhere to fair usage? Probably not. Am I mindful of it so I respect other people's intellectual property? I try. Here's some Googling tips when looking for photos and following good digital citizenship - https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/29508?hl=en
    Okay, now on to your questions this week.
    1) Some of the Emoment ideas here might help you get students active and connected to their learning. (Believe me, some WON'T work! I never got Bob the Weatherman!) I love Eyewitness News moment and it provides flexibility across topics. No, these are not full activity but they provide opportunities to engage and let students synthesize knowledge. https://www.asec.purdue.edu/download/undergrad/pdf/emoments.pdf
    2) Avoiding burnout - Put "you time" in your calendar. Yes, schedule dates with yourself and try to commit to them. Put them in your calendar for the week ahead. Ex. Monday 7:45 - 8:00 PM - read a book for pleasure, Tuesday 6:30-7:00 Take a walk around the neighborhood, Saturday 10-1 Do something completely school unrelated, etc.
    Good luck!

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  5. Sara, I agree with many of the comments already stated. During your lesson planning, do the hard work during this time, think of activities that will lead your students to the information that you tend to naturally want to deliver for them. Think outside of the box, be creative, come up with a game that students find different pieces of information along the way in. This will alleviate the very burdensome practice of you having to do the heavy thinking during class.

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