This was a full week for the students. It was a 4 day week for me as I took a sick day on Tuesday. I was lucky enough to have Mr. Haussener be my substitute while I was out so he knew what was going on in the classes. (I still needed sub plans but I felt confident that the things that needed to be done would get done).
Things I Learned:
- I need to slow things down...in terms of the amount of information that we are going over during one class period. I think that I am teaching a good amount of information and that's the problem, I need to teach a less amount of information (which well also let me teach it well).
- On the flip side, I need to speed up the pace of the class. This is easier when you have engaging activities built into your lesson.
BECOV Progress: (Business Like Behavior, Enthusiasm, Clarity, Opportunity to Learn, Variability)
- varying instruction came a little easier to me this past week. I even got a "This has been your best day teaching so far." (Mr. Haussener). I still need to work on variability but it was definitely better on Friday. (It was also easier on classroom management because the students were always doing something).
- Overall it was a good week but I want to try and repeat the good day I had on Friday everyday.
Advice Wanted:
- How do I keep the pace up and not have so much down time after giving directions?
- How do I not get frustrated and not want to plan? I'm struggling with staying calm because I am trying to change so much at once. How do I not freak out about all the change? How do I keep my sanity?
Don’t get discouraged... You have come a long way in the past few weeks. Understand that you are in an Ag/Tech department at Cedar Crest of fairly veteran teachers (myself NOT included as this is only my 7th year). They make it look very easy. Don’t think that they were as good of teachers now as they were in their first month of student teaching. They had a lot of struggle along the way too.
ReplyDeleteI was once told that student teaching is the longest job interview you will ever have. This could be part of your daily motivation to want to do the necessary planning for your classes.
In my opinion, you only have three major things to work on this week: One, designing engaging lessons. You proved to me on Friday that you can do this, so keep it up. Two, increasing the pace of the lessons so that the students continue to be engaged and excited about the content. And three, review. Take more time to do quick checks for understanding throughout the lesson, at the end of the lesson, and also the following day. These don’t need to be lengthy, but it needs to happen early and often.
You are beginning to realize that this is not necessarily an easy career. One thing I hope Darren and I will NOT do over the course of your student teaching is give you a false sense that it is. However, perseverance is key; it will get easier with time. The investment will pay off.
Phil offers wise counsel.
ReplyDeleteTo address your specific questions:
How do I keep the pace up and not have so much down time after giving directions?
- I am not sure I understand the question. Are you giving instructions to put students on task and they are not working? We must create a sense of urgency in our classroom. I recommend always setting a timer or time limit for activities. You can always extend the time if more is needed, but provide the tasks, ask if clarity is needed and indicate they have 5 minutes to complete (or an appropriate amount not to exceed 15 minutes). You can also broadcast via the project from online-stopwatch.com.
How do I not get frustrated and not want to plan? I'm struggling with staying calm because I am trying to change so much at once. How do I not freak out about all the change? How do I keep my sanity?
I am not as "clued in" as what is going down as Mr. H., but I would say remember that planning is what leads to great classes. Preparation beforehand makes it easier later.
Keep on Grinding!
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Hopefully I can help address some of these question while visiting, but also just know that your planning is what allows you to be flexible. Without the pan you are just moving through content with no real end in mind. Don't let the changes cause anxiety, because this is your opportunity to try new methods and strategies. Keep up the good work and keep growing each day.
ReplyDeleteSara, as I'm sure you are noticing as your teaching load continues to "ramp up" is that every second of "free time" counts, and there are dozens of ways for you to spend it. You're on the right track of chunking lessons that you may have thought were appropriate into smaller lesson chunks. This allows your students to get a more thorough understanding of each chunk, thus a clearer understanding of the "whole picture"
ReplyDelete