Student Teaching: Week 2!

Monday:

I picked up my second course on Monday, Leadership, this is the unit I have been looking forward to most! I planned one week for a public speaking “boot camp!” This class is a actually both plant and soil science and leadership. The original plan was to keep them separate I would first teach leadership and then plant and soil but Mrs. Morgan and I decided that everyone needs public speaking so for the “boot camp” I would have both classes. The lesson for Leadership went really well! Mrs. Morgan said I knocked her socks off and I kind of surprised myself!

I split them into four groups and gave each group a brown paper bag with only a few things: colored paper, scissors, paper clips, and with either a plastic cup, foam cow key chain, braided key chain, or plastic sunglasses. Not all bags had the same things for example only two groups had scissors and the other two groups had tape. I told them they had 15 minutes to create something with their group and during this time I could not answer any questions! My plan was for them to use things from around the room to create something and not allow themselves to be limited to what was in their bag. The students were even more creative than I could imagine! I was blown away with what they created. The point was to make the connection that public speaking is much like this: not everyone has the same talents and some of us have to work harder at it than others, we can’t rely on only ourselves to create a speech and public speaking is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone.

My first period freshman class was not so hot. I feel like I got off on the wrong foot with this class from the beginning, I blew through the introduction about myself and my expectations and have been really relaxed with their lack of engagement. There are about 4-5 students that have been really engaged others are not so much. This is my largest class and their just little attitude boxes and I let them intimidate me. I knew I had to change something but I wasn’t sure how.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a two-hour delay! As a student I loved two-hour delay, as a teacher—not so much. I started a lecture in my first period and with the leadership class I screwed up! I was so disappointed because I did such a great job on Monday I didn’t want the student’s to get the wrong impression.

Tuesday evening as I was reflecting upon my performance I was so frustrated! I decided that it was time to have a discussion with my first period class. And then I was up all night thinking about how I would go about doing it, I even woke up thinking about the same thing…

Wednesday

Wednesday morning I went to school with discussion points that I would have with the first period class about behaviors I am seeing and how they feel about my teaching so far and I was all ready to defend myself to the students. I was hopeful that I would get good feedback but also afraid that I would be eaten alive! After reading the announcements I told them before we begin we need to have a “meeting of the minds” (My dad always said this when I was about to get in trouble or he was going to say something I wasn’t going to like). They all looked at me and each other slightly confused. I explained that 55% of our communication is non-verbal, and that the body language in the classroom (crossed arms, rolling eyes, etc.) was shouting at me so I thought we needed to reflect on the previous week. I gave them all a piece of paper, told them this would be anonymous and asked them to tell me

 1. What I did that helped them learn, and

 2. What I could change about my teaching

I also told them to feel free to share aloud and we would discuss it as a whole. I walked around the room and collected the papers face down and mixing them so they knew it was anonymous. Some of the comments I received were: more slowly on the notes, better job at breaking things down, and clarity. So I read these three comments aloud and I explained that these were things that Mrs. Morgan and I talked about as far as my improvements as well, so I did know that I needed to work on these things. I also explained that I was not a seasoned teacher like Mrs. Morgan I am a student teacher and so just like they’re here to learn I am here to learn as well. As we had this discussion I could practically see the walls come down, the students became more open with me about what they would like to learn and different ways that they learn best. I came in with my defenses up and it turns out that I didn’t need them. I didn’t need to tell them about poor or inappropriate behavior that they may have been exhibiting. All of the cell phones went away they sat up and actually leaned forward and engaged in the class! I was very excited and felt proud as a new teacher.

After the students left I read more of the comments they had written down. Of all the comments my favorite is:

            “If you could, please explain yourself a little more for projects and paper. But, everything else is great! You are a good student teacher and I think you’ll make a great teacher.

The comment that I thought was most interesting was:

            “Good: You explain things”   

“Bad: You talk to much”

After having this discussion with the freshman I am really beginning to enjoy the kids, they know that if necessary they can slow me down and tell me to explain myself more.

Thursday:

For Today I prepared to teach about common diseases of sheep and goats. I created a PowerPoint with pictures of the animals with the various diseases, I gave them a chart and I told them information about the disease and they completed the chart. I have four students first period that according to their IEP need the teacher’s notes. So from my lesson plan I copied and pasted the information about the 5 diseases and they put them in a document for these students. I was under the impression that the students would do the same as everyone else but if they needed to they could refer to these notes. That’s not what happened…

I had one student that doesn’t let himself be defined by his IEP he does his work like all the others.

I had one student that listened intently but did not take notes.

And I had two students that did nothing.

I looked at the students quite a few times and knew they we’re not taking notes but assumed they we’re following along. However, after class Mrs. Morgan told me that one student was actually sleeping. I felt pretty dumb that I missed that one…Mrs. Morgan and I talked and she said next time to wait until after class to give the notes and see how it makes a difference. Looking back something that I could have done is have fill in the blanks on their notes this would at least give them something to do and it would have been less work than the chart.

Friday

Today was a pretty good day for me. I had my first period students do a disease poster and then present. Last week I had them do a poster on sheep and goat breeds and present. From the past week to this week they were much more comfortable presenting in front of the class. They are also beginning to ask me more questions rather than running to Mrs. Morgan right away. Between the two of us we’re just letting the student’s transition slowly rather than a blunt transition I think it’s easier for the students.

My leadership class didn’t got like I thought it would but when I asked a student if she got a lot out of that period she said she did.

Today was the turning point for my Ag Mech class. We’re doing small gas engines, this class was very intimidating to me in the beginning not only because of the material but also the students. I have eight students, three boys that have quite a bit of experience with SGE, one girl that I have no idea where she stands because she keeps cracking jokes about diesel fuel and a so called “folsum shaker shaft” (the reoccurring joke of Juniata), I have one girl that’s clueless, and three IEP students with developmental issues—two of which blew up their engine last year. To make a long story short, the students don’t want to be in the classroom any more than I want to be teaching SGE. Yesterday I had them create a SGE Small Gas Engine safety management poster. The idea was that I am the boss and I want to promote them to a manager but in order for me to promote them I need to be sure that they can implement safety habits with their employees. Today they presented this to me. I twisted the project to be how I plan to implement safety with them. For example they said employees should wear the appropriate PPE if they are not then they will first receive a warning and second offence they would be fired. So I said okay first time you’re not wearing safety glasses I will give you a warning second time your kicked out of the shop. They didn’t like this, I stuck to my guns though with this attitude as we went through the presentation. In the end I explained that I am not a “loose cannon” as one boy called me I was just cautious of their safety and the importance of them maintaining and learning good safety practices. We then played a game to learn the tools where I showed them the tool and they told me what it did. I had two teams and competition became an issue with profanity that I nipped right away. This was so far more beneficial to not only them but myself. I was able to see where they were as far as skill level and they not only learned the tools but learned that I did know a thing or two about SGE.

As I get deeper into my internship I am realizing that I have a great passion for education! I really look forward to engaging with my students every day. The best part about it is that there is never a boring day! The students are always keeping me entertained and as I try different teaching methods I have become more reflective and creative about how I could or should do something and open to asking students opinions on what they want to learn and how they learn best!