Once again, another short week! I had three instructional days this week with Monday being a two-hour delay!
I picked up a new class this week, Wildlife and Fishery Science... Not my area of interest...
This week I'm dealing with teaching a class that's not interesting to me. Wildlife and fishery science. The other classes and subjects I'm currently teaching are interesting and exciting to me and knowing content off hand has helped me to fill in those extra minutes or help expand the lesson with tid bits of knowledge. With this class I don't have that ability. I have two of these classes and I actually enjoy teaching one of the classes but the other I could probably do without, and I know that's a bad teacher attitude, so I don't let the kids on to my lack of enthusiasm...
There also seems to be a student in my second wildlife class that sets the tone for all of the students and it's not a good tone. I do try to be fun and excited with the kids but they really aren't interested in what we're doing. For example, we started with a "know book" on the fish of PA, I made a example page and showed the students what we were going to do, I drew an example on the board, and I explained it when they were doing it and yet students we're confused. It was very frustrating to me! I though I was being clear and when I went through it with the first class they were fine and had less directions. I was also using this lesson to fulfill a moodle assignment (incorporating music and art into a lesson). It was a complete flop for the students, the music was distracting and they didn't like the know book. But because they only got through three fish, now we'll be doing this for more than one day...
I also had my first student issue. My student has ADD as well as anger issues, and to make a long story short I was trying to keep him focused and on task all period and he was getting annoyed from the other kids in class and kept tell me he was getting upset and he making comments under his breath. So I finally told him to take 10 seconds outside to cool down. He thought that was a good idea so he walked out to the shop, and as soon as the door shut I thought "I hope he comes back!" And he did come back! This was the last day this week, so we'll start with a clean slate Monday. My only concern is that he will take advantage of this option that I gave him and think he get's 10 seconds every class! But innocent until proven guilty, he'll only do this when needed.
Annette, you are a strong teacher and do a great job being prepared for classes. Just think of it this way when you are preparing for a class that is not an interest of yours, make that felt-need connection to the students. Why is it important? How can you connect it to something that would be interesting and cool? Also remember to over prepare for your class. Having more prepared than you need will help you extend a lesson if you find yourself not being able to extend a lesson with your stored knowledge. Now is the time to try learning activities that are new and different. It will help you refine a lesson so when you implement it again its that much better! Keep trying new things and you will continue to see yourself grow in confidence and in resources for future teaching opportunities. Keep doing great and fun things!
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