My Monday night was spent working on a Prezi on inference. My Co-op teacher informed me that the kids would be learning inference next, and that I could do an introduction lesson on it Wednesday. I had never created a Prezi, so I chose a template and went from there. I must say, it is actually fun making one. It always looked complicated and time consuming to me. After I finished my Prezi, I showed it off to my brother, who is currently a student teacher. He was impressed and pointed out one slide that was just common sense. He said it made it sound like I'm teaching to kindergarten students.
Wednesday came and I was up early to bake cupcakes for my team teachers. In the middle of filling up the trays, I noticed that I had forgotten to put water in the mix! No wonder I couldn't fill up all 24 holes. I rush to buy another box of cake mix. And candy for the kids! Round two. Same thing, but this time I forgot to add the oil. 30 minutes left till I have to go and I still need to put the trays in the oven. Somehow I managed to make it to school on time. With oil-less cupcakes all decorated in orange and black to show panther pride.
Tuesday, I learned that I wouldn't be teaching inference. I would be reading Marley and Me instead.
Wednesday, in addition to reading and reviewing theme, another 7th grade English teacher suggested I do sentence starters with the class to help them identify their own theme in their writing. When she first told me of this idea, I was confused how it would exactly tie in with the stage the students are at now with their writing. "And what do you mean by sentence starters?"
Basically, in the four classes I taught, the students looked at me with confusion all over their faces. It was difficult for me to clarify, because I was still unsure of what the teacher wanted me to do with the sentence starters. On top of that, I learned that some students already had a theme in their writing, while others did not. To this day, I don't know what exactly I was supposed to do or if I did what the teacher meant. She made me feel better though, after explaining my confusion to her by saying, "It's not you... it's them." Right, I knew that the students were having a tough time overall with theme. But the fact that the kids had no idea what they were doing or why-- was on me.
During the last period of the day, I looked through all the students' responses and made a sour face. I read responses of all sorts. Some got it, but the majority had weird, unrelated answers. But again, I can't really blame them. Although my Co-op told the class it would be graded, after seeing my reaction, she told me I could just toss them in the trash. "I don't have the time."
As I left the school, I said goodbyes to my team teachers. They wished me luck. I never got the chance to say goodbye to the students. I walked to my car with the bag of unopened candy.
So melancholy!! On a brighter note, my Co-op gave me a wonderful experience. Her enthusiasm and wit definitely help with engaging her students. She commented on my final evaluation that I am ready for student teaching and that I will be an asset to the teacher. So, there's that too.
AW Amy, it will get better. I know that my co-op has some good and bad days and I was happy that over these five weeks and three fridays I was able to learn from him and even learn who he is as a person. I seen him when he was frustrated, upset, annoyed, happy (successful), excited for his CDT testing program that is basically his "baby" and that he comments on being one of the reasons why he cannot get fired right away.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the major things that I have learned from being in the field is that teachers need to be flexible. Some teacher will leave things for the last minute and others will try to prepare for it days in advance like you did with your cupcakes. I also asked my teachers about other teachers that I met in the faculty room and teachers lounge. I asked him what his thoughts were on other teachers and what made them good if he said they were good teachers. That was a good insight and made me reflect and think of what type of teacher I want to be like or work towards being. Everything will get better Amy, especially because we are just being exposed to the classroom now and seeing what life really is like in the classroom.