7 April 2014
A lot has happened since March 5th. Last Monday was the day I taught my lesson to the class with Ms. Jordan observing. Overall, I think it went well, and Ms. Jordan gave me high marks in my evaluation. I will admit that I was quite nervous before I started, and this attributed to some semi-noticeable leg shaking. I have encountered this many times before, so it did not throw me off at all. I say semi-noticeable because Mr. C said he did not notice it until it was pointed out to him. I am sure there will be nerves on my first day of Student Teaching and my first actual day of teaching, but I think it will be different in both instances. I will be more of an integral part during Student Teaching (hopefully), so that may lessen the nerves. I was worried how I would handle misbehavior or lack of focus from the students, and I got my opportunity fairly early in the lesson. We were doing freewriting responses on some questions about MLA in-text citations, then the madness ensued. A girl started laughing extremely loud for some unknown reason. The class was silent because everyone else was writing; I looked at Ms. Jordan and Mr. C to see their reactions; they did not look pleased. I let her laugh a little bit longer to see if it would stop, and when I knew it was not going to, I decided I would have to do something. It was nothing drastic. I simply asked what was so funny, made some playful comments about them making me look bad for Ms. Jordan, and then kindly, but sternly, asked them to get it together. She could tell I was serious and subsequently stopped laughing. After that, I settled down and was able to handle the barrage of questions from the students. Due to them having an abundance of questions, I did not achieve closure before the lunch bell rang, but both Ms. Jordan and Mr. C were fine with that because the students were so engaged and asked so many questions. My lesson needs a few tweaks, but Ms. Jordan seemed very happy with is overall. It was a giant weight lifted off of my shoulders.
A lot has happened since March 5th. Last Monday was the day I taught my lesson to the class with Ms. Jordan observing. Overall, I think it went well, and Ms. Jordan gave me high marks in my evaluation. I will admit that I was quite nervous before I started, and this attributed to some semi-noticeable leg shaking. I have encountered this many times before, so it did not throw me off at all. I say semi-noticeable because Mr. C said he did not notice it until it was pointed out to him. I am sure there will be nerves on my first day of Student Teaching and my first actual day of teaching, but I think it will be different in both instances. I will be more of an integral part during Student Teaching (hopefully), so that may lessen the nerves. I was worried how I would handle misbehavior or lack of focus from the students, and I got my opportunity fairly early in the lesson. We were doing freewriting responses on some questions about MLA in-text citations, then the madness ensued. A girl started laughing extremely loud for some unknown reason. The class was silent because everyone else was writing; I looked at Ms. Jordan and Mr. C to see their reactions; they did not look pleased. I let her laugh a little bit longer to see if it would stop, and when I knew it was not going to, I decided I would have to do something. It was nothing drastic. I simply asked what was so funny, made some playful comments about them making me look bad for Ms. Jordan, and then kindly, but sternly, asked them to get it together. She could tell I was serious and subsequently stopped laughing. After that, I settled down and was able to handle the barrage of questions from the students. Due to them having an abundance of questions, I did not achieve closure before the lunch bell rang, but both Ms. Jordan and Mr. C were fine with that because the students were so engaged and asked so many questions. My lesson needs a few tweaks, but Ms. Jordan seemed very happy with is overall. It was a giant weight lifted off of my shoulders.
5 March 2014
Last week at Central was filled with a lot of reading. After introducing myself to the 9:37 class on Monday, one last group presented their radio drama. It was fun to get to watch another one of those. I am not a big talker, so it is becoming quite difficult to assimilate into the classroom. Another reason is because when the students are doing mostly reading, there is not much I can do during this time. I have spoken to Mr. C about this to try to get ideas about what I can do while they are reading, and he reiterated that there really is not a lot to do. On Monday, the 24th, he also introduced the next lesson to both classes I was in. They are going to be reading To Kill a Mockingbird in groups of 3-5 students. This lesson is called a Literature Circle, and it is something I was not familiar with until that day. It puts a lot of the pressure on the students to get the reading done. The group chooses their own schedule for reading, one person is in charge of vocabulary words for a certain section, and one is the discussion leader. They have sheets they must fill out with the vocab words, notes on their discussions, and other details about the reading. They must have 4 discussions, and Mr. C has to sit in on one of them. I like this idea of putting the lesson in the hands of the students and giving them more responsibility. Mr. C is of course checking on their progress daily and making his own notes about what each group is doing, but the Lit Circle aspect really puts the students in charge.
Today Mr. C told me he would need my help coming up when he hands some research papers back to the students. Apparently, a good majority of them are having trouble with in-text citations, and since I suggested maybe doing my lesson on MLA, he thought this would be a good way for me to be of assistance. This gave me the opportunity to ask him what he wanted me to cover in my lesson, and he basically said to stick to in-text citations mostly. I discovered Mr. C likes to hunt, so I thought I would show him a picture of the buck I murdered this past fall. This sparked a short but fun discussion about hunting and allowed me to build more of a rapport with Mr. C. One funny thing I forgot to mention is that quite a few students have commented on how similar Mr. C and I look. Both times I introduced myself to classes a student has asked if we are related. It has become kind of a joke amongst the students. I also think it is rather comical because I even noticed the similarities the first time I met Mr. C.
Last week at Central was filled with a lot of reading. After introducing myself to the 9:37 class on Monday, one last group presented their radio drama. It was fun to get to watch another one of those. I am not a big talker, so it is becoming quite difficult to assimilate into the classroom. Another reason is because when the students are doing mostly reading, there is not much I can do during this time. I have spoken to Mr. C about this to try to get ideas about what I can do while they are reading, and he reiterated that there really is not a lot to do. On Monday, the 24th, he also introduced the next lesson to both classes I was in. They are going to be reading To Kill a Mockingbird in groups of 3-5 students. This lesson is called a Literature Circle, and it is something I was not familiar with until that day. It puts a lot of the pressure on the students to get the reading done. The group chooses their own schedule for reading, one person is in charge of vocabulary words for a certain section, and one is the discussion leader. They have sheets they must fill out with the vocab words, notes on their discussions, and other details about the reading. They must have 4 discussions, and Mr. C has to sit in on one of them. I like this idea of putting the lesson in the hands of the students and giving them more responsibility. Mr. C is of course checking on their progress daily and making his own notes about what each group is doing, but the Lit Circle aspect really puts the students in charge.
Today Mr. C told me he would need my help coming up when he hands some research papers back to the students. Apparently, a good majority of them are having trouble with in-text citations, and since I suggested maybe doing my lesson on MLA, he thought this would be a good way for me to be of assistance. This gave me the opportunity to ask him what he wanted me to cover in my lesson, and he basically said to stick to in-text citations mostly. I discovered Mr. C likes to hunt, so I thought I would show him a picture of the buck I murdered this past fall. This sparked a short but fun discussion about hunting and allowed me to build more of a rapport with Mr. C. One funny thing I forgot to mention is that quite a few students have commented on how similar Mr. C and I look. Both times I introduced myself to classes a student has asked if we are related. It has become kind of a joke amongst the students. I also think it is rather comical because I even noticed the similarities the first time I met Mr. C.
26 February 2014
My first day at Central, the 19th, was rather intriguing. The students had been working on radio dramas and they were presenting them on that day. I had never heard of radio dramas before then, so I was excited to see what all the hoopla was about. Essentially, Mr. C gave every group the text from an old radio show, and it was up to the students to decide who would play each part. One group did an old Superman broadcast, one was called The Witches Tale, and another was a comedy where the main characters were a husband and his wife. Mr. C rigged up two microphones for the groups to speak into, and the students had to find sound effects to use in their presentation. As expected, some students were not that into it, but other students really embraced the project, using different voices for different characters. I sat in the corner and watched, and I could not help but laugh at a lot of the dramas. The students also had to write a research paper over their drama, but I am not sure what they were researching exactly. Lunch came in the middle of class, so I went to the teachers' lounge with Mr. C. It was nice to be able to sit among the other English teachers and listen to what was going on in their classes. This also helped me get more familiar with the department so I don't feel completely like an outsider. Overall, the first day did not consist of anything but watching. As the practicum goes on I am sure it will become easier to interact with the students and work more with Mr. C.
My first day at Central, the 19th, was rather intriguing. The students had been working on radio dramas and they were presenting them on that day. I had never heard of radio dramas before then, so I was excited to see what all the hoopla was about. Essentially, Mr. C gave every group the text from an old radio show, and it was up to the students to decide who would play each part. One group did an old Superman broadcast, one was called The Witches Tale, and another was a comedy where the main characters were a husband and his wife. Mr. C rigged up two microphones for the groups to speak into, and the students had to find sound effects to use in their presentation. As expected, some students were not that into it, but other students really embraced the project, using different voices for different characters. I sat in the corner and watched, and I could not help but laugh at a lot of the dramas. The students also had to write a research paper over their drama, but I am not sure what they were researching exactly. Lunch came in the middle of class, so I went to the teachers' lounge with Mr. C. It was nice to be able to sit among the other English teachers and listen to what was going on in their classes. This also helped me get more familiar with the department so I don't feel completely like an outsider. Overall, the first day did not consist of anything but watching. As the practicum goes on I am sure it will become easier to interact with the students and work more with Mr. C.
2 February 2014
I know what you're thinking, and you're right, I am not artistic. That is probably one of the reasons I am an English major. I am also not overly creative. This is a big reason why I could not come up with anything better than a book with quotes and titles in it. That being said, these are a lot of things that define who I am as an English major and who I want to be as a teacher.
On the left page are sayings and other things things related to English. There are the obvious ones like HOC's & LOC's and Purpose and Audience. Any English major has heard these things until their ears are numb. The other things are sayings by my boss at the Carol Jones Writing Center (OTC) or my RDG 474 teacher. One of the sayings is, "How you think is more important than what you know." This really connects with me because in my opinion it really is all about how you think and knowing how you think. Knowledge is power, this is true, but knowledge is useless if you cannot apply it to your life. What I mean is that it does not matter if a person knows facts and could destroy any competition on Jeopardy; what does matter is how they think. Can you analyze a situation and break things down in order to come to the best conclusion? Can you analyze anything? If all you can do is regurgitate facts, then that can only take you so far.
On the right side of the page are books that have impacted me in some way. These books are For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gravity's Rainbow, Absalom, Absalom!, Invisible Man, Light in August, The Stand, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and last but not least, The Bible. Describing their effect on me would take a novel by itself. One that was left off the page is The Road. That is the one that helped me discover how amazing reading is, and without it I might not be where I am today. Every one of these books has challenged me in different ways (especially the Bible), and I firmly believe that in order to know who we truly are, deep down, we must be challenged in some way, shape, or form.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right, I am not artistic. That is probably one of the reasons I am an English major. I am also not overly creative. This is a big reason why I could not come up with anything better than a book with quotes and titles in it. That being said, these are a lot of things that define who I am as an English major and who I want to be as a teacher.
On the left page are sayings and other things things related to English. There are the obvious ones like HOC's & LOC's and Purpose and Audience. Any English major has heard these things until their ears are numb. The other things are sayings by my boss at the Carol Jones Writing Center (OTC) or my RDG 474 teacher. One of the sayings is, "How you think is more important than what you know." This really connects with me because in my opinion it really is all about how you think and knowing how you think. Knowledge is power, this is true, but knowledge is useless if you cannot apply it to your life. What I mean is that it does not matter if a person knows facts and could destroy any competition on Jeopardy; what does matter is how they think. Can you analyze a situation and break things down in order to come to the best conclusion? Can you analyze anything? If all you can do is regurgitate facts, then that can only take you so far.
On the right side of the page are books that have impacted me in some way. These books are For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gravity's Rainbow, Absalom, Absalom!, Invisible Man, Light in August, The Stand, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and last but not least, The Bible. Describing their effect on me would take a novel by itself. One that was left off the page is The Road. That is the one that helped me discover how amazing reading is, and without it I might not be where I am today. Every one of these books has challenged me in different ways (especially the Bible), and I firmly believe that in order to know who we truly are, deep down, we must be challenged in some way, shape, or form.