Class is in session!
I decided to use the words of Julius Caesar and call my first blog post,
Experience is the teacher of all things. As a well-rounded student, I have six years of classwork and field experience behind me as I go into student teaching. While I've learned more than I ever thought possible, there's one thing that I've really taken away from all of that time spent in a college classroom: you never actually internalize something until you get out there and do it on your own. I left Trinity Christian College in May with my head high. Even though I plan to continue on to higher education as my life progresses, I've never felt anything greater than having only a summer standing between myself and that amazing internship that I've been looking so forward to experiencing. Since I entered college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher; also since I've entered college, I've feared the day I'd have to report to my first day of student teaching. How was I going to take care of all those students? How was I to balance all the work involved with planning, grading, teaching, and studying (let alone everything else in my life)? Could I even do it? But I wasn't surprised to find that after preparing my new classroom for three days, I opened the door to room 129 and welcomed in over one-hundred and thirty students throughout the day with a smile that never left my face. Sure, my professors always told me how much I'd enjoy being in the classroom, but can a college textbook really explain the rewards that teaching bestows upon a new teacher? No way.
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The back of our staff t-shirts reads,
"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." |
I've been blessed, truly, by Northwood Middle School (District 200) in Woodstock, IL for inviting me into its community. The staff is great, the students are phenomenal, and the atmosphere is perfect.
The official first day of school was on August 16th, and I could tell that the students were ready to be back. During this past week, Mrs. D. (my cooperating teacher) and I mainly took care of housekeeping activities. We learned students' names, assigned seats, set up Language Arts binders, and administered a Spelling Achievement assessment. During these first few days, we tried to give students the resources they would need to have a successful school year. We even came up with our classroom rules and consequences
together, and I think that by doing this as a group, both the students and the teachers have established a classroom based upon respect from day one. I have led small reading activities with the class, and I stayed conscious of my lessons at Trinity on how to successfully read with my class. For example, if a student read quietly, I would either ask him to read a little louder or walk to the other side of the room so that he would instinctively read louder. If a student read too quickly, I would ask him to stop, take a breath, and begin again, but this time, more slowly. I remember talking extensively about reading orally with students in my English 380 course at Trinity. I will undoubtedly continue to use the techniques I've learned and will continue studying on how to enhance reading exercises in my classroom. Even though I know there will be times when I will struggle, I can't imagine coming across something that will make me doubt my beliefs about being a teacher.
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| My classroom on the first day of school. |
I love being at Northwood full-time. Rather than spending a couple of hours in the classroom a week like I did with my field experience placements, I have become a part of the team, a number of teams actually: the seventh grade team, the eighth grade team, and two separate language arts teams. I have also been observing other classes (sixth grade, science, etc.), and by watching other teachers deliver their lessons, I am exposed to so many different concepts, techniques, and strategies. For example, Mrs. D. has the students conduct Baseball Card interviews in which students question one another, create outlines, draw up baseball cards, and present each other to the class. By doing this, she is able to assess how well students socialize, write, and present. Mrs. S. has her seventh grade Science students perform Safety Skits before they even began talking about Science. And Mrs. W. promotes Scholastic book club purchases from day one. As the semester progresses, I plan to sit in on many more classes with other teachers in the school, and I know for a fact that there is much more to learn from Mrs. D.
Repeatedly, I've heard Mrs. D. tell our students that keeping them safe is her number one priority. When I think safety, I think of
no running,
no fighting, and
no throwing. I imagine in my head that Mrs. D. must make sure, above all else, that her students do not accidentally get poked with a lead pencil. While this is important, Mrs. D. means more than physical safety. It is her (and my) job to ensure that our students are socially and emotionally safe as well. Mrs. D. advised against physically harming one another, while I, on the other hand, clearly expressed my distaste for bullying. The students know that physical harm and bullying will not be tolerated in our classroom. Likewise, students know that when they are entering our classroom, they are entering a safe place. I intend to uphold my promise to create a welcoming community for my students as long as I am a teacher in their classroom.
During a fifteen minute period before or after lunch, the students at Northwood watch Channel 1, a short program dealing with news stories, facts, history, etc. Since Channel 1 is now being watched during history classes, I decided to create an activity called S.P.I.N., Students' Positions in the News, in which I read articles and prepare discussions relating to current events taking place in the news. I was not prompted to do this. During one of my first evenings at home after a day at school, I thought it would be beneficial for students to read a short article each day and think about something in a way that they may not have before, so I came up with the idea of S.P.I.N. and tested it out on Wednesday of last week. Needless to say, I was very happy with the results (as were my students), and I will be continuing this activity, altering and changing where I see fit.
During this next week, I intend to focus on two things:
- Learning the names of all of my students and then using them often, and
- Sharpening my planning skills (how do plan effectively, how to balance my time, how to be flexible, how to be confident in my planning, etc.)
For the past week and a half, I have co-taught with Mrs. D. During these next two weeks, I will be teaching the same class directly after she has taught the first one by modeling her behavior. And within a couple of weeks, I will be taking on and planning for more classes completely on my own. While I know that I am not very experienced with assuming lead teaching roles, I want to be ready for when I do take on more responsibility in the classroom.
