Taking Over
Starting
tomorrow I will be taking over complete control of the classroom for at least
three weeks. Before I started student
teaching I thought this day would be a lot more nerve wrecking. Surprisingly, I am quite calm. There are a few things I am slightly worried
about (I will get into that later on), but overall my mentor teacher has done a
wonderful job preparing me for this next step toward the completion of my
student teaching semester. I’ve already
been teaching most subjects on a daily basis.
Some of those lessons were ones I developed completely on my own, others
were done with a little guidance from my mentor, and the rest were done similar
to my substitute teaching experience – where I would be given a lesson and
specific details on how to teach it, but still had to interpret the lesson plan
on my own. Having been in this classroom
for seven weeks has me very comfortable with how to manage my students, and how
to find ways to teach all of them.
I am very
excited to have complete control of how to teach each lesson. My mentor has given me ideas of how she would
continue with each subject, but it is up to me to decide how I will plan and
teach each lesson. The guidance of how
to carry on with each individual subject was a major relief. My mentor could have just said, “On Monday
it’s all up to you where you go.” By
giving me a little bit of guidance, it made me think this experience over the
next few weeks will be similar to how I hope my first year of teaching in my
own classroom will go. For the first
year (and certainly after that too – more like every year) in my own classroom
it will be vital that I talk with my colleagues to learn how they use the
school’s chosen curriculum. We can then
bounce ideas off of each other to come up with the best teaching practices and
lessons to use in our own classrooms.
Students do
not all learn the same, and not all teachers feel the same practices work for
them or their students, so communicating and discussing with other teachers about
teaching practices helps each teacher find what works for him/her and for
his/her students that year. Bouncing
ideas off one another is one of my favorite ways to find the best strategies
for anything in life, not just teaching.
Why work exponentially harder to figure something out on your own when
you could utilize your resources (colleagues in your school, teachers you may
know, friends and family, students, etc.)?
“Work smarter…not harder.” – Allan F. Mogensen
Most Anticipated
Lesson Plan
On Wednesday
I will be reading a picture book titled, The
Day the Crayons Quit. This will
actually be for a writing lesson. We are
still focusing on getting the students excited about writing, and this book is
a way I think we can continue to do that.
The book consists of letters written to a crayon owner by each crayon on
his box. The letters state the reason
the crayon is has decided to quit working for him. After reading the story I am going to show
the students this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KZu0X82l7k&feature=youtu.be.
It is a short video from the author and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers. He tells the viewers how he does his work as
picture book writer and illustrator, and it is fascinating. I will then have the students write their own
story from a crayons perspective (I have yet to decide if their crayons will be
quitting or saying why they love how they are being used). Their stories will first be
done in pencil, and then edited by each other, then re-edited by myself. When they have their final draft they will
write a letter in crayon and add illustrations.
I will then create a book with all of the crayon stories from my
students. The book will be kept in the
class library for them to check out whenever they want. I think using the different medium of
handwriting (this time with a crayon), and writing for classroom publication
will help generate excitement and enthusiasm for this piece. I am hoping the excitement and enthusiasm
will carry over into other writings they do throughout the year, and even
throughout their lives.
A few Areas of
Concern
The
subject areas and lessons are a very important part of the next three
weeks. I think I have that area down
pretty well, and I know where the class is headed in each subject so they are
not an area I am currently worried about very much. Remembering all of the little things that go
into teaching a class on your own are what have me the most concerned. Do I have all the copies I need for this
lesson today? How will I help absent
students catch up the next day on all the important things they missed? Did I scan that document correctly so I can
use it on the projector? Will I have
time to grade everything and promptly get it back to my students so we can go
over anything they might be confused about from the lesson? Did I remember to write out the Common Core
“I can…” statements on the board? How
will I adjust our schedule for an assembly?
There are so many little things to think about for each day as a teacher
and I am looking forward to the challenge I will be facing. These challenges remind me of Habit 2 of the
“Five Habits of Mind”: To be curious,
critically thinking risk-takers and problem-solvers. I will have to constantly be curious and use
my critical thinking skills in order to teach all of my lessons in the best way
possible for my students.
As of right
now I have my first week of plans all ready, the “I can…” statements on the
chalkboard, I think I have all of the copies I need, everything that needs to
be scanned for the projector has been scanned, and I think everything is in
order for the first five days. The thing
I have definitely noticed throughout the past seven weeks is even though my
mentor plans out each week before Monday, something always gets shifted for
some reason. I know I have to go with
the flow and see how my students are doing with each lesson. Sometimes I will be able to move forward
quicker than I thought, and other times I will have to re-teach at least part
of a lesson, in a new way, the following day so the students are able to
completely understand it.
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