This week was short, but I have probably learned the most this week about teaching. There were many valuable things that I learned this week. I am learning how to manage my time even more, because now that I am teaching three classes, there is much more preparation involved. Another valuable thing I learned is that kids love to learn things about you and take notice to even small details like what color clothing you wear. My coop and I each wore red today and every day this week someone told me that they liked my tie. This just shows you that as teachers we must be prepared even by what we wear, because the kids will know. There was another valuable thing that I learned on Thursday during my Web Design class. Mrs. Wiscount was observing me and the class was working on creating their own resumes. Throughout the class, I had talked about my experiences with jobs and the kids were so engaged. As we were talking about interests, one of the students asked me if I could swim and I said no, even though I can. Mrs. Wiscount had pointed this out to me that I had made an impression on the students by showing that I am vulnerable as well, because in front of the class I told them that I could not swim. This can allow the students to feel more comfortable in class. The funniest thing about that entire lesson was at the end of the period. Telemarketing was one of my past jobs and the students were so interested in it. A week ago, I had to have "the talk" with this class. The same class on Thursday, every single student was silent and they all wanted to ask me questions. I thought it was amazing how a small talk goes a long way with classroom management.
Overall, this week went well. It was a short week with an early dismissal on Wednesday. The one thing I would have changed however during this week is perhaps come up with a better review game for the students to do in Accounting. After viewing the tests, many of the students did not do well, but this may be because they did not study and pay attention either. I feel this may be the tough class, but I feel that after this next week it will be better. This has only been my first full week teaching the class so I'm hoping the students are going to feel more comfortable with me teaching it.
Hope everyone is having great experiences and learning a lot. I'm going to create a Google Doc with Accounting Links and send it to everyone, because it seems like many of us are teaching Accounting. If we can collaborate and post ideas about activities and lessons that have worked, it will help us all out so feel free to add ideas, links to websites, or anything else to the document.
Have a great week 7!!
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I definitely agree with your stance on the classroom management issues. I've found a correlation in my own experiences between the tone of my voice, the way that i dress/carry myself, and with the way the students interact with me. In my experience, I have been able to avoid the need to "have a talk" in part due to these factors. Other unrelated factors include the fact that I have all seniors, and also my co-op is well respected among students so that overflows onto me. But I definitely agree with you on the importance of appearance; even when it seems insignificant, the students definitely do notice.
ReplyDeleteA side note, thanks for the Google Docs documents. They will prove to be very useful throughout my teaching experience. Have a great week 7! (Almost half way done:)
Time management definitely is becoming critical this week. More so in the next coming weeks. I found that I actually spend more time every week on preparation because the dryer the material, the harder it gets to present it. I also found that finding appropriate and attention getting anticipatory sets quite time consuming.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
I enjoyed observing you in the lesson that you referred to in your post. Yes, the students were basking in your experience and I don't think at first you even noticed. But, as they left the classroom, your smile said it all.
ReplyDeleteYou are making great connections at Pine Grove Area and the students will grow along with you. Wait until the end of the semester when you look over the past sixteen weeks and see how your students have grown as students and people. That will be a true reflection of your impact in their class and lives.