Week in Review
Hi Ladies,
Obviously, the week has gotten away from me. It must be Homecoming!
This week let's continue our conversation regarding your progress with the TPA and any comments or questions you might have. Give an update on your week and weekend. A high and a stretch and respond to each other.
GO COUGS!
posted by Chris @ 10:48 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Thankfully, I figured out how to make it clear that all of my lessons tie together! I have finished all 3 of my lesson plans and am hoping for a very productive Sunday and Monday to work on the Planning Commentary. I will (hopefully) teach my lessons this week!!
We have practiced filming a little bit by placing my computer in the back of the classroom. The kids were pretty good about it and the shot caught the whole room! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things go smoothly this week :)
The reason I am up at 2am is because I am heading to Prague for the day! A roommate and I are taking a trip via the rec center here so we are going for the day. I am so excited! (the bus leaves at 3am)
A high point for me this week was that my mentor teacher, Monica, had a conference that was on base she had to attend. There was a sub in the classroom, but she made it clear that it was my class to run for the day! It was really exciting for me to be able to teach the kids all day, and it was nice to not have Monica in the room for a little so I didn't feel like I was stepping out of line if I wanted to change something she usually does.
A low for me this week was (in that same day) I had to pull the first color card of the year. It is a part of our management system that the kids start each day on green and if they misbehave they turn their own card to yellow, then red, etc. The student I mentioned in my last post had a great morning. It was uncharacteristic of him to get started on his work right away and participate in class discussion without being reminded. I praised him often during the first half of the morning because I hoped it would encourage him to continue this behavior. Unfortunately, he was the only student who caused me any trouble all day and so I had to show I was serious and made him pull a color card. I reminded him that he could change his card back to green if he was good for what was left in the day (30 min of math) but he continued to act out and ended the day on yellow. It was my real first taste of having to be the "mean" teacher, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
Hope everyone had a good week and has an even better weekend!! Happy homecoming, Chris!
Rosie- That is such a good idea to practice video taping before you begin your lesson plans. I need to do that, because the middle school kids will probably freak out once they see the red light go on. I want them to act natural, so practicing is probably something I should initiate this week. Congrats on getting your lessons tied together! I know you were struggling with that because of the spiral strategy you were talking about! Good luck filming! You will be STELLER!
Ms. Liff and I decided to postpone our "lottery" lesson until next week as we were still some lessons she wanted them to complete. Last week, the students were working on their "favorite seasons" persuasive essays in which they have to use sensory details. They also began their first book report.
We are grading the persuasive essays today and what we are noticing is that a lot of the kids took it very seriously and did a beautiful job. The other 60% did not do any editing, and in some cases I don't think they even read it through. There are many grammar errors that I wasn't expecting 8th graders to have. Because of this, we are going to start doing grammar exercises at the beginning of class every day. So that was the low point for me. Grammar isn't fun for me or the students, no matter how engaging we try to make it. Unfortunately we have to do it to get these kids to the level they need to be at.
A high for me last week was attending the Munich foosball game. It was incredible being in such a large stadium and feeling the energy of all the fans! They were nuts! Munich is a beautiful city in general. I am actually looking at applying for the two international schools there. There is an internationl school job fair in January that I am looking into attending. If either of you are interested there is one in London, and one in Iowa. You have to register by a certain date to attend.
Emily- I just read your post and wanted to say thanks for the info about the job fair!! FYI Chris and Kasia, we were just chatting about it in my room :)
I used my macbook to practice today and it worked well so if you are concerned about cameras that is a good option! Fingers crossed it will go well. We still have a lot of time left, so I think that it may be a blessing you have an extra week to prepare your kids so you have a better opportunity to know their capabilities and if you need to tweak your lesson a bit. I am excited to hear all about it :)
Rosie- Did you enjoy Prague??? My “foreign brother” a former exchange student of my family’s is from there, and I have visited him, but would love to again. The city is so beautiful and I also only had a day. I will be curious to hear your thoughts.
That is so exciting about having full responsibility of the class when your teacher was gone! My mentor teacher gave me a day and some random classes where she left the room to let me try to sort out techniques without the pressure of her watching, and I completely agree with you; it was sort of “freeing” and a great learning experience. Now, even with her in the room, it is getting more and more comfortable. I feel like student teaching is harder than actually teaching, because we are always conscious of not completely changing the setup/plans that are already in place…My mentor teacher is great and encourages it, but I still feel odd, like I am stepping on her toes, or that my idea will completely fail…I guess we are always learning.
☺ Your story about having to pull the “yellow card” with a student made me smile. I feel like I have definitely had to put “mean” or “serious and stern” Kasia in action with one of my classes, basically every time I have them. It’s a group of 15 freshman boys and only 2 girls in the class…
Also thanks about the tip of the Macbook. I think I will try that next time.
Emily – I agree with Rosie. I think you have plenty of time, or maybe I’m just trying to make myself feel good, because I will probably redo mine in 2 weeks. I’m still really interested in how your Middle School (8th grade??) will respond to “The Lottery.” It was fun with our 10th graders. They were shocked at the end of the story ☺ A lot of our short stories have had weird twists so they are asking for something about love now haha. We will have to think of something for them.
I’m so jealous about you going to the game! I wish I would have been able to make it work, but I’m so glad you loved it! The Europeans sure love their football! Also thanks for the heads up on the job fair. Some teachers were telling me about the one in London, but I didn’t know about the Iowa one! I am definitely thinking about overseas…
This past week—I filmed three lessons and wrote them out. I am not sure whether I want to use them yet or not, so I haven’t started all the planning and video commentary yet. I think I might wait and re-film in 2 weeks with a learning segment that I will have more time to plan and document thoroughly, but I’m not sure yet.
High-With the lesson I taught on “A Rose for Emily” I had the students break into groups and assign them roles, such as journalist, photographer, editor, etc. and they divided the sections making a newstory. I originally thought we would only spend a day on it, but I was so impressed by the level the students went to, so we extended. It was fun to see the students actually seeming like they liked learning ☺ haha.
Challenge – It was the first week that I was teaching every class and preparing for them all. It is a lot of work! Also on top of trying to get the filming and TPA started, and soccer! This weekend I’m going to try and be productive! I think this week scared me a bit about how much teachers do on their own time. It’s probably less after they have been teaching for some time, and when you learn how to balance.
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