Clinical Teaching

I taught my second lesson today, I feel it went well overall.

I taught the lesson three times. Of course the first run through was the worst. I stumbled over my words, wasn't sure about the timing, didn't feel confident in my examples, etc. The lesson did significantly improve though as the day went on.

Reflective Teaching is at the heart of the education program I am in... and this journal is where I plan on reflecting so... here it goes.

Good Things:
-Good examples / non examples
-Good focusing activity at the beginning of class
-Good homework sheet, simple but effective.
-Good guided practice activity

Bad Things:
-Smoothness: I was getting there, and it improved as the day went on but there were still a few rough patches.
-Handwriting: It has got to improve for the kids to be able to read it.
-Not enough input in the target language
-2 of 3 classes finished 5-8 minutes early.

Goals:
-I need to remember to make things consistent and clear; remembering to breath will help I'm sure.
-Getting the students involved as possible in the process would help them learn more. Like today asking them to label the skeleton instead of me. Also, asking them to read the examples from the homework or the daily riddle.
-Improve handwriting
-Make lesson objective more clear for the students

Classroom Management:
I felt like I did a decent job. At one point, the students were in small groups which is always a bit louder than when working alone but the students enjoy it a bit more. Also, while the groups were writing on the board there was some chatter but I feel that's one of those battles you have to pick not to fight because really, they don't gain much from watching their classmates writing on the board.

I never realized how much energy teaching takes...

Lesson On Organization

I missed several excellent opportunities to blog about excellent teacher related experiences because I forgot the password to this blog... happily I re-discovered it today and will not forget it again! The lesson to be learned here... organization!

Clinicals - Day One

I entered Kirksville High School this morning at approximately 10 minutes until 8:00am. In my mind I was thinking thoughts of pedagogy, remembering movies like the Ron Clark Story or Freedom Writers, and generally having grandiose thoughts about my future as a teacher. When I walked into the school, I was greeted by a male student screeching like a dinosaur. A female student walked casually past him and with a casual tone that suggested this happened often said, "'Morning Rex"

When I arrived at the classroom where I was to observe and eventually teach, I met my mentor teacher. A puerto rican woman with a wonderful accent and a pleasant disposition. She clearly had experience as a mentor teacher and made me feel very comfortable in the classroom. She went about her daily work with the students and I observed for the majority of my time there. Occassionaly one of the students would raise his or her hand, "Mr. Campbell..." It was such an odd and exciting thing to hear myself being referred to as "Mr. Campbell"

I left the school at the end of the day feeling exhausted but excited for what is to come. Very excited.

Purpose

I begin this blog with the intent of recording my experiences as a teacher. While I am not a full fledged and certified teacher yet, I am in the process of becoming one. I hope that as I progress as a teacher I will continue to look back on my earlier experiences. Inspiration, excitement, energy, lessons, opportunities for growth, mistakes, successes; these are the things I hope to chronicle here.