This week was quite the eventful week for me as a student teacher! I have my first formal observation from my supervisor, had the students take their first exam I helped create and prepare them for, and had my first in-service day on Friday.
First thing’s first, my observation. Thankfully my observation went well and my supervisor was pleased with my middle school capabilities, engaging lesson, and dedication…my 150 students were a completely different story that day. I’m fully aware that teaching has its ups and its downs, that goes to say for anything in life but Wednesday I wanted to cry and jump for joy all at the same time…for 2 whole, long hours. My supervisor was supposed to come and observe my 5th hour class, which from the start of the morning I was pretty nervous about. The students were just ready for their long weekend ahead of them, were on sugar-highs from all the valentine’s snacks they had been exchanging, and 3rd and 4th hour gave me a preview of the rest of my day. By the time I got to 5th hour, my supervisor came in, and the kids came in with all the energy, tension, and silliness enough to share with everyone in the school. Some issues happened at lunch with a few groups of girls and of course those ladies were in my 5th hour class, some boys were just off their rocker and refused to take part in any activity that was going on or planned, and the rest of the class wanted nothing to do with a review game planned for their exam the next day. Again, I know everyone has their good and bad days and I don’t blame my students for being at a different place than I was Wednesday. I was ready to review and prepare them for an exam, they were ready start the long weekend and want nothing to do with an exam. I had to pause much of the review game and lesson in order to collect my students and give them a pep talk, a respect talk, and a “this is unacceptable talk” all at the same time. I felt like one of those puppet dolls of which each limb is connected by a string, getting pulled in all different directions. I wanted to impress my cooperating teacher and my supervisor since I was so proud of the game I had planned, I wanted to give the students enough time so we could get through as much of the game so I could see if anything needed to be re-reviewed for tomorrows exam, and I wanted to cry at the chaos that they brought in with them. I feel like that was my first real experience trying to keep the class calm and functioning, keep my lesson going for my supervisor, and keep myself from thinking “I cannot do this”. I learned that some days you just have to roll with the punches and stop and talk to the students, figure out what is going on, and make it into a learning experience. I got through as much of the review game as I could have, but most importantly I laid down the expectations for the students, which gave them the chance to see me as a constant authority figure in their lives for the semester. My students finally got to see me equal to my cooperating teacher, and that couldn’t have made me happier to know I earned their respect and they saw mine. Lucky for me the rest of the day gave me a ton of practice with pep talks, respect conversations, and expectation discussions with the students, and more importantly I love the lessons my students teach me that books and videos cannot (i.e. how to handle everything when your lesson doesn’t go as planned due to extenuating circumstances the students bring in).
The in-service day was extremely beneficial. My cooperating teacher got the chance to discuss more what she and the other science teachers want to do with the science curriculum (spiral vs. segmented), and we all got to talk as a school on standards based grading and how to move toward that type of grading. I had the chance to hear both sides, for and against, standards based grading. My opinion on standards based grading is a bit split momentarily. I am all for grading students on their effort, contributions, participation, lead up work, but the fact that standards based grading also means students should not receive zeros for work that is not completed or turned in is what I disagree with. I believe that students need to also get penalized for assignments that they do not turn in; otherwise their grade may not accurately reflect their understanding and grasp of content. Additionally, teachers will have a skewed perspective of how the class is actually doing.
Ms. P