Week ending 9/25-9/29

Well, I got a realization on Thursday, and I bet a lot of the student teachers that are just out of college got the same thing; you have to engage the kids to be active in the learning process. You go to college, you sit, you listen, you talk when appropriate, but you are always engaged. If you are not engaged, then you figure out something to get by. In high school, the teachers are the ones who are expected to do the engagement. I think that straight out of college we forget the type of environment that we are going into. Once you learn to get the kids interested, to give them some sort of liability, then you get their attention. My guide teacher and I had a very good conversation about this; I kind of wished that she could have told me before I taught my lesson, but I guess that experience can be the best education.

I think that Tesa went great. Tim Oster and I did it on Friday 9/29. He came into my room during first period while I was leading the students in an art project as a culmination of our unit on narratives. When he came in I had the kids broken into groups of 4-5 people. Each group then created a poster that had an "artist's rendering" of a character, then they would explain why they drew the character that way, and provide 5 quotes/objects from the story that had significance for their chosen character. I moved about the room, trying to get to everyone. Two of my identified students decided that they would form their own two person group. In order to facilitate their cooperation I allowed it to happen. Almost surprisingly they were very productive and almost completed the art project. Sitting in with them quite a few times not only kept them on task, but I was able to give them direction. One of my most troubled students in the class was with a group that really helped to pull her along. When I went over to the group I tried to get her to participate and offer some ideas. She seemed to be coming out of her shell a little bit and providing the group with some insights. When I conferenced with Tim after second period I told him that I noticed that one of my particular students was in his class as well. We both agree that she is a good student, but definitely needs a lot of time and attention. All in all I think it went well. Since the project required them to be loud it was hard for Tim to really hear what I was saying. I'm pretty sure that I was affirming and correcting them, but I don't know if it came through.