Weekly Reflection 3

Hello.
Monday we did not have class due to Labor Day. Labor being one of the vocabulary words my students had, I was sure to incorporate it throughout the week.

Tuesday-
Tuesday was interesting. The students were very lethargic, I believe it was due to the long weekend. I was able to work with the students more as my CT asked me to start taking over vocabulary in addition to the D.O.L. I found that the vocabulary book issued to the students could be a bit more challenging for the students. I also was preparing to teach the entire day on Wednesday. I have a lesson planned in order to see where the students were at academically.

Wednesday-
I was observed today and I felt that I wasn't bad, but I do have a lot to learn. I found that 60 mintues of teaching time is quiet long, but it does leave a lot of time for instruction which is good. I was definitely working on Standard 6- Instructional Delivery, which states "the competent teacher uses a understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation." I have found that creating motivation is important when the students appear disinterested in the information. Dr. B.C. told me something that I found interesting: when the students aren't challenged then they're not having fun. I am a strong believer in having fun in the classroom. I believe that by playing the fly swatter game with my students based on their vocabulary and making it a bit more challenging by adding antonyms and synonyms the students had more fun. I am looking forward to challenging my students next week as I take over full time.

Thursday-
I spoke with my CT, and we outlined much of the upcoming weeks. It is still in the beginning stages, but I think that by rolling with the punches I can learn to think on my feet a bit more. I was able to bring in standards of planning for instruction (4) and collaborative relationships (9). We were able to gauge what the students needed and I was even able to ask if I could pick up the pace with their vocabulary. As, I believe the students are able to retain the vocabulary much faster than the pace they are learning the terms at.

Friday-
The students worked in the computer lab and were reviewing for a upcoming test. I found that the students like to work on projects that incorporate creativity. I definitely want to try to incorporate that in my own lessons.

This past week I have learned that if I'm not having fun, then my student's are probably not having fun either. I hope to incorporate this philosophy in my next week of teaching. Now that I know that it takes an exciting teacher to make a lesson even more exciting I want to see what I can do to push my students to the academic limit and how I can also learn in the process.

Courtney