Weekly Reflection 4

Hello,
This week was probably my most enjoyable thus far.

Monday:
This week is anti bullying week so each day the students have something to wear or look forward to. Today, there was an assembly on bullying and how to prevent or defend yourself/others from bullying. I found that it was a bit juvenile for the age group that was present. The students were almost turned off from the prospect of sitting there for the entire assembly. I found that the kids, if they feel the presentation is above them in age, will turn away from listening to what you have to say. Today, I also worked with the students on reviewing for their chapter 1 test. On Thursday, I take over full time in the classroom. I am excited about this prospect.

Tuesday:
The students took a test today. They had posters to do on Chapter 1, they presented those to the class. My cooperating teacher wanted to get me into teaching a bit more so I was able to just go through her lesson plan as she had it outlined for today and Wednesday.

Wednesday/Thursday:
I started teaching full time. I administered notes and started reviewing for the vocabulary test the students have on Thursday/Friday. Notes went well. I made up a character named Buckabee, which all of the students took a liking to. They wanted to know what he was, but I told them I hadn't decided yet. Later on, I told them I would have a contest with a descriptive essay to see who could come up with the best description of Buckabee. The kids are really excited about that, because I offered a homework pass for the winner/participants. The students were having a lot of fun with that idea. On Thursday, I moved on to the next section of the notes and the students were pleasantly surprised with Buckabee showing up again. Thursday was team up against bullying and the students and teacher wore their favorite sports teams. The students were all interested to find I was a Sox fan.

Friday:
This week has taught me about Learning Environment, the fifth professional teaching standard. "The competent teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interactions, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation." Today, the students had a test, notes, and homework to work through. My plan is to have a game every Friday that goes over the work for that week. However, in order to keep the students attention I promised them the game at the end of period. They were able to keep it together with their noise and comments. I found that I had made a learning environment that promoted social interaction with a team game and fun through learning. I really did have fun with my students this week; I believe that next week will be even better because I have fun challenging work for them to complete. The last day of bullying week was Spirit wear and my CT generously purchased a Arbor Park t-shirt.

I find that the more that I teach on my own the more I learn about my own teaching style. Knowing what kind of teacher I want to be will mold the way I learn with my students and how my students will learn with me.

Courtney