Working with Mrs. Burton's and the students in her classroom has been a huge blessing. I have been able to learn so much from her as a teacher and as a person. I have been able to grow as a teacher while in her classroom and discover things that I want to do in my classroom and things that I would rather not do (though not very many of those).
As I finish this section of my student teaching and get ready to start the next one, I am feeling excitement and nervous butterflies in my stomach. I have so much to learn, but I am feeling so much more prepared for actually teaching. I am thankful for the opportunity to discover that I can actually teach.
Showing posts with label Ellis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ellis. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Day 35: Evaluations
I only have 3 days left at Ellis Elementary. My teachers keep telling me they don't want me to go. Good self-esteem boost for me.
Mrs. Burton and I went over some of the evaluations she did on me today. I am always surprised at how other people see me. They notice things that I don't notice. Which is why other people evaluate me and not myself.
Speaking of evaluating myself, I need to take a video of myself teaching and then watch it and critique myself. I want to do that this week so I don't have to think about it when I am in Norway. There are a lot of things I don't want to think about in Norway. Like how I will be nearly broke. Or how I won't have all my own things. This is crazy! I am going to Norway really soon!
Teaching today was a kind of eye opening. I have learned the value of changing the volume of my voice. When I drop down to a whisper it throws the kids off really quickly. They don't know how to act. Being loud is natural for me. I can talk over all of them. But that is not the goal. The goal is to keep the kids engaged and learning. And a great way to do that is to vary my volume.
Mrs. Burton and I went over some of the evaluations she did on me today. I am always surprised at how other people see me. They notice things that I don't notice. Which is why other people evaluate me and not myself.
Speaking of evaluating myself, I need to take a video of myself teaching and then watch it and critique myself. I want to do that this week so I don't have to think about it when I am in Norway. There are a lot of things I don't want to think about in Norway. Like how I will be nearly broke. Or how I won't have all my own things. This is crazy! I am going to Norway really soon!
Teaching today was a kind of eye opening. I have learned the value of changing the volume of my voice. When I drop down to a whisper it throws the kids off really quickly. They don't know how to act. Being loud is natural for me. I can talk over all of them. But that is not the goal. The goal is to keep the kids engaged and learning. And a great way to do that is to vary my volume.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Day 1: Preparing for School
I went to school today, not really knowing what I was getting into. I knew that I was going to meet my teacher but I didn't know if I would be staying or what. She said we would go over my student teaching requirements for her classroom. Or maybe we would just meet and she would send me home.
Neither assumption was correct. I went to find a classroom and a teacher who was not what I expected, but a happy surprise. As soon as she got there she put me to work. I started copying pages and cutting them out, picking out paper to put them on and so forth. At first I was frustrated that I was just copying stuff, but the more I thought about it... That is what a teacher does on the first work day of the school year. Copying, cutting, pasting, hole punching, laminating that is all part of what a teacher does. So I stopped my pessimistic thoughts and happily finished my job, greeting all of the teachers that came in.
I should mention, I am starting my student teaching this week instead of in two weeks when the rest of the student teachers are because the second half of my student teaching is in Norway. I have to leave two weeks early for that and so here I am! Thankfully I get to see all of the before the start of school procedures and how my teacher sets up for her class. This is something I have been wanting to discover how to do, and now I have an opportunity to see how it works!
My teacher, Mrs. Burton, was working with another teacher in the 5th grade on what they were going to do this week. They had matching plan books ( that were gorgeous! Take a look!) and they were planning what to do on Thursday and Friday. They obviously knew what they were doing since they were using phrases and words I didn't understand. But they were also looking at the lesson plan book they had made the previous year, which was just as detailed and well designed as the one they were making for this year. I was very impressed with it. Especially since the last teacher I was with said she did not use lesson planers anymore. When I am in my own classroom, I will be sure to have a good lesson plan book, and keep careful notes of what I am doing so that I can do it again or not, next year.
Neither assumption was correct. I went to find a classroom and a teacher who was not what I expected, but a happy surprise. As soon as she got there she put me to work. I started copying pages and cutting them out, picking out paper to put them on and so forth. At first I was frustrated that I was just copying stuff, but the more I thought about it... That is what a teacher does on the first work day of the school year. Copying, cutting, pasting, hole punching, laminating that is all part of what a teacher does. So I stopped my pessimistic thoughts and happily finished my job, greeting all of the teachers that came in.
I should mention, I am starting my student teaching this week instead of in two weeks when the rest of the student teachers are because the second half of my student teaching is in Norway. I have to leave two weeks early for that and so here I am! Thankfully I get to see all of the before the start of school procedures and how my teacher sets up for her class. This is something I have been wanting to discover how to do, and now I have an opportunity to see how it works!
My teacher, Mrs. Burton, was working with another teacher in the 5th grade on what they were going to do this week. They had matching plan books ( that were gorgeous! Take a look!) and they were planning what to do on Thursday and Friday. They obviously knew what they were doing since they were using phrases and words I didn't understand. But they were also looking at the lesson plan book they had made the previous year, which was just as detailed and well designed as the one they were making for this year. I was very impressed with it. Especially since the last teacher I was with said she did not use lesson planers anymore. When I am in my own classroom, I will be sure to have a good lesson plan book, and keep careful notes of what I am doing so that I can do it again or not, next year.
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