My Ninth Day

 So today is the day. I started out going over the warm-ups that were similar to the problems on the worksheet. I controlled the class pretty well and stopped talking. I had asked questions of the students as I did it. Then I did a few fraction problems with the class. The class thought they were easy and I had students eager to answer the questions. They are not normally that eager to answer the questions. I was glad to see that. So then I handed out the worksheet. The students all thought that it was a test. It took we a while to convince them it wasn't. The first ten minutes of the worksheet went well. However I let it get too loud. I had two students tell me we were too loud and realized that I should have done something earlier to control the noise. I knew it was going to be hard to get them back at this point, but I did my best. The worksheet did not take as long as I thought it would which also caused problems. I did get the smart student to help other students once they were done with the worksheet. I tried to help the student who has been absent for a long time, but the student was too frustrated and fed up to really do anything. So I let the student be. I did a good job about not letting every student leave my classroom for whatever reason they can think up. I however did not have any consequences for being out of their seat or talking. I talked with my adviser about having that line and the types of consequences I can use. I don't know if I can start handing out consequences and ramp up the rule now since I am almost done teaching this class. However it is something to keep in my mind for next semester. I have to have a firm line. I have to say sit back in your sit and warn them that if it happens again then there will be a consequence. I am just not comfortable with handing out consequences now, but I have been slowly realizing that I have to or else they will walk all over me.

My adviser and I also talked about how the last bit of the class went so poorly because they can't focus on the same activity for that long. Which I have began to slowly realize as I have been teaching. We have also talked about that in our Educational Technology class and other conferences. These students are of the digital age and are used to having information at the touch of a button. They play video games and surf the net. They except things to go fast and be entertained the whole time. So my adviser and I talked about having them do five problems in ten minutes then bringing the class back together to share answers or ask questions.So next week when I give them their performance assessment I will definitely chunk it out and separate it. I will also occasionally bring the class back together to talk about how it is going.

Another comment my adviser made was that I was standing up front next to the document camera too much. This is something that I have been struggling with. I am too attached to the front and the document camera. I need to walk around to the tables and talk to the class in the middle of the classroom. I know I should do it and have talked about how I should in classroom management class. However when you are thrown into the classroom you don't always remember to do everything. I think it is also just getting comfortable in the classroom and finding the moments you can move about the class.

So the class got a little crazy while my adviser was here. But I enjoyed talking through strategies to get better and helping me improve my skills. If I do a lesson similar to this again I now know that I have to keep an eye on the class as well as the individuals. I thought that it went very badly once I let the students go. However my adviser pointed something that went well that I had not thought of. I guess it is just because I focus on the negative. He said I really kept my calm and composure when the students were getting all crazy. So I think it went well. There were a lot of small things that I did well and there were other things that need to be improved. I now really understand how to improve my teaching and more about what a teacher has to constantly keep in mind.

I sort of wish I had been able to be observed earlier. I was too nervous for this and pushed it back as possible. I now realize that it isn't as scary as I would have thought and I would have benefited from having it earlier. I could have taken my advisers suggestions and implemented them and worked on them more. I can't really make any BIG changes now since my time is over. I do have things to keep in mind and be conscious of as I continue to teach.