Some get help...

     Last night was the parent teacher meetings. That went well; much less painful than I thought it was going to be. Coincidentally, all the parents of the students that are doing well in class came in, while the parents of the students that appear to be struggling did not show in. Hmmm... Anyways, it was very interesting seeing the parents of the students. One interesting case that I will share: There is a student that smells deeply of smoke every morning. (A quick aside, why do parents smoke near their children? In my eyes it's abuse.) Her mother who happened to come in was quite charming however. Still, my eyebrow was raised (on the inside) even while she presented herself as a responsible parent. I later learned (from the teacher) that the mother apparently is just telling us what we want to hear and the young girl in question appears to be suffering from neglect of a sort. What does one do? What does a teacher do in general when parents are not meeting our standards of parenthood? Where does one draw the line on irresponsible parenting? How can a teacher in their limited role best help a child with such profound problems? Maybe I should have gone for a job with Child Protective Services... I could have helped clean it up or something.

My time to shine!

     I taught another lesson today and it went awesome! Even better than my first! It was on similes, and entirely of my own design. To tell the truth, I actually authored the lesson some time ago; it was originally about metaphors. I really thought it was pretty good though so I just modified it to be about similes (practically the same anyways.) Anyways, the lesson went like this:
Grab their attention with some similes from some text we all read together. Discuss the meaning, Tell them exactly what a simile is. Share some of my own similes. Explain how to create a simile. Have students create their own similes. Walk around class helping students (5-10 minutes.) Let students share this similes. Then have students pair up. Instruct students to each select one of their own similes and choose a noun from it. Then swap the noun from their respective simile to the other. Give examples and cleat instructions so as to not cause confusion. Walk around answering questions while students work on activity (1-2 minutes.) Have students share the new similes. Discuss meaning. Compare meaning of simile with a simple sentence (i.e. Swim like a fish vs. Swim very well.)
     And that's basically the lesson plan (with a good amount more organization and some additional details.) It want really great! The students had fun with it, they were engaged, and my supervisor thought it was great too. My next lesson plan is a science activity and it is about light. I haven't made it yet, I've got a couple days. I also have plenty of resources to use! Flashlights, magnifying glasses, color light thingies, the works. Now is my time to shine! (get it?!!?!?)

Only bored sometimes.

     So I have experienced around four different schools now and have seen lessons taught in over six different classrooms. My school's education program has done a great job in giving me a wide array of experiences with which to model myself from. Now that I am student teaching, I feel I am well past the point of observing. I am ready to teach, I feel, and have little to gain from continued observing. I wish this entry was more than just me griping but alas, I am simply whining about stints of boredom in my day.
     It would seem that starting about now my work will be picking up somewhat exponentially. This was expected, although still stressful at its onset. I will make every effort to stay committed to my daily blogish endeavor to the best of my ability.

Rough day and Harsh Grading

     So today was a rough day for me. I overslept, the lesson I made in Word 2007 couldn't be opened on their word 2003 computers, I did a bunch of little things wrong, forgot to prepare for another lesson, and had uncomfortable exchanges with my co-operating teacher about grading and classroom management. I've said this before—I am worried I won't be able to meet my teachers standards of discipline. That is, I am totally authoritative, whilst she is authoritarian. I don't think I could be authoritarian if I tried. But now I feel some pressure from my teacher to be more enforcing of rules. Furthermore, I am worried at how this will effect my development as a teacher. For example, a student was yelled at today for running their hands along a stone wall whilst walking in line. I know, from college classes etc., that some kids are just tactile and touching and feeling things like walls helps calm their nerves and what not. How can I scold children for acting our normal and acceptable behavior? In addition, maybe I'm just used to the A-F grading system, but I can't stand the 1, 2, or 3 system. Sometimes known as check, check plus, and check minus, this is a totally incomplete grading system. There's no in between! Being forced to use it just makes me see how limited it is.

Professional Ice Skaters (to be)

     So today (Friday) was another great day. I kind of taught a lesson on adding and subtracting decimals, which was very similar to the lesson yesterday. The lesson also went very similarly, however there one was big difference, instead of my supervisor watching silently the co-operating teacher was there. The students were a little less active, and once a student yelled out an answer—which is what I wanted, that's what they were doing yesterday—the teacher interrupted my lesson to scold him for not raising his hand. I did not really appreciate that but today was even more informal than yesterday so I guess I can't complain. I just hope she lets me control the classroom when I teach my formal lessons in the future. (By formal lessons I mean fairly lengthy lessons of entirely my own design, such as if I have the students play a game I created.)
     That bit aside, we also went on a little field trip! Just for a few hours, all the fifth grade classes in my school went ice skating. At first I wasn't going to go on the ice, but after being prompted to I put on some ice skates and there I was. I only fell down four times! (I'm a biker not a skater.) There was one student who fell down, apparently, over sixty times. I only know this because one of her friends was following her around counting her falls the entire time. I found this particularly amazing! Many students were very careful to never fall down (although they probably did a few times anyways.) Many students also took a few breaks here and there. But not this student, no matter how many times she fell down she got right back up and kept on trying to skate. Over and over, she would just get up, start skating, sometimes get some good speed going, and inevitably tumble down. While her friend thought it was humorous the number of times she feel, I was amazed at the number of times she got back up. So all in all, I had a great time. I'm having a hard time following the "Don't be their friend" advice though, especially after an activity like this.
     There was some more work done that day, but at the end of the day the teacher gave the students some free time to do whatever they wanted to with. A whole twenty-five minutes. One student wanted to play connect four with me, but the teacher had me go and make a bunch of copies! I did so with a smile of course, but ooooohhhh did I want to play Connect Four. I am sooo good at that game and proving my mastery to a bunch of awed fifth graders would have been ever so sweet... That's not very professional is it?

Taught my first lesson - No work at all!

     So today I taught my first lesson! Things got kind of crazy beforehand though. I have a supervisor that is supposed to come in and watch me teach lessons from time to time. I had been e-mailing him beforehand but little did I know his replys were going to my junk mail soooo when I called him just before I left for school this morning and was told he'd be coming in less than two hours from the time at which we spoke, I was naturally surprised. Well, seen as how I had no lesson ready to show him, I was kind of freaking out. I'm pretty good at keeping a level head though so I just went with it (although he ended up coming in a few hours later, which was good.) Anyways, during the lunch period beforehand I prepared a math lesson. My supervisor showed up before the students got back and actually gave me some more ideas too. Then the actual teacher leaves the room because there's some really important meeting she has to go to and I'm there all alone (with my supervisor watching that is.) Ok, no sweat. I got this—ok ok I was nervous—but I settled them down, I got their attention, and then they just jumped in! Oh and what a surprise, even though it was a math lesson about addition and subtraction in the thousands, the students were engaged and yelling out answers (followers of my blog might remember that the teacher has reached some level of exasperation at the "unresponsiveness" of the class.) This is just a small confirmation to me that students will be better learners if you treat them with respect and not yell at them too excessively. Hmm, some deep thoughts about punishment here, but I'll save those for the next unexpected day off.
     Speaking of, the teacher informed the class today the due to so many of these unexpected days off,  we'd be losing some days from February break. Oh, if only you could see the forlorn look on those students' faces. The teacher said, "Face it, you don't need a February break." Which was instantly met with head shakes and frowns all around the room. The teacher reacted to this with surprise, citing how many unplanned days off they've had already! It was at this point I realized that I had the same look on my face as the students and was also reflexively shaking my head. Not that I don't enjoy being there or anything, I just love, y'know, lounging about and etc. Hmm, in the future, I hope I can figure out strategies to make this feel like a fun thing to do everyday instead of "actual work." "Actual work" is boring and monotonous. I really enjoyed teaching my lesson today, that was fun and engaging. I suppose when I'm calling the shots (i.e. actual job in my own classroom) and not just taking notes or making copies half the day, then this slight feeling of "actual work" will dissipate. In any case, I will do my best to control my inner self to not associate teaching with the idea of "actual work." I'll come back to these thoughts another time too.

Increased effort on a day off

     Two days in a row without school. Hmm, teachers sure do seem to talk about the weather a lot...
     Moving that aside let's just gt right into a thought I've been having. This thought started with a conversation between two teachers I overheard where one teacher expressed that she would never work on the weekends. Everyone needs a break after all but on the other hand, were we not just discussing how important teaching is for the future of society? Basically the quandary I am getting at is how much should a teacher put in to their jobs? There is certainly a lot of room for increased effort in the profession—a teach could always put in extra time to improving lesson plans, hosting an after school activity for something similar, organizing some other special program, or getting involved with community. On the flip side of the coin there is the standard "nine to five," just coming into work at required times and doing the bare minimum required of you. Although I've reached no conclusions at this time I suppose teachers with the mindset that this is just another job are what people mean when they say that "some people shouldn't be teachers."  I agree with that to some extent, after all if there's no difference between this and say working in an office cubicle to someone then why did they choose this? The extent to which a teacher involves themselves with students and school outside of the classroom is a question that I will certainly be touching upon again. For now I'll just leave these thoughts here.