Any and all names used for this post are pseudonyms and used only for the purpose of this blog. The pseudonyms will alternate, so no student or person will be tied to the same pseudonym for more than one post.
So far my practicum experience has been fairly
solid and I feel like this semester is going to be a great experience. One challenge I am having so far is that my
class…is too well behaved. I know this
seems like a silly challenge, but it is the complete opposite of most of my
other placement experiences. My teacher
is great with classroom management, but since the class is an Honor’s English
class, the students come there to learn.
I am not going to say they never get off-task, but the teacher did such
an excellent job with precautionary actions that she does not have to be a reactive
classroom manager. I still get enough of
a chance to observe a veteran teacher work with students who like to test
boundaries in my Cooperative Education position, so this allows me to pay more
attention to students without those distracting factors.
My Cooperating Teacher, referred to from this point
on as Ms. Teller, has been extremely helpful and given a lot of great advice
for my future as a teacher. There are
times when I still feel like an outlier in the classroom, but we are working me
into being more involved in the classroom with different activities. Ms. Teller
has informed me our major goal for this particular class is to make sure I am
ready to completely take over it either before or when the student teaching
semester begins. Even though these are
minor activities, I have already started taking attendance for the class I am
observing and I am also entering grades for all of her classes, which I really
appreciate because it is allowing me to become more familiar with names and faces
on her other class rosters.
One of Ms. Teller’s other classes has two transfer
students (who I will refer to as Ben and Jerry) from a different school where I
currently work as a Cooperative Education student. I foresee some minor challenges with these
students when I take over the class next semester due to my own role change. Previously they had known me as roughly the
equivalent of a teacher’s assistant/Para, but when next semester comes, I will
be a student teacher and I wonder if that will cause some confusion/friction
with the teacher-student relationship I will have with Ben and Jerry. I feel like Ms. Teller is going to support me
as well as she can to help avoid any potential challenges with these two
students (or any others), but it is still something I am going to keep in mind. While I am unable to find any information on
my specific problem (even if it may be imagined), I am going to try to follow
the usual tips like these: http://www.teachingvillage.org/2011/11/14/10-tips-for-a-great-first-impression-with-students-by-brad-patterson/
when I start getting to know my new classrooms.
I feel like one of the most important things I can do is start “dressing
the part” of a teacher. I have already started
dressing up better than I had in my placements in previous years. I wear a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. I still do not to wear dress shoes, mostly
because I’ll be stuck in them for roughly 30 hours a week and tennis shoes just
work better for bouncing back and forth between three different schools. I am doing my best to start looking and
acting “the part” of a teacher.
I ended up receiving “the teacher look” the
other day when I ran into two of my students at a local mall. All of you know what look I’m talking
about. It’s the look you would give a
teacher that in one glance said “Wait a second; you aren’t supposed to exist
outside of that big brick building.” The
student even yelled out to me and I walked over and chatted with them for a
short while, but it felt so silly to be on the other side of “the teacher look.” This is just one of the first times I’ve
realized that I am finally becoming a greater presence in the classroom and I
find this extremely exciting. My
students also saw me in shorts and this may be the first step to complete anarchy
in the classroom, so I guess I should never take a step into that outside world
during the light of day. Someone please
save me from myself.
I'm glad to hear that your year is kicking off and you're progressively assuming the teacher role. I think that is the biggest challenge, when we step up to the plate, with the complete role-reversal. I think that is especially the case with Ben and Jerry, but not impossible to overcome. I have noticed the ramifications from the role-reversal at both my placement and my co-op as well.
ReplyDeleteFor example, my CT was gone this morning and she gave me the liberty to take over, if i felt comfortable. She had the lesson plan prepared for the sub and gave us the freedom to decide who would assume the role. The bell work for the day was their lit term of the week and I read the term aloud, and gave several examples. While doing this, several students were chatting and I had to get their attention by calling on names. But while I was under that role as "Teacher" I decided to emphasize some "Key" words such as "eyes up here guys" and "I want to see everybody's eyes." In all I felt like this was a successful day, it got me more comfortable directing a class and built my confidence up for the development of our unit, which is coming up.
As for the behavioral aspect, or lack thereof, I am experiencing that same things. I am in a freshman honors class so these students are all pretty well-behaved. When my CT is in charge, all of the students are generally pretty aware and cooperating but when I, and the sub were in the classroom, the students seemed to have changed, but this is not the case because there was something missing, their teacher. That's going to be the most vital part of our experience as pre-student teachers and student teachers is letting our students feel comfortable with us as their mentor, guide, and teacher