So,
I ended up starting my unit for my KPTP just last week. These last few days have been real
eye-openers in many ways, and a few (today especially) have really worn me
down. It has been a great experience
though and I would not trade my placement school for any other. I have been working as hard as I can to
balance my lessons between the expectations of the mandated pacing guide, CCR,
and simply trying to make sure that I am meeting my student’s needs.
My Cooperating Teacher has a great classroom management structure and I hope that I can emulate hers when I have my own classroom, but I am still finding it really hard to figure out where I stand as a student teacher. At times, I feel like I have just been left taking care of another person’s children and anything I do feels like it’s not the right thing. At others, I think I am going in the right direction with implementing classroom management because they are all working diligently and I start to feel more comfortable (and then the next day we go back to square one and I end up feeling like screaming). I know I just need to be consistent and understand that each day is going to be different, (especially with how hectic the schedule has been lately), but it really irks me when things do not go the way I plan them.
I
guess my biggest issue is finding the right balance with how many activities I
plan throughout the day. For the first
week of my unit, I ended up planning so much for the first day of my lesson
that it could have stretched over all three days (easily). However, today I made the decision in my
first hour to cut an activity instead of starting on it in the last few minutes
just to continue work tomorrow, and this over planning has just really been “throwing
off my groove.” I believed beforehand,
and my CT has repeated the mantra of “it’s better to over plan than to under
plan.” I know I need to just get over my
problem with things not going my way, but it’s challenging, especially when I
feel like I have planned fully. I cannot
find any suggestions on how to avoid over planning, but there’re a lot of ideas
and tips for lesson planning on here: http://www.knea.org/home/544.htm . I
feel much better knowing that I was already following most of the tips already,
so maybe I am just overstressing about everything (which is new to me in its
own way).
Mr. Thompson,
ReplyDeleteI too, over planned my first few lessons, and now I am struggling with under, over, under, over, etc.. My lessons are much better but I want to do so much more!! I appreciate you link. I think it is important to recognize these traits in our students and in ourselves.
Keep up the wonderful teaching!
Its refreshing to know that my fellow student teachers are going through similar struggles this semester. I feel like we are in the same boat. I didn't know what to expect this semester and I thought after a week or two it'd become easier. It has in some ways... and its become more difficult in others. I'm also learning the difficulty of predictability with students. One day they can be amazing and the next day they leave you wanting to cry. I am grateful for a supportive placement school, a supportive CT, and supportive fellow student teachers.
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