Week 1 & 2

I am now in the classroom Monday through Friday 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th periods. Because I am in the classroom so often I am learning more about my students and how my cooperating teacher handles situations. My first lesson last week was much better than last quarter. I am learning to wait longer when I ask a question or when I have asked for their attention and am not receiving it. Most of the time peer direction is much more affective then anything. At the end of the week my cooperating teacher was gone and the sub allowed me to teach the class. The sub was more blunt than I have been and I learned more from her than I ever would have thought. This week started off with a glitch where my teacher had to leave the classroom for the period and I was left in charge. The lesson went good and at the end of the period they were supposed to be working on a study guide and some of the students were not working. I was a student that wanted to work and got annoyed when the other students wouldn’t work and would talk so I demanded that they be silent and focus on working. When my teacher returned for the next class she explained to me that as long as they weren’t making other students mad it was their choice to use the time to write a study guide they could use on the test or not. That made sense. She then explained that some kids really didn’t need the study guide and got bored really easily so the best way to handle that was make them useful. One of the best learning moments was when I was grading the tests. Some of the students that were always fidgeting and talking during lecture did really good and some of the students that constantly participated in discussion and answered questions didn’t do as well. I am constantly amazed at how some students retain information even if they show all signs of not paying attention. These past two weeks have been a great learning experience.