Concern

I am going to be teaching two of my three lessons two weeks after Spring Break. I hate to admit it, but I feel a little ill-prepared. Due to a combination of snow days and other things happening at my school, I have only seen a few social studies lessons. The strategies I used in math are probably not very effective for a social studies class. I have very few ideas, and have not seen a lot of instruction to learn from. If anyone knows of any good strategies to use in the social studies classroom (especially those who have taught a lesson or two already), please let me know.

First Impressions

Well, this is a little late - but I'm going to post it anyway. I tried posting this a few weeks ago and I'm not sure what happened. So....here are my first impressions, with others to follow soon.

I am pretty excited with my placement this semester. I am in a 6th grade social studies class with a very experienced teacher. He seems to be pretty relaxed and calm with the students which I enjoy. This is my first experience in a 6th grade class, so I am looking forward to the experience even though my youngest son is in the 6th grade. I'm pretty sure I want to teach either 7th or 8th grade, but this will be good me to verify that choice. Also, 1 of the classes has students with IEPs. My cooperating teacher last semester did not have any students with IEPs so I feel this will also be a good experience for me. I am also looking forward to spending time in a social studies class rather than math.

Test

Let's see if this one posts -- then I'll have more to say!

Lesson Number One

Tomorrow I teach my first lesson of practicum II. I'm a lot more nervous this placement than I was last placement. I think it's because of the content. As much as I enjoy history and social studies, I do not feel as confident in this content as I do my language arts content. The fact that 7th grade social studies in KY is focused around ancient civilizations does not make me any less nervous. The activity that my cooperating teacher and I planned is engaging and interesting, I am just nervous that I'm not going to know everything that I need to know. I also do not feel that I know the students very well yet, which intimidates me a little. I will just try to relax and seem confident... even if I'm shaking on the inside!

Teaching History Alive

I had the opportunity to teach two lessons back to back on Thursday and Friday this week and I can honestly say that it was a great experience. We were using a program called History Alive and the name of the book is an accurate description because the students have to actively participate in the lessons to make them work. We had the classroom set up like the Constitutional Convention in Philidelphia and each student had a particular person assigned to them. Students had to learn their characters stance on the issues at hand and come to compromises as in, "The Great Compromise" and issues such as who would be eligible to vote. They had to lobby for support and just to add a bit extra to the class I also made them state in their own words the reason they felt the way they did on a particular issue. I thought that would really help drive home the purpose of the exercise. One particular class was fantastic the students made great arguments to support their beliefs on the issues and I was highly impressed that their ability to explain their thought process to the class. All in all I really enjoyed teaching the lessons and look forward to seeing how they finish the unit with the test I was allowed to make for them. They take it on Thursday.

Surprise lesson

Today, my teacher taught the first two classes. Then when bell three came around, he looked at me and said "feel comfortable enough to teach the lesson?" I was so nervous, but definitely wanted to give it a try. I proceeded to teach the kids how to read Roman numerals. It was great! This was my first experience actually being head of a class, these students depended on the information I was giving them to learn. I absolutely loved being in front of the class, teaching, and answering questions. I am scheduled to teach a lesson that I have planned on Thursday. Today was so great, I hope Thursday goes as well! I'm very excited.

Teaching a lesson!

Today at my Practicum I finally got to teach my first lesson! The students were walking into the classroom and the teacher said just handed me the book and said "go over this!" So I had about two minutes to figure out what to do! They were learning about the climate/characteristics of different parts of America and how it related to the clothing the people wore. Students were allowed to work in groups of 3 as they looked through pictures and described where they lived and the description of the climate. It actually went better than I thought and I don't think the students even realized this was not planned. What was weird to me is that they usually are a very talkative group and interupt their teacher. But for me they were actually very respectful and only talked if I called on them! Hopefully that's how it will be when I teach next week!

Bad news for me!

Today I just got news from my teacher that is really discouraging. I was REALLY enjoying my class that I have at CCMS. Today I found out that as of next week the team teacher decided to switch everyone's schedules so now I will not have the same class. I had JUST learned all of the students names and a little bit about them all and now I have to relearn a whole group. This would not be that big of a deal except for that CCMS has had snow days all week AND I am supposed to be teaching this NEW class next week on Tuesday AND on Thursday. I have never even met them before! I am going to try to go in on Monday to meet the new group before I actually have to teach them. Hopefully I can learn their names in one day!

Snow Days

I have finally seen what Snow days mean to teachers. They are good to be off, but a nightmare when you get back in class. The students get rowdy and restless coming back, and get very lazy when they realize that they might not be in school the next day. It is hard for the teacher to keep on task, and to keep a schedule of what to teach, and it seems that they have to go back and relearn things, that just sets them back. I also see that some of the work that they do in between scheduled snow storms seems to be busy work, because students will more than likely forget when they return from a break.

My Current Thoughts

Last week, I scheduled my three lessons: two for late March and one for the last day of practicum in April. I think that I will benefit more from doing my lessons later--not because I procrastinate all the time (I actually am a recovering procrastinator), but because as of now, I have only seen two social studies lessons taught, and one of those lessons contained a video that took up the entire class. At Two Rivers, I am running into the same problem that I ran into at Campbell County last semester: the subjects that are not on the CATS test are the ones that get slighted. Two Rivers does not rotate those two around one block, but those will be the ones that are cut out if any need to be for any reason. In my class (7th grade--LA and SCI are tested), most of the time, they have spent their social studies time working on their transactive writing pieces for their portfolios. Since math and social studies are not tested in 7th grade, those are the classes that the students are given portfolio work time in.
I don't know how long the students have to do this, but I hope they finish these writing pieces soon, because I want to see a few more social studies lessons before I plan and teach one myself.

My 1st Lesson

With all of this crazy weather, I had to postpone teaching my lesson for one week. Finally, even as a shortened day due to early dismissal, last Thursday, I got to teach. I actually was not nervous and felt pretty confident. The class is finishing up presentations on Mesopotamia and then will be moving on to Ancient Egypt, so I did my lesson on King Tut to give them a taste of what will be coming up. It went very well and the students were definitely engaged. The only thing that I really need to improve on is knowing the lesson. I kept having to read my lesson plan to see what came next in regards to the procedures. My cooperating teacher complemented me on my preparation and clear instructions for the students. I plan on teaching another lesson this week, so I will let you all know how it goes.

I'm excited about teaching my lesson plans, but the teacher seems so busy. When I get her attention and trying to make some type of plans, she makes it seems like I'm bothersome. I'm starting to wonder why this teacher even volunteered to work with practicum students. She doesn't include or invite me to help with lessons. She tells me to do whatever I want to do, she doesn't care. I try to jump in when the kids have questions, but there is nothing to help teach because she just gives them packet work and has them do it by themselves. Does anyone have any suggestions or opinions about the situation?

Planning time

This semester I have the opportunity to spend some planning time with my practicum teacher. Last semester I didn't get to see any team meetings because I was not in the school during that time. I like being able to see the teachers collaborate and work together on ideas and problems they may have. An interesting meeting I witnessed this week was a textbook presentation. All of the social studies teachers in the school met with a representative of "History Alive" to discuss adopting it as the new textbook. I liked hearing the obstacles, worries, and desires of the teachers when deciding about new textbooks. I also like the "History Alive" series because it had many supplemental items that seemed to help students become engaged in social studies. My teacher says she likes the set because it supports her style of teaching. The representative was extremely knowledgeable about the DOK and Core Content 4.1 so he could relate it to the curriculum. He was also a social studies teacher for 12 years so he could communicate well with the teachers about the benefits of the program.
I think it is beneficial to see this meetings and discussions because teaching includes many responsibilities in the classroom.

FINALLY!

The past couple weeks I have really enjoyed my class. I never expected to enjoy being in an 8th grade classroom like I do. Although the student's are very chatty, they have real personalities unlike many younger grades.
One thing that I have noticed that is very negative for these students are the numerous snow days they have been having. I do not know what it is about these Kentucky schools in this area, but they can not seem to take care of their roads. Campbell County had off 3 days in a row. I understand things like this happen but this would be very frustrating for a teacher who is trying to stay on track on the curriculum. Also my teacher told me that they will end up having school much longer in the year because of the amount of snow days they have had already. The day the students came back, after their 3 snow days and weekend, the teacher could barely get the students on track because of their break.
Hopefully this week will be better now that they are getting back on track!

One bad Apple

I was in practicum on Tuesday and things had been great all day until the last fifteen minutes. The kids in my class enjoy me being there, they ask me questions, ask me to come play sports with them in the gym like the cooperating teacher does, and are generally great students. I have some that are very intelligent and I know are going to go places and do great things. There is one student however who really gets under my skin, she is the One Bad Apple that I refer to. The girl if failing the class miserably, and her attitude towards anything and everything sucks. Lucky for her I am actually trying to graduate or I would probably simply relieve my stress by yelling at her and being well, not so nice. I try every class period to give her a fresh start for the day and talk to her hoping that things will change, trying to get to what it is that makes her so disrespectful and find something there that we have in common so that we can relate because when you have that with students they tend to be more responsive. Unfortunately there seems to be no hope with this one. My one bad apple ruined my day on tuesday because I let her get me pretty mad, I am going to focus much more on controlling my temper while I am in the classroom and not letting it show so much when I can't.

Being Flexible

The past couple weeks have been interesting. Because of the weather my teacher has been stuck on the same material and is having trouble moving on. This Tuesday they had a quiz but because of the early release about 95 % of the students did not get finished. Today, Thursday, the students finished the quiz. I am learning a lot about flexibility and that being prepared makes this a lot easier. My teacher has been great during all of this and has really got her stuff together. She admits that the past couple weeks have been slow moving but she told me that you just have to be flexible and understand that interruptions happen all the time in the school setting.

Substitute Teacher

My practicum teacher's wife just had a baby, and he will be out for a week. The sub that has been hired to come in is a retired teacher from Twenhofel. Watching this sub teach was definitely an interesting experience. He is very old school in his teaching methods, and he is the first person to admit that. One minute he would be laughing and joking, the next he would be screaming at the kids to shut up. I felt like he was quite blunt on certain subjects that perhaps were not appropriate for seventh graders. Overall, he did have good classroom management, however, he was a very long winded speaker. The topic they were discussing was supposedly George Washington, yet somehow he spent the whole bell talking about George Foreman! The kids know that he gets off topic very easily and use that to their advantage. The sub did have some good advice to offer me, however, I will be glad when my regular teacher is back!

First Impressions

Well here goes. I love my practicum placement this semester. I am in a classroom with great kids, my cooperating teacher is very energetic but slightly unorganized at times. The class is an eigth grade social studies class. The atmosphere at this placement is unbelieveable, the new school and large open areas really give a great feeling while in the building. If you take that mixed with the brightness of the light shining through the windows it is very comfortable there. Not like the last placement I was in where it felt like a prison for sixteen weeks. I am really excited about the semester and cannot wait to take over for a few lessons. I will admit that i am nervous about taking over the class but I know in my mind that I will be fine I will just hope I can remember that when I am standing in front of the class. LOL. Good luck to everyone else in your placements as well.

First Impressions

I have been at my Practicum II placement for about 2 weeks now, and I'm feeling okay about it. My cooperating teacher is really nice, and knows his stuff. The students seem to like him, and most of them, in the two classes I get to see, participate in class discussions. There are the usual students who raise their hand to answer every question, but my cooperating teacher does a really good job of asking others to "help out" when he notices the same people raising their hands.
I have not been as active in this placement yet as I was in my placement last semester. I don't feel as though I'm getting to know the students as well yet, which is a little intimidating because I would like to be able to know their names at least before I teach my lessons! My cooperating teacher did create seating charts for me a couple days ago, so hopefully that will help!
As far as interaction with the students, I feel as though I haven't done much of that either. A few of them will ask me a question here and there, but most of the time, they are either having a class discussion which is teacher led, or they are working on individual work. I feel a little awkward only because I don't want to interrupt the discussion! I think that in a few more weeks or so, hopefully that will get better too!
I haven't really seen any behavior issues yet. There are the usual instances when the teacher has to remind the students to be quiet at certain times, but really the students respect each other and the teacher. I think that my teacher's classroom management skills have a lot to do with that.
I am enjoying my social studies placement so far, and I'm really excited to get up there and teach it!