In to the jungle I go as I began my first week of teaching at Athens Area High School, and like any jungle, it was full of challenges, new experiences, and so many opportunities to learn! I started my week with my Horticulture first period, as we investigated greenhouse and pesticide safety! We discussed safety symbols and identify the 10 important components of a pesticide label.
Third period I began my public speaking unit with my FFA/SAE course as we discussed speech topics, citations, and reliable sources. Students also worked to create a T-shirt design, plan the Sophomore and Junior Lock In, and began to fundraise with their annual Strawberry Sale.
Although my week was briefly interrupted by a snow day, it gave me a chance to collect my thoughts and reflect on how excited I was to continue my semester at Athens.
One pivotal moment of my first week of student teaching was the moment when I realized I was now in charge of 15 students and the nerves that filled my body. Thankfully, I have some pretty awesome students who always made sure to flash a smile my way when my nerves might have gotten the best of me or were always willing to answer questions and engage with my lessons.
Next week I am hoping for 2 things, first to be more confident in front of the classroom. I feel that there were many times were I was more nervous than I should have been about being in front of the classroom and by the end of the lesson I would think to myself why was I so nervous for that! I would also like to find ways to encourage engagement with my students especially so early in the morning. I recognize that not only am I new but I am also teaching at 8:00 am so the excitement level is not always at an all time high. I plan to get my students up and moving more next week through our crime scene investigation and let their creative juices flow as they each create a safety poster.
Some successes for this week would be first and foremost, I have a pretty good handle on most of my students names! Like many of my cohort members, I have made it my goal to say each student's name once throughout the period and if I can't remember a students name I make it a point to have a one on one conversation with that student. This is so I can one privately ask them their name and two get to know them better so that I can recall that information later when teaching. I also have experienced some the challenges faced in the jungle of teaching both in person and online as I navigate teaching students virtually that could hear me but I unfortunately could not hear them. Thankfully, with some quick thinking, awesome CTs, support from the center and some very understanding students I have been able to navigate and mitigate most of that issue.
To round out my week I helped a student successfully complete her wiring project in Agricultural Mechanics 2. As we wired an outlet, lightbulb, and switch series I helped problem solve, reinforce electrical theory, and get to know my students better.
Questions:
1. How do I motivate/wake up my students at 8:00 am and get them as excited about the lesson as I am?
2. What is the best way to motivate students to complete work outside of class time?
Megan,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a great week! Im glad to see that you are getting things figured out and are doing a great job at delivering your lessons. I am also running into some issues getting student engagement early in the morning. I am currently trying to wake my students up by playing some upbeat music before homeroom or when they are working on an activity. I also think once I develop more of a rapport with them it will be easier to get that level of engagement we are looking for. As for motivating students to do their work online, please let me know if you find something that works. So far I have just been trying to pull each student aside briefly while they are working on activities or after class to tell them that I saw they didn't do something and let them know the importance of getting it done.
HI Megan!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that your week 2 experience has been going well! Another great tip to help you remember names, is that I created a "seating chart" in my notebook with the names of each student so I can look at them while I am observing my. ct. I am hoping that by the time I take over some of the other classes in the weeks to come, I will already know most, if not all, of their names. As far as. your questions... I am trying to figure those out for myself. It seems that almost none of my students complete their work. I understand that COVID is really hard on many students, so I am trying hard to give enough time that students can complete their work in class. I feel like that is the best way to make sure students understand the material and that I can be there to answer questions. Maybe a way to motivate or wake up your students is to have a bellwork that requires them to find answers around the room! Half way through the lesson you could try the same thing and make students get out of their seats to complete a task or activity!
I am so excited to hear from you next week!
Hi Megan! 1) Don't be so hard on yourself! 2) I also have some less than enthusiastic students at 8:00am. Something my CT and I did this morning since we are on Zoom for a "snow day" was sitting yoga! It got the kids moving and awake and I also think they enjoyed not just diving right into the content ten minutes after rolling out of bed. If you get to try this, I would love to hear how it went for you!
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