Day 5 - 8 Hours
A long post for a long day...
Today I got the privilege of spending an entire day in a school, getting to experience everything, including assemblies and the faculty lounge. Basically, it was a day in the life of a teacher.
I observed both a student teacher and the cooperating teacher teaching the exact same material in very different ways. The cooperating teacher pretty much dictated what the student teacher did so she had the student teacher put off a technologically-based lesson involving music (what was suppose to happen was that students all brought in songs that related to the text, wrote about how it related to the text, were suppose to talk about it, analyze it, and then listen to their songs). The students were all very excited about this but when it came down to it, the teacher pushed for the text to be finished instead and since the school can only afford a class set of books that meant reading outloud all day long. (Exciting I know)
I tried to get as much out of this day as possible, looking at different things the student and cooperating teachers did and the different things they drew the students' attention to. The students write a journal every day at the beginning of class. This is something the teacher has them do every day since the beginning of the year. After they write for 2-5 min the teacher asked them to answer it. The journals tend to be fun, like this one about what the (pregnant) cooperating teacher should name her new baby since she just found out it is a boy.
There were directed reading questions about the text on the board. The students are suppose to keep these questions in mind when they read, but it was unclear if they were ever going to go over them and write about them or anything. Also, the student teacher made mention of this questions the first class, but for each of the remaining class he never brought them up again. As a student teacher his lessons seemed to be a little less carbon-copied versions of his lesson. Each class had different types of students and a different atmosphere. I don't know if the student teacher was playing off these differences on purposes or not but I think it worked.
One thing that bothered me that both the student and cooperating teachers did (that I think was a byproduct of the cooperating teacher) was when a student was reading outloud and they just started to stumble over a word the teacher chimed in quickly with the correct pronunciation. It was like the teacher was ready for it, since the student barely even let got through the first syllable. It didn't give the student a chance to work it out on his/her own. I just didn't see how that student was learning anything from it. I think it is better if the teacher gives the student at least a chance and if the student looks to the teacher for help the teacher should then offer it. (I want the student to try, but I don't want the student to sit their struggling, feeling stupid in front of his/her classmates). The student teacher did this only once, though the cooperating teacher did this over half a dozen times.
Both teachers would stop the reading of the text to make mention of critical scenes, asking what they meant or to have them make connections to the literature. This was all content based and never really gave the students a chance to do anything more than do a bit of new-critical analysis. But the teacher was so bent on getting the book done, anything higher than basic content recollection was too much.
One thing the cooperating teacher did that I liked (if you look back at my previous post you'll understand) was stressing the importance of taking notes while they read. She didn't talk about how to take notes or anything, but just that they should jot down anything they found important. I don't know if she's ever directed them on how to take notes from a text, but I kind of doubt it because even though she mentioned this many students just still sat (with notebooks open) following along but never writing. Their notebooks opened pretty much just humoured the teacher...
Also, the cooperating teacher I guess got confused by the novel and where she was in it. She stopped at one point and asked the students to make connection to what she thought was something that happened in a previous chapter, but she was mistaken because that chapter came later (the students had yet to get to it). Here she was trying to get the students to remember and make connection to something they had not read yet. I mentioned this to the student teacher who agreed, but I don't know if he ever mentioned it to the teacher and I don't know what the teacher would say about it. I am sure we all will make mistakes like that when we are teachers... maybe... maybe not.
During one period the reading went past the bell and none of the students stirred because they were only about a dozen lines away from the end of the chapter. This showed disipline because I was itching for them to get done. They didn't rush, but just let the person finish reading and then got up to go. I was very impressed with their disipline.
Overall, this day mostly taught me about what to expect when student teaching, which was something I really wanted to experience. This makes me feel more confident, thinking, "I can do that." Student teaching is definately something I think it obtainable for me. The only critique on my behalf is that I tended to be a little shy and quiet while in the school, but I think that since I was only there for a day it is expected. I'm sure I will open up when I finally get the chance to be in front of the class. (I'll have a lot more to say about this matter in April)
Today I got the privilege of spending an entire day in a school, getting to experience everything, including assemblies and the faculty lounge. Basically, it was a day in the life of a teacher.
I observed both a student teacher and the cooperating teacher teaching the exact same material in very different ways. The cooperating teacher pretty much dictated what the student teacher did so she had the student teacher put off a technologically-based lesson involving music (what was suppose to happen was that students all brought in songs that related to the text, wrote about how it related to the text, were suppose to talk about it, analyze it, and then listen to their songs). The students were all very excited about this but when it came down to it, the teacher pushed for the text to be finished instead and since the school can only afford a class set of books that meant reading outloud all day long. (Exciting I know)
I tried to get as much out of this day as possible, looking at different things the student and cooperating teachers did and the different things they drew the students' attention to. The students write a journal every day at the beginning of class. This is something the teacher has them do every day since the beginning of the year. After they write for 2-5 min the teacher asked them to answer it. The journals tend to be fun, like this one about what the (pregnant) cooperating teacher should name her new baby since she just found out it is a boy.
There were directed reading questions about the text on the board. The students are suppose to keep these questions in mind when they read, but it was unclear if they were ever going to go over them and write about them or anything. Also, the student teacher made mention of this questions the first class, but for each of the remaining class he never brought them up again. As a student teacher his lessons seemed to be a little less carbon-copied versions of his lesson. Each class had different types of students and a different atmosphere. I don't know if the student teacher was playing off these differences on purposes or not but I think it worked.
One thing that bothered me that both the student and cooperating teachers did (that I think was a byproduct of the cooperating teacher) was when a student was reading outloud and they just started to stumble over a word the teacher chimed in quickly with the correct pronunciation. It was like the teacher was ready for it, since the student barely even let got through the first syllable. It didn't give the student a chance to work it out on his/her own. I just didn't see how that student was learning anything from it. I think it is better if the teacher gives the student at least a chance and if the student looks to the teacher for help the teacher should then offer it. (I want the student to try, but I don't want the student to sit their struggling, feeling stupid in front of his/her classmates). The student teacher did this only once, though the cooperating teacher did this over half a dozen times.
Both teachers would stop the reading of the text to make mention of critical scenes, asking what they meant or to have them make connections to the literature. This was all content based and never really gave the students a chance to do anything more than do a bit of new-critical analysis. But the teacher was so bent on getting the book done, anything higher than basic content recollection was too much.
One thing the cooperating teacher did that I liked (if you look back at my previous post you'll understand) was stressing the importance of taking notes while they read. She didn't talk about how to take notes or anything, but just that they should jot down anything they found important. I don't know if she's ever directed them on how to take notes from a text, but I kind of doubt it because even though she mentioned this many students just still sat (with notebooks open) following along but never writing. Their notebooks opened pretty much just humoured the teacher...
Also, the cooperating teacher I guess got confused by the novel and where she was in it. She stopped at one point and asked the students to make connection to what she thought was something that happened in a previous chapter, but she was mistaken because that chapter came later (the students had yet to get to it). Here she was trying to get the students to remember and make connection to something they had not read yet. I mentioned this to the student teacher who agreed, but I don't know if he ever mentioned it to the teacher and I don't know what the teacher would say about it. I am sure we all will make mistakes like that when we are teachers... maybe... maybe not.
During one period the reading went past the bell and none of the students stirred because they were only about a dozen lines away from the end of the chapter. This showed disipline because I was itching for them to get done. They didn't rush, but just let the person finish reading and then got up to go. I was very impressed with their disipline.
Overall, this day mostly taught me about what to expect when student teaching, which was something I really wanted to experience. This makes me feel more confident, thinking, "I can do that." Student teaching is definately something I think it obtainable for me. The only critique on my behalf is that I tended to be a little shy and quiet while in the school, but I think that since I was only there for a day it is expected. I'm sure I will open up when I finally get the chance to be in front of the class. (I'll have a lot more to say about this matter in April)
posted by Sara Winterling | 10:48 AM
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