May 2, 2009

Words of wisdom to live by for future student teachers:

• Get organized the first day of class
• Remain organized
• Begin assignments and lesson plans early
• Plan in advance, well in advance
• Know the content
• Connect content
• Stand in the hallways
• Get to know your students
• Be flexible with changes
• Do whatever it takes to succeed
• Remember to have fun

Week April 20-24, 2009

I remember registering for the first workshop in Grantville I attended as a business education student. That was about a year and a half ago. Before going to this workshop, I thought it was going to be like all other seminars and meetings I attended in past employments. I was sure this was going to be a waste of time and energy. I was wrong. The first workshop was filled with great ideas for new teachers as well as experienced teachers. I found the information was useful and can be immediately implemented in class. The networking of teachers was also valuable because all business teachers want other business teachers and the business education department in all schools to be as successful as possible. The business teachers I have met at all of the workshops have always been extremely helpful to me as a new teacher. The most valuable part of this week was attending the workshop in Grantville.

Friday's workshop was filled with an overwhelming amount of resources. A representative from the Federal Reserve in Philidelphia offered us an entire course, free of charge, called Keys to Financial Success which we can teach in our Personal Finance class. A member of the Bloomsburg University staff presented reading strategies for us to teach our high school students. These workshops truely offer a wealth of information for both new and seasoned teachers and I plan on attending each one.

For the most part, the week was well planned and no major problems occured. However, there was one thing I would like to have changed. In my nineth grade computer applications class, I had a Microsoft Access exercise planned for both of my classes. I uploaded the exercise to the student drive the same way as I had done in the past with the Excel exercises. I asked the students to locate this exercise and open it. However, there was a technology problem. None of the students could open the Access file. All of the students received an error. I was stuck. I remembered immediately how Dr. O told us to be prepared with a back up plan because technology was not always going to work. I was not prepared with a backup plan. I did continue with a discussion on Microsoft Access and had the students discuss with me how they could use a database. Yes, back up plans are necessary especially when teaching technology.

April 13-17, 2009

I started this week by telling each class I was only going to be here another two and a half weeks and any late or missing assignments had to be submitted by next Friday. The assignments were my assignments and I wanted them to be turned in to me to be graded. I did not expect my co-op to assume responsibility of any assignments I assigned. Most of them responded by telling me they do not want me to leave. I was a little overwhelmed by their reaction. Most, not all, vocally responded by saying they did not want me to leave. They did not fully understand my role here and kept asking me to stay. Of course, I told them I could not stay and my co-op would continue teaching class until the end of the school year.

When I began teaching at this school, I noticed a few of the students had behavioral problems in class. I knew, however, I could connect with these students and get most of them interested in my lesson. I did take my co-op's advise and showed them I liked them by talking to them about their interests. I spoke with them and showed them how their intersts are related to the content of the class I was teaching them. At the begining, these were the students who chose not to learn, but now, these students participate in classroom discussions sometimes more than others. This was the most valuable part of my week. I knew I could make an impact with these students as well as other students.

This week was a fairly normal week. However, I did make an error by failing to make copies of all of my handouts. Of the hundreds of copies of many different handouts I made this week, I forgot to copy one. Obviously, this was a mistake, but fortunately I was able to orally direct my students to the expectations of the assignment. I did make copies of the missing handout for the following day and for most, the assignment was a success. This is the part of my week I would like to change. I know I have to check and re-check everything needed for my lessons but somehow I forgot. I know that organiziation is of utmost importance and I will continue to strengthen my organizational skills.

Week of April 6-10

I was in class two days this week but only taught Monday and half of Tuesday. The short week gave me experience of teaching students who were more interested in their vacation than school. On Tuesday, I was able to plan fun activities for the students. They continued to learn while having fun and did not realize they were learning. The most valuable part of the week came during a faculty meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The information in the meeting was people's right to know school information. The determination of public and private information has to be determined by the school before allowing this information to be viewed by members of the public. The meeting contained a lot of important information for new teachers as well as experienced teachers. The most important thing I took from the meeting was never write inappropriate emails that you would not want to have published in a local newspaper. Teachers are respected members of the community and their emails should be a reflection of their professionalism.

The short week gave me a much smaller window for mistakes. As I reflect on the day and a half of teaching last week, I don't remember a specific incident I would like to change. However, as I strive to become more organized, I still see room for improvement. Being a student teacher, I am still learning new things every passing week. As I learn, I am incorporating them into my teaching and the organizational methods I use have to be strengthened and more focused. A teacher's ability to produce good lessons and provide a rich learning environment begins with good organizational skills. This is the area I am going to always try to improve upon.

March 30 to April 3, 2009

I always heard of it, but I never experienced FBLA until Sunday night. The energy was high and the students were ready to compete. I spent the early part of Sunday evening helping my secondary co-op prepare for the next day's competition. She had the enormous job of organizing everything for all of our students. I was glad to be able to help even though my contribution was rather small compared to her's.

As Monday afternoon was upon us, my assignment was clear. I was assigned to be a proctor for a public speaking competition. To my suprise, this was very exciting for me. The event lasted for three hours but seemed like minutes. As the competitors were rehearsing their speaches one last time, I directed them where and when to begin. Many spectators were on hand to withness the competition but seating was very limited. I am sure everything was taken into consideration for this public speaking contest, but because the seating was very limited, I had to turn many spectators away from entering the room. The room was just too small. This, however, did not hamper the spririt of the competitors because the excitement they exuded was immeasurable. I was taken back by the energy, emotion and the professionalism these young students demonstrated during this event and for the entire FBLA convention . Experiencing and learning about FBLA was the most incredible part of my week.

It was Thursday morning and my second period students were going to begin writing their resume'. I think I was more excited then they were because I forgot to distribute a great handout I prepared for them and directed them to begin writing their resume. The handout discussed do's and don'ts of a resume' but I just forgot to review this with my students in my second period class. Although the students had formatting instructions for formatting their resume', the additional information would have been very helpful. This is the part of the week I would like to change. I have taken from this experience that my excitement for an activity or assignment has to be second to my lesson plans.

March 23-27 2009

For me, this week started with tracking down students in oder to get them to make up all of their missing work because Friday was the end of the marking period. Not wanting to get calls from parents asking why their daughter/son did not have their work completed, I talked to as many students as I could giving them directions and deadlines for missing work. This worked great. Most of my students did make an effort to complete their work by coming to class after school or during a study hall. For others, no attempt was made to complete any assignment. The most valuable lesson I learned this week was to get and stay organized.

Since there were about twenty five students who needed to make up work, I began talking to as many as I could. Now, I know my organizational skills are okay, but not perfect. So, I had to do everything I could to match all of the missing work with the correct student while providing directions, page numbers, rubrics and expectations of each. Toward the end of the week, I continually reminded them of their missing assignments. As each student handed me their missing work, I graded and posted their grade immediately. It worked flawlessley.
Fortunately, I recognized the need to be organized in advance and I am glad I am not describing this as the part of the week I would like to change.

This week, however, was somewhat boring in both a good and bad way. My co-op left the room most of this week which made me feel trusted in both my content and teaching. Everything seemed to flow nicely. That was good. However, because I still am trying to be overly concious of everything I do and say, I have given myself little room just to be me. That was bad. We have been student teaching for about tweleve weeks and we know the routine to be a good teachers in our schools. The part of the week I would like to change would be to allow my personality to flourish more in the classroom. I sometimes feel like a robot making sure I cover all that I had planned instead of just being me teaching the lesson. As I noticed this toward the end of the week, I did try to add more of my personality to each lesson and it seemed to interest the students a little more.