Monday vs. Friday

For the first time in my undergraduate career I had an entire class of high school students all to myself...twice. Granted by "all to myself" I mean there was a substitute there in the classroom with me due to legal reasons, but the class was mine to be in charge of. For the most part, I was actually fairly pleased with how everything turned out. However, I learned that there was a big difference between working with a class on Monday and working with a class on Friday.

Last Monday was an interesting experience. As usual, I showed up within a reasonable time span before class began to meet with my teacher and figure out what the day's plan was to be. However, as time crept closer to the start of class, I began to wonder whether my teacher was going to show up. Right before the bell rang, in walked a lady whom I had never seen come in or out of the classroom. She was the substitute. Now, I had talked to my teacher about taking over the class with a substitute for a couple of days in October, but I received heads up for that particular day. The sub and I both looked at the day's plan and found out that I was to be in charge of the class and lead them through their assignments that day.

As it turned out, I was very pleased with how responsive the class was that day. Everybody stayed relatively well behaved and got through their work with no issue. The students broke up into their normal groups as they had done several times prior to this class to do their reading and take their notes. My CT did pop into the classroom to check up on some things (she had an administrative meeting that day), and apologized for not letting me know that she would not be there for that class. At the same time, however, she let me know that I would have the class to myself again that Friday. Because of this, we met after class on Wednesday to discuss what the plan would be that Friday.

Friday's class was significantly different than Monday's. While the class was fairly subdued all throughout the class on Monday, they were quite rambunctious on Friday. Not only was this the start to the weekend for them, but they also had a tradition in which the band marched through the hallway and all the students were supposed to go out and clap and cheer them on. This led to a very high energy class that I was not anticipating. In fact, at one point shortly after the band marched by our classroom, we heard them upstairs. Thinking that they were coming back down our hallway, the students rushed the door and many went straight back into the hallway. This of course resulted in me having to corral them back into the classroom so we could get started with our daily assignments. While they eventually settled down to some degree, they still did not work nearly as hard as they had that Monday and took a lot more reminders to get back on task.

Over all, I can't say I blame them. Mondays and Fridays really do not change no matter how old you are.

A Good Start

Two weeks in and things seem to be going pretty well. My teacher is allowing me to ease into the culture of the class in such a way that while I don't feel rushed, I certainly feel that I am allowed to operate and communicate with the students from an authoritative position. More than anything I feel like I have simply been given an opportunity to just get to know the students, help them out and answer questions when their teacher is busy and, more than anything, learn their names. For this reason I feel like I have already begun building some connections with the students and they are beginning to see me as more than just a fly on the wall in the classroom.

That being said, we have begun looking forward to lessons that I will be teaching. It was recently determined that i will be doing an introduction to Lord of the Flies. I am actually kind of excited about this as it is a book that I have never really taken the time to read but have always been curious about. Fortunately I have over a month to read the book and prepare my lesson. I am really pleased with the fact that my teacher seems to be very open about working with me on preparing my lesson. Starting this week we will begin to look into various lesson possibilities and variations on what she had planned for the students before she was informed of my entry into her class.

Even more exciting than her willingness to work with me on this lesson is the fact that she just informed me that the class will be left entirely to me for a couple of days this semester. For two days in October she will be out of town and while she will have to have a substitute teacher in the classroom during those days, she told me that I will be in charge. What a great opportunity! While I have had the opportunity to teach lessons and spend minutes at a time with the teacher out of the classroom, I have never had a chance to work with a class all to myself. Even if it is just for a couple of days I feel that this has the chance to be a great learning experience and bit of preparation for next semester's student teaching and beyond.

While there is still a long ways to go, I am already feeling a lot more confident and comfortable about this upcoming year. While I feel I have had teachers in the past who have been willing to get me as incorporated in the class as possible, it seems as though this is the first time I have taken a bit more initiative to involve myself. I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I know I will be in the classroom for more than a semester. It really makes a big difference when you know you are going to be with a group of people for a significant amount of time. I know it does for me at least. Regardless of reason, I'm just happy that I am in the position I have found myself. I think this is going to be a good year.

Fine

 Day one has come and gone. Coming into this school year I was a little bit apprehensive of what the semester had in store for me. Truth be told, I am still somewhat uncertain of what the near future holds. Over the past couple of years, I have been placed at several schools in the district, each one with its own flavor, its own positives and negatives. All of my placements up to this point have been just fine. Sure, some have been better than others, but the resounding theme of my observations up to this point has simply been that "everything is going fine." And honestly that is my biggest concern for this semester. I don't want to go into this school and walk away with the same perception at the end of the year. I want to come out of this semester, and even more-so this year, feeling more accomplished than just fine.

But how do I change the trend? Obviously the answer has to start and end with myself. In the past I have been somewhat unwilling to step out of the role of the unobtrusive observer. My mentality has always been that, "This is somebody else's classroom, not mine. I don't want to get in their way, nor would I want them to get in my way if the roles were reversed." This mentality, I have determined, is completely fair. I have also come to the realization that this mentality is ultimately irrelevant so long as I act within certain boundaries. While I would not like for a classroom observer or a pre-student teacher to get in my way and undermine my authority were I the one in charge, I would be more than willing to accept the help that they can offer. I would love to somebody around that could offer perhaps a different perspective during a lesson or help guide my students when I am not able to answer every little question during a group project.

This is my biggest goal for the semester: that I assert myself up to a point within the classroom's social structure, while at the same time avoiding the potential issue of surpassing my cooperating teacher's wants and needs. I want to build stronger relationships with the students than I have in the past. Fortunately, with the extended time in the classroom, I feel that this is a very reachable goal. Achievement of this personal objective will only bring about more easily flowing and creative lessons in the future. When a teacher has developed an authoritative but amiable rapport with his students, learning becomes far more natural and far less forced.

Ultimately, I just want to have some fun this semester. I want to leave the school feeling more than just fine.

This is a test and only a test. It is a test of all testing testable tests testers for whom the test must be tested.