My set logistics of the week:
Location: Central Pennsylvania Institute of Technology (CPI)
Class: Plant Science
Unit: Sexual Plant Propagation
Lesson topics: seeds, parts of the flower, pollination, fertilization, and germination
Class size: 8 students (one was an adult learner)
Length of period: 50 minutes
The actual logistics of the week:
Location: Central Pennsylvania Institute of Technology (CPI)
Class: Plant Science
Unit: Sexual Plant Propagation
Lesson topics: seeds, parts of the flower, pollination
Class size: Started with 8 (sometimes) and they left in intervals as their buses arrived throughout the 50 minute periods
Length of period: ~ 30-40 minutes
To date, this was the most telling experience of my abilities and preparation as a student teacher. It reassured me of my strengths and weaknesses and provide me the opportunity to set goals when I student teach in the spring.
Teaching at a career and technical center was unique compared to a traditional classroom.
There are a variety of high schools represented for 3 hours in the morning and then again, a different set of students, from different high schools, in the afternoon. The two other cohort members and I broke the morning classes 3 hours time up into 50 minute segments, which was new to the students we were teaching. Having 3 different student teachers, with 3 different teaching styles, and 3 different topics was not the typical flow of their classes and they all were all extremely receptive to the us and the change of their normal routines though.
I have a lot of different thoughts and experiences I want to share but I am going to contain it to my top five:
5. Teaching when Sick
Knowing my medical history I knew I would get sick during student teaching at some point. Well I caught a very bad cold this week, that came along with head congestion, fever, and coughing. As much as a burden it was to work through, I learned a lot. In college, we just skip class or meetings, no questions asked when sick. I knew skipping micro teaching would be similar to missing classes during student teaching and that is not an option. Taking extra time in the morning to wake up, take medicine and have it working in my system, and then eating a full breakfast were actions I took to be prepared for my students as well as start the road to recovery. While teaching I did not want the students to get sick or question if I should be there. I brought hand sanitizer with me, always cover my mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, and had water on me at all times. This dictated some of the ways I conducted activities. During day 1 especially, I let the students take the roles of reading, explaining, and researching and I worked on questioning and clarifying statements. Additionally, it took extra mental push to keep the energy and enthusiasm at a high.
This was a good reminder to live a healthy lifestyle to ensure sickness is not hindering my abilities and efforts as an educator. This is a thought in the back of my mind but a lifestyle that, if included in my day to schedule, will benefit me in the classroom.
4. IEP/GIEP
At the end of day 2, the teacher at CPI asked us, "So who has an IEP?". I was able to identify the gifted students but neither of the other two students. This was not something on my observation radar coming into micro teaching, but something I adapted to for the 3rd day. For example, I created groups instead of allowing students to pick them, based on the students's ability and attendance in the prior two classes. After knowing the students IEPs, I was able to question and assist the students during group work.
On my learner satisfaction forms, the 2 GIEP students made comments that they desired higher order of thinking questions and activities, where the rest of the students loved the lessons how they were. If I were to re-do the lesson, I would put in my lesson plan higher order questions to direct to these two students.
3. Knowing the Content
2. Addressing the Audience
The audience was small, diverse in schools, age, and knowledge, and in a non traditional classroom setting. One conversation I had with the students during observation is the constant push of papers at them to take notes on, fill out, or follow along with. They see papers all the time and that is why they love their CPI plant science class... it is hands on and not a lot of papers. Hearing this I knew I would not teach this audience with worksheets. After day 1 though, I realized some students needed to see words to remember them and write down definitions to help them retain. So day two I tried worksheets and some students enjoyed it and others shut down. In reviewing the learner satisfaction forms, they all agreed no worksheets.
In reflecting on the observations, changes made, and feedback received, there is a time and place for worksheets. Students need notes to study when test time arrives. Also, some information needs front loaded before jumping into hands on learning. Another reminder I have to give myself is that I will not please every student everyday. That is hard to settle with, especially for a young teacher.
1. Flexibility/Adaptability
I just chuckle when I read these two words and reflect on the week. Every night I was adjusting lesson plans and each morning when I walked in there was something that changed my lesson plan that I adjusted the night before. My biggest flexibility had to be with time. On day 2, some schools had off and others had an assembly so I taught only 2 students. I had an activity planned for the day so I adapted my delivery, teaching style, and energy to fit the needs of the two students there. I was also last in the line up to teach each day, so if one of my fellow teachers ran over, I had only the time remaining to use.
Outside of time, there was technology glitches each day and the power went out at one point... all great learning opportunities for me. I was surprised by the success, poise, and confidence I had adapting and changing so quickly. What became "real life" this week was the workings of high school minds and the comments and questions that can arise. Their intelligence surprised me with the questions they posed but their immature comments reassured me they were still high schoolers.
Overall, this experience was extremely pivotal in my growth as an educator. I could identify growth in effectiveness of teaching in me since the beginning of the semester but on the flip side I can also identify the areas of growth I need to hone in on prior to the teaching in the spring.
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