November 8, 2007

After a very long Wednesday, I did not want to get up this morning. However, I knew today was very important because I had a new lesson and my observer was coming in today. I was feeling good when I left the house and I got to school at a very good time. I was ready to start my day. Unfortunately, karma was not good to me today and I locked myself out of my car. It was a little damper in my day until I paid a lot of money to have it unlocked. Later in the day, when I got home, I was informed and could have called triple A. It happened so I cannot stress myself out about it. I helped a number of students today with work today in learning center 1^st and 4^th period. There was a student who had me review her writing and I mostly corrected punctuation but there were some sentences that needed tweaking and she was able to fix them very well. I was impressed because English is not her first language but she knew where to fix sentences. Her name was mentioned later in the day between some teachers in the lounge. The reaction that arose from the teacher was not one I was expecting. This particular teacher was ragging on the student saying that she plagiarizing and expects others to give her the answers. I was very upset that a professional teacher was speaking so badly about a student especially when they are supposed to be role models for me. I really lost respect for this teacher. Intro to drama read some historical background on the playwright, Moliere, who wrote The Misanthrope. I noticed that students were excited because this play is a comedy and they are looking for a little humor in class. Everyday, I feel more and more comfortable with students in each class. I prepped a lot during my time off. I was extremely nervous today because my observer was coming in and I was going to be teaching some intense material in class. After writing some notes and going over the material, I felt alright about teaching the lesson. During 7^th period, my c.t. worked on more writing workshop having the students picture search and use prepositions to describe where the pictures were. I was in the process of putting my things together when my supervisor knocked at the door. We went to go discuss some things about today’s lesson and how I was feeling. I was very very nervous and at one point I felt like throwing up. It was the worst I felt in the time of my student teaching. I was mostly nervous about having her in the room observing me. I feel that the material in high school has more to it especially when there is a novel to read and not short stories every two days. Anyway, we both had nice conversation and it eased my nerves just a little. We went back to the classroom and moved to where 8^th period was going to be. The class was good about settling in and I had some house issues to talk about: collecting homework, passing around an article, reminding the students about their site sheets for WISE and giving the objectives for the day. My hands were very clammy and I had so many feelings running through my body. I explained to the students what was going to happen in class today: isolating the conversations of characters in Brave New World and discussing the mottos in Mustapha Mond’s speech. I had the students volunteer and read the conversations and we looked at each one separately, going over what was happening between the characters. The students were great about volunteering and having class discussion. One of the hardest things in class today was going over the mottos, not knowing specific information, and mispronouncing words. I realize now after reflecting I am very hard on myself but I feel it is for my own good so that I can fix the things that I have done wrong. One of the criticisms I received was to have more student interaction with in the class lesson. I plan on doing that because this class is very intellectual and they need interaction. I especially need to do this so I know they are grasping the concepts. I received a lot of constructive criticism today and while I felt my lesson was a complete disaster, I realize I did hit all my objectives for the day, I am comfortable in front of the class, and I did not show any nervousness. It only gets better from here and everyday, all day I am learning. I am learning how to be a good teacher.