3rd Week of School (Sept. 7 - 11)

JOHN - The 3rd week of school started and I am becoming more entrenched in the happenings of the classroom. I am now teaching at least one class period each day. Mrs. Schiebel and I agreed that since I was already kind of teaching 8th that I would just stick with that period and begin working my way up as the weeks progressed.

This week, I was going to be observed by the ISU supervisor, Mrs. Irwin. She was going to be stopping by on Wednesday to observe me. So this gave me a few days to prepare my lesson. Since the students had a test this week, Mrs. Schiebel and I agreed that I would be responsible for preparing a review lesson that day. I was pretty excited about creating my first real lesson since coming here but also a little worried that I had a lot to cover. However, Mrs. Schiebel recommended I try doing some form of game with the students where they could have some fun while still reviewing for the test

I decided that I wanted to do some form of Family Feud style game. This way, the students could still break up in to their tribes and work together. It was important for me to create the game in a way where everyone would be involved. So, after some thought and brainstorming, I ended up changing the game and creating a new one called Tribal Trivia. In Tribal Trivia, there would be 20 questions the students would have to answer. Most of them related back to what they were reviewing. I threw in a few questions about Mrs. Schiebel and myself to mix it up. The teams would score points as long as they were one of the first to wave their tribal bandanna and provide the correct answer. On top of that, each tribal member must have the same answer and show all their work.

On the day of my lesson and observation, Mrs. Schiebel informed that she wouldn't be there due to an illness. However, I was going to have a substitute teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, there to fill in. Mrs. Hoffman is a retired RMS teacher and was a tremendous addition that day. She allowed me to run the classroom all day and stepped in only when she thought I would need it or when I would request it. She provided great feedback and was very helpful that day. I appreciate her allowing me the freedom to be the "teacher" that day.

The lesson went off amazingly!! After 2nd hour, which is my first class period with the regs, I was able to make a few alterations to the lesson. I was never able to get through all 20 questions and I ended up switching the order of the slides because I wanted to be sure certain things were covered such as PEMDAS and subtracting of integers. The great thing is, by the time Mrs. Irwin came to observe me, I was an expert on my lesson and everything seemed to run smooth.

I loved teaching that day and I appreciate Mrs. Schiebel having the trust in me being able to do so. It was a lot of work prepping for the lesson but it was totally worth it. Mrs. Irwin said that I did a pretty good job and that I seem to display a lot of energy. I just feed off the students, to be honest. The more excited they got, the more I did.

The one thing I learned in this whole experience is that it's okay to over plan and not to be afraid to make adjustments throughout the day. Sometimes lesson plans don't turn out the way you'd like at first. As a teacher, you need to be able to improvise and think on your feet. Plus, you need to reflect quickly and adjust things when necessary. Even fine tuning a few things here and there will make a lesson run so much more smooth.

The rest of the week was back to normal. On Friday, I went around and observed some teachers. Let me say this, I wish I would've done this sooner than later. Each teacher I observed, I was able to take a little away. It's good and necessary for all students teachers to watch other teachers in action. It just gives you an opportunity on how other teachers operate. You may not necessarily like everything they do but you can learn something each time.