1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Well, I was nervous today because my class had a substitute. And today was actually the first pretty hard day that I had. Before, we were just observing in classrooms, with pretty low expectations of involvement. This week, we're with one teacher all week, and we're expected to do the best we can to support the teacher with the whole class. This hasn't necessarily been difficult, but today I felt the expectations were even higher because the sub didn't have a whole lot of control or knowledge about my teacher's procedures. I actually ended up leading one class during flex time (a period in the middle of the day that is used for enrichment and remediation) because the sub didn't have any lesson plan for that class. It went pretty well, considering I had only watched my teacher do that lesson once and I wasn't sure AT ALL that that was what she had planned on this period doing during today's class. It was a challenging day for sure, and some of that I'll write about later.
2. During power-greeting, I was greeting everyone at the door--like the super nerd that I am-- with "Happy Constitution Day!" 97% of the kids just smiled and probably thought, "Whatta weirdo..." but a few asked what that was! Even though their response once I told them wasn't usually positive, but more like "ugh, they're all dead, why does that matter?" THEY STILL ASKED. That is what I am counting as a victory. Hop on board.
Also, our team brainstormed a bunch of ideas for our after school program and it got me really excited!! I will post more details once Lexie and I have a chance to iron out what we would like our school's program to look like. I'm just happy that our teammates seemed to really buy into the idea of everyone running the program together and it being something that is really relevant and useful for our students! Yay!
Also, I had a lot of prep periods, so I got to go outside (it's been rainy this week, which means a bearable temperature) and read and talk with Alex. A nice break.
3. There was a near-fight in one of my classes. Luckily, another teacher walked by and saw the shoving and stopped the boys by yelling. I went to get the administrator, who took the boys away for most of the period.
Also, the period that was difficult behavior-wise yesterday was downright miserable today. A student flat-out ignored me when I asked them to do what they were supposed to be doing, students were hitting each other, throwing post-it notes, and saying curse words loudly to friends across the classroom. I actually had to let some students stay off task and focus on the ones that actually wanted to do the assignment but couldn't hear the substitute's instructions over the din. That's what was the hardest: there were at least 5 students in there who WANTED the information. They wanted to do what they were supposed to do but couldn't because their classmates were being too disruptive.
Oh, and riding the bus home in the rain during late rush hour is about as fun as it sounds.
4. Today was rough for me in class. I was really optimistic before about all the students liking me and wanting to do what I said. I told myself even then that wasn't going to happen, but I still had the hopes, you know? Well, now I'm fully immersed in reality and I know that there are students who don't want me to help them and don't have any trouble telling me that to my face. Which sucks.
However, there were just as many, if not more, students today who did precisely what I told them, asked me pertinent questions, and showed interest in having me help them with their assignments.
The growth lies in focusing on these students rather than the first type. WHICH IS GOING TO BE SO HARD. So please help me, and when you ask me how my service is going, please make me focus on the students who are positive. Because there are a lot of them. But I tend to focus on where I can improve or what I'm doing wrong, which isn't terrible. Except it is terrible for my self-esteem. Because this is hard.
5. Tomorrow I am excited to wear our Diploma's Now t-shirt to school! AND there's a parent night at which I'll be meeting parents and trying to convince them to sign their kids up for the after school program!
Please think of me during the day tomorrow, though, because my teacher will still be out and there will still be a sub.
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Well, I was nervous today because my class had a substitute. And today was actually the first pretty hard day that I had. Before, we were just observing in classrooms, with pretty low expectations of involvement. This week, we're with one teacher all week, and we're expected to do the best we can to support the teacher with the whole class. This hasn't necessarily been difficult, but today I felt the expectations were even higher because the sub didn't have a whole lot of control or knowledge about my teacher's procedures. I actually ended up leading one class during flex time (a period in the middle of the day that is used for enrichment and remediation) because the sub didn't have any lesson plan for that class. It went pretty well, considering I had only watched my teacher do that lesson once and I wasn't sure AT ALL that that was what she had planned on this period doing during today's class. It was a challenging day for sure, and some of that I'll write about later.
2. During power-greeting, I was greeting everyone at the door--like the super nerd that I am-- with "Happy Constitution Day!" 97% of the kids just smiled and probably thought, "Whatta weirdo..." but a few asked what that was! Even though their response once I told them wasn't usually positive, but more like "ugh, they're all dead, why does that matter?" THEY STILL ASKED. That is what I am counting as a victory. Hop on board.
Also, our team brainstormed a bunch of ideas for our after school program and it got me really excited!! I will post more details once Lexie and I have a chance to iron out what we would like our school's program to look like. I'm just happy that our teammates seemed to really buy into the idea of everyone running the program together and it being something that is really relevant and useful for our students! Yay!
Also, I had a lot of prep periods, so I got to go outside (it's been rainy this week, which means a bearable temperature) and read and talk with Alex. A nice break.
3. There was a near-fight in one of my classes. Luckily, another teacher walked by and saw the shoving and stopped the boys by yelling. I went to get the administrator, who took the boys away for most of the period.
Also, the period that was difficult behavior-wise yesterday was downright miserable today. A student flat-out ignored me when I asked them to do what they were supposed to be doing, students were hitting each other, throwing post-it notes, and saying curse words loudly to friends across the classroom. I actually had to let some students stay off task and focus on the ones that actually wanted to do the assignment but couldn't hear the substitute's instructions over the din. That's what was the hardest: there were at least 5 students in there who WANTED the information. They wanted to do what they were supposed to do but couldn't because their classmates were being too disruptive.
Oh, and riding the bus home in the rain during late rush hour is about as fun as it sounds.
4. Today was rough for me in class. I was really optimistic before about all the students liking me and wanting to do what I said. I told myself even then that wasn't going to happen, but I still had the hopes, you know? Well, now I'm fully immersed in reality and I know that there are students who don't want me to help them and don't have any trouble telling me that to my face. Which sucks.
However, there were just as many, if not more, students today who did precisely what I told them, asked me pertinent questions, and showed interest in having me help them with their assignments.
The growth lies in focusing on these students rather than the first type. WHICH IS GOING TO BE SO HARD. So please help me, and when you ask me how my service is going, please make me focus on the students who are positive. Because there are a lot of them. But I tend to focus on where I can improve or what I'm doing wrong, which isn't terrible. Except it is terrible for my self-esteem. Because this is hard.
5. Tomorrow I am excited to wear our Diploma's Now t-shirt to school! AND there's a parent night at which I'll be meeting parents and trying to convince them to sign their kids up for the after school program!
Please think of me during the day tomorrow, though, because my teacher will still be out and there will still be a sub.
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