Keyword: Flexibility: Week #2

I started this week with probably one of the neatest in-service days I'll ever have. There was a program for those teachers in the district who wanted to be certified to instruct archery. My cooperating teachers and I signed up for this course and spent the majority of the day learning about archery, safety, and shooting techniques.

Not only was it a great experience to get to know other teachers around the school, but it built my confidence in my abilities to perform something I once thought I wasn't good at. Once I learned the technique, I was constantly hitting bulls eyes! I won't get all deep and sappy, but I think that is the perfect metaphorical experience to compare to student teaching. I had been so nervous leading up until Tuesday (when I began teaching) but once I started teaching, I was fine. It felt great teaching and felt completely in my element. Sure there are things I still have to iron out, and I know I still need to develop my flow in the classroom, but I think just like archery, I just need to follow what I've been taught, try my best, and keep practicing until I hit that bulls eye. 


This week was the first week I started picking up Plant Science and Small Gas Engines. On Friday I also began teaching Welding as well. 

Lesson plans

I thought I would be holding onto my lesson plans like a crutch the entire week, but as it turns out, I didn't even touch them during instructional time. There are a few reasons why this happened. One, like I said, I felt good teaching. Normally when I get nervous I forget what I'm supposed to teach and I need to look at my plan. But running through it before the start of class and perhaps growing in my confidence allowed me to remember what I needed to do. 

For another thing, I reached a small crisis the night before when I realized that I needed to move around some of my activities. I realized it didn't make sense for them to learn one thing before they learn the next. I still taught the same things I was planning, just in a different order. So my lesson plans ended up being all out of order anyway. 

I do really like writing my lessons out beforehand because I like to think through what I will be presenting. But I feel that at least for now, I don't need to use them during class. I know there will be a handful of times throughout the semester where I will have to reference them in class simply because I put specific instructions or reminders in my plans. But other than that, I tend to write down my bellwork, interest approach, and the one or two activities we are doing on a sticky note and I'm good to go. 

Time flies...

One of my concerns going into student teaching was being able to accomplish my objectives and thus my activities within the 42 minute time period as I planned out in my lesson plans. This concern is now a reality, though it is certainly not the worst thing to happen. I tend to teach only one objective and get through about one activity. I still need to learn how to gauge how quickly students work which is part of the struggle. But I think we all agree that it is better to over-plan than to not plan enough.
 

I'm sure that there might be small things I can do classroom management-wise to get more done in one class period, but I think that more than anything, I realize how important it is for teachers to really think about what they need to teach vs. what they want to teach. I plan on removing a few lessons that I wanted to teach so my three-week unit wouldn't turn into a six-week unit. The lessons that I wanted to teach certainly relate to the unit, but aren't essential to understanding the core concepts. I considered having them do some of the work for homework, but I would want to spend some class time talking it over, which defeats the idea. Teachers need to be purposeful in what they teach!

Flexibility

Mr. Clark gave me a vocab word for the week which will probably hold firm for the entire semester; Flexibility. As I learn to adjust and I learn what my students need to thrive, I must be flexible. For example, Thursday I took charge of the freshman agriscience course so Mr. Clark and the shop students could work on the baseball dugout project. It wasn't planned, but I was able to take charge of the class and get them to finish what they needed to finish. 

Another example was that Mrs. Pontius was out on Friday. They had a substitute come in her absence. I was teaching plant science and had my powerpoint up and ready to go, but for some reason, the sub and I couldn't figure out how to hook it up to the projector. Instead of having the students sit there and do nothing, I quickly adjusted and had them work on the activity they were originally going to do at the end of the class period. Luckily it worked in my favor because they didn't need the powerpoint to do the activity (though it would have really helped with their understanding), and the activity ended up taking the whole class period (there's that time factor again). Had I presented the powerpoint as planned, they might have had to stop mid activity and pick it up again on Monday. Now I can just present the powerpoint and not worry about finishing the activity. I don't think it will always work like that but being flexible certainly helps get through that!

Looking ahead to next week

I learned a lot just in this first week, and I am eager to continue growing. I didn't talk about welding too much in this blog, but my goal there is to get my students motivated to want to participate. I sense a lack of will-power in my small class that I want to really crank up. Their class is also only every other day so I know it is even more important to build that rapport with my students.

In plant science, I will be teaching them about insect mouth parts. Then we will be identifying specific insects. Next, we will get into identification and classification of weed pests. 

In small gas engines, we will finish up our safety discussion and they will take their exam. Then we will start talking about what small gas engines are, and finish the week with tool identification and a little quiz on that.

In welding, I will only meet with them twice, so on Tuesday, I plan on going over my expectations and procedures. I just did getting-to-know-you activities with them on Friday so I could get them used to me and build that rapport. I will most likely have time to begin introducing arc welding as well. Thursday I will start getting into the safety.

Leaving Thought

"She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails" -- Elizabeth Edwards