student teaching!! (trial run numero uno)

I taught 9th grade today!!! Oh, snap! It was so much fun! That's almost the last thing I thought I'd come out of there saying, but really--whee! I forget how much I love to just teach, just be up in front of a class leading discussions and seeing where we can go with things, just being with those crazy fourteen-year-olds. Good gravy, I love 'em. I can't wait to go back.

I started out pretty nervous this morning, which was to be expected. My lesson plan wasn't as sturdy as others I've made before (I really had no idea what to do with the subject material--"Give a lesson about this Japanese folk tale and...heroes"--so vague! Such a weird story! What to do?) and I didn't have all my materials prepped. But it worked anyway (!). The kids seemed to pick up on what we were trying to do, and there weren't any major discipline problems. Two big successes for a first day in my book. 

Really, it felt so, so good to be up in front of a class again. I'm a lot more confident than I was a year and a half ago, and I feel like I've got a really good preparation under my belt. The stuff we talk about in Sirpa's Teaching Reading class is invaluable--even just the little reading comprehension checks and prediction strategies we did helped me make sure everyone knew what was going on, kept us all together, and  kept everyone on task. Yay learning how to be a teacher!

More things I learned about my classes:

- The regular 9th grade class (B1) is a snoozer class. I HAVE to learn names here and call on the back rows. Stretching seemed to help wake them up--I should keep doing that with them. Since they're quiet, I need to do lots of explicit comprehension checks to make sure they're keeping up with me. Group work seems to work well for them, as long as there are clear objectives and divisions of responsibility. 

--The honors 9th grade class (B2), first of all, needs a seating change. Why in the world would Mrs. Jensen put Mark, Trevor, Ben, and Trouble Kid #4 so close to one another? Why did the cheerleaders get to make their own little bloc? They all feed off each other. Really, though, they're a boon overall because they keep the class awake and participating (as long as we stay on task). Note to self: remember not to punish Trevor & co. for their energy and enthusiasm. It needs to be channeled, not stifled. Group work needs to be super, super structured, and Mrs. Jensen (awkward...I'm going to call her Valarie, because that's her name) is right when she says that they need to be assigned groups. I think pair-shares would work better here anyway.

These folks are smart, but scattered--we need to move quickly through the material but cover it multiple times. I need to learn names here, too, so I can do comprehension checks with the quiter ones to make sure we're not leaving them in the dust or boring them to tears. Today was definitely a testament to the fact that if I can keep everyone engaged and do those sneaky little teacher things (like just quitely moving over to stand with the chatty ones and lecturing/reading from there), discipline problems solve themselves. Mrs. Jensen has such a hard time with these guys because she gives them way, way, way too much unstructured time and she just stands in the back with a desk between herself and the class.

It would also be good to remember that getting them to take notes goes a long way towards keeping them focused; they just need to be reminded that they should be taking notes. Also, another note to self: they (and probably all the other classes) desperately need a lecture on note-taking skills, especially techniques for 1) listening and writing at the same time and 2) creating hierarchies (how do you spell that?) of information so they know what's important to write down and what's not. Also, some explicit instruction on organization skills could probably go a long way. 

It's amazing to me what a few years of ... what? College? Life? Probably ... will do for your perspective. It's pretty easy to peg these kids just from looking around from the head of a classroom. This one doesn't get much attention at home, but for one reason or another he prefers it that way; this one talks big and loud, but his reading and writing skills actually aren't so hot; this one is really smart, but has learned to stay quiet and play dumb so the popular set doesn't pick on her. It's all in their eyes--you've gotta watch who they're watching and when and why. So, so, so many individuals. I wish I could spend hours with each one and tell them that junior high is a lot more fun when you're not in it and that really they'll survive and don't pick on the seventh graders too much because you were there pretty recently and that they are awesome and great and wonderful and beautiful and smart and worth everything, no matter what anyone else says.