I met with my mentor teacher for my pre-professional seminar's field experience today. She seems awesome, and I'm really excited to work with her. She's been teaching for four years, so she still remembers her student teaching experiences clearly enough to have sympathy for me. I'll be teaching at least one of her 10th grade English CP classes (American Lit II: 1914-present) and potentially some lessons for her theatre elective.
My first unit is going to be on Death of a Salesman, and then after that I get to work on poems by Robert Frost. The scary thing is that I realized I have no idea how to teach. I have to create classroom lessons for this entire unit, and I have no idea how to even begin. She suggested I start with an introduction on the concept of the American Dream, so I'm working on that right now, but I also have to find time within the first day to teach drama terms... we'll see what happens.
In the meantime, if anyone has any great suggestions for things to include in my Death of a Salesman unit, let me know!
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Chapter 9: The First Day
What I Believe About
Preparation for the first day...
Assigning seats and learning names...
Meeting parents on the first day...
The first day's activities...
I've been dreaming up different ways to conduct the first day of the school year for years now. The first day is crucial for setting the tone for the year, but I still have to figure out how that fits with who I want to be as a teacher and what exactly I will do to set that tone. Will I focus more on classroom routines? Or will I jump right into instruction to show them I don't want to waste any time? Is there a way to successfully mix the two?
Other questions I worry about are how far in advance will I get my curriculum? When do I get to set up my classroom? Will I even have my own classroom or will I be a floater?
I already know I will assign seats, but not alphabetically. I just don't know what layout the seats will be in, yet. Learning names as quickly as possible is critical for credibility. The first few days, students will have to say their names before they speak, to help me remember them and to remove any questions about proper pronunciation.
I don't think I will likely meet any parents on the first day of class--I can't think of any reasons why I would. This seems like something that would be more likely for an elementary school teacher.
And the activities will depend on the curriculum. I know that my exit slip for the first day, though, will be asking the students for suggestions about places I should go and things I should do around town, since when I am teaching for TFA, I will be new to the Newark area. Others I have considered are autobiographical poems based on the personal info cards I ask them to fill out about themselves, asking them to make assumptions about me (teaching inference skills), and expectations setting (me of them, them of me, them of each other).
----
In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?
I hadn't realized how looked down upon assigned seating is. I had been planning on assigning seating, but this chapter has me questioning whether or not that is necessary. It suggests that allowing students to choose their own seating is one way to put the responsibility for the education in their own hands. I am struggling to remember what my own teachers did when I was in high school. I'm sure different teachers had different ways of handling it.
Questions I Still Have . . .
Will I be able to pull it off?
Lots of others...
Preparation for the first day...
Assigning seats and learning names...
Meeting parents on the first day...
The first day's activities...
I've been dreaming up different ways to conduct the first day of the school year for years now. The first day is crucial for setting the tone for the year, but I still have to figure out how that fits with who I want to be as a teacher and what exactly I will do to set that tone. Will I focus more on classroom routines? Or will I jump right into instruction to show them I don't want to waste any time? Is there a way to successfully mix the two?
Other questions I worry about are how far in advance will I get my curriculum? When do I get to set up my classroom? Will I even have my own classroom or will I be a floater?
I already know I will assign seats, but not alphabetically. I just don't know what layout the seats will be in, yet. Learning names as quickly as possible is critical for credibility. The first few days, students will have to say their names before they speak, to help me remember them and to remove any questions about proper pronunciation.
I don't think I will likely meet any parents on the first day of class--I can't think of any reasons why I would. This seems like something that would be more likely for an elementary school teacher.
And the activities will depend on the curriculum. I know that my exit slip for the first day, though, will be asking the students for suggestions about places I should go and things I should do around town, since when I am teaching for TFA, I will be new to the Newark area. Others I have considered are autobiographical poems based on the personal info cards I ask them to fill out about themselves, asking them to make assumptions about me (teaching inference skills), and expectations setting (me of them, them of me, them of each other).
----
In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?
I hadn't realized how looked down upon assigned seating is. I had been planning on assigning seating, but this chapter has me questioning whether or not that is necessary. It suggests that allowing students to choose their own seating is one way to put the responsibility for the education in their own hands. I am struggling to remember what my own teachers did when I was in high school. I'm sure different teachers had different ways of handling it.
Questions I Still Have . . .
Will I be able to pull it off?
Lots of others...
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Chapter 2: Curriculum Planning
Each of these posts will consist of a pre-reading reflection and a post-reading reflection.
What I Believe About
The importance of planning...
Long-range planning...
Standards-based planning...
Thematic instructional units...
Weekly and daily planning...
Planning for diversity...
I am a "type A" person. I know this about myself. Planning and revisiting plans to make them better, more clear, more effective, etc. is something that offers me great comfort. Because of this, curriculum planning is one of the aspects of teaching that worries me the most. The idea of not knowing what to plan or how to plan to most efficiently and effectively reach my students terrifies me. In my program so far, I have written one unit plan and a handful of lesson plans, but my classmates and I understood that they were entirely hypothetical. I have never had to implement any of the lessons I have created, with the exception of the five-minute lesson I presented during my Teach for America interview. I also practiced giving that lesson in its entirety countless times, a luxury I won't have with the six or seven 45-minute lessons I will be teaching daily as a full-time teacher.
Right now, I can't imagine planning lessons for the five weeks I will be teaching during this semester. Trying to imagine planning for an entire year is overwhelming, to say the very least. I know that my excitement to get into the classroom and work with students will help dispel my fears, but I certainly wouldn't mind more instruction about how to plan out my year.
---
In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?
I wouldn't say that this chapter changed my beliefs about planning at all. It emphasized the importance of planning ranging from long-term to short-term. My program does stress individual daily lesson plans more than the author stresses them, and she even noted that would likely be the case. It will be interesting to see what my school actually requires in terms of lesson plans when I get there.
I found it somewhat frustrating that the chapter seemed to focus more on curriculum planning for the elementary grades. I understand that integrating curricula for different subjects is important at that level, but I would have liked to hear more about how to plan for various grades and skill levels surround the same general subject. Related to that...
Questions I Still Have...
How much should I be worried about keeping, for example, two ninth grade college prep classes on the same track?
Should I be on the same schedule with all of my classes, regardless of grade or skill level? For example, should all of my classes be starting a new unit at the same time?
What I Believe About
The importance of planning...
Long-range planning...
Standards-based planning...
Thematic instructional units...
Weekly and daily planning...
Planning for diversity...
I am a "type A" person. I know this about myself. Planning and revisiting plans to make them better, more clear, more effective, etc. is something that offers me great comfort. Because of this, curriculum planning is one of the aspects of teaching that worries me the most. The idea of not knowing what to plan or how to plan to most efficiently and effectively reach my students terrifies me. In my program so far, I have written one unit plan and a handful of lesson plans, but my classmates and I understood that they were entirely hypothetical. I have never had to implement any of the lessons I have created, with the exception of the five-minute lesson I presented during my Teach for America interview. I also practiced giving that lesson in its entirety countless times, a luxury I won't have with the six or seven 45-minute lessons I will be teaching daily as a full-time teacher.
Right now, I can't imagine planning lessons for the five weeks I will be teaching during this semester. Trying to imagine planning for an entire year is overwhelming, to say the very least. I know that my excitement to get into the classroom and work with students will help dispel my fears, but I certainly wouldn't mind more instruction about how to plan out my year.
---
In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?
I wouldn't say that this chapter changed my beliefs about planning at all. It emphasized the importance of planning ranging from long-term to short-term. My program does stress individual daily lesson plans more than the author stresses them, and she even noted that would likely be the case. It will be interesting to see what my school actually requires in terms of lesson plans when I get there.
I found it somewhat frustrating that the chapter seemed to focus more on curriculum planning for the elementary grades. I understand that integrating curricula for different subjects is important at that level, but I would have liked to hear more about how to plan for various grades and skill levels surround the same general subject. Related to that...
Questions I Still Have...
How much should I be worried about keeping, for example, two ninth grade college prep classes on the same track?
Should I be on the same schedule with all of my classes, regardless of grade or skill level? For example, should all of my classes be starting a new unit at the same time?
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