After Spending All Night Tossing and Turning in Bed Nervous About the Day to Come, I Feel

Karla Conrad

January 07, 2008

After spending all night tossing and turning in bed nervous about the day to come, I feel like it was an overall success and a great start in my preparation to become a teacher. Before actually getting into the classroom, there was a sixth grade team meeting with all the sixth grade teachers. Mrs. Rhoades, my cooperating teacher, is head of the sixth grade teachers. She ran the meeting and addressed different subjects such as field trips and other activities. The most interesting topic brought up was her attention to the students that were failing subjects. She had gone through all of the grades for the children and brought attention to each individual with one or more F’s. This gave the teachers time to collaborate or voice concerns on how to help each child out.

Watching the kids file into the room was probably the part of the day that took me back to what it was like to be a sixth grader. It brought a bit of nostalgia along with it. Being the first day back from break, many of the students were chatty and excited to be back with friend. With this being said, Mrs. Rhoades was able to get control of her classroom with simply her presence. This seemed impressive to me how much respect was drawn from these young kids with all of the catching up they wanted to do with one another.

With discussing diversity in the classroom I thought I was prepared for the variety of children that were going to be in classes. As the day progressed, however, it became apparent that I did not have the slightest idea of how many different children attended Northwood Middle School. None of my classes needed a translator, but hearing Mrs. Rhoades call out all the kids’ names put me into perspective as I thought to myself “Wow, I would be awful at pronouncing just these kids, let alone trying to understand a different language and culture that they bring to the classroom.”

All of the classes were run about the same. Each class had its own different attributesfrom the giggling jokesters, to the special education kids in the second period class. All of the kids worked in groups today to review for their tests. Working together was stressed by Mrs. Rhoades and it was difficult to get the kids to use each other to complete the problems. I got the opportunity to help some students out. While observing one of the groups, I noticed one of the boys was just waiting for the other group members to complete the problem and then copying the answer. When seeing this I decided to make him go through the steps. After a while he got a better grasps on what steps to take and it felt really great to make just the slightest difference in this boy’s learning experience. It also made me realize how hard it is going to be to give 20-25 students all individual attention. Without be there this boy would have just continued to copy. Obviously, there were probably other students throughout the room doing the same thing, and they were not given that extra help.I think feeling as though you cannot get to every student would be a drawback to teaching.

In concluding the day I left really excited to start helping more in the classroom and getting to know students better. I anticipate that the observation of a student paper will be the most interesting for me to write because I was already picking out candidates throughout the day. I really look forward for the rest of the two weeks at Northwood Middle School.

January 8, 2008

Today in class I was able to observe how the students had a routine they followed every day. At the beginning of the year the responsibilities of getting the groups’ folders and settling down to do their bell work at the beginning of the period. With more review done for their test on Wednesday all of the students were subjected to more group work. Working in groups seemed more difficult for the kids today because the type of review was timed. This put a lot of pressure on the kids and I noticed them becoming more frustrated with others. In dealing with their frustrations I noticed that none of the kids really used words to explain that the group needed to decide on an answer together not just one person. Instead, there were many dirty looks and eye rolls going around the room. This gave me an inside look at how middle school students deal with being upset with other classmates.

Today I also gained a better understanding behind Mrs. Rhoades strict policies she holds in all her classes. When asking her questions about classroom management she stressed how the most important task is to keep the kids focused. Mrs. Rhoades uses high expectations including the students to not have extra clutter on the desks, keeping the classroom clean, and not allowing time for chatting. When first witnessing this approach in the classroom I was shocked by how meticulous some of her wishes were, but I think the longer I stay in the classroom I will gain a respect for how Mrs. Rhoades makes sure the students are focusing on the tasks at hand.

I am excited for the classes to finish this section because I am interesting in seeing how a lesson plan is used in the classroom. So far all the students have been doing is group review, but by Thursday I think I will get to observe a lesson being taught. With that being said, being in this classroom has shown me different ways to try and engage the kids in active review sessions. Today a video was used with questions for the groups to complete in a certain amount of time. With scores being kept all of the groups had incentive to try and do their best.

Outside of observing the teacher’s way of doing things I have had the chance to help a few of the students. In doing so I am really looking forward to write the student observation paper. Wanting to be a teacher has mostly been about wanting to pass on a love for learning but the more I am able to interact with the kids I cannot wait to get to know different students.

January 9, 2008

Today was probably the most boring day so far in the classroom, but ironically the most rewarding. All of the classes I observed took a test today. This did give me the opportunity to see a test given and see what kind of testing methods the teacher uses. The test that was given was a new approach for Mrs. Rhoades as she explained she decided to give the students some choices on what problems they could do on the tests. Out of the twenty two problems on the tests they only were required to complete twelve of them. This gave the students the freedom to pick and choose between different problems, as well as give them a chance for bonus points. I also was the one who graded the tests. This was a challenge in itself because as cut and dry as math seems to be, the sixth grade mind can come up with some very different answers.

Watching students be silent and take a test was not thrilling because I did not get to interact with the kids. However, when the opportunity arose to help out two students it was more than worth the wait. Two of the boys in the room needed to have the questions read out loud to them. I started with one of the students and explained the problem. He was very thankful for the help and proceeded to get to work on it. The next student did not have the same response after I read the question to him. All I got was a blank stare and I knew this was going to be a challenging moment for me. As I was explained this boy could not understand English very well I was presented with the biggest challenge that has came along with this first field experience. After a few tries I had to give up on trying to use actual sentences with this boy, but if I used numbers he could understand what I was trying to get him to do. It took almost ten minutes for me to walk the student through the first problem. On the second one it was amazing how much that tem minutes had really helped him. Getting him started was all it took and he began to get the hang of it. It was such a great feeling as he looked at me for approval and I got to give him a thumbs up. Instantly I could see the excitement in his eyes as he became more confident with the material. So far this has been my most rewarding moment in Mrs. Rhoades classroom. I am now beginning to realize why teachers become so dedicated to their classroom and sometimes see their students as their own kids. Even if I have to just hold on to this rewarding moment throughout the rest of my time preparing to be a teacher I would never give up on the want of being an educator.

January 10, 2008

Today was mostly concentrated on my student that I was writing my observation about. It was fun to talk with her about her daily routine and interests. She seemed to be a very mature sixth grader compare to others in her classes. She was always focused on the teacher and got right to work when asked to. Another thing that really impressed me was her organizational skills. Her binders and books were all very neat. She had a lot of extra pencils and always made sure one was sharpened before class. Overall she was very interesting to watch and seems to be a model student.

As I talked about in class, I got the opportunity to do my first formal thing in front of the class today. It was only going over three problems, but I definitely felt all shaky and nervous. I noticed that with me doing the questions the kids talked a lot more without raising their hands, but at the same time when I called on someone to answer they respected their fellow classmate and got quiet for them to respond.

I also witnessed my first disciplinary problem today. To make it worse it was a student who had been in a meeting earlier that day to talk about his behavior in the classroom. Mrs. Rhoades gave him two warnings and he seemed to straighten up after that. Looking at situations where students were talking out of turn or doing something they were not supposed to I think gaining a strict attitude is going to be a challenge for me. Ornery students sometimes make me have to hold back a smile because they are so cute. I can understand being in charge of a group of students though you have the responsibility to keep the environment focused for all the students. Therefore, I really need to work on not just brushing off whispering or disruptive students. I need to have a back bone and be able to appropriately handle the situation.

I had the opportunity to help the little boy that does not speak English again today. Again I could not imagine how difficult it would be to have to sit in a classroom and not understand the majority of things being said around me. I tried to use a lot of body language and mostly only talked in numbers because that is the only things I could tell he understood. Working with him has really given me a perspective on how hard it would be to work in a diverse school such as Northwood. At the beginning of the week I was overwhelmed with the diversity and did not think I could see myself working at a school with such a diverse community. As the week as gone on and working with the boy I discussed early I have been driven by the challenge and now could see myself trying to make a difference at a school similar to Northwood.

January 11, 2008

Today was an opportunity to see a different type of day at Northwood Middle School. Every other Friday the kids get the chance to have a more relaxed day that involves the schedule to run on a one hour delay. With shortened periods it was hard to be productive in class. Mrs. Rhoades decided to not fight with the time and the students Friday attitudes and give them a game day for their hard work they had done throughout the week. I got the chance to do more bell work with the class and she even left me to explain the game to the students. The first two periods of the day went very smoothly and I did not have any problems with the kids. However, after lunch the realization that is was Friday and the day was almost over had really hit the students. This led me to have to be a little stern with the students when they began to argue over the game. In this situation I realized how important it was to have a teacher presence and not try to be a friend to the students. It was more difficult for me to get the students attention and when asking them to get quiet and listen they did not do it as well as they do for Mrs. Rhoades. I believe I handled the situation pretty well because Mrs. Rhoades never had to intervene the situation. I made the students realize it was a privilege that they were not forced to listen to a lecture today and they needed to be grateful Mrs. Rhoades was letting them do a fun activity.

Besides getting frustrating with the last period students, I was really able to talk with Mrs. Rhoades a lot today. She talked to me a lot about preparing for the classroom and following the curriculum today. I also asked her to give me some feedback on how I was doing in front of the class and what I should work on. She told me that she liked how I handled the class and did suggest anything to work on. It was a very positive evaluation and I was happy to hear that she was approving of how I was handling being in front of her students.

At the end of the day my students went back to their homeroom to watch a production made by some upper classmen. It was a series of random skits and commercials. To my surprise the shows were actually quite funny and I did not mind having to stay and watch at all. I think I was more interested in it than some of the sixth graders. Overall I was very impressed by the show and wished I would have had the opportunity to be involved in something like that back when I was in middle school. It was a great example of authentic assessment that we had talked about during our class time.

January 14, 2008

Today was a typical Monday with tired students from the eventful weekend. Mrs. Rhoades had to pay attention as the students’ heads started to rest on their desk. This behavior was not tolerated though and the learners got the opportunity to review the lesson that was previously explained. On the topic of assessment I noticed Mrs. Rhoades checking the progress of the students by assigning problems and then walking around the room to see how many were struggling to get started. This helped her tell if she needed to do more examples or if the students were well prepared to do their homework.

I worked with the more accelerated group on the back. Having some of the students work out of the seventh grade book is a new idea Mrs. Rhoades is testing out. The students throughout the day really struggled with the assignment she had given them today. After explaining a couple of examples the students were unclear of the reasoning behind the steps. It was hard for me to explain the reasoning behind some of the steps because they are steps that I have been doing for the past seven years. With math there are rules that you have to trust because they reasoning behind the rule is more complicated than the problem you use it for. It was hard for the students to take my word on how to do the problem because it did not make sense to them. I believe I they will be working on the same assignment tomorrow so hopefully I can get them to understand a little bit more of how to do the problems.

There was another 6th grade teacher team meeting this morning. They discussed upcoming events and there was a lot of talk regarding the big field trip to Indianapolis in May. They decided to use this field trip as an incentive for good behavior and have threatened the students that if there are disciplinary problems they will have to have a parent escort on the field trip. Many students throughout the day asked many questions about the field trip and you could tell they all wanted to be able to go without being escorted by a parent. Making the kids realize how fun activities such as field trips are privileges seems to be a good incentive for good behavior.

January 15, 2008

With our paper coming up about our teacher, I focused on conversing with Mrs. Rhoades a lot today. Instead of a strict question answer interview, I gained most of my information from her just informing me on topics that she thought were vital to know going into the teaching profession. Discussing teaching philosophies and vital lessons learned through her teaching career really gave me an idea of how exciting the life of a teacher can be. From day to day not only do you pass along information to your students, but you never know what each student is also going to bring to the classroom. With new and different cultures and backgrounds each year I am excited to see what experiences come along with my teacher career.