Week Two
1. Describe Your Teaching Day
This week has been an eventful one, but also the same as last. We are still going in the mornings during their math time which has been really cool to watch and see different tricks when teaching math. When we first get to the classroom our teacher is doing language arts with the morning kids. I really like watching this. It is really nice that the teacher is able to focus all her attention on just a few students instead of the whole class.
Secretly, I think my favorite part of the day even as the teacher is still recess.
2. Describe Your Favorite Part of the Day
I love when we are helping our students and they get so excited when they just get it. Its really motivating to me as a teacher when I know that I am helping a student understand what we are learning. I found that I really enjoying teaching math also. It is really easy to see the trial and error problems that the student might be experiencing. Its really great to see them get so excited when they understand it and get really happy to learn and expand their knowledge.
3. What went well? What did not go so well?
When I taught my lesson I did an inquiry model, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was really hard for me to sit back and let them explore and find their way through the lesson. You have to do a lot more hints than I thought it would take to guide them in the right direction. It was still very cool to watch them get so excited when they were able to figure it out on their own. I think if I were to do anything differently I would have wanted a little more time, and gave them a little more direction at the start of the lesson so that they could make sense of what they were doing a little bit sooner.
4. To Help Your Students You Will...?
I will definitely need to work on my ways of explaining. I need to learn to put it into their level of thinking so that they are able to understand what we are doing easier. I forget sometimes that they wont understand "adult" talk.
I really liked your comment about speaking to the students on their level. I noticed I wasn't explaining things very well so I listened closer to the teacher and got a few ideas. This is still an area that I struggle with and I think it will take some time to figure it out. I think you'll do great!
ReplyDeleteSuper brave of you to try an inquiry lesson! We did a type of inquiry but it was really mixed in with other methods. I need to work on my explaining also. I find myself having to think extra hard about what to say back to kids with difficult questions. We have one girl in our class that is basically a genius and sometimes I get intimidated to answer her questions!
ReplyDeleteI think that figuring out different ways of explaining concepts will be tricky when we're teachers. Although, I do think it is so important, because some students will understand it "one" way, while others won't. It is super frustrating when you're trying to learn something and the person teaching it just keeps explaining it the same way over and over again. Finding a variety of ways to teach a concept will be super helpful when we're teachers, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI normally LOVE to ask students questions to get them to think more deeply about a topic. But to have THEM figure out what the concept IS...that IS going to be a challenge when we're teachers, I think.
I also love to see when the lightbulb turns on, and a student "gets it" (--whatever they're learning at the moment). That is so rewarding...one of the reasons for becoming a teacher!
I enjoy teaching Math, as well. One thing nice about Math is that students have to come up with "the" (one right) answer. And for that reason, they can know for sure if they understand it, or not. Whereas, with other subjects, sometimes getting to the "right" answer can be a bit vague.
My teacher did Reading Groups early in the day too, and I (also) enjoyed watching how he interacted with the students in a more one-on-one setting. There were usually anywhere from two to five students in each group. He even let me conduct the Reading Groups one day, which was great; but had I known I would be doing it ahead of time, I would have felt more prepared. Still, it turned out alright, I think, especially when I let go of worrying about whether we "got through" everything.