Day Four

Day Four:

Today, I learned some classroom slang, which was strange for me to hear. I have a younger sister, but she definitely does not have the same lingo as these students! For example, apparently "Yeah Donnie!" means, "No, I do not understand the lesson.". This is something I will sincerely have to work on understanding, hah!

However, I didn't do much today. I lead the opening reading activity, which went surprisingly well. I was nervous about doing it with my freshman, because I figured they wouldn't be interested in it at all, and I wouldn't be able to spark discussion with them. They surprised me! They answered every question correctly, and even developed a small discussion on the topic. I was pretty proud!

I have officially survived my first week of practicum, and am very excited for what will be in store for next week (my first actual lesson!).

Day Three

Day Three:

Today, I was able to conduct a grammar lesson with both the sophomores and the freshman. I enjoyed it so much! I had never felt such excitement when the students would catch a particularly difficult punctuation or spelling error. =) I felt that the students also learned quite a bit and were able to reinforce their understanding as they picked apart each bit of the sentences, wondering what could allow them to make grammatical sense.

I once again assisted with the literary terms presentation, and with the observation of my CT realized that nearly every student was using the graphic organizer I made! I was thrilled to see that! One particular student had also missed class the day before, and he actually filled out the parts of the graphic organizer that he missed by free will! =D
These students truly are reinforcing the fact that I have made a correct career choice.

I cannot wait to watch each and every one of them grow as the semester goes on!

Day Two

Day Two:

In the sophomore honors class, I lead a reading activity with them at the beginning of class. I had never spoken in front of high school students before, so naturally it was a little rough. Hopefully if I just take a deep breath before I say anything at all, my nerves will vanish. I also supervised them peer grading and reviewing their introductory paragraphs to an analytical essay. I gave support when needed, and also elaborated slightly on the topic of “themes”.

The freshman applied English class learned about literary terms today that were on a pretest the day before. I had created a PowerPoint and a graphic organizer to allow them to follow along easily. I feel that the presentation I tag teamed with my Cooperating Teacher (CT) went really well!

1.      The class was quite chatty, but we used it to our advantage and had some great discussion about several of the terms, such as allusion.

2.      I feel that my CT and I came up with effective examples throughout the lesson that allowed deeper understanding with the class.

3.      I noticed that I feed off of the classes positive energy, and although they are a little talkative, I was able to spark some creative discussion and asked some thought provoking questions.

However, there could have been some improvements.

1.      I feel that I did (and most likely will) have a difficult time keeping this class on track as discussions will continuously develop.

2.      I wish that I could have had additional couple of minutes to get further in the lesson, or perhaps finish it.

3.      I had planned for video clips to show, but unfortunately the technology did not work. I need to learn how to be more flexible with sudden changes in my plan.

Day One

Day One:

Practicum began today, and it’s obviously very early so I did not do much other than introducing myself and supervising some activities, as well as tallying tests and recording grades. Overall, I feel practicum has quite a bit in store for me. I have to lead a class discussion on 40 literary terms tomorrow to a freshman class, so wish me luck!