This past week, I had driven down to Mifflintown Pennsylvania, and I was introduced to a group of students in an animal science class. Over the four days, the first day was an observation day. I sat in the back of the room and introduced myself to students. They all seemed kind and polite, but somewhat timid of me as well. This class was a lab on cheeses. They were tasting and deciding which cheese was which. It was sorta chaotic as students were talking and moving around, but there was quite a bit of control over the group. You could see the respect that some students had with this, while other students refused to eat the cheese. It was interesting to watch them communicate and work with each other, and it was just how I remembered it was when I was in high school. After my observation day, I hoped that my student would be as well behaved as they were for Mrs. Morgan.
The next day I came in and I had their bellringer up on the overhead. This confused them. I should have had it on the white board like Mrs. Morgan had the other day. The students were pretty quick to adjust, and I went through my lesson plan. The first day we talked about grading meat and marbling in meat. The first day was my worst day to put it plain and simple. I think I had good activities planned for my students and some went better than others, but my first day was definitely rough. I did have some trouble keeping attention and having students not talking in their small groups. I really like having the desks grouped together, but it can also encourage talking among the students. My biggest problem with my first day was that I planned my lesson plan just like the PSU ones are and how I have been taught recently. Changing the topics and switching gears every 12-15 minutes and moving on with the lesson. Let me tell you, THIS DID NOT WORK WITH MY STUDENTS. I'm sorry, but this was horrible!!!! My students would finally really get into something, and then I would change gears. I could tell that they were frustrated but they wanted to give me a chance. I was very honest and upfront with my students, as this was my very first time and I told them how this was my very first time teaching a classroom of high school students. So they were pretty nice to me and they did put their best foot forward, but I needed to step up my game for the next day.
The next day I did my own way of teaching. I didn't want my student's to be frustrated again. So i taught in the beginning, and then I had them begin their project. The second lesson went better, but my students were more misbehaved. It was a good lesson besides some of the bad things my students did. I should have been more strict, but it was extremely difficult for me to enter a classroom and just teach. These students don't know me, I don't know them, and we have no trust with each other. I just felt so disconnected to these students and I don't ever want to feel that way or leave feeling that way. The next day I knew was going to be difficult. Not only was our class extended from 40 minutes to an hour, due an assembly the students had, but I was also conducting a lab. The students would cook different cuts of meat, after they identified it, and compare the flavor, tenderness, dryness and color and smells. During this lab, I also had my students working on their projects from the day before. So my head was all over the place and it was a hot mess in the classroom, but the students enjoyed it and they learned some materials so I was very please with that.
Day four and my final day of teaching was the best. Students were moving around and completing different tasks at different times and it was a beautiful mass of learning chaos. At the end of the class, I had a very brief discussion about how my teaching was. They did enjoy me, but they told me to be more stern with my rules. By the fourth day, we were definitely gaining an understanding and connection with one another. I feel that this was a good sneak peak as a sub teacher, but I know it may be a little different with my students at McGuffey as we already know each other and have an understanding of one another. Overall, I had a great micro teaching experience. A lot was learned in 4 days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ2-TTcqqLs
The teacher voice.....we will both have to work on, classroom management will be a little more difficult for us I think, but we can do it. Be confident Evy, and merge, what you know with what works for each student- which is what you did. This is something I think will take time for all of us. I would maybe not tell your students at Mcguffey it is your first time, they might know that being a student teacher- but it can hurt your credibility. Glad to hear it got better throughout/
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