Reflecting and Assessing

As you approach the end of your 3 week stint in middle school, I would like you to reflect on what's happened to you and what it means (to you).

I suspect some of you thought you would not like middle school and were pleasantly surprised by it. I also suspect some of you gained a little confidence by being in a real classroom for successive weeks and by working closely (to varying degrees) with a teacher and her students. You got to know a group of students, to learn their names and to read their writing. You guided them and helped them and laughed with them and made mistakes in front of them.

So, please think back over your time with your students, with the teachers, with the office staff and administrators. Think about what you expected to find and what you found (you might look back over your notebook from our last week of class...I think you made a list of things that were on your mind vis a vis middle school).

What are you taking away from this experience as a teacher (of English language arts)?

One "Wow," One "Hmmm"

As you've become more familiar with your cooperating teacher and your school and students, I hope that you have begun noticing what makes a class successful and what makes it not so successful. Also, I hope you are closely watching your teacher and listening to her voice for cues on tone, stance, and presence in the classroom.

This week, as you observe, help out, and teach your lessons, try to distill your experience into two categories: things that makes you say "WOW" (as in, "Omg that was so awesome") and things that make you say "Hmmm" (as in, "Well, I'm not sure that was the best way to do that."). You might jot down some notes, while you're in schools, to this effect. By Saturday at noon, please post some thoughts to the blog about what's going on in your classroom. What WOW moment did you experience? What Hmmm moment did you experience? Tell us about them!

First Week in Middle School!

So, what was it like for you? What sticks with you from your experience thus far?

RIWP Conference

Great conference day, smart women of practicum! What are you taking away from Fletcher's talk and the sessions you attended (and the atmosphere...all those caring teachers in one place!)? Let us know the top three things you took away as a teacher.