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)?
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I really loved my middle school experience. Erica was an excellent cooperative teacher, handing over her classroom freely and being appreciative of the help that Tracy and I gave the students during our time there.
ReplyDeleteWorking with the middle school students has pretty much cemented my idea to get my middle school cert. once I am done with all this, as a grad student (ya know, after I get a real job and can eventually afford another four classes!!)
The middle school kids at Woonsocket were an absolute blast to be around. For the most part they were respectful, open and honest--it was easy to tell that they were excited to have yet another person in the classroom who cared about them. As Tracy and I were leaving on Wednesday, there were cries and pleas for us to come back and visit. I really feel as though they enjoyed having us in their classroom.
I excited to get into the high school classroom, and I really hope it goes as nicely and as smoothly as my middle school experience. I hope I make as nice of an impact on them! Oh, we'll see...
I, like Jill, really loved my middle school experience. Everyone at Woonsocket Middle was super nice and welcoming, from the secretary to the various personnel we met while going to Beth’s team meetings and RTI training. The kids were great too and so many of their lines and stories stick in my head and still make me laugh. Even though I liked the middle school and feel really good about the lesson we taught, I still don’t know how I feel about teaching middle school full-time. The kids we taught were the 6th grade accelerated class so it was pretty easy to get them to listen, behave, and participate but Beth’s other classes are A LOT different and I don’t really know if I would enjoy working with that age group. However, I learned that if I have to, I can – which is really important.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of what I was worried about before middle school, I learned that it really isn’t that hard to design lessons for different age groups/grade levels; if you know the content, it’s pretty easy to make it accessible to all ages.
I’m excited to go into the high school but am also nervous because I feel like our middle school lesson went so well that it couldn’t possibly go as well in the high school…but I’m hoping that it does!
I felt very comfortable being at Woonsocket Middle School. Everyone there was welcoming and accommodating. Beth Wheeler is a wonderful teacher and encouraged us to participate, even in her advisory group, where one day they were trying to sway us to vote for the name of a compliment poster. The kids amazed me: there was a big difference between the accelerated sixth class and Mrs. Wheeler's other classes, in the way they spoke and cooperated. The lesson was such a blast; the kids were great and volunteered some intuitive insights while working through a Robert Frost poem. I am thinking that I may eventually get my middle school endorsement, but not just yet. I can't wait for high school now, though I'm a little nervous.
ReplyDeleteBeing at Woonsocket Middle School was so fun!!! It was such a good learning experience. I definitely gained confidence from being in a real classroom. My “true dork” personality came out when I got entirely too excited that I got my very own pass to wear around my neck rather than having to sign in at the office every day!!! I felt so official!
ReplyDeleteLike Jill said, Erica was great with letting us work with the students and teach. I actually got to teach twice because of my requirements for MLED 330, and it was really awesome! I was a bit nervous for the first minute, but after that, I really felt comfortable in the role of “teacher.”
As Jill said, the students were great. It was great to see all of the different types of learners and getting to know them on an individual basis. I am surprised how fast I started to feel attached to Erica and her students. I am so excited that I am probably student teaching with her in the fall!!!!
Looking back at my worries before middle school, I was concerned about sensing the dynamic of the classroom accurately. My cooperating teacher was very laid back and easy to work with, so this did not end up being a concern. I hope everything goes as well with my High School placement. I am excited for the opportunity to work with high school students and am wondering if it will come as naturally to me to feel comfortable and confident in front of a high school classroom. I have very much been looking forward to my practicum and student teaching experiences and wondering if I would begin to see a clear preference for which age group I most want to work with.
My middle school experience at Ricci was a continuous and fast paced learning experience, similar to the lives each individual student experiences throughout a given day. Since I have taken classes required for the middle school endorsement I felt very comfortable in this surrounding but was interesting to work with a new teacher, new students, and a new environment. From this I learned that adapting a lesson plan for different students is easier to do when actually teaching rather then when writing out a plan. From the beginning of the semester I was nervous of about “not knowing”. Not knowing the answer to a question a student asks or not being able to clearly give directions or even deliver the information. Regarding the situation of the unknown, through these past three weeks I have learned that most of the time I do know and even if I don’t it is ok to find out. This revelation was extremely comforting for myself and allowed me to gain that little bit of extra confidence, which I will always take when I can get some! Although I felt welcomed into Lisa classroom and learned a lot I feel as if others were more engaged and welcomed right from their very first day. I love how Laura was encouraged to work with the students during advisory, those 10 or 15 minutes are a great time to bond with students. One element of teaching that I want to focus on while I am in the high school is defining my voice and getting students to settle down when trying to give directions during group work or if the chatter escalades. I look forward to the high school experience. I feel like I have spent more time in the middle level grades and I wonder what will have to changes when it comes to teaching this age group and what can stay the same.
ReplyDeleteSorry this is so late. My middle school experience was so beneficial to my vision of teaching. I was truly beginning to falter with all the work I had to do and no rewards to go along with it. It made me see that all the work and sacrifices will be worth it because I will be able to do that teaching thing for a living.
ReplyDeleteMy cooperating teacher was awesome and I could not have felt more welcomed into her class. She is the kind of teacher that I would hope to be. The kids love her and she truly wants them to succeed. Another reason that she is so cool is that she has only been teaching for 5 years and is in her 40s, so she can relate to being an older student.
It was really nice to be in the school for 3 weeks because I was able to get to know the kids. It is so much easier to teach kids that I know rather than waltzing in and teaching a lesson to kids that I've never met (which I feel happened in 407). The kids were more well behaved than I thought they would be, but after all it is April and they have been conditioned to be good. I truly fell a little in love with a few of them. So freakin cute!!! Yep, thats slang baby.
I did unfortunately experience the negativity in the teachers' room (is that the correct punctuation Laura?) and was a bit taken aback by the venomous spew coming from some of their mouths. However, I do not want to be that person so I will not be. I know what its like to have a crappy job and teaching is not it! I hope to spew positivity around when I am working as a teacher. There are advantages and disadvantages to any job but I believe that the former outweighs the latter. I cannot wait to wait on my last table or bar customer and be done with that business.
Sorry about the long-winded post, all in all I had a great experience.
YAY! I am so proud of all of you. Thanks for your thoughtful reflections and for making your middle school placements work for you--that's the idea in all of this. I also want to be sure, when we see each other today, to address the negativity issue in the "teachers' room." Ugh. I am sorry some of you had to experience that, but it's real and it's out there and it's something we should discuss (behind closed doors). I have a You Tube clip to show you today about this very issue! See you soon--
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