Beginner Teacher Tendencies

           This week at Burrilville High School Faith and I taught our first mini lesson introducing the students to new vocabulary words for Act I of The Crucible. Although this was a quick and simple lesson I became aware of aspects of teaching that never seemed to really phase me before. For example, it is important to tell students how many words you will be introducing, what part of their notebooks they should open up to, and a brief introduction of the purpose. Just because I know why we are introducing vocabulary does not mean the students will automatically know it will help their comprehension of the play and will be the content they will be quizzed on later this week. Faith and I wrote sentences from The Crucible up on the board that contained one of their vocab words. We then urged students to make use of context clues to take a guess at the meaning. This played out pretty well; we had volunteers that were able to take guesses at the words meaning with the help of our guidance. We then wrote the words and their parts of speech on the board for students to write down and define for homework. Ms. Ricci's positive and constructive feedback on this mini lesson has made me become more self aware of aspects that may seem little but that can make a world of difference in the classroom. For instance, wait time is very essential to ensuring that students are active in the lesson and participating. Although it was difficult to wait approximately 10-15 seconds for a volunteer it always paid off once that one gave in, reminding me that wait time was invented for a reason and that it actually does work! Additionally, Ms. Ricci pointed out the beginning teachers tendency to speak which a soft spoken low voice opposed to a louder more authoritative one along with the importance of being aware of your presence. These pieces of constructive advice will definately come in handy for next week as we being to teach act II.

           After introducing the vocab words we observed a class discussion based on a crucible anticipation guide that asked students to agree or disagree with relating broad statements. Taking notes on the types of questions Ms. Ricci would ask in order to get students to relate these to common siuations in their own lives helped me to become more confident in fostering a discussion for next week. There was one student in particular who would volunteer for every statement and speak for approximately five minutes for any question the teacher would ask. This occurance made me question what techniques I could use in my own classroom if I had a student that wanted to constantly speak. Although it is in no way a bad thing to make your voice heard in the class I noticed that this took away from other students having the oppurtunity to share their opinions. While brainstorming a way to mediate this I recall back to a previous SED class in which each student had to pick two slips of paper out of a hat. The slips would have two tasks for the day, in which students must complete in order to be dismissed. For example, one slip could be to ask a question while the other one could be to make a connection. Implementing this technique into a classroom where I have students who dramatically outstage the rest would be an effective way to make sure the voices of some do not silence the voices of others. Even though my time at Burrilville is limited I feel like I have already learned and became more aware of things that I have not considered while planning and preparing for the day. I can only imagine the substantial amount of knowledge I will gain not only through practicum, but through student teaching and through having a classroom of my own. For now I will take my constructive criticism and my notes from the days spent at Burrilville and use them to guide me to becoming a better teacher, one class and one lesson at a time.