As the first week of student
teaching comes to an end and week two quickly approaches I find myself
re-learning a lot of the content knowledge necessary to teach my tenth grade classes.
From looking up the history of The Great Depression to researching the
components of realism and re-reading Of
Mice and Men and Call of the Wild
it is safe to say that these weeks to come will require an immense amount of
patience as I expand my content knowledge and determine how I will display it
to my students. Also, after observing my
CT all week I can make a pretty accurate assumption that I will need patience
when it comes to my students and their tardiness for handing in work. Perhaps
in a perfect world all students would hand in their papers and other
assignments on its designated due date but not at Cumberland High School.
Watching my CT chase down students and constantly ask them if and when they
will be handing in their midterm essay (necessary to pass the course!) brought
me to the reality that while some students may be diligent and take their work
seriously there are still plenty of students that need that extra push to
become motivated and succeed in school. If students take such an important assignment
lightly how will they respond to smaller assignments? I’m sure this will be a
challenge I am faced with as I try to create engaging assessments over the next
few weeks. Since the schools new grading system only awards ten percent of the final
grade to be based off of formative assessments (something the students are well
aware of) I know that it is up to me to make formative assessments that
students will actually be interested in completing since they know even if they
choose not to do it their grade will barely be effected. I am excited for week two to begin so now I
can actually observe classes as opposed to assisting in passing out midterms. I
will be working with students on their argumentative writing school wide task as well as taking part in a mock trial used to help students develop those argumentative skills necessary towards their writing piece. Having learned so much from simply being present during mid terms week I am sure this upcoming hands on week will have so much more to teach me.
