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.
Wow that's crazy that they only weigh formative assessment for 10%! That certainly does make it more difficult for the teachers to design assessments that the students will complete. As long as you make the assignments related to your students' lives and interests, as well as dealing with the major points from the piece you are teaching-I'm sure they'll take the time to do them! I always like to pretend I am my students and if I would want to do an assessment and learn from it. :)
ReplyDeleteRachel: Your post, for me, captures the perpetual motion and "at least 10 balls in the air at once" nature of teaching. There's so much to do...ALL THE TIME. After reading and re-reading your post, I suddenly realize why I will continue to remind you folks that, despite all the work you have to do just to feel competent (let alone "proficient"...a joke), you MUST find a little time to take a walk, go to a movie, read a junky magazine (People), color in a coloring book, or go out for coffee with friends. Teaching--and all of its many challenges--can eat your life right up. It can easily be the only thing you do besides sleeping and eating. Heck, reading two books simultaneously--and figuring out how to teach them--is enough, let alone designing assignments, chasing down kids for their work, attending meetings and planning collaboratively with your CT. SO MUCH TO DO. I know that you already know this, but figuring out a system for yourself might be a good idea in order to keep things in perspective (for example, I promise myself I will not stay up past 11:00pm doing work). It's only the beginning: the self-preservation strategies will come in handy soon! Keep on keepin' on!
ReplyDeleteRachel it sounds like there's a lot on your hands. Cumberland seems to have some pretty hard challenges in the days to come ahead. I'm sure you will rise above all of it. Good luck in the upcoming weeks and remember that were all cooking under the same pressure, inside the same pot while were trying to reach the same dream.
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