"Student Teaching Gives You Wings"

This has been the first week that I am fully in the swing of things, now that I am teaching two A2 classes and two honors classes. I feel like I am finally getting a taste of what it is like to be an actual teacher and all the pros and cons that come along with it. With each day that passes by I can honestly say my "teacher wings" start to gradually form a little bit more as they await the day they can take off and fly solo. With every extra minute of annoying classroom chatter comes a more developed and stern "teacher voice." Although I could say so much about all the highlights of this week I will focus on 2 major nuggets that I have stumbled upon:

1. The subjectiveness and inconsistency of grading- the whole system of grading and its inaccuraties came up quite a bit this week as I graded my first set of quizzes. While I initialy had an image of a "4" (equivalent to 100 in Cumberland High School grading terms) I began to grade quiz responses based on this perception of what would qualify as meeting a four status. Then half way through I come across answers that raise the bar for a four as I reconsider if my original fours were really 3's. Keep in mind I went by a rubric which didn't seem to do much help. Do I go back and regrade them all? Also, after my CT recieved a complaint from a parent regarding an argumentative writing task in which she graded she asked me if I could grade it and see if I agree with the grade she had given to a student. To no surprise our grades came back differently, what she thought was a one I considered a two. Nevertheless, she ended up changing the grade to a two since I provided a fresh pair of eyes to the students essay. How can we assess students solely by a system that is so flawed, subjective, and innacurate? I guess the only way to alleviate this issue is to provide as much constructive feedback as possible since the legitimacy behind grades is debatable.

2. Engaging students through relatable and controversial topics is almost a guaranteed way to promote classroom involvement. On Monday I used an anticipation guide to prep students for the reading of Of Mice and Men. Some of the topics included statements such as "If someone is about to suffer great pain then it is acceptable to end their lives prematurely" as well as "those who do bad things unintentially or by accident should not be punished." Such topics ignited a full blown discussion even amongst students who do not typically speak out to the class. For next week I want to create a lesson that fosters the same levels of engagement amongst students. Although this is not also easy to do I am determined to incorporate one lesson a week that goes beyond the reading, beyond the characters and plot and instead directly relates to real issues today that students would actually care about.

For the weeks to come I am considering implementing a Scoratic Seminar with my Honors classes since I have been hearing so much about it yet have never witnessed one or enacted one myself. Yes it is risky, yes it could go incredibly wrong, but now is my chance to take advantage of the oppurtunities of experimenting and at the very least walk away with ideas on how to improve and what not to do. Now that half of the novel will be read by the beginning of next week I will be able to take a break from reading, discussing, and analyzing and include some extension activities that reach beyond the context of the book. Things are starting to fall into place and I am very excited for my last two weeks at Cumberland.