Spring 2011: Post Two

Consider one or more of your learning goals and what progress your making toward those goals.

While looking over my practicum plan, classroom management stuck out to me. I have already completed the 2 weeks of my mentor's lessons, and am not working on my own lessons. My mentor has left the classroom while I was teaching to make copies, talk to another teacher, or today, count all the prom court votes. She has not problem leaving her 10th graders with me, even though they can be a little disruptive sometimes. Today I read them a short story. Knowing they may talk, or get off track I made a deal with them. I told the students I would read the whole time if they participated in class discussion and didn't talk while I was reading. If they began to talk, I would have them read the short story. This strategy worked well. They like it much better when I read, because it does not mess up the flow to the story. Today, since my mentor teacher was working on prom count votes, I had to get the students to put back their desk where they belonged early after completing a group worksheet. They packed up there materials without me having to address it a second time. I brought them to the pizza line, where I had to facilitate the student scanner (this is how they pay) and had them wait with me until the bell rang.

After being up in front of this particular class for 3 weeks now, I think the students are use to listening to me and give me respect. I try to make learning fun for them, and help them out as much as I can. I am interested to see if the 11th graders will show the same respect after taking a week off from being in front of the class.



Talk about what changes you've made to your plan as you've moved through the semester so far - what things you may have added or removed.

Honestly, the only changes I made to my practicum plan were the ones that needed to be made in revision. I write everything in my planner and have been on top of everything in my PDS as far a teaching goes, that I don't even bother to look at the plan. I think this was a good activity for the mentor teacher, but so many of the lessons and activities on the plan overlap that it is confusing to think of them all as individual units or assignments.


How would you evaluate your own progress in relation to completing the activities you've listed on the plan?

My mentor teacher and I have been pretty good about keeping up with what I have to get done in the classroom. However, with teaching her lessons and my lessons it is hard to discuss some of the items like her behavioral plan and special needs. Even with a planning period, I feel like we are rushed for time and have no extra time to talk about some of the topics I need to cover for my 401 class. I have completed her 2 weeks of lesson plans. This week I am doing my lesson plans with the 10th grades, next week I will be teaching my lessons with the 10th and 11th graders, and the following week I will just be doing my lessons with the 11th graders. I am trying to incorporate every area I need to during these 3 weeks, such as diversity, and the video taping. The participants held a seminar for the tutors, I attended the EFHS talent show, and also saw a few minutes of a freshman basketball game. I plan to attend more school activities, and keep up with the work for seminar.