Today was my first day at Crosswinds as an actual teacher. Granted, I'm only there teaching a one-week unit as part of an assignment, and it's all very safe and contained....I am still very excited about the whole ordeal.
So, we're teaching our units in groups (I'm paired...or trio'd as it were) with Ali and Teran. Our unit is a print journalism unit, and by the end of the week the kids will have written little articles that we will then put into a class newspaper! We're very excited about it - at least, I know I am very excited about it - which is why I think it hit me so hard when one of the kids told their friend during the passing period that they found the class boring. Seriously. I guess when you put your heart and soul into something, you just want them to love it as much as you do.
I will say that I really enjoyed trying out some "classroom ecology" techniques. My class is a mix of 6, 7 and 8th graders...so getting them (and keeping them) all on task has been pretty difficult....especially because we aren't their regular teachers, they aren't getting graded and... oh...they're all the struggling readers or the students that are falling behind. FURTHERMORE - the broadcasting journalism teacher told one of them that print journalism is boring and useless.
Thanks.
I wish that the students were being held accountable for their work in the class. They really have no incentive to participate.
It was awesome to see the different group dynamics between periods 1 and 2. Group 1 was quieter and a little more difficult to motivate. Group 2 was energetic and full of opinions (and slightly hard to keep on task). Even though it has been one day, it's been interesting to think about how we will have to adjust for the different classes. Tomorrow, I am being recorded for an assignment and I'm pretty nervous about it. But I am also excited to be able to review myself and see what I could be doing better (and also give myself some praise for the things I'm good at).
I wish we had done a better job with making the assignments relavent (just for today). We did some really meaningful activities, but we didn't really bring them full circle. I also think we could have focused the classes attention's a little more. I think we got swept up in the chaos of the first day - by the time I'd realized what we'd done, I couldn't jump in and save us. Our window had passed.
But, there is always tomorrow - and I think it will be a good, productive (and more guided) day.
And this is my theme song:
4 comments:
Best of luck! Middle school kids can be rough. I recommend creating your own economy since they will not be graded. Stickers. Lots and lots of stickers. Start with a liberal dosing of foil stars and get bigger. You can even get some blank labels and write your own stickers. So when Curtis is doing exactly what you want him to (Ha! No Curtis I've ever met fits this description), write him a name tag (masking tape works in a pinch) saying "Curtis is officially cooler than the person reading this."
Do it. Trust me. Your peers will be amazed.
Oh, and start with giving them to the 8th grade kids only or they will write it off as too little kid.
Have a blast with the unit!
I'm so proud of my baby! You are awesome!
You will be awesome. You could do something where you divide the groups so they're competing for page 1 just like in real journalism. But I also understand the idea of keeping it friendly. I like the sticker idea. Kids love stickers :)
AWESOME! I am sooo proud of you Nik!!
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