I can’t
say enough how much I am enjoying being at me placement. In past classes it always seemed a challenge
to get the students to participate in discuss; however, with this class we
often have to curtail the discussion to make sure there is time for everything
planned. Since my last post the students have read Jack London’s To Build a Fire and Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game.
With To Build a Fire we used the story to
teach imagery and descriptive wording. The students had to find 10 examples of
imagery in the story and write why they thought each example was important.
Next they had to find 5 words with a strong connotation and replace it with a
word of their choosing. Finally they wrote a one page descriptive essay of a
family member. We banned a number of plain words such as “tall, large, and
skinny.” A number of students had trouble with this at first only thinking to
put what one would find on a drivers license. Though as other students started interjecting
what they were putting everyone started to get the idea. One students
description of her sister was harsh, yet received much laughter from her class
mates with phrases such as “saying my sister looks like a beached whale would do
an injustice to whales.” This assignment sparked into a lot of fun for the
students thinking of how to paint an image rather than giving basic
information.
With
the Most Dangerous Game we were able
to teach different types of conflict. After the reading students were to define
Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Environment, and Man vs. Society then use a
quote from the text to make support their claim. This was an especially interesting
assignment for me as my CT found out she had 30 minutes to turn in a student
review and left me to teach the assignment. After the students had finished
their definitions and examples I led a discussion in which students shared what
they had wrote and gave comparisons to each other. They seemed to struggle most
with Man vs. Society , but after explaining how the society of the island was
controlled by the antagonist and our protagonist struggle against it they
started to get the concept. I was extremely pleased that the students still met
expectations with me teaching just as if my CT had been and this gives me a
great outlook for the rest of the semester with this class.
I will
start teaching a lesson over selected books from the Odyssey on the 16th
and planning for it has been rather interesting. With past lessons I have only
had to plan for one day here I started planning it for a 2 week time frame and
now have negotiated 3 weeks! I’ve learned that as educators there are many
ideas we may wish to incorporate into a lesson; however, with time constraints
this is not feasible. Trying to decide what to cut out and what to leave in has
been a chore of patience every time I think I have exactly what I want I will
look an hour later and start changing it again. With there being a state assessment
of their essays at the end of the reading I feel a lot of pressure to make sure
they really have the points reinforced to adequately write on the essay prompt.
I’m more worried about how they will do than I have ever been for myself on a
test as I feel their achievement will be a reflection on how well I conveyed
the work.
Other
than that I’m just trying to stay focused between class work, planning, and
prestudent teaching I find I will not be
having much of a life this semester, yet everyday that I’m in the classroom
reminds me that I’m fine with that. I really couldn't think of anything I would
rather be doing and having a career that I love is worth any compromises I may
have to make to get there.
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