Spring break is finally here! However, it hasn't really been much of a break. As many of my peers I imagine my break has been filled with working on my KPTP, lesson planning, and stressing over finding a job. On the plus side I finished teach my Romeo and Juliet unit last Friday and for the most part the lessons went well.
I finished the unit with the movie Romeo + Juliet. Though most the teachers show the older version I found the updated one helped to keep my students interested during the movie and they had fun listing the differences and similarities between the two.
I also had 2 observations in this unit. What was interesting is I scheduled my February one at the end of the month and my March on at the beginning so I ended up with the same class being observed two class periods in a row. I wish I could say they both went well... The first one went awesomely and I got some great feed back; however, the 2nd one the students decided to throw a monkey wrench into my plans. Through a combination of the students acting out and me becoming frustrated the classroom dynamic quickly spiraled into an environment that was not optimal. I felt I was trying to talk over a few key students and that once they saw it was bothering me they continued to push my buttons. I know a plethora of different strategies for situations for when this happens unfortunately is seem I forgot them all at this moment and focused more on thinking "of all days why are they doing this today!" On the upside this helped me to take a closer look at my classroom expectations, how they are implemented, and what I am doing on a daily basis to keep the students mindful of them.
My CT kept reassuring me everyone has days like this and not to let it get to me. This led us to talking about what can lead to these issues, what do to when they start, and how to prevent it from happening in the future. It may have been one of the worst days of the year for me at the time in my mind, but overall it ended up becoming a great learning experience and I would of definitely wanted it to happen while student teaching than when I was on my own without the support of my CT and instructors to help me learn from it.
For the coming weeks I am looking forward to teaching a unit on how individuals can make a difference in society and Death of a Salesman. For the individual change unit I am highlighting individuals such as Dr. King, Susan B. Anthony, and Jamie Nabozny to name a few. I am excited to implement the Bullied video we watched as a class last week. I feel this will help with teaching tolerance along with showing how one person can make a difference with the bonus of using a different medium and an issue that is more current. I feel this will be a nice closing unit for the year and will cover a number of issues students in my classes will be able to relate to.
It is hard to believe this semester is coming so close to an end. Not only is it the semester but the culmination of my 4 years of college education. I remember when I started it seemed like 4 years was so far away; now that it is almost here it feels as though it has all went by in a blur. I'm ready to start the next chapter in my life, yet at the same time it is a bit bittersweet. For the last four years of my life going to campus, seeing friends in class, and talking with professors has become a routine and now the dynamic is about to change dramatically. Then again I guess it is time to grow up again. I hope everyone else is having a great spring break!
