Week 6

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH

Today was a bit hectic! I walked in to a lake in the middle of the classroom this morning. The ceiling had leaked from the onslaught of rain we had this weekend. So we had to move classrooms while they cleaned it up which had me a bit flustered. Additionally, during third period, Danielle told me that the front office had called and asked me to bring my car keys because something needed to be retrieved from my car. Naturally, I started freaking out because the only reason they would need to get into my car is if they suspected something illegal was inside. So I'm freaking out on the way down to the office, thinking of all possible scenarios (had someone planted drugs in my car, would they believe me if I said they weren't mine? Will I be arrested?) and I walk in to see my boyfriend, Josh. He had left his car keys in my car and had taken a taxi to come get them. I can't believe how stressed I had gotten!

Aside from that, I guided students through a short critique of their finished projects. I think the conversations during the presentation were great! During the critique, I randomly paired students and during 6th period, I paired H., the student with limited english who speaks Vietnamese, and A. together. I began to give A. an iPad so she could translate her comments into Vietnamese when A. told me she speaks Vietnamese. I was so excited! I wish I had made that connection sooner, but once A. started speaking to H. in Vietnamese, H.'s face lit up! I think I might include a question on the student info questionnaire at the beginning of the year that includes languages students can speak so I can pair students up with ELL students. What an amazing coincidence!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH

Today I taught my first lesson in my EdTPA learning segment. I was a bit flustered because I was trying to remember everything I had scripted in my lesson plan instead of just talking to the kids more authentically. Some insights I had while I taught it to 1st period, is that the initial example for the narrative vessel where I asked them to write a short story that might go along with it was too boring. So I picked a different vessel for the later periods and they came up with really great stories and it just incited more creativity from them. I'm worried that the concept may be a little too deep for them, but I think it's better to challenge them than to hold back.

Today was twin day so the whole art department decided to match!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH

Today was clay demo day which was just a LOT of talking on my part. I teach them the 6 stages of clay and then demo four hand building techniques. A few critiques of myself that I noticed while I was teaching:

1. I gave them all 6 definitions of the stages of clay on one slide. So instead of listening to me while I talked more in depth about each stage, a lot of them were scribbling frantically and moving ahead to write down the definitions we hadn't got to yet. So I will make sure to put one definition per slide next time.

2. During the demo, I started losing a lot of kids because a large majority of them had to stand to see me at the demo table, so about halfway through, some of them wandered back to their seats to sit. There is also just TOO much information to give that they need to know for each technique.I'm wondering if there is a better way to demonstrate these four techniques without making it a marathon for myself and the kids. I was thinking of maybe pulling one kid from each table to learn one technique, then pull new kids from each table to learn the next technique, and so on, so that at each tablet here is an expert of one technique and then they teach it to each other and I can walk around to help answer questions or correct people. I feel like they would be way more engaged learning from me knowing that they have to teach it to somebody else, and be more engaged learning from a peer than from me for an hour.

3. I just need to learn to be more okay with not being able to prevent every mistake they will make. Mistakes happen and that's how they'll learn.

I was so drained by 7th period, that I asked Danielle to teach the last class so I could observe how she structured it. She did it totally differently than me. She had kids write down all the definitions first and then she talked about them more in depth so they were focused on her. She reminded me of a lot of things that I forgot to talk about, but she said I, in turn, had reminded a bunch of things she would've forgotten to say too. Definitely grateful to have this collaboration because it's going to be lonely when it's just me in the classroom ALL day EVERY day.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH

Today was clay day play day! Students had the opportunity to work with the clay and practice the techniques before they start their project. Today went very smoothly, we went over clean up procedures and each class did a great job cleaning up. The only hiccups were students who had missed the previous day. They missed SO MUCH so it was difficult to catch them up while trying to help other students. Other than that it was a great day!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH

I had students work on finalizing their sketches today. Since it was nice out, I gave them the option of working outside in the courtyard. I quickly realized it was difficult to monitor the kids in the courtyard while watching after the kids who chose to stay inside, but overall I think it was a nice change of pace for them and they really appreciated the opportunity to get some fresh air. I am really excited about all of their ideas. I am having trouble prompting kids who cannot come up with anything. I think I might encourage them to visually tell a story from a book or movie they enjoy if they can't think of anything from their own life.