This week has been an important part to my growth as a teacher. I started off this week feeling anxious. I was confident in my lessons, but afraid of how well they would carry out with seventh graders. I was afraid that the students would not be receptive to Lucy and I taking on the role of the teacher in the class. We had everything planned out, but what if it did not turn out the way we imagined in our heads? What would we do?
Figure it out. That's what. The first day of teaching went extremely well. The students were super engaged and excited to work with our new proposition. They worked diligently in groups to come up with supporting arguments for each side of the debate topic and stayed on task for almost all of the class time. I left Coventry Monday feeling like we had planned extremely well and taught to the best of our ability.
Wednesday was a different story. The lesson we had planned was taught to two different classes. The first time, not so good. We had way too much time at the end and did not feel like students had a grasp on the vocab words. The second time, better but still not great. I drove home feeling like I needed to do something different. Something that would make it more interesting for the students.
Friday we had the opportunity to teach the same lesson to a different group of students. Using our CT's feedback along with our professors, Lucy and I lead the lesson with confidence. I have to say that we succeeded in making the lesson better than it had been on Wednesday. The students were working until the last second of class, the exit slips gave meaning to our group work, and they were thoroughly prepared for the next class where they would begin to construct their arguments.
This week has taught me a lot about being flexible, having confidence, and reflecting on my teaching after every class. I can honestly say that I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to teach in the middle school setting. It was a challenge, it was something new, and it taught me things about myself as a teacher.
Megan, I'm so happy that you had a better week! It sounds like there was a great deal of reflection about half way through the week and I think that speaks wonders about you as a person and a professional. You knew something was a little off and you did what you needed to do in order to fix it. Kudos to you my friend! Have confidence because you are amazing!
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