At the end of this placement, I came away feeling very satisfied that I had seen a nice balance of how teachers deal every day with last-minute changes and still set the bar high for their students. The seniors, who should be wrapping up their senior projects, are struggling to keep their head in the building. Like previous viewings, I'm convinced that those who picked a topic they are involved in somehow, ended up with the most compelling narratives. It's at this point where you see that, unfortunately, sometimes you drag kids through certain school experiences, kicking and screaming. I still say there is inherent value in this type of project. It really does force them to look at the world as bigger than the school building. Even if they don't want to participate in this field of work in the future, they must look closely at someone who does. Again, the role of the audience plays a big part; give feedback and suggestions, don't simply sleep through spring of your senior year!
I witnessed a cool thing last week; a teacher showing each individual student their average for the quarter that just ended. The grades are in, nothing can change; and yet why not build this bridge between teacher and student? Not one of the students had a negative reaction that I could see. Certainly, there should be no surprises at this point. I also heard a magic number thrown out to my comrade and I; a morsel of information which would, I suspect, have seemed elusive otherwise. Shoot to post two grades weekly in a grade book per student. Hmmm. . .no time to ask why? I'll store it, for future use.
Our instruction went well, overall. Some engaging was forthcoming; I've seen them do it before, and it happened for us too! It was great to finish the text with them; our period seven sleepy-eyed wonders! I'm still confident that the classroom is the right place for my personality. Onward to my goal for the next fifteen days: comprehension of the semester, depth over breadth! Successful completion of my teacher candidate work sample!!
I witnessed a cool thing last week; a teacher showing each individual student their average for the quarter that just ended. The grades are in, nothing can change; and yet why not build this bridge between teacher and student? Not one of the students had a negative reaction that I could see. Certainly, there should be no surprises at this point. I also heard a magic number thrown out to my comrade and I; a morsel of information which would, I suspect, have seemed elusive otherwise. Shoot to post two grades weekly in a grade book per student. Hmmm. . .no time to ask why? I'll store it, for future use.
Our instruction went well, overall. Some engaging was forthcoming; I've seen them do it before, and it happened for us too! It was great to finish the text with them; our period seven sleepy-eyed wonders! I'm still confident that the classroom is the right place for my personality. Onward to my goal for the next fifteen days: comprehension of the semester, depth over breadth! Successful completion of my teacher candidate work sample!!
I'm glad you had a good experience, Cindy! I have to agree with you on the Senior Projects. The students who were emotionally invested in their research stuck with it and had wonderful narratives (I-Search!!!). It is also really cool that you were able to see student and teacher semester grade conferences and did not see any negative reactions. How cool to see students happy with their grades and their teacher's assessment of their work!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed yourself. It really is great to see students engaged in something. It's amazing how you can tell who is invested and engaged, and who isn't.
ReplyDelete