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Sep. 6th, 2012 01:37 pmYesterday I had my first experience in my practicum class for the fall. This practicum is basically my placement in a local high school where I am expected to observe and take on teaching roles within the classroom. I am still not sure what to think of it this semester. We had a tour of the school, so I have yet to meet the first bell I'll be with, the second period is a planning period for my hosting teacher, and third is seniors.
When asked about the first bell, my hosting teacher told us that it is not a structured bell. It's a program set up with a math teacher in the building. Basically for two weeks she has a set of freshman that did not test on par with their peers upon entering high school. Following these two weeks she trades them with the math teacher (who works on getting them on par with math) in exchange for juniors that are below level on their ACT/SAT scores to help them prepare to retest. And these two classes switch back and forth through the year like this every two weeks.
I'm not fond of having a planning period in the middle of my practicum either. I know it is an important part of being a teacher, but for those observing there is often little for us to do--especially in English where we can't really help a teacher grade since essays and such are often graded on personal evaluations and such. I don't like idle time.
And the seniors are a completely different story. Most of them are already set to be done and have proven to be a rowdy bunch. There was a set of boys who switch seats and names to confuse us our first day. I have a feeling they will be trouble. There's also the fact that the teacher had to already pull students aside to talk about grades when we were there for observation--this is only their second to third week in school. While she was having these talks a group of boys were fooling around trying to draw on each other with pens--I was the one to approach them and tell them to cool it. I know that class is going to be a handful.
You might have noticed I've been using plural pronouns (we,us) when I would usually be using singular-personal pronouns (such as I and me). This would be the other reason I am not sure how this semester will go--I am sharing my class an practicum experience with another student. This means all lesson plans and such have to be worked out with her and it's not an individual experience, which I feel would benefit me more. She seems nice and capable at least...I just hope we continue to work well together. Things could turn interesting if we end up disagreeing.
When asked about the first bell, my hosting teacher told us that it is not a structured bell. It's a program set up with a math teacher in the building. Basically for two weeks she has a set of freshman that did not test on par with their peers upon entering high school. Following these two weeks she trades them with the math teacher (who works on getting them on par with math) in exchange for juniors that are below level on their ACT/SAT scores to help them prepare to retest. And these two classes switch back and forth through the year like this every two weeks.
I'm not fond of having a planning period in the middle of my practicum either. I know it is an important part of being a teacher, but for those observing there is often little for us to do--especially in English where we can't really help a teacher grade since essays and such are often graded on personal evaluations and such. I don't like idle time.
And the seniors are a completely different story. Most of them are already set to be done and have proven to be a rowdy bunch. There was a set of boys who switch seats and names to confuse us our first day. I have a feeling they will be trouble. There's also the fact that the teacher had to already pull students aside to talk about grades when we were there for observation--this is only their second to third week in school. While she was having these talks a group of boys were fooling around trying to draw on each other with pens--I was the one to approach them and tell them to cool it. I know that class is going to be a handful.
You might have noticed I've been using plural pronouns (we,us) when I would usually be using singular-personal pronouns (such as I and me). This would be the other reason I am not sure how this semester will go--I am sharing my class an practicum experience with another student. This means all lesson plans and such have to be worked out with her and it's not an individual experience, which I feel would benefit me more. She seems nice and capable at least...I just hope we continue to work well together. Things could turn interesting if we end up disagreeing.
