Week 7

Student teaching has continued to improve for me and every day I feel more like an actual teacher rather than a college student. I was just telling my co-op this week that I am finding myself putting more effort into my lesson plans now than I did before when a lesson plan was an assignment for class. My most valuable experience from this week occurred in my computer applications class. The students are currently learning how to type and while they are learning, they are required to use a keyboard cover. When used correctly, the covers students use do not allow them to look down at their fingers. On top of these covers is an image of a keyboard which allows them to figure out where keys are but also need to make the association in their head as to which finger to use. Some of the students try to cheat and look over the top of their keyboard covers at their fingers when I'm not standing right next to them. What they have yet to realize is that even though I may be on the other side of the room, I am still paying attention to what they are doing. One day this week, I had three particular students who would not listen to my instructions to stop looking at their fingers so I took away their regular keyboard cover and taped a piece of paper to their keyboards to use as their cover. They did not enjoy this and realized their old covers were better since they had the keyboard image on top they could look at if they needed help. The next day I allowed them to use the normal covers again and for the rest of the week these students did a great job with keeping their eyes on their computer screens, or if they needed help, at the keyboard image on top of the covers. It was rewarding to see how a change I made help them to fix their behavior and hopefully to learn the keys.

If I could change something from the week, it would be with my money and banking class. I gave them a packet of questions that were taken from a booklet about currency in United States history. It was my co-op's assignment and he would use it by assigning it as a homework then reviewing it the next day in class. I decided to try the same thing. It is a thirty question packet, so I divided the packet over three nights for the students which gave them 10 questions per night. The first day when we were to go over questions in class, I planned too much and didn't have enough time to even begin covering the questions. The next day we reviewed some questions, but again I did not leave enough time to get through as much as I would have liked. Then on Friday, after taking a short quiz, all we did the rest of the period was review questions out of this now infamous packet. The reason I kept trying to push through it is because some of the information is going to be on the students' upcoming test. Also, it has good information in it I think the students should learn anyway because it helps to explain why our money system is how it is today. Long story short, the students were bored and I was bored. We still have almost half the questions to cover and I know I will begin to lose the students if we continue with it how we are. For the rest of it, I am going to pick out the most important questions, have the students conference with each other about those questions, and then review them as a class. Hopefully it will work!

Week 6

This week was a short one for me. We were off on Monday and had an in-service on Tuesday which gave the students a three day week. Tuesday's in-service was a work day for the teachers and I never realized how valuable they can be. There was no teacher training scheduled which left us time to get a lot of extra tasks accomplished. I was thankful to get the chance to sit down with my co-op and be able to talk more than usual about my upcoming lesson plans. Along with the in-service day, I also had a good experience with my money and banking class this week. The students completed a project of redesigning the $100 dollar bill. I gave them the job to create new features and improve the bill. On Wednesday, the students presented their projects to the class. I was really impressed with their designs; many of them went well above what I expected them to do. On Thursday and Friday we talked about United States currency and coin. As a homework assignment, I gave the students an article about the U. S. dollar and a worksheet with questions about the article. I thought the article would be beneficial for the students to learn more about the features of the bill and it turned out to be a hit with them. They were very interested in the content and asked me a lot of questions about working as a bank teller. Usually this class doesn't have the best behavior, but this week went well because they were so engaged with what they were learning.

With this week being so short, I feel like I don't have as much to choose from for what I would completely change about my week. I can say though, that I need to improve on rewarding the students who follow directions and demonstrate good behavior. I sometimes feel I concentrate so much on those who need behavior reminders that I overlook the other students. It's something I've noticed and will be working on in the coming week!

Week 5 Feb. 13

I can't believe we have five weeks completed already in our student teaching. The time is flying by and I'm sure it will just continue to get faster. The most valuable experience I had this week occurred Friday when I was with a substitute. I took responsibility for all the classes which showed me the reality of being a teacher even more. First, I have to admit that I did not do much of actual instruction. All the classes either took an exam or had a project to complete. Friday's experience was beneficial to me because it showed me the importance and necessity of having your whole day planned, activities ready to go, and materials copied. The classes I usually teach right now are all in the afternoon and as long as I'm not helping my co-op with his classes in the morning, I use that time to prepare for my classes or update grades. On Friday, I didn't have that morning time to make sure I had everything together for the afternoon; that had to be done before the students arrived for the day. I was grateful for how the students behaved as a whole; it was as if my co-op was there the whole time. I think this helps to show me that they do see me as their teacher and an authority figure in the classroom.

On Thursday I started with my third class and second section of Money and Banking. Our current topic is our currency and its security features. The students are working on a project where they are redesigning the $100 bill and I wanted them to consider features for people who are visually impaired. I prepared a mini lesson that included a Power Point to get them thinking in that direction. I gave them ideas to include on their redesign for those who are blind and could have better access to using currency. This was my first lesson with this new section of the class and for some reason I was so nervous to have the new group. I don't know why I felt this way; I had already helped my co-op with them and know them all. I flew threw the lesson with them; so much I think I confused them more than helped them. If I could change something about the week, this would be it. I should have just calmed down and not felt that way in hopes of the students understanding the information better the first time around.

Week 4, February 2-6

This week has been another good one for me which I am very thankful for. I've had a great time getting to know the students and my co-op more. Picking up another class has definitely shown me the importance of using spare time wisely. In the past, I have been an expert procrastinator but that has been starting to change with this second class. I did well this week with having more than enough planned for class so if we had extra time, the students weren't just sitting around waiting for the bell to ring. Another valuable aspect from the week was one of my lessons in my Money and Banking class. We started a new unit that is all about currency-security features of it, the changes made to it over the years, and a bit about monetary policy. I was talking about security features with the students and was able to add in some of my bank teller experience with them. They were very interested in hearing about counterfeit bills I've found and what we do at the bank with them once we come across one. They had lots of other questions and we got off track with what I had planned, but it was a great learning experience for them. This was only my first week with this class, but I am definitely excited for it!

From this week I would change how I dealt with a few students in my computer applications class. There are three students who think they don't have to use the same posture technique as everyone else yet still get a good technique observation grade. They slouch really far down so they can peek at the keys below their keyboard covers. (All the students use covers that go up over their hands but there is a copy of a keyboard on top of the cover so if they need to look they can. They just need to make the association in their head of what finger to use.) They kept saying to me that they would sit up if they didn't have to use their covers. Finally I let them try without it but nothing improved. They looked at their hands even more. Now they think they don't need to use the covers at all and type as they please. I wish I wouldn't have let them take the covers off at all and be more stern with them. I'll keep trying with them, hopefully it'll get better!