After yet another week, the most valuable aspect I experienced for the week was the midterm review. I found the formal evaluation between my coop and Mrs. Wiscount beneficial to me because it left me with their opinion of me as a teacher. I do find their usual classroom observations to be helpful as well, but I am a number person and like to see where I am on a number scale. I guess being in my fourth year of college has made me like that, where everything else I have been evaluated on has included some sort of a percentage scale. The midterm review restored my confidence in myself as a teacher that I was beginning to lose. It also provided me with the areas and ideas to improve myself for the second half of the semester. I have to admit, I was somewhat dreading this midterm evaluation, but in the end I agree with what came of it and appreciate the value of seeing it as a grade for my efforts of teaching so far.
On Thursday, I completed my observation of following a student for our Clinical Studies assignment. For my absence in the classroom, I created a worksheet for my Money and Banking students to complete while I was gone. We are currently discussing services offered by commercial banks, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, certificate of deposits, loans, and so on. I used the activity as a preview; I wanted the students to figure out some of the basics of the services on their own and what local banks offer for each service. I created a generic worksheet for the students, who worked in pairs, but each pair had to research a different website of a local bank in the Sunbury area I provided. I thought it would be a good activity; the students would be working on the computers, they would be discovering information on their own, and getting a preview of the banks that are in their immediate geographic area. I had a different bank for each pair of students so that on Monday, my idea was for each group to share their bank's information with the class. As it often happens in teaching, my activity didn't go as planned. My coop explained to me at the end of the day that some of the bank's websites were blocked for the students by the school's Internet security and that the students had a difficult time finding some information on the worksheet. While planning the activity, I went to each website to be sure it offered all the information I asked for on the worksheet, however I think I just assumed too much on the students' part in that they would understand the questions I was asking on the worksheet. For next time, I simply need to be sure the students can access websites I want them to use and not to assume what they may or may not understand.
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I agree with the formal evaluation from Mrs. Wiscount and my co-op as a future teacher being very important. This has been an invaluable resourse to understand the areas I need to improve upon. I began improving immediately in those areas. I hope everyone else sees the value in the mid term evaluation and is improving wherever necessary. It is almost over. Stay strong.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are feeling confident again! We certainly need that boost from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI found when I left to do my student observation that it was more work being out of the class than in the class. When you are there you can make chages to things that are not going right, but when you are not there students don't know what to do. So your not the only one who has had a tough time while out of the class!
Casi – I have always found a great hesitancy in me to take a day off, whether it was for personal or professional reasons. Substitute teachers are worth their weight in gold, but they are just not “us”. When we have high expectations in our students, our substitutes, and ourselves, taking a day off is sometimes more work than it’s worth.
ReplyDeleteKeep all the hard work Casi! You are doing grand things at Shikellamy!