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A First for Everything

We are approaching week 4 for the fall semester! I repeat, week 4! I cannot believe how fast the semester has been going, but I am so thankful to have spent the weeks in person with my cohort. Over the past few weeks, we have had so much fun (and stress) learning about lesson plans, unit plans, and teaching in front of each other. Recently we got to teach our "First Day of School" lab, and we all learned so much in the process!



Here is what I took away from my own personal experience teaching our "First Day of School" lab:

Time: 

There is absolutely never enough time for everything to be discussed, and while participating in this lab I found that out real quickly (pun intended)! While we only had 10 minutes for this lab, and there will be much more time for a 45 minute class, I have a feeling that the real-deal first day of school will go by just as fast. I know that it will be hard to get everything done that I need to on the first day, along with introductions and interruptions, so I know that I will need to know what it extra important that needs to get done. 

Introductions:

It is crazy how many ice-breakers there are when it comes to introductions and getting to know each other. It was so hard to pick which one is best for both social distancing and for maximum interaction between my students and me. I ended up going with "Two Truths and A Lie" but I really wanted to have better way to introduce each other. After watching my peers and seeing their activities and looking up more introduction activities after my lab, I found some really great ways to interact and get to know my students and I am really excited to try those out.

Unexpected Answers: 

One thing that I learned was that students do not have the reactions that you plan for them to. When I asked the students what they expected from me, I did not expect to get crazy answers like "no homework" and "easy A's", but I realized right away that these are real answers that students have when given free-range. I quickly tried to think of a compromise to some answers and had to completely shut down others, but this portion of the lab really made me think about what I need to work on and that sometimes I need to give students a push in the right direction. Instead of giving students free-range, I could tell them what they can expect from me. This could clear up so much confusion, crazy answers, and keep everyone on track for the marking period. 



While there were many things to approve upon when it comes to a real first day of school, I thought that this lab went well and was a great experience. I loved having a PowerPoint available for students to look at the expectations as I spoke about them, as well as mini posters as visual aids. I learned so much from myself when it comes to what style of teaching I want to have and what areas I am best at and what areas I need improvement on. The "First Day of School" lab was one to remember and I am so excited to continue to learn more from myself and my peers!


Comments

  1. John EwingSeptember 13, 2020 at 5:01 PM

    Great job on your teaching and reflection! It is always great to see students succeed and also think through how to get better.
    -Dr. Ewing

    ReplyDelete
  2. elise laudenslagerSeptember 16, 2020 at 7:12 AM

    Hi Michaela, I also loved watching everyones unique ideas for introducing each other. I think the time concept was a struggle for everyone. For these short labs we can kind of run through them at home before class, but for our actual lessons it won't always be possible to practice before to get the timing just right. Dr. Ewing suggested that every time we give a lesson to take time either between classes or at the end of the day to reflect and note on the lesson plan what went well, what could be done differently and how much time it took to get through activities. That way we can be better prepared for the second time around.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alyssa LandisSeptember 16, 2020 at 5:13 PM

    Hi Michaela,
    I think you did a fantastic job of fielding the more outlandish requests of your "students". It's definitely something that I learned from and will take with me into student teaching! I completely understand how you were feeling about your ice breaker, as I had similar thoughts on mine. I'm also really glad that we're getting to all spend time together as a cohort in person right now.

    ReplyDelete

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