80 Hour Practicum - Day Eight

            This was my first time teaching a math lesson in an actual classroom.  This lesson had some good points and some improvement points.  The biggest improvement that could be made is that time management got away from me today.   Usually, I do really well with time management but the content that I thought would be quick took a while and the content I thought would be longer, went quick so my aspect of time was a bit backwards during the lesson.  The students were also a bit rowdy (the day after Halloween, they always are) so classroom management was a bit of a challenge. 

            My cooperating teacher gave me some really great feedback.   She said to remember to quiet students down before giving directions, which I picked up on and started doing partway through the lesson.  I specifically waited for students to be quiet before I started reading the book.  She said that my discussion helping students come up with different ways to make sets of ten was good and she appreciated that I was listening to students to see if they were understanding the topics.  At one point, I was helping one student as others were moving to the carpet and my cooperating teacher raised the question, “When helping the one. What about the rest on the carpet?”  I thought that was a really valid question and I will be mulling it over in the next couple of days. 

            In addition, my cooperating teacher said that I had a lot of expression while reading the story with good interaction and questions with and for the students.  This comment especially means a lot to me because when I stared this practicum, I was monotone when reading stories and had a really hard time with expression.  Through reading a story every week in her class and her weekly feedback, I have become significantly more comfortable and can read with more expression and interaction.  I now feel like I have m own style of reading and that makes me feel great.

            Lastly, feedback I got was that I was aware of students not listening but was unsure of what to do about it and my teacher said to keep practicing and have them reset so I do not have to put up with it.  Also, during one of the hands-on activities with popsicle sticks, my cooperating teacher said that I gave directions for the sticks, had the students give a thumbs up with what makes sense and she really appreciated that I checked for understand frequently.  The last thing that she really liked was that in order for the students to get their popsicle sticks, they had to tell me about a pattern they saw in the room, giving them variety to keep them interested.

            Overall, many things could be improved but I was very proud of myself and happy with how everything turned out.  Next week, I am getting some more responsibilities, and the week after I get to be the teacher for the whole day.  J