This week at St. Mary's was crazy! All of the students were so rambunctious today! My group was in control of the kindergarten and first graders, which is the group that is getting judged by all of the class. I was excited to go today because it was the last group to teach.
It started off kind of shaky, when Matt presented his game. More then half of the students didn't want to play for one reason or another, which put pressure on the other teacher candidates, because we wanted to get everyone to play.
We ended up running out of time, so I didn't get a chance to teach my game. I was hoping to go because I was excited tot teach my game, and I thought the kids would enjoy it as well. Hopefully, the kids had a blast with the other games.
Next time, is our final day at St. Mary's and although I'm excited, It'll be sad to not go back.
This week at St. Mary's was really fun, but so crazy! The closer the the end came, the more and more excited the kids got because it was Halloween and they all wanted to go trick or treating. Today not only was fun but challenging because you had to keep everyone in line and well behaved during this chaotic time. Today was also hard because I didn't really know how to react with the older kids because I've never really dealt with that age group.
Overall it was hard to see where the students skills were. Both students were good at the throwing and catching sometimes, then other times it just didn't work. These kids were also hard to judge because half the time they just stood there. Once the Teacher Candidates got them going it became easier.
I can't wait to see what happens next week, when I teach the Gym group! I couldn't be more excited to see what's in store for me there!
In the beginning, I thought learning an international game that I had to teach would be hard, but in actuality it was a lot easier because I went in wanting to pick a simple game because we only had 10 minutes to teach. Knowing that I only had 10 minutes, I picked Korfball. I thought this game would be easy to teach because it was simple, almost like basketball. Almost everyone has played basketball at one time or another in their life, so I went off this concept. I first picked offense, and then narrowed it down to the passing/throwing skill to complete offense effectively. I practice over and over with my lesson, thinking I would breeze through this lesson, and do just as good as I did in Lab B. I was wrong, Lab C was a total mess.
I had a hard time saying everything I wanted to say, in the time that I had. I also became really flustered when I noticed that Prof. Yang had given Sarah and George blindfolds for the lesson. Although I should have expected that he was going to throw something my way, I wasn't expecting to be given a "disability". I was more then ready for people misbehaving, but the thought of having a student with a disability in my class, never struck my mind. I should have dealt with this obstacle better, instead I just ended up "degrading" the students, which wasn't my intention at all. I kept bring the fact that they were blind up, which was rude. I shouldn't have kept showing that they had a disability so I really need to work on that.
I also spent a lot of time talking, a majority of my lesson was not activity. After completing my time coding sheet, this really stood out. More then 70% of my lesson consisted of me talking. I really need to work on that. The students need to be active and my lesson didn't really do that. Ten minutes seemed like so much time, but it really isn't. I ran out of time, and rushed through the activities that I did do because I was running out of time. For Lab D I need to be ready for anything and everything that could be thrown at me. I have a lot to work out, but overall the more practice the better teacher I will be. I'm excited for more practice and Lab D, because I want to be the best I can be!
When I first found out The Jumping Jack and Jills were playing with the Pre-K kids this week, I couldn't have been more excited! I absolutely love children this age, and now that all my little cousins have grown up, I don't really know anyone this age. I started by playing tag with a few boys. Tag games became races, and then it turned into hanging out in the Lava pit, and debating what ice cream was the best! It was so much fun being a kid again!
There was a point in the Lava pit when all the kids kept saying that the lava was up to my head and that I was drowning. But when the kids ended up in the so called lava pit, they were never drowning in it. Apparently these pre-k kids are indestructable! The students also ended up covering me in leaves, which in the beginning didn't seem to fun for me, but seeing the kids get excited to cover me, made me happy.
I was so excited this past week and I can't wait for the next few weeks in lab!
When I first learned that Lab B was a Jump roping unit, I became really nervous. I was given two skills, the Side Straddle and the Forward Straddle. Once we had time to practice I became more and more comfortable with my lesson on the Side Straddle, so that was the one that I decided use and teach for my lesson. Although Prof. Yang didn't make it us mandatory for Lab B to have a visual aid or write out our lesson plan, I had done it anyways.
After I ended up forgetting my poster that I had made at home, which made me frustrated- I began to focus on how I could make sure my classmates remembered my lesson and the cues along with everything I had said in my lesson. I believe I did a great job at changing the level of my voice compared to my first lesson. Although at some points in my video you can't understand what I am saying, my voice was very clear, firm and projected well. Overall, I think I did a great job. I was really nervous, but because I had planned out what I wanted to say, and practiced it over and over again, the nervousness disappeared and it doesn't show in the video.
Although I did a lot less nervous actions in this video, I still need to work on what my hands are doing. In my first video I continued to clap every few words as I was speaking. Watching the video I realized this was very annoying, and distracts the student from learning my lesson. I didn't clap in Lab B, but I did swing my whistle. Although it wasn't nearly as bad as Lab A, I still need to work on these nervous habits.
After filling out the time coding work sheet, I realized I spent a lot of time instructing and explaining. Although the paper said I spent to much time on instruction and not enough time on the actual activity, I believe that every minute I was instructing was needed. If I had more time to teach this lesson, I definitely would've had the students practice more, but I feel as though with the time given I did well.
This was a great step in becoming a great teacher! It was my first video that I felt positive about my overall lesson. When I saw the Checklist for Lab B containing positive feedback, it made me really confident about my teaching. I have to make sure I say the safety statement and what I expect from the students by the end of the lesson. Using Hopscotch as my hook worked out really well because everyone knows what Hopscotch is. When I asked for someone to volunteer, Sarah stepped up and demonstrated it very well. I love using the whistle to get the students attention because it's easy to make it loud and catches the attention of the students. Everyone in every lesson needs a hook, their voice or whistle to signal for the lesson, and to check for understanding throughout all of their lessons. I believe if I keep doing these things, and improving like I did from Lab A to Lab B, then I'm on my way to being the best teacher I can be!!!
At St. Mary's it was our first time there actually teaching, and it was so exciting to be back! We had begun to realize what was expected from us as Teacher Candidates there. After the Gym group went, I became nervous because the kids still kinda did there own thing. Not all of them wanted to participate, and while you can't force them too, you need to try to persuade them to be involved. I was afraid that our song wouldn't be a hit. When It was time for our song, I was still really nervous until we got started. Once we started to dance and sing, it was fun! I got more comfortable with the kids and the atmosphere which will definitely help me when it's my turn to teach. Overall, I had a fantastic time and I can't wait until the next time!!
