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Student Teaching First Thoughts
I have looked forward to this moment since my first semester at Virginia Tech. Student teaching was supposed to be the end of my education and the beginning of the rest of my life. So far my experiences have lived up to my expectations. I admit that it has not been a piece of cake or without hours of nervousness, but I believe that I am in the right place. I admire my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Sink at Blacksburg High School, for her ability to reach students that others have let fall through the cracks. My four geometry classes vary so much in ability that the style of teaching and learning takes a ninety degree turn between classes. I also see that many wonderful ideas discussed in class are not necessarily appropriate for every classroom, but they can be modified or used with only certain classes. It all just takes practice to put everything together and become an effective teacher. As Mrs. Sink told me after I had taught my first lesson, "some things will just come to you after teaching for a while." I do believe this and can not wait to become more involved in my classroom and take over more responsibilities. It should be an interesting, education, and exciting semester of student teaching.
The first thing I would like to reflect on is my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Sink. I have found that we both have similar personalities and believe in the same teaching styles and methods. We both believe that there should be as much variety in the classroom as the students can handle. For example, my 6th period technical geometry class has a short attention span. Therefore, we break down each section and only give them two or three notes per day and then have them work on worksheets to get them thinking about the information. Things get out of hand if group work is attempted, chaos ensues if there is too much free time, and they can not sit still for more then about fifteen minutes of notes. On the other hand, both college geometry classes can handle almost a full half hour of notes and group work. They also do not have to have an assignment at all times in order to keep them from going wild. Mrs. Sink tries to accommodate everything. There is one aspect of Mrs. Sink's teaching style that I have taken note of and hope to use throughout my teaching. While giving notes on a section, she constantly asks them questions to keep them involved and make it into more of a group activity then lecture. It seems the students are more interested and the lesson does not seem quite as boring. For example, Friday we discussed the Pythagorean Theorem and while I was giving notes, I tried to model here style and asked the students to help with the calculations and which numbers were supposed to go where. I found that the students really wanted to help and were excited when they could figure something out on their own. I really admire the way that Mrs. Sink can keep the students' interest and help them learn using such a simple technique. I think there a lot more I can learn from my cooperating teacher.
Friday, February 25, was the first day I that I did anything but observe and help with group work. I taught a lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem for the two technical geometry classes. My cooperating teacher had to give me lot of help setting up the notes and what we were going to do because I had never taught a class where you had to go slowly through the notes. It was definitely a learning experience. During this experience I really got to know my students and the subject matter. Geometry has always been one of my favorite subjects and I was thrilled that I would get to teach it. One thing I did find out is that it is a lot more difficult to plan for teaching geometry then the subject would make you think. The lesson plans need to very creative so that the students can visualize the shapes and how the theorems apply. For instance, in the lesson plan for medians and centroids the students did an activity where they constructed a triangle, found the centroid and try to balance the triangle at the centroid on a pencil tip. The students loved it and most can easily remember what a centroid is because of this simple activity. I really enjoy making these plans and seeing the students enjoy them. Many of the students also seem to enjoy taking geometry more then some of the other mathematics subjects simply because it is different and does not contain very much algebra.
I am enjoying working with my students and most of them seem to like having a second teacher and are looking forward to me starting to teach. It has taken some time for them to accept me as a teacher and some of them still do not see me as an authority figure. I assume that this will take some time, but once I really start teaching they will over come this. There are some challenging students and Mrs. Sink has had to step in on occasion to help settle them down. It seems to me that they just do not want to put out the effort, but they have the potential to succeed. I worked one-on-one with a student in my technical geometry class who continually tried to copy other students work. One day I caught him copying someone else's work and took his paper and sat down to work with him. Once I explained what he was to do he could easily finish the worksheet alone. I feel that I will learn a lot from my students and hopefully help them in the process.
Blacksburg High School is a fun and interesting school to work at. Everyone I have met has been really nice and helpful. Mrs. Sink's office is in the science department so I associate with mostly science teachers during lunch when many school related things are discussed. One of the first things they told me was that when I look for a job to be sure to spend some time in the school and find out what the atmosphere is like. According to them, it can make all the difference. I found it very interesting that the teachers are required to take on extra activities above their classroom. For example, Mrs. Sink works on the yearbook during her free period. She said that she spends almost more time on that then she does on her classes. It seems to me that the education of the students would be jeopardized when the teachers are forced to take on more responsibilities. Also the teachers comment on the length of the class periods, which are only 45 minutes long. When I was in high school that seemed like plenty of time, but when you are on the other side of the desk 45 minutes is nothing. We barely have time to cover a lesson and there is almost never time to do a fun cooperative learning activity. With the SOL's looming over us, the education of the students suffers because teachers are restricted in what they can do.
Based on my first impressions about my classes, my cooperating teacher, and Blacksburg High school, I feel that I will learn a lot about teaching during the semester. I am ready to experience what I have chosen for my life's profession. The students will keep me on my toes, while I learn how to construct lessons and manage a classroom. Mrs. Sink seems to have a lot of ideas for how to become an effective teacher and I have heard positive comments about here from some of the special education aids. I cannot wait to see what happens over the next few weeks and where my experiences will lead me.