Week 6 Reflection

This was a short week for me at Bruceton. We only had school for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because of the Buckwheat Festival. We did a lot of activities that had to do with the festival because it is a big part of the local community. I am starting to get to know all of the students a lot more, and they are feeling a lot more comfortable with me being in their classroom. Mrs. Hagedorn has been a great help to me in getting things ready for me to teach next week. I will be taking over math in the afternoons for the week. Next week is only a four day week because it is an ISE day on Monday.

Week 5 Reflection

This was my last week at Fairmont Senior. I was there until Thursday. I was sad to leave because I am really going to miss the staff at the school. I finished up teaching my lessons on Wednesday and did all my paperwork on Thursday. I started back at Bruceton on Friday. I was excited to meet my second grade students for the first time. I was hoping that I wouldn't scare them because of my size since I am so much bigger than them. When I walked into the classroom for the first time, they were all excited to meet me. They were not scared at all and I was welcomed into their classroom with open arms. I am very excited to get to know my students.

Week 4 Reflection

This week was just like the previous week. I am still having trouble comprehending why students do not want to learn. It's hard for me to understand how students are in school and do not care about their education. I had students just put their names on worksheets and turn them in. They didn't care if they were getting a zero. I only have four more days left at FSHS. I really like my placement, but sometimes it's hard for me to see why students do not care about school.

Week 3 Reflection

This week went alright for me. I have taken over all teaching for the entire day at Fairmont Senior High. I teach three periods in a special education setting which are: PLATO, which is a credit recovery program, Applied Geometry, and English 10. I also have three periods of co-teaching. I feel that I am gaining a lot from the co-teaching periods because I have seen a lot of different teaching strategies that the teachers use to instruct the class.
In the periods where I am teaching in the special education room, I am having a hard time. It is starting to get hard for me to want to plan for students that don't care about school and don't want to learn anything. At the beginning of this placement, I was excited about planning lessons to do with the students. Now I am feeling that the planning I am doing is pointless. I hope that things will get better next week.

Week 2

Since this is my second week in my high school placement, I had a lot more responsibility in the classroom. I started off by taking over a geometry period. It is a pull-out class that has six students with special needs in it. I found this to be a little difficult because I am not used to taking over all of the planning of the lessons that I am going to teach. I am grateful for my mentor teacher, Mrs. Earle, because she has helped me out tremendously in my planning with materials and any advice that I could ask for. Also, it was a little difficult because the students that I have in this class do not seem to be motivated to be in school, so it is hard to find activities that they will be interested. One thing that I have learned from teaching this week is having extra activities for students to do when they have completed all of the activities that I have planned for that lesson.

I have also started to take over the co-teach periods that I have. There are a geometry class, conceptual math, and 20/21st Century History. The regular education teachers have helped me out a lot and have accepted me into their classrooms.

Starting next week, I will also be doing an English 10 class. It is also a pull-out class with seven students.

I am enjoying my high school placement and I am also looking forward to start teaching all day.

Week 1 Reflection

I was a little scared going into my first week at Fairmont Senior High School. I have only been in an Elementary setting so far during my placements, and I didn't know what to expect. After this week, I have come to the conclusion that I really enjoy this placement. I get to experience different classes and also co-teaching in regular ed classrooms. I start my teaching next week and am looking forward to planning lessons for the students.