week 2::journal 1

Today I taught my lesson. The things I were nervous about went relatively smoothly. I have to say, sixth hour, I absolutely loved teaching. I felt like they listened to me and respected me. I felt like I could tell someone to be quiet or get back on task and they responded to me as if I was really their teacher. Not only did they verbally respond to me, but their short-stories really came together. They all diligently wrote and were visibly getting excited about it. Seventh hour, however, didn't go quite as well. I felt like I was talking to myself during discussion and no one felt like responding. The assignment felt like an obligation to them. 

After looking at some of the papers already turned in, I was pretty disappointed. Alec's is maybe two paragraphs. When I asked him to keep going and try to really invest in it, he got disrespectful and continued playing an online game. I continually asked him to get off and for the first many times, he refused. Finally, with two minutes of class left, he got off. That was frustrating to me. I read his paper and it wasn't the assignment at all. 

I have decided to try and treat the two teaching periods as my two lessons. I didn't realize how much my learning objectives would change between lessons. I thought I was teaching the text but I turned out teaching the text with the purpose of the writing assignment. If I would have had a little more time to think about it, I would have altered my introduction of the assignment. Knowing how my objectives changed, I should have elaborated more about the story writing itself. It will be interesting to see what the students come up with and how closely it aligns with my intentions. 

I was surprisingly more comfortable in front of the class than I thought I would be. I also found great ease in circulating around the room to help out. I think I need to work on wait time though. I was so concerned that everyone hated the story and didn't know what to say about it so I wanted to fill the awkward silence.  

For the next lesson, I will probably try to match my actual lesson better to my objectives. I could also work a little better on my presence, especially for the second class. I need to figure out a way to get some of the kids to care more about it.