Student Teaching: Day 2

I observed the CTE Business class today and 2 of those classes have about 40 kids in each of them. The morning class before lunch was pretty well behaved, and they're also the smaller class of the three today. The afternoon classes were big and rowdy.

Instead of just observing today, I prepped some kits for Angry Bird pincushions that the FACS exploration classes will make while I'm teaching. I cut felt and fabric and grouped the pieces together, to be packaged tomorrow, so they're ready before I actually start teaching.

I will team teach with my mentor teacher Mrs. Brighton on Tuesday, so she showed me the activities she planned, and I made up a lesson plan for myself to be turned in to my student teaching supervisor tomorrow. I've also been working on Thursday's lesson plan, but it's been semi-difficult deciding which activities would be best to teach the parts of the sewing machines (Bernina 1008, so super old, and unfamiliar to me) and how to thread it. I'm supposed to do a pre-assessment, so I can later prove that my teaching is effective when they do better on the actual test later on. And hand tools, such as a rotary cutter, and marking chalk need to be included that class period so I need to find a way to manage the 75 minutes of time.

Two things I want to do in my classroom that my mentor teacher doesn't:
1. Write the objective for the day on the white board. This will give students the chance to look and see what they will be learning that day, so they don't walk in and feel the need to say "Mrs. what are we gonna learn today?" If I also write the previous and next day's objectives up there too, then a student can look and see what they missed if they were absent.
2. A bellringer. You know that question or small quiz you had to answer when you first walked into class? A bellringer helps students to get on task right when they walk in, so you don't have to calm everyone down and break up conversations. I feel like this will help for a smoother transition into class. Less chaotic.

These two things were considered vital in my teaching classes at BYU, and I believe that they will create a structure that makes classroom management easier.



*I promise I won't blog every day and bore you to death, but sometimes writing helps me to clear my mind and rid of the overwhelming senses from a day in Jr. High.