Final Week

So as you may have noticed, I skipped a few weeks...oops! I never realized how quickly this semester would fly by and how much work I signed up for! Luckily, the end is in sight and I'm feeling a bit relieved. But there is one thing...I will miss my students!

Despite the fact that I spent more time observing other teachers' classrooms than I expected (meaning I wasn't interacting with my students), I realized that I really did miss the interaction with them and TEACHING them! It was always fun, and I could always remember something positive that happened during each lesson. Friday, however, we were in our normal classroom during 2nd hour and we told the students it was our last day. Surprisingly enough, they actually did seem a bit sad! It was nice to hear their positive thoughts about us teaching their class during the semester. But I suppose this is something I'll have to get used to if I plan on teaching twice as many students year after year!

Since this is my final post for Teacher Assisting, I was asked to reflect upon this blog. I noticed one thing I focused on was engagement. In high school, I was the student who could listen to someone ramble on, understand, and just do. It was easy. That is exactly what I want to avoid! It's not engaging and I don't feel like I was 'involved' in the class at all. One technique I learned within our content class was using Turn and Talks (T&T). It seems like such a simple concept, but I had never even thought about it until I was in a debriefing with Dave (I think) and this suggestion arose. I tried it the next day in class and was AMAZED by each students' thinking. They each worded their thought a bit differently and loved being able to speak to others about their thoughts, rather than relying on me to simply tell them the answers. After class, my students stated that this was really the first time they can remember being asked to discuss their ideas with their peers (and have their thoughts composed, first!) within their math classes. Giving the students a voice is so important and makes them feel important to their learning, which I've obviously added to my definition of engagement. When students dive into the material is when they're best thinking caps are put on and ready to do, rather than listen THEN do.

This brings me to my last point. One of the most important lessons of this semester has been making students KNOW you care. Otherwise, they won't care about a thing you say in or out of class. So, I've used this advice to chat with every student in any way I can, even if they seem completely uninterested. I know they'll understand why someday.

All in all, I am so grateful for this experience and getting to know 90 great high school students. I've learned more than I can explain, and grown as a teacher just as much. Now on to student teaching!