It's starting to sink in.

Teachers aren't appreciated in this country.

woot!

I'm all done. I made the 10th graders cookies, I got my letters of recommendation, I gave my student teacher a gift and a thank you card, and I got my unit back. All I have to do is pay my leftover fees and I graduate--cum laude!

Now I have to put together my portfolio. I'm giving myself until Jan 31 to have it completed, including having it reviewed and critiqued by EMU's Career Services and colleagues. Anyone have any tips for portfolios/getting hired/etc?

Journal #4

Erika Oehlers

Fall 08

Student Teaching

Richard Hawley wrote a famous article called “Teaching as Failing” and opens it with this statement:

Whenever a teacher enters the classroom to engage students in the process of increasing their understanding of some subject, some process, some created thing, some event—that is, whenever a teacher enters the classroom to teach—he or she risks great failure and, regardless of his or her gifts, experiences that failure to a significant extent. (597)

This might sound dismal, but this concept is something that I reminded myself of almost every day during my student teaching experience. Every teacher, new or old, faces failure, whether it’s a student not passing, an unmotivated day for a class, or a lesson gone wrong. What I need to then do with this reality is to humbly accept my daily failures and use them as a place from which to grow.

The first week of student teaching was chaotic but exciting. I loved meeting the other teachers and students, and I was elated by how natural being a part of a high school felt. It very quickly occurred to me, however, how much growth I must undergo. I realized right away that classroom management was going to be difficult. I should have thought about the fact that the students were going to, without a doubt, push my limits. If I had sat down on one of the days before school started to examine some procedures and expectations for the class, I probably would have been able to transition into the role as classroom manager easier.

My cooperating teacher gave me the first mini-unit to teach. She gave me lessons two days in advance. The next unit, I was given the outlines and materials for the unit and planned out day-to-day activities myself. This was not quite the model for student teaching responsibility that the handbook lays out, but I’m glad to have jumped right into being the main instructor of the class, especially since I was only teaching one period at that time. I soon started teaching my unit, and by the end of teaching Julius Caesar, I had taken over teaching the three sections of AP English 12, leading daily discussions on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I did this for a little over two weeks.

Over the semester, I could notice my professional maturity. The area that I immediately struggled with was classroom management. This was one area that I felt I had little to know preparation for. I learned very soon that well-planned lessons and quick transitions were the backbone behind good classroom management, but even after I started putting more effort into filling up the whole period, I still could not keep the class on task. My cooperating teacher let me know that the class was a particularly difficult group, but I still felt like a failure. I was afraid to be stern, and I let too many inappropriate behaviors continue until structure was lost. I made strides by the end of the semester and was able to take a more authoritative position in the class, but I still wish I could go back and do that first couple of weeks all over again. I would have established and practiced daily procedures. I also would have set classroom expectations and held students accountable to them immediately.

After all of the lessons learned in terms of classroom management, time management, lesson planning, and everything else, I realized how much I rely on feedback in the work setting. But it is important for me, as a teacher, to be able to assess myself and measure the work I’ve done in terms of student learning, and make the necessary changes I need to make from those findings. In other words, I need to learn to trust myself. I need to recognize a failure and find possible ways to prevent it from happening again. For instance, if I noticed that I got distracted by a conversation with a student, I need to make sure that I stay on task and let the students know what kind of conversations are appropriate during instruction. In addition to just stating these expectations, I need to model them as well.

My time management has always been typical of a college student: staying up all night the night before a major assignment, getting distracted by heated political discussions, and getting absolutely nothing done all weekend until Sunday night. My name is Erika, and I’m a Procrastinator. But! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I still have a lot of work to do here, but I’ve learned to set deadlines for myself, and to plan out rewards when I reach a benchmark in a project or lesson that I’m working on. It’s a skill that is taking me a long time to learn, but teaching is not a profession that allows for planning at the last minute. Planning for whole chunks of time benefits the teacher, the student, and the school.

What else do I wish I had done differently? I wish I would have asked more questions and found out exactly how much jurisdiction I had over the 10^th-grade class. I wish I would have thought about and decided upon some class procedures to begin from the first day. For instance, I tried using daily journals (which I coined “Daybooks) to begin each class and use for notes and bellwork, but I did not make any decisions on how I would assess the work they did in them. I wish I would have done more to build classroom community, such as introductory activities and getting-to-know-you games. I wish I wouldn’t have let the students take advantage of my being new to teaching. I wish I had had more confidence and authority. I wish I had created a better dialogue with my CT about where I could go with the class. I wish I would have planned my unit earlier. I wish I would have asked for more feedback about it.

There are so many things that I have learned the hard way. And I know there will be so many more failures to come. It will take years to get to the point where I want to be, but I’m looking forward to the failures, the successes, and the chances to try a different strategy. After all, failure, when accompanied by patience and optimism—i.e. the ability to keep getting back on that horse and continuing on the journey—is only another opportunity for success.

Bad Day

My students hated me today. I feel bad for having to leave such an unruly class for Mrs. D to have to round up and tame. But at least I know that they're scared of her. Today was really bad. I didn't have a backup plan in case the movie didn't work. Mrs. D had to lecture the class.

I'm just trying to get through tomorrow. Then I'll be working ALL of Thanksgiving break on this stuff.

4th and last observation

My last observation was today. I was so anxious last night that I barely slept. The lesson was a good one. My supervisor comments on my well-planned lessons every time, which is a good boost.
She's said that I've improved a lot since the first observation. I hope she can see how hard I'm trying.

But she did mention that, when I do get my own classroom, that if I don't establish structure and procedure, that I would go home with a headache every day. The class should know what is expected of them as soon as they walk into the classroom. She said that it was too late to try to establish that structure because there was already an established culture of the classroom.

I do feel like a failure in this regard. I feel like I did start to establish a routine with the daybooks. Every day, the students were to come in and get their daybooks and write down the class agenda and memos. It was something resembling a procedure, and the students got used to it quickly, but I hadn't thought about everything I was going to do with them, such as how often I would collect them and grade them, what I wanted the entries to look like, how many points I would assign to them, etc.

I never seem to give enough thought to anything, especially the procedure. I always seem to work at the last minute this semester, and even when I seclude myself in my room for a weekend, I still can't seem to get everything done that I want to get done. I'm aware I'm beating myself up over this, but I NEED to chide myself for this, otherwise it will become a pattern and I will be a miserable, ineffective teacher.

And as much as I appreciate it, it doesn't do me any good when people tell me that I'll be fine, and that they know I'll be a great teacher. I need to work towards that; it doesn't just happen by itself. Why can't I work as fast as everyone else?

I'm assigning the culminating activity for the Julius Caesar unit tomorrow. My time as a student teacher is almost done. I wish I could feel content and proud of my experience, but there is just so much that I wish I could go back and fix! Can I please have a redo? I want to have sat down and planned out exactly how I wanted the class to be from the very first day onward. I want to have started planning my unit earlier. The list goes on and on. I hope my cooperating teacher isn't disappointed with the classroom culture that I've left her with in 6th hour. I hope she doesn't feel like she has to fix it when I'm gone.

I have a lot to research and reflect upon between now and the first day of my first job.

Getting there.

I'm teaching four out of the five periods today. I'm also having my final evaluation. I want to leave a lasting impression. I could barely sleep last night because I was so anxious.

Let's hope this works!

Friday was a good day. Mrs. D was out and there was a substitute, but the day went smoothly. It's amazing how threatening to give extra homework can whip a class into shape. The three English AP classes watched a movie, and I presented a Powerpoint in Health class. Then we read the rest of Act III, Scene 1 in English 10. The class started out strong and got silly as time went on. But the writing prompt at the beginning got the class talking about revenge and punishment, eventually tying it back to the character Antony in Julius Caesar.

Another student teacher and I have volunteered to coach the dance team, which is going to be really fun, but it's also going to take up time I could be working on lessons and what not. I'm going to try not to take up too much time with it, at least until I'm done with my unit.

I passed my certification test! So now all I have to do is finish out this unit and then I can start working to find a job! Maybe Teach for America?

Still not caught up.

I worked all weekend and I'm still not caught up. I locked myself away in my room and only left to go to a two-hour dance show to see my roommate. I'm late on rent, my room's a mess, and I've been chugging caffeine and energy drinks.

The most important lesson I'm learning is about planning. Planning is essential. Everything needs to be thoroughly examined and thought of ahead of time.

I miss my school days. I miss the days where I could just soak up the information willingly. I love history classes and literature classes. I can't wait until I have time to study these more on my own time. I can't wait until I'm a wiser, more effective teacher!

At least I know that there's no way to go but up.

Time to get my butt in gear.

That's what my supervisor so kindly implied to me today. And she's right. I need to stop procrastinating and start setting little goals for myself. I'm so unproductive after sitting in a classroom all day. But if I really work hard the next four weeks, I'll end my student teaching stronger than I started.

A metaphor that my supervisor said to me today: How do you eat an elephant? Bite by bite. I have to see my big projects as series' of little tasks. It will be easier for me to attain my goals that way. Tonight's bites off the elephant:
-intro questions for study guide
-act III of study guide
-brainstorm stuff for unit analysis and rationale longhand
-organize unit analysis ideas
-type it out and send it to supervisor
-all of monday, tuesday planned.

Steadily Climbing

My habits are getting better and better. I'm looking forward to some of the lesson ideas that I have planned for this unit. However, the in-class reading of the play (Julius Caesar) hasn't been going well. The class talks the whole time. Today, I had to have them sit in silence for the rest of the class and assigned the rest of Act I and the first scene in Act II for homework. And they are getting quizzed on all of it tomorrow. And it's going to be a HARD quiz.

In an ideal class, I would have started the year out better. Now I know how it feels to be Mrs. Vollmer, my choir teacher. All we did was talk. We never listened to her, and it didn't mean anything when she got angry. We were good for maybe the rest of the class period, but it never lasted long. I always thought that she started out too nice and ambitious at the beginning of the year. I can't wait to start over; to try at it again. But I'm not shrugging off this year. My student teaching supervisor told me that teaching is like parenting: it's one day at a time. Every day is a new day. Hopefully, tomorrow is a good day.

My goal: To have next week planned in it's entirety by Friday at 7pm.
What that entails: all handouts typed and copied, all lesson plans written out, all grading caught up (hopefully by Wednesday night for Parent-Teacher Conferences). Speaking of those, I'm so excited! I want to meet parents. I'm also excited for the parents to get the passwords for their students' Gradebook online. That might motivate a couple students to start participating more in class.

I'm thinking about designing the culminating activity for this unit in a condensed, adapted version of the "leveled instruction" procedure that I learned about on Friday, where the lower-level cognition activities will be worth less points, and the higher level will be worth more. I'm curious to try it with this class and see how it goes.

Student Teaching Workshop

All of the Secondary student teachers met today in the student center to attend different workshops about beginning teacher topics. I didn't know whether it would be boring or not, but it ended up being very inspiring.

The third session I went to was called "Leveled Instruction," and it was an introduction to a unit design that involved student choice, where students earned "points" towards a number goal, and all of the activities that they can do are presented in a "menu". The students are held accountable for their own work, and their own learning. The classroom becomes a workspace instead of a lecture hall, and there are 3-5 workstations or groups in action at a time. It sounds so interesting! I really want to learn more about it.

Substitute again today.

Mrs. D has had three subs the last three days due to conferences, homecoming, and such. It's been good practice for running a whole day's worth of classes. The school day goes by quicker when you're a teacher than when you're a student. 6th hour always comes around faster than I expect it to.

Today, the class and collaborated to set the Rules for Discussion. I just need to type them out now to be able to hand them back to the class. We're going to discuss drama tomorrow, so I needed to get the class thinking about discussion and how they are going to react to each other. It took the whole period to come up with the rules and the consequence for breaking those rules. I was actually surprised how many students supported taking away points for breaking the rules.

One of the students had some disruptive behavior in class today, so I finally chose to send her to the hallway after waiting patiently for her to quiet down. The entire class was telling her to be quiet, but she still continued to mumble a long, ongoing rant. I got a little firm with her, and called her mother. Here's the clincher: her mother called me out and asked me all these questions about my disciplinary style. Parents have every right to do this (especially because I'm a student teacher); I just didn't expect it. Overall, the conversation was very productive.

I'm starting to become more confident. I'm growing. I'm learning. The proper reactions/responses are coming more naturally to me now. I am going to be a "hard" teacher one day--I know that. But hopefully I'll challenge students to better themselves and to grow intellectually. The good days make the bad days worth it.

And, I still need to work on:
-Planning further ahead.
-record keeping
-having optional work for the students with special learning needs
-having available late work ready to give to students who are absent.

Half-Day

I want to start off by thanking everyone who has read at least a part of this blog. I'm so glad I have friends like Ms. Smith and Ms. Price to give me feedback about being a new teacher.

We're currently in the midst of Homecoming Spirit Week at the high school. Today was Wacky-Tacky Day, so everyone wore the most ridiculous mis-matched outfits they could find. It was hilarious. Not quite as hilarious as Monday, Switch Day, in which girls dressed as boys and vice versa. Today was a half-day, something that occurs often in the district for professional development purposes. My CT got out of it, however, which is why I'm sitting comfortably at my favorite coffee shop, The Ugly Mug, reflecting about my experience so far.

One student in the class I'm teaching has been making a habit out of coming to the classroom after school to work on homework instead of going to football study tables or practice. He's nice company, so I don't mind. I just hope his coach isn't mad.

News in Brief.

I payed the steep emergency fee to take the MTTC test in two weeks. Cross your fingers for me.

The second student teaching seminar was today. It stressed me out and inspired me all at the same time.

I'm one of those people that needs a constant change of scenery in order to get things done. I need to start setting mini-goals and not letting myself do anything else until that goal is completed.

All the students are asking for grades and, in doing so, asking for the work they haven't done to make up and raise their grade. It's annoying, but I guess it's better than them not caring at all.

I think I'm going to do an indirect lesson as a way to review what the students should know about drama.

I feel insecure about my skills as a teacher. But I LOVE the students, so there has to be something that makes me a likely teacher candidate. Right?

End of Personal Narrative Unit

Half of the class has handed in their personal narrative, which makes me sad because it's worth a large chunk of their grade, so if they don't do it, they don't pass. The reason for this is that it's part of the 10th grade curriculum for the district.

I've been slowly reading this book called Making the Journey by Leila Christenbury, and she writes a section about failure being a consistent reality for teachers. Teachers are unsuccessful over and over again, and you need to know it going in to the profession. I'm learning it firsthand right now; I feel like I didn't inspire them to want to write their essays. I feel like I don't plan activities and units that are engaging. But my sensitivities are slowly reaching reality. There's always another chance to teach. Teaching isn't all or nothing. It's doing the best that you can.

And I'm not worried as much because I know I want to improve. I want to do better. And I want to help these kids make it into the world.

SO Stressed!!!

I'm really stressed. I use all of the spare time I can (so, any time aside from eating, transportation, doing laundry, and sleeping 4-6 hours a night) to work on planning and grading. I made the mistake of relaxing Friday night instead of working, which seems reasonable enough, but I just can't seem to work fast enough to spare even a Friday night.

WHY can't I be more efficient? I'm just overwhelmed with everything I have to do. And to top it all off, there are three students suspended that I need to somehow gather work for. I'm so lost. I definitely need to consult my cooperating teacher today about all of this and let her know that I'm not ahead. I need to come clean and have some humility to be able to say where my weaknesses are.

I haven't even had time to so an assignment that was due yesterday. AHH, I hope my time management problems won't affect my certification.

What am I going to to?

Computer Lab BUST!

Taking the students to the Media Center to use the computers was a bust. Trying to get their passwords figured out took up half of the period, and then most of the class didn't work on their papers but goofed off instead. Unfortunately, we had to take away the computer lab privilege. I would have liked to be able to use it this year, but it would be doing a disservice to the Media Center to bring in a rowdy group again anytime soon.

I told the class that, if they were all diligently working on their Personal Narratives, that the date may be extended if necessary. But since, as a whole, the class isn't taking this assignment seriously, their due date is tomorrow. I'm giving them the whole class period to write today, and Friday, I'm going to have them bring in "final copies". Over the weekend, I'm going to grade them, and then return them on Monday with a week's worth of lesson plans to address the different things that I'm finding are hard for students to grasp, whether it be technically, organizationally, or whatever.

It's hard not to get discouraged with this section of English that I'm teaching. I'm trying as hard as I can to self-evaluate and try to figure out what different things I can do to engage the students. But at the same time, I don't want to keep beating myself up. I am trying, and I'm going to continue to put forth the effort. I need to keep reminding myself that there are students that are working and trying, too.

I DO need to do the following:
Spend more time trying to come up with more creative elements to include in the lessons.
Anticipate for problems and always be sure to over-plan.
Create backup assignments for people who are absent the day of the lesson.
Plan farther in advance than I have been, in case something comes up and I can't make copies, use a resource, etc.

I also want to buy a laptop case so that I can start putting everything in my backpack and walking to school on days that I can.

This is going to be one long year.

It's only been two weeks, but I feel like it's been a lifetime. I must say, student teaching is taking a lot out of me. Thankfully, I'm able to recoup well, even after the rowdy class that I teach.

I tried really hard today. I try really hard everyday. I know that I can't always get what I want, but I DO want to teach this class something--anything. I guess I just want to feel like my hard work that I do outside of class is paying off.

First Observation

I was observed by my student teaching supervisor today for the first time. The class was hell; nothing out of the ordinary.

My supervisor told me that I really need to figure out some more procedures to use to keep the class focused and working. I feel a little embarrassed, and I wish I could go back and think things through for the first couple days of school. The more I think about it, the more I realize the kind of person it takes to be a teacher.

1. You need to be slightly delusional in your steadfastness and patience.
2. You never stop growing as a teacher, and so if you don't have humility towards your potential for growth, you'll never be happy.
3. You need to like teenagers.
4. You need to be okay with the presence of conflict and drama, because it never ends.
5. You need to be able to try and try and try and try again.

The way my supervisor was talking to me was as if the only thing I really needed to do to get her approval was to keep trying and not get discouraged. It's hard, and there are so many coulda-woulda-shouldas just in the first two weeks alone. Hopefully, I can get control of the class and bring things back around to where they need to be. I know I can do this, because I want to succeed and I want to grow.

Monday will be the beginning of a new English 10 General 6th hour.

Good Day

Mrs. D advised me to start the class out with an activity that they will start as soon as they get into class, so that the down time wouldn't allow the class to get riled up like it has been. I had them do some freewriting to get them working right away. Tomorrow, I'm going to have them do some grammar exercises; I'll bring in candy for the people who get it right.

I'm beginning to really fall in love with the students. They make me laugh, and they're starting to work harder, which is awesome. Thankfully, the class won't get any bigger. I don't think I can ever teach at a school with a really homogeneous population; I like the diversity at the high school I am at. It makes things more interesting. It's a catch-22 with the parent involvement, though. The parents at this high school are relatively uninvolved, but at the schools in the highly academic (i.e. high income) areas, the parents can be overbearing.

First Full Week.

Things I need to work on:

patience.
overplanning and anticipating possible problems
planning more engaging activities
consistency
efficiency.

The Units are Coming!

We're doing a Personal Narrative unit starting on Monday, so I need to get all that situated REAL quick. I'm still learning how to do the day-to-day planning, so the long-term planning keeps being put on the back burner. But I'm going to stay here, in the building, today until I get at least half of the schedule figured out. I'm going to try and have lesson plans for every lesson.

I'm very excited to start the Julius Caesar unit. It'll be fun to get the students out of their seats. Plus, there are a large number of males in that class, so they might enjoy the violence and such within the play.

My cooperating teacher still continues to amaze me. She's always supportive about my strengths and weaknesses, and she trusts in the process. I'm trying really hard to give this my all. I wonder how my CT and other professionals think about me so far.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

I must have not completed a REM cycle or something because I just could not get excited to be in school today. I'm going to be blunt when I say that the English 10 class was just annoying today.

I feel a little lost when it comes to procedure; I haven't really picked up on the routines that my CT has put into place. I might just have to come up with my own. So far, I have vocabulary quiz on Fridays, and a possibility of grammar questions at the beginning of the day.

I'm grumpy and frustrated with the fact that I seem to be spending all of the time outside the building trying to come up with ideas. You know how some parents teach their children how to swim by just throwing them in the water? Yeah, it's kind of like that. I know that it'll be the best for me in the end, but man. It's overwhelming right now.

I'm going to pledge to stay at least an hour in the classroom everyday after class, unless I have an important appointment. Then, I need to get there earlier in the morning. Lord knows how distracted I get when I'm home.

Anyway, the personal narrative unit starts on Monday. I still don't know exactly what I want to do with it. I know I want to have at least three days of in-class workshopping, including writing prompts, drafting, and proofreading. We also need days scheduled for the media center, so that the students have an opportunity to word process. On top of that, I need to plan my original unit on Julius Caesar. I hope things start falling into place, and I hope that I can start feeling more productive.

One of the tasks I want to work on is helping Mrs. D organize her room a little bit. There are all these old books and projects everywhere that need purged, and I'm going to go ahead and assume that she doesn't mind that I get started on it.

Keep me in your thoughts while I try to level myself. :o)

Students' First Day

Today was the first day of school for students. Each class period of Mrs. D's had a personality of its own, but all in all, I enjoyed the student body. I can't wait for the class to become more comfortable with myself, Mrs. D, and each other. I was a little jittery when I first spoke to the class, but I think now that the intro is through, I'll feel more relaxed.

I'm feeling a tiny bit lost and unprepared, I must say. I just haven't had much experience in classroom management, and I'm afraid that the students will take advantage of my easy-going manner.

I also feel like a fool because I forgot the materials to prepare for the lesson today. Luckily, the class I'm taking over is the last period of the day, so I'll take advantage of my lunch and planning period to think of some ideas.

Wish me luck!

Clusterfudge

A euphemism, at the very least. The high school had late-running renovations, and the school is left in shambles. Most of the teachers think that the first day of school should have been postponed until Monday because none of them have had time to get their classrooms ready.

There are already so many similarities that I'm finding between a staff of high school teachers and the building staffs I was a part of when I worked for housing as an RA, minus the energy level and the flirting.

Tomorrow, the students are coming. I'm not nervous yet; I don't think I'm going to get that nervous, actually. It'll be nice to have the students in the building. I just hope we have something for them to do, since there hasn't been enough time for my cooperating teacher to plan detailed lessons yet.

I should also mention that Ms. D is pretty much the best cooperating teacher I could have asked for. Everyone has told me (in front of her) that I'm going to have a great experience working with her. And throughout all of this chaos, she has remained one of the more optimistic, light-hearted staff members, which is relaxing. She just seems to "get it," if you will.

Day 1 - Student Teaching

I'm going to count today as the first official day of student teaching, even though I won't see any students until Thursday. I went in for a professional development day today.

Ms. D (gotta be private) is awesome. We started with a tour of the school and stopping to introduce me to whomever we met along the way. Then we went to a whole-staff meeting, where the head principal gave a very motivating speech. By the sound of things at the staff meeting, the teachers are personable with each other. At the meeting, I discovered that a girl who was a frequent classmate of mine (we'll call her Ms. P) is doing her student teaching at the same high school. I was stoked, because she's an awesome person and will be a lot of fun to have around. She brings a relaxed vibe wherever she goes, and she is motivated and dependable, too.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know Ms. D and running around helping her acquire books and catch up with other teachers. Needless to say, I felt welcomed and relatively comfortable there already. Today was just more affirmation that teaching may just be my niche.

I can't wait to meet the students!!!

Very Unsure

I'm still not one-hundred percent sure of what to expect for my first week of student teaching. What if I can't hold the attention of the class? I've been told my voice is commanding, but I still have to be interesting for students to want to listen to me.

I'm nervous that I'm not prepared enough. I'm afraid that I won't meet my cooperating teacher's standards. Ahhhh!

First Face-to-Face with my Cooperating Teacher!

I met my cooperating teacher today! She seemed very approachable and laid-back. I'm impressed that she's the acting principal for Ypsilanti Public School's summer school program.

This year, she'll be teaching three sections of AP English (score!), section of general 10th grade English, and a health class. She said that I'll be taking over the 10th grade class, and my unit will probably be Julius Caesar. THANK GOD, because I practically specialize in Shakespeare, and I love the history involved. in teaching it. I need to read the play as soon as possible, and jot down ideas for activities while I read.

AHHH! I'm going to be a teacher. I can't believe it.

I'm patiently awaiting to hear back about my student teaching placement. I'm so excited to find out where, but I'm nervous that no one will want to take a student teacher.

I pledge right now to remember how it feels to be an undergrad who just wants to teach. After my first two or three years of teaching is up, I will make sure to frequently take student teachers.

Getting Students to Participate in Class Discussion

I once had a college professor, in the first week of class, ask us to write down anonymously on a piece of paper whether or not we speak up in class and why. Then, she read the responses out loud. I was shocked to hear that the amount of people that didn't like to speak in class was nearly half of the room. Many of the reasons for this were that they didn't think that they had anything important to say or that they didn't want to speak up and be wrong.

After she was done reading these out loud, our professor gave a very heartfelt speech about how important it is to get our voices heard and that no one's opinions or thoughts are worth less than anyone else's in that class. I was so inspired by this small activity and am thinking about doing something like it when I have a classroom of my own.

I think it would be fun to do a week's worth of teambuilding activities at the beginning of the year because it gets the students closer to one another and can lead to a development of trust and community within classes. And that makes for better learning.

The Alchemist.

We're reading The Alchemist for the Literature circle that I'm leading in my pre-student teaching classroom. I'm excited to read this book because I've heard that it's phenomenal. Hopefully, I will have time to do all of the reading--the end of the semester is looking pretty busy. I'll have different groups this time, which I'm also excited about. I like getting to know students; young people are pretty interesting.

Today, a number of the girls were fighting and crying about some conflict and it reminded me of the good ol' days. You couldn't pay me to go back to middle school, but I'm glad that I have a pretty vivid memory so that I can at least relate a little bit. I remember the identity struggles that went on when I was that age and they were not fun.

Planning

Teaching requires quite a dedication to planning. I'm not so sure that planning ahead is my strongest asset. It's so much fun to think about lesson plans and creating innovative assessments and all of that, but I tend to be a procrastinator. I think I need to set up some kind of schedule for myself in which I spend a certain amount of time each week to working on units and lesson plans.

What I really need to do is decide on some short-term goals for myself in regards to preparing for student teaching in the fall. More to come.

Wow, I actually like middle schoolers.

I've been in the classroom this semester on Tuesdays and Thursdays at a charter K-8th school. It's interesting to be a part of a different kind of learning environment. Everything is more integrated, and the student population is smaller. I'm learning the students names and becoming more and more a part of the class, but it's happening very slowly because there are three--I repeat: THREE--other pre-student teachers in that class. The students don't seem to have the desire to get to know us all, but I am the youngest and probably the most in touch with that age level.

I've also been helping out with an after-school program at a public middle school. It's mostly just hanging out with the students and helping them with their homework, sometimes. But I feel like this after-school time is very valuable because I'm becoming used to being around young people and being required to lead them and keep them on task. I really enjoy talking to the students and hearing what they have to say, which is a HUGE relief because some select teachers never have that.