Captains Log 3

Captain's Log 3

This last Friday I taught my first lesson in the Social Studies classroom. Let’s just remember my major is English and a History minor with only two history classes under my belt, so I was pretty impressed with the results. I planned a power point introduction on the Oregon Trail, covering the highlights of the book and then created a note worksheet for students to fill out while I was lecturing. The goal of the worksheet was to help students remember information, allowing them auditory and tactile mediums in which to retain the information. Further, the worksheets would help them learn the information so they could answer questions during the game. After we went through a slide, I would pause and check to see if students had the questions and notes filled out. During the presentation I would prompt students with lead-in questions, for example: “Why do you think Native Americans would have been upset with the pioneers during the migration of the Oregon Trail?” After the presentation, we reviewed the presentation to help students fill in their missing information. Following the presentation, we played a game in which two students at a time faced off, responding to a question. I thought this would be a great game to play on a Friday because students are already in the weekend mind-set as well as they had just completed MSP testing the day before.

            While my lesson was a little too fast for first period, it was down to the last few minutes and ran smoothly. I was surprised and proud by how well students responded to my prompt questions. Everything ran smoothly until sixth period, which was surprising because my fourth period class- which is usually the most disruptive- ran the best. In sixth period a group of boys required attention in the back with their disruptive behavior, so while I was impressed with my ability to teach students from the back of the class, I was a little annoyed by students walking outside the class through the emergency exit that had been propped for airflow. In addition students were not participating in the presentation at all and were instead throwing their worksheets around and tearing them up. While the majority of the class did well, it was difficult for me to know how to discipline while trying to teach lessons; I felt like the most talented chain saw juggler ever.

            What I learned? I learned I still need to practice discipline and familiarize myself with the procedures. The student behavior was out of control, but thankfully my coordinating teacher handled the detention slips for me; however, I felt that I should have more participation in that process. Also, I learned that I do have the confidence to teach! It only took one period for me to slow down, but after the second run-through I felt confident about the topic and comfortable to ask different questions and run with the teachable moments as they arose. I was also very proud of my students! I had a student- the brain of the class- who informed me he had researched the topic before he came to class. I was impressed by their insights and honestly, I would not have thought of half of them myself. 

        So a further conflicting issue for myself is knowing the discipline procedures of the school and when to act on them. I knew in that situation that something needed to be done, but I didn't know what or how. I don't know what I would have done if my coordinating teacher hadn't been there and thats a thought that scares me. I want to be confident that I can handle these situations when they arise. Finally, my coordinating teacher was very impressed with how the lesson ran and decided to create an activity which we will run this Thursday. I was happy to hear this news and slightly embarrassed (in a good way) when he bragged to the Principle about how my lessons went that day. 

This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off.