Weekly Blog #1

This was a really good week for me during my student teaching. I had my first full day of school today, which was really cool to see everything transition from start to finish. Last quarter I only did the last two class periods of the day for two days a week and it was a block section, so the only transition was from one subject to the next. It was also the same group in the afternoon until today, where I got to meet my cooperating teachers’ morning group of kiddos which was exciting! The day went very smoothly, which was a bit surprising to me considering that it’s Friday and all. I think that part of the smoothness was due to the fact that the students got to watch a movie for one of their periods today. I know that when I was in middle school, a movie day on Fridays was always welcome!

It was really nice to finally meet a new class of kids so I could see the difference of the dynamic from one group to the next. I was actually very surprised with how differently my cooperating teacher addresses/treats each separate class. As I mentioned, I have been in the afternoon class which has a total of eight students with IEP’s and the morning class only has one. So, it makes sense that he addresses each differently, which he obviously should, it was just interesting to the difference finally. I was also able to feel the difference in mood from one class to the other. We have been talking in class a lot lately about how each class has its own personality and I found that to be completely true today.

Today in class there was a student that continued to talk during the video, even after being redirected by the teacher several times. The teacher, who runs the classroom in a very structured format, called the student out in front of the entire class for their behavior. The student obviously became embarrassed and red cheeked, but did stop talking. The way that the situation was handled was obviously effective, being the desired result was achieved. I just think that with my own teaching style I would have handled it a bit differently. I don’t like to put the student on the spot and embarrass them into submission with their behavior. I find that a more empathetic approach suits me and gains respect from the students as well. I feel that this is a prime example of the importance of building individual relationships with our students. I don’t want my students to be afraid of me, but I also don’t want them to talk when they’re not supposed to be talking either. So, what do I do?! In my opinion, I think that if I know my students well and they know me, and we are in a mutually respectful relationship, then situations like this won’t arise. Or they at least won’t get to the point where the student has to be redirected 3 or more times, one time will end the behavior.