2nd Day In the Class: Beginning to Teach

By Alexandra Slater 

Sunday, September 19th 

Thursday was an awesome day for me. I am really beginning to get comfortable with my MT, students, and class schedule. I pretty much have all the students name memorized besides a few. There are two boys whose names I constantly get mixed up, which I am continuing to work on. My MT first thing in the morning asked if I would like to do the daily morning opening lesson. At first, I was a little nervous but of course said yes. I got to work with the smart board while doing the morning lesson which was cool because I have never worked with a smart board before. The students and MT were very patient and nice while I figured out how to use the smart board. During the opening lesson I was able to ask the students what day of the week it was, what date it was, what the weather was like outside, and other questions similar to these. Im glad I did a good job of memorizing the students  names because I had to call on them to answer the questions I asked them. What I need to work on to better perfect the morning lesson is taking control and not allowing the students to walk all over me. There was a lot of side chatting and shouting out loud while I was teaching which my MT did not appreciate. I also need to work on getting a hang of the smart board better so there isn't pauses during lessons which allow the students to get rowdy. 

After the morning lessons, we moved onto math. I walked around and answered/ helped students with problems they were doing in their workbook. Several students were pulled out during the math lesson to go work with another teacher in the hall on something different. With that being said, when they came back in the MT had those students come sit with me in the back so I could work with them individually and get them caught up on what they missed. I really enjoyed working with those students one on one. They struggled with the math lesson and I felt good about myself that I was able to help them understand it better and complete their work correctly. I used differentiated instruction for each student to meet their needs to grasp the math lesson.  Some students needed a visual or picture drawn to understand adding while others needed to use their fingers to grasp adding.  My MT had to leave after lunch for a doctors appointment  so the second half of the day we had a substitute. Having a sub allowed me to take advantage of being in charge because I knew a little more of what was going on in my teachers class than the sub did.  

Overall it was a great day! I learned a lot and felt very accomplished at the end of the day. I am starting to feel apart of the classroom more and feel more comfortable about jumping in. One of my students even drew me a picture and gave it to me! :) I am excited for the next class and feel more prepared for the morning lessons now that I have gotten to do it once already.