Saturday, August 27, 2011

Aug. 22-26

It was nice to have students the entire week, unlike last week. I am getting used to the new names and faces a lot quicker than I had anticipated. The students this year have been very enthusiastic about using the educational social network Edmodo.com in my classroom. Students can use this site to share links and ask each other for help during projects and online assignments. The students were 'tested' this week to see if they could be respectful to one another on Edmodo by having a conversation about the meaning of respect. It gave me a good idea of who I need to keep an eye on when on the computers and who are the 'helpers' in the classroom.

I asked my teacher to let me teach all day on Friday, and I was pleased with how smoothly things went. The first couple classes were a little shaky at the begging of each period, because I wasn't really sure what order the directions should be given to explain the online assignment. I may have been going through the directions a little too fast for my students also. My mentor teacher gave me a few pointers and the rest of the day went smoothly.

One of my classes is an inclusion class with many different modifications. I have students who cannot yet speak English in this class. It is also the largest class with so many students we have run out of table space. So far, this class is my biggest challenge and most exciting part of my day. This class is going to be the one that best prepares me for my first year of teaching.

This week has been a positive experience, and I am excited to see what the rest of the semester holds. Good luck fellow interns!