Feb 11, 2010

Today in practicum I learned many a things to do in my own class one day. I feel that today was very productive, but I could have done things very differently. My teacher that I am observing had to go to a meeting down at the district office, so she had a sub come in, but asked me to teach the lesson. The lesson was in English, and of course that is the one subject I don't feel adequate to teach on. The lesson plan was quite simple; have the class write a five paragraph essay on their opinion of going to bed at 8:00 PM. I talked to the class about what the teacher wanted to see in their essays, and then I sent them on their merry little way to write the essays themselves. As I went around the room I became more and more frustrated. The class was certainly writing their essays, but as I read them they were horrible. I couldn't decide if I should stop them and talk about how to write an essay or not. Looking back, I think I should have, but of course I didn't. So pretty much I learned that I need to take charge of what I'm teaching. If I notice that the kids aren't understanding what the assignment is, I need to stop them and explain better.