At the first "supervisor meeting" for our Initial Clinical Experience (ICE) the SPIRITAS students were not yet placed to begin our observations. After the meeting ended I was speaking with a group of students and Dr. Laurenson, our program director. Dr. Laurenson was expressing that he was having a hard time finding quality placements for everyone. He mentioned that he had an excellent placement at Newtown High School, but was unsure who to place there because the parking around the school is "brutal." Me being the over-eager big-mouth that I am blurted out, "If the placement is with a quality teacher, I don't mind the parking- I'll go there!" AND that was a done deal off to Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens for me!
The following Tuesday I met with the science assistant principal to meet my co-teacher and work out a schedule. I left my house at 6:30am thinking this was MORE than enough time to get there and find parking, man was I wrong. I pulled onto the block at 8:15 and was very lucky to quickly find a spot- lesson learned 6am leaving time it is! I observe every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8-1 and then I have my regular classes.
For the first few weeks I helped my co-teacher with planning for her lessons. I am also the second person in the room for students to ask questions. The students love having a second person there to ask questions and have a different point of view to explain challenging concepts. All of the students are very respectful to each other and the staff. The school has very inviting environment. All the hallways and classrooms have student work hanging up. My co-teacher has also created a welcoming class culture in her class room.
In her classroom she has posted:
She has goals for each semester listed. The syllabus of the class- including the grade distribution. Codes for the online tools that she uses throughout the marking period. A homework calendar for the month. A weekly calendar on what will be taught that week. Previous student work. Examples of good projects. Current student work.
I think these things really help to create a positive class culture. They also help students know what they missed and what to expect in the upcoming days.
Posts to look forward to:
My experience in an inclusion classroom.
My first "real" teaching experience.
My first formal observation.
No comments:
Post a Comment