Week #10

Wow, this week has been a crazy week, starting at a new school and the coronavirus. This week has taught me a lot as a new teacher.

First, I had a great first experience as a new teacher at Summit Hill Junior High. On my first day I had the opportunity to sit down with my cooperating teacher and discuss my plans for the seven weeks I am there. Our conversation was very productive and assisted me in identifying the goals I would like to accomplish. Obviously, these plans have changed over the course of the last few days, but I believe I have established a good foundation at Summit Hill starting off. For my first week, I was able to observe the classes that I will be teaching. I found observing to be very helpful because it allowed me to started to learn some of my students' names and understand the culture and procedures of the school. The next thing that I enjoyed was having my first experiencing teaching at school. On Friday, my cooperating teacher was out for the first half of the day and a sub was present. I informed the sub that I was a student teacher and was more than comfortable leading the classes for the morning for her. The sub was all for it as it was the first time subbing in the physical education and health department. I felt more than prepared as my cooperating teacher and I had a discussion Thursday about the plans for the day. Additionally, my nine-week placement assisted me with the confidence to step up and take control. I knew I could already do it as I was leading high school students for weeks straight. The physical education class was different from what I am used to because on Fridays all three all classes are together for the same activity; the students are allowed to choose a fitness activity to participate in for the class period. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed as each class had a substitute teacher and they were all looking at me as to what needed to be done. I offered to take the lead for warm-ups and instructed them each class has their own spot and attendance is taken. After the completion of the first class, I was less nervous and offered to lead the rest of the day to ensure the students were on task.

I set a goal on Monday to start learning names and to begin engaging with students by the end of next week as there are around 20-25 students in each p.e. class. I have learned some of my students’ names and  I have now started to form relationships with these students within the classes. During this time, I also had the opportunity to witness my cooperating teacher include the special ed students into our 4th-hour class. They were playing badminton with their buddies by hitting a balloon. I learned that the special education students are a part of our 4^th hour and they each have a buddy to assist with the activities.

I will say that learning a different teaching style has been challenging as I have been accustomed to leading a class by myself for the past 8 weeks. Additionally, I had become very comfortable with my cooperating teachers over at Sandburg so it will take some time to get used to a new cooperating teacher. But this will a fun challenge to complete. So far my overall experience has been great even though I will now have to shift gears to another style of teaching.

Finally, this week has been a crazy experience. All of the talk of closing school due to the coronavirus and switching to e-learning has come so fast. I was first nervous about starting at a new school to now finding out we have to close the school and switch online; I must say it has caused a bit of anxiety. Even though this is a tough time,  I am thankful for this experience. I have been able to grow within my communication skills during this time. I have had the opportunity to work on communication with multiple parties on our plan to keep our students engaged with e-learning.  I plan to be as involved as possible with e-learning and will know more from our institute day on Monday.