I can't believe that a week of summer school has already passed. I survived! In fact, I more than survived. Going into the classroom for the first time was one of the most intimidating things I have ever done - walking in to a room full of 8th graders is not as easy as it sounds.
My cooperating teacher, who is technically in charge of my classroom, made it clear from the start that I was to be a "real" teacher. She had my name on the door and above the chalkboard, so the students never knew that I was only a student teacher.
My voice was a bit shaky to start, but I don't think the kids noticed. They seemed to take to me right away, my calm, laid-back manner putting them at ease. I had been nervous about them walking all over me, not respecting me, setting mice loose in my classroom as a professor had told me some of his high school students did. But none of that really happened.
My cooperating teacher was impressed that the students behaved for me and did my homework, even though both she and they said the homework was hard. I'm trying to live up to the expectations of the Teaching Fellows program: high expectations for all students. I don't believe in the attitude that summer school is just babysitting. As long as they are in my classroom, the kids are going to learn something.
So far we've done the scientific method, basic but vital to any future science studies. The homework I'm giving focuses on skills like how to think through a problem logically, word recognition and reading comprehension. It is amazing how many of these kids have trouble reading, not to mention some of them can't even multiply single-digit numbers. It's heartbreaking because summer school has to go so fast, so I'm struggling to differentiate instruction like I know I'm supposed to.
There is one kid in particular, let's call him Johnny, who can't do basic math. Since I'm not the head teacher in the math classes, I'm going to try to separate him this coming week and work with him individually. But I'm not sure how my cooperating teacher will react to that, so we'll see.
Oh and I forgot to mention the "snap-dragon" incident. You know those things you throw on the ground and they explode with a snap? Well one of my students threw one in class while I was the only teacher in the room. The class was dead silent, as they waited to see what I would do.
"Who did that?" I asked. Of course, no one answered. "OK," I said, "if anything like that happens again, the whole class gets detention."
Then I returned to my lesson amid their abundant protests. Of course later in the day, the other students gave the kid up and I didn't have any more problems. Not sure if that was the best way to handle that, but it worked out.
Well, now I must go and prepare for the upcoming week. Hopefully it will run just as smoothly.
