Friday, April 22, 2005

Friday Reflection

Today was a pretty good day. A few bad things happened (an administrator came to my class and needed to talk to a student and the student didn't go to him right away, which was annoying because she knew better, and it was in Journalism, the class that saps so much of my energy...), but we're going to focus on the good!

I did the Friday reflection and told them that they could answer those three questions for extra credit. I would be skeptical, but I feel like these responses were sincere. The three questions were:

1. Something I have learned in this class.
2. Something that confuses me.
3. Something I want the teacher to know.

(Exactly what Heidi and Scott and probably Adrien are doing at their school.)

Here are some answers to what they wanted me to know:

"Well, first off thanks for the wonderful comments! I enjoy being your student. One thing that really impresses me is how organized you are. It's hard to find organized teachers. It really helps the students too! When a teacher is organized, the students learn better! So good job!"

"I think you are doing a very good job teaching this class."

"I think you are doing great. At first, I was angry and overly stressed at how many things you first gave us all at once (final unit, chapter illustration, packet, poetry project), but then I relaxed and put things in priority order and even got things in on time with maximum thought, time, and effort. I'm enjoying the class now because I managed to get through that, the rest will be a breeze. I also enjoy our conversing through my journal. :) Great job, you'll make one heck of a teacher!"

"So far, she's been a good teacher."

"Something I want the teacher to know is that I really like this class. It's a lot of fun and I look forward to coming here each day. That's why I'm always so early."

"That you are one of the more organized prepared student teachers I have had. Even with "special" kids in this class you know how to handle yourself. Only 32 more days left!"

"I think you are very good at trying to connect to students with things like your understanding. Moving the feature to Monday wasn't only logical because of today's test, it was just plain nice. Just make sure people don't start taking advantage of yo because it's easier with connected teachers."

Aren't those great?

AND AND AND, MS came up to me after class today and was very sincere when he said, "I just want to thank you for everything you've done for me lately. It really means a lot to me. I really wish more teachers were like you." :) (This is from the boy whose father passed away last weekend and is failing because of so much missing work.)

I like those comments on how organized I am... I kind of have to laugh! They don't seem to know me very well, I don't think! :)

Well, I'm going to head down to Winona now... pack up my massive amount of stuff to grade and hit the road. I'm pretty beat, but I've got to get this done, my applicaions in, plan for next week, etc. I want to take some of their suggestions and moments of confusions to adapt lesson plans and start to be a better teacher. This was a really great exercise, and I thank Heidi and Scott for pointing it out!

I also got some good results when I gave them their own half sheet of reflecting on them as students... I was able to get them finished today (my hand was so sore!)... I made one or two comments about how well they are doing, about how they can improve, and what they are missing. I got some stuff back, which was a relief.

I am going to have to reflect on how to control my Journalism class... they're just escalating, and it's frustrating. Parents are getting phone calls on Monday. Blech. Phone call Monday woo hoo! I don't even know if I'll have time to contact the "good" parents once I enter grades because so many of these kids need some kind of emergency intervention. Some of the stuff is just *so easy*--I don't understand how they're having trouble with it!

OK, really, going to go now... And I thought today was going to be bland since all they did was take tests. Boy was I in for a surprise!

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