So last week my seventh and eighth graders and I added a new person to our team. Ms. Nelson, my new student teacher. What a crazy week it has been. Here's a little bit about what Ms. Nelson has been hit with since she came to middle school from her first student teaching placement in a second grade classroom. She started on a day when we had an assembly in the afternoon so the schedule was pretty messy. The assembly was put together by our Civil Rights Team and it was centered around the notion that words do hurt.
The second day my new student teacher saw the interruptions that a teacher must deal with at their best (or worst, as the case may be). She saw a bus evacuation drill that interrupted two separate class periods. She also got to see the student mock election, which was wonderful, but also interrupted a couple of the class periods we had. Finally we had a half day on Wednesday and it was devoted to community service projects we are doing in our advisory groups.
This was a very chaotic week in itself. To try to introduce my classes and what we are working on to this student teacher proved very difficult. I am glad that we are starting to get back to normal this week, that is, as normal as middle school can ever actually get.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
We also had a hectic week. Wednesday the 6th and 7th grade students were bused to the High School to see a play on bullying. That same afternoon we had an assembly to prepare for Sen. Collins visit to our school the next day. Thursday morning was spent in assemblies with Sen. Collins, and then the afternoon was interrupted with picture retakes. All of what we did was beneficial (except maybe picture retakes. Although I'm sure some of the girls felt it was necessary)even if it did interrupt the flow of the day.
Sounds like trial by fire to me! Seriously, how do you minimize learning interruptions when you don't control the source of those disruptions?
And how do you plan activities that best prepare a student teacher for both the reality of teaching in a public middle school AND have opportunities to see the "big picture" of teaching and learning at the ml?
Does your student teacher know about This We Believe and ml education in general...or are you teaching that to her as you go along?
Let's hope your student teacher took "Flex 101" - it's a must for a middle school teacher : )
Post a Comment