Full Immersion

   

            Oh my goodness I am tired! Week one of full immersion is over and I’m still standing! I started three units this week; addictive substances in Health and Career and an independent novel study and public speaking unit in Language Arts. So far so good, the students have been engaged and have transitioned well.

            Last week I started to set my expectations for classroom management with the classroom rules assignment. This week I combined the three classes’ rules and posted them on a bulletin board at the front of the classroom. Throughout the week I referenced these rules as often as I could to establish my presence, show how the rules were not merely an assignment but the foundation of our classroom, and to get the students used to referencing them themselves. The students were very receptive to this exercise and seem to have accepted the rules as their own. I feel like the upcoming weeks will be the real test if these rules are effective.

            I had many successes this week with my students and mentor. All of my lessons went over really well, a high percentage of the students handed in the work that was expected and my introduction of “brain breaks” to incorporate more DPA in the classroom was welcomed. There were also a lot of frustrations that I faced. As this was the first week of full immersion on my part, I noticed that it was not easy for my TM to fully give up the classroom. This is fine as I only need to have control of the class 80% of the time but I am finding that my TM is still exhibiting her classroom management while I’m teaching. For example, I assigned a worksheet for the students to work on while I completed some more reading assessments and I allowed the students to chat quietly while working on it. Every once in a while I had to remind certain students to stay focused but overall I was happy with the noise level and work being done. A number of times though, my TM interrupted the work time to scold the students for talking. This is something I am going to have to watch because although I respect that this is still her classroom, I need to be able to have my own classroom management in place. I am hoping that she will let go more and more as the weeks go on.

            The biggest element of my teaching that I am reflecting on this week is my assessments. My TM and I have changed my units up as we go as expected but I am ensuring that I have a variety of assessments included. It is so easy to get caught up in procedural activities in Language Arts as there are a number of PLO’s that focus on writing but I recognize the importance of strategic competence and conceptual learning. The times this week when I lead a ‘different’ lesson than the students might be used to I had a number of students come up to me and say thank you as they went out the door. At the time I credited to them just being polite and friendly but then I thought about it a bit more and noticed that fewer students said thank you when I had a heavy procedural lesson. This shows that the students recognize when a lesson is different yet they work just as hard with whatever the format is. I am very lucky to have the class I have as I am going to be able to push their thinking and try new things in my time at LFMSS.