Week 1 Reflection

Even after shadowing an 8th grader at BHL, I was still extremely nervous about working the students. Why? I'm not sure; there's the obvious fear of failure. I was also nervous that for some reason the students wouldn't respond to me the way I have envisioned for the last 1.5 semesters. To put it lightly, I was scared they wouldn't "like" me. Thank goodness we are doing this project, because I now understand that 7th graders don't like anyone. They don't even like each other. The biggest thing I took away from this week was that a lot of the students just need to a little direction. The biggest way I could help them as they began writing was to help them organize their thoughts aloud before they began typing. I tried to get one reluctant writer to begin with his thesis and then go back and add a hook, but he was so caught up and frustrated by writing a good hook that he couldn't begin his paper. Granted, this student was crying out for attention the whole class, so maybe he was looking for the teacher's point of view instead of mine. A lot of the students struggled to start on the first day, they were distracted, wanting to talk and hang out. On the second day, knowing it was due in 3 classes, pretty much everyone had completed their intro and begun their first body paragraph. I think the most intimidating thing about writing essays is thought of writing them. There were also a couple complaints on day 1 about the topic. One girl openly said, "Mr. ___ I just don't care about stupid dogs and cats." I can totally respect where she's coming from, and I told her that, but I also tried to point out that on the end of course testing, the prompt is going to probably be something that does not interest her and she would still have to write the essay. We talked about how sometimes we have to practice for the test before we get to do the fun writing. In hindsight, I was trying to give her hope that there would be writing she wants to do in the future, but I may not have done so in the best way. After going into an 8th grade English teacher's classroom, I was also worried that the students would disrespect me, the same way they had disrespected that teacher.  The mentor teacher I've been paired with in 7th grade has a totally different relationship with his students though, and that was a relief. His students come to class, knowing that they'll have to do the work, but they like him and want his attention and respect. This week was also a chance for me to see realistic expectations for a 7th grade writer. Obviously the spelling and grammar isn't the greatest, but a lot of them succeed in getting their ideas across. I think back to last semester and how we read so much about revisioning ideas instead of editing. I was so confused as to how you weren't supposed to make too many corrections in a conference. After working two days in a writing workshop, I can see how the students need to be encouraged with a few swift changes, rather than bogged down by every spelling/grammar mistake they make. Overall, this week was very inspiring for me. After 1.5 semesters of discussing teaching and worrying about little things, getting in the trenches at BHL showed me that I am meant to do this. When you are expected to learn pedagogy for a year with no hands on experience, the thought of teaching becomes intimidating. Having this hands on experience has eliminated any stress I had about next year. I'm excited to see what week 2 brings!

Reflection 3

Reflection 2

Reflection 1