Learning As I Go

Room 6 and I on "Who-ville/Crazy Hair day"
(Keep in mind I'm running on 4 hours of sleep because I went to a concert the night before in Anaheim that got done really late and feeling sick)



Two weeks ago was very interesting. I forgot about crazy sock day, so I made sure to remember crazy hair day (as seen above). I was sick all week with a cough, but it only got worse as the week went on. I was under the impression that I could not miss any days during student teaching, even if I was sick. So, mentally I was pushing through any sickness and learning how to "toughen-up". That didn't last too long before the principal and secretary of the school sent me home on Thursday morning. They both said I sounded terrible and I needed to get some rest and take it easy. They reminded me that I can pass along any sickness I have to others if I stay, and told me not to worry about missing a day of student teaching because I needed to go home. So, I followed their orders and headed home to go back to sleep. I went to the doctor, who gave me some antibiotics and a note saying I was to stay home from work for 48 hours. It seemed as though I kept sleeping and waking up, not feeling any better. I finally felt more refreshed on Friday morning when I woke up.

I had my third observation during this week from the Site Supervisor (She is from the University observes me teach and gives me feedback four times during each 8 week period student teaching). Afterwards, I had the opportunity to write down some notes of things that I realized from this observation. This observation helped me recognize that I am learning as I go.

-I always see the negative and what doesn't go well first

-Another second grade teacher (Amy Pobst) said that flexibility is key in teaching; hardly ever do things go as you expect them to. (Amy is only in her first year teaching, but you wouldn't know it because she's a phenomenal teacher!)

-This reminds me of Yvette Henry's advice from her father. She shared this with me over coffee (as she is a teacher, too) so she can relate to this all. It's as simple as three words. Adapt, Adjust, and Overcome.

*Carol (my site Supervisor) said sometimes the unexpected can be a good thing- For example, I called certain students to the back table to meet with me so that we could go over their seatwork together. (the lowest and highest group) This is called differentiation, meeting the needs of all your students.This did not go as I anticipated. I expected to go through a math group in the same way that reading groups go- discussing everything altogether. Instead, the students were talking and working more independently. Each of them were at a different place on the page, so I did my best to check each student's work. I encouraged them to use the pattern blocks to double check their work. I was surprised to see that the lowest group all knew what to do. They didn't need my extra help/guidance because the whole class instruction was great. They understood how to combine plane figures to make a new figure and I wouldn't have noticed this good thing if Carol hadn't pointed it out to me. I was learning as I go that things don't go the way we expect them to sometimes, but it can be a good thing.

I learned on this day (Tuesday) that I don't like observations because I don't feel like I'm completely myself when I'm teaching and being observed by someone other than my Master Teacher. I feel like I rush through it and I'm "frazzled" or frantic to complete the lesson. I feel like the students don't understand anything because I move through it too quickly. Despite me feeling all of these things, the Site Supervisor still had good things to say and she said that overall the lesson went really well. I think it's hard to see that we're not perfect. Even though we're not, we still sometimes strive to be perfect and dislike making mistakes and failing. (I say "we" even though I am speaking for myself, because I am guessing you can relate to this on some level)

The principal of Solana Vista posts quotes from John Wooden on the announcements and weekly bulletins. They always encourage me. Here are a couple of them:

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes. John Wooden

 

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability. John Wooden

 

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be. John Wooden

 

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. John Wooden