And so begins the trials and tribulations of student teaching. I may be exhausted, but I will reflect here....
Following directions. Most people seem to not want to do that. Is it because they do not want to or is it
because the directions are not clear? I
am going to have to go with the later.
Just like directions from Ikea, I felt that during the week my lessons
were lacking a bit of clarity in a certain area. While lesson planning and thinking I spend
extensive time scripting and thinking of what I actually would love to say and
how to communicate an activity to my students.
To me it sounds crystal clear.
Then I start teaching.
While the lesson
seems to be unraveling in front of my face, I know the lesson is actually
hitting a speed bump. When explaining
the directions of the various activities to my students I am often met with
blank stares that scream “WHAT LANGUAGE IS SHE SPEAKING TO ME!” While
recognizing this, I mentally try to take a step back and breathe. I know something went wrong. Often times, I will try and call on the one
student who may just get my train of thought and have them revoice it to the
class. I catch myself using adult words
(I will not stop however, but challenge my students to figure out the
definition) and then having to clarify what they mean. So I recognize that students will need
clarifying, but even after a student tells the class in their language they
seem to be lost. Could the students not
be listening? Yes, but I know that one
of my weaknesses that I must focus on in coming weeks is my clarity of
directions. I do not mind having to
repeat myself 4 times, but when every student has a clue what is going on there
is an issue with what should be a simple task.
As the week progressed students had a better grasp of what was being
asked of them, which makes me believe there have been slight improvements. There are also some practices I need to keep
students accountable with following directions, and it is not a check in their
behavior folder. Patience is a virtue….I
will get it, soon!
