Thursday, Feb 18th & Friday, Feb 19th

Thursday 2/18/10:

We worked on wrapping up work on papers today. The students are slowly but surely coming along with developing their papers and Works Cited pages. I'm happy with the effort which most of the students are putting forth, and more than ever I'm realizing the differences in ability which exist among these students. I recognize that the nature of a traditional classroom requires a teacher to construct lessons which cater to the "average" student, or an ability level which rests somewhere in the middle of students' achievement. But as I spend more time in the classroom, I wish so badly that I could divide my classes into smaller groups of students with more similar ability levels. The students who easily grasp concepts find themselves often bored during class. At the same time, I have numerous students who struggle to keep up, and many who can't. What's the solution?

Friday 2/19/10:

Interesting is the only word I can think of to describe this day. Prior to our arrival, the Middle School Principals decided that the student teachers would spend Friday Feb 19th out of the classroom for an entire day. Instead, it was decided that we would spend our day tallying preference votes for the Middle School's Career Day event in May.

I appreciated the opportunity to help out with a fantastic event like Career Day, it seems to be an annual event which truly benefits the Middle School students. For the chance to help out with such a wonderful event was great. However, I felt a bit cheated to be pulled out of the classroom for an entire day. I don't feel as though as a secondary ed major at BSU that I've been allowed much time in the classroom, especially not time spent actually teaching. Being that I've so badly wanted to have this experience, and that I'm paying a tremendous amount of money to take part in this experience, I would have liked the chance to decide whether or not I would shorten my student teaching experience by an entire. But none the less, I gave the folks who worked to organize Career Day my best efforts. I did my best to make the best of the day. Hopefully the students will be able to enjoy another beneficial Career Day because of it.