Week 2 - Influenza A

From Intern Checklist: I have met both the front office staff and a teacher from another department (English). My experience with the front office staff has been great - they are always very friendly and helpful, and one of the ladies appears to be retired and quite eccentric, which is always fun. She told me she was having a bad day because she found out Long John Silver's was closed - I wasn't quite sure what to say to that so I just kept a neutral grimace. The English teacher across the hall from me also has a student teacher, so I was pleased to find out I have a buddy close by. The teacher was very friendly when I met her and has been ever since.

Review and Plans: I had the flu this week, so I missed Tuesday through Thursday, but for the days I was there I could tell that the students were still working on their guided inquiry projects. They were supposed to finish them by Friday. Mr. Barnhart was gone at a track meet on Friday, so I decided to take charge of the class - with the substitute's permission. I told the classes to have their projects finalized by the end of the hour and ready to present on Monday, and to ask me any questions if they needed further guidance. Many groups were finished, so I texted Mr. Barnhart to see if I could let some groups present on Friday. He said that would be fine, but when I asked if any groups were willing to present in the first hour, no one wanted to do so even though most of the class seemed to be done (and were therefore playing games on their Macs). I asked them to do work for other classes if they were done, and most of them pulled out their chemistry homework. In the next couple of hours, most students were not finished with their projects and needed more time. I told them they had until the end of the hour, and all of the groups were able to finish or at least get everything planned to be finished by Monday.

a. One thing that surprised me in my two days this week was the difference in time it takes for each hour to complete a lesson. I thought it was mostly just dependent on the teacher - whether they are consistent enough to get each class on the same page and through a unit in the same amount of time. But, in the guided inquiry lesson, the classes all worked at a very different pace. I think this is something that each teacher learns to adapt to as they teach.

b. I have improved my understanding of guided inquiry - I think that it is a great learning tool, but that as it was implemented by my cooperating teacher, it can become too open-ended and lead the students into doing almost no learning. Some groups of students had one or two who were not doing anything but watch videos the entire class period. My cooperating teacher did little to get them to work - and I tried to encourage them to help their group memebers, but this was not much help. That was my biggest frustration this week.

c. My plan for improvement is to keep the spirit of guided inquiry by encouraging questions (maybe even having a question box for students on Google classroom, or even just a shoe box they can drop questions in), but also adding some more structure to my lessons than we had in the project. My goals for the week are to observe Mr. Barnhart in his "normal" class setting (not inquiry based) for a couple of classes and then to begin teaching on my own. I also hope to be free from illness this week :)

Week 2 - And so the List of Shocking Events Grows...

Okay, I'm so happy. I love being a teacher. I love my kids. I love my school. I love my co-teacher. Life is pretty great right now (I am aware that will change when I am actually teaching everything, everyday). Okay, question time.

Events of the week (what shocked, puzzled, excited, etc. me):

• During bullying prevention "class", the students were asked to come up with possible reasons someone may judge someone else before getting to know them and "the color of their skin" was not mentioned. 
• I spent all of second hour on Tuesday teaching a student everything he had missed (he had gotten a 17% on his unit exam). That student took the exam again the following day and made a 95%. Yay teacher validation!
• The students are starting to request that I teach lessons now. ("Ms.Cholette, when are you gonna teach our class? I heard you taught third hour).
• I got to sit in on my first faculty meeting and the love that these teachers have for every single one of their students is incredibly outstanding and inspiring 
• I witnessed (and learned from) my co-teacher perfectly handle this entire event: a student told my co-teacher that she thinks her friend is self-harming or may be thinking about it and she was worried about him
• An english teacher asked me to tutor one of her students one-on-one during my lunch hour since he had missed a few days in math (the teacher asked me to do it, not my co-teacher!)
• I got to observe my first staffing for an IEP, again the love and support the staff has for every single student was evident
• During skills, a student told me and my co-teacher that she had witnessed bullying and I (with the support and encouragement of my co-teacher) dealt with the situation and I think it went really well 

Each of these events, along with my specific teaching experiences from this week, have shaped who I will be as a teacher (obviously). Everyday I think I'm closer to becoming a confidant with the students and since that is at least 50% of the reason I want to be a teacher, it feels really good to know I'm slowing moving towards that goal. In regards to the actual lessons I taught this week, I think they went pretty well. They listened to me for the most part and I got to practice discipline (which is always something that can be improved upon). In regards to improvement, a few hours after my lesson was done I began thinking on loop about everything that I wish I had changed. I didn't ask Jake if he understood the material until the very end of class. Even though the other students understood very well, I wish that I had spent more time moving around the class so I would've noticed Jake slipping earlier. So, I will work on that for next week. Also, I've met and became closer friends with at least 5 other faculty members (yay friends!), so I'm really happy to be moving closer to that goal as well.

I also think that one of the reasons that it is going to well right now is because I know my student very well. I honestly think I know all of their names and I know most of their personal life stories. I have found that this connection is what I look forward to every morning when I'm getting ready to go to school. That connection is what will keep me from burning out too and it has been surprisingly easy to remember the info about their lives. I also think this is because my co-teacher knows her students VERY well, so of course I'm asking her every question I can think of about the students (i.e., "are her parents around/involved?", "Is he in basketball or band or something?", or "what's her favorite subject? she's an amazing writer") 

I start my unit a week from Monday, so I am expecting the most reflection on my teaching from those lessons (and I await said reflections eagerly). 

For the intern checklist: 

1. I met the school counselor today! - I met her during the IEP meeting today during plan and wow she loves these kids. She is very well informed and obviously cares very much so it felt good to know I'm working in such a loving school community. 
2. Exchange contact info with your classmates - We started a group message! I chose this as one of my items to discuss because that group message has saved me at hard times and it has only been two weeks. It feels really really good to know everyone else is having bad days sometimes too. Also, I'm just glad to have gotten to know everyone, they're all so amazing! (I only knew Natalie before the internship- yay for new friends!) 
3. Meet your department chair/colleagues - my co-teacher is the department chair (lol). But, I have met the other department faculty members and they're great! All the 8th grade math teachers congregate in the hall between every class and talk crap about kids or administration (who are actually pretty amazing), or just about how much we love our jobs. I'm slowly coming to look more and more forward to our little hall chats. 

Can't wait for Monday. Teaching is hard. Teaching is rewarding. We got this. Love you all. 

Emily Cholette

Week 2- A Teacher's Wrath

Part 1 (for Dr. Brugar)

So far, I have met my department colleagues and teachers from other departments by attending all of the team and PLC meetings. I am a member of NCTM (we had to do this for EDMA). I communicate with my classmates regularly about our daily struggles. As soon as I found out what I would be teaching before we started, I bought supplementary textbooks and materials. I have been journaling daily about my highs and lows in an effort to reflect and improve myself. Finally, I have observed another classroom when my teacher was gone, and BOY WAS IT A WILD DAY (see below).

 I wasn’t sure if I was going to mention it here since I have already informed the department head (my cooperating teacher), but I had a crazy experience when I was observing a teacher on Thursday. Previously, we (my teacher and I) had thought him to be chill and generally relatable to the students. We were wrong, and I witnessed it first-hand. Before the classes began (he has 1^st and 2^nd hour plan) this man talked so much trash about his students to other teachers that I was genuinely worried about what I was going to experience already. Not only did this teacher yell at the students and then try to backtrack and joke with them (hello definition of mental abuse) he also was SO RUDE. Here are a few quotes and that WHAMMY that made me turn him in to the department head, “You were dropped on your head too many times, huh?”, “Yes, go get a drink of water, I mean if it will make you shut your mouth for 3 seconds, I’m up for it”, “If you don’t pay attention right now, I am going to fail all of you,”. AND FINALLY, this was said to a student who JUST HAD HEART SURGERY LAST WEEK, “Go back to the hospital,” and when the students didn’t think it was funny he asked, “But really how are you doing [IN THE MIDDLE OF CLASS]”. The student replied, “Im not any better–its still the same thing,” to which the teacher said, “WELL I KNOW YOURE NOT BETTER IN THE HEAD BUT,”. Like are you kidding me?! I was FUMING and carefully to wrote down these quotes so that I could properly reveal his character to Telannia. Even typing this now if getting me fired up again. These poor kids.

In other news, this week was pretty standard. Telannia opened the classes but after the bellwork, the students relied on me just as much as her. I hope it lasts forever, because it feels great for students to trust me enough to ask my advice and confide in me when they are confused. Throughout the week, I have been planning my lesson and pre-assessment for next week. I am getting more and more anxious but I think that I will have a blast. The class I am taking over are juniors and seniors so they are more well behaved than my freshmen (doesn’t make it much less daunting).

Part 2

I hate to say the same thing as everyone else, but as you can tell, this week was a ROLLERCOASTER. Trying to navigate the life of an urban school teacher has put things into perspective for me like I have never experienced before. This perspective has made me angry for my students, literally shaking because of how they are treated by people who are supposed to be a support system. Experiencing what I witnessed this week, set in stone a passion that I have never felt. I immediately felt as though I needed to protect these students, as if they were mine–as if I could actually protect them. I knew that I had to do what was right and safe and THAT is where I grew this week in my teaching practice. I owned my opinions and I tossed aside my worries about getting hired, and protected those students to the best of my ability–it is out of my hands now. Along with the more serious growth, I also focused on planning my lesson this week and am on track to be successful. I have almost everyone’s name down and am excited for the impending doom week.

For this week, my plan to improve my practice is to focus on standard 3. Since I have complete control of the entire unit, I feel like I need to set the tone for the class but focusing on the environment that I wish to achieve. To do this, I will start my unit by having an engaging pre-assessment and incorporate collaborative work in order to encourage a “positive social interaction.”

Send me good vibes as I venture into unknown territory this week.

OK bye.

Week 2 - Training for a Marathon

     I apologize that this is going to be a lengthy post! There is a lot of information I want to share, but I don’t even know where to begin! This week has been vastly different from last week. I already felt as though I had more of a presence in the classroom last week, but this week, I’m really starting to feel like a real teacher! Students are starting to ask me more questions, share more of their interests and extracurricular activities with me, and I’m starting to build these positive student-teacher relationships that we’ve been discussing in our education courses.

     Before I go more into my experiences this last week, I forgot to tell you about my cooperating teacher in my last blog post! I get to spend my internship with Ms. Shaye Leopold at Moore High School, and our (eep!) classes consist mainly of sophomores and juniors, with a few freshmen and seniors sprinkled here and there. We have two Algebra 2 classes, two Pre-AP Algebra 2 classes, and one Math Analysis class. Shaye graduated from OU in 2013, and she also completed the TE-PLUS program with a Mathematics degree instead of the Math Ed degree. This has been so exciting for the both of us because we’ve been able to geek out on math.

     As we go through our internship this semester, I think that many of the things on the checklist just come about naturally. When I visited my teacher at the beginning of the month before school started, she gave me a tour of the school, noting the most places that we will visit often (teacher’s workroom for copies, bathroom locations, etc.). She also introduced me to the office staff, the four different grade principals, and also the head principal. I also met the math department chair that day, and she informed me that I could come observe her Calculus class sometime if I was interested. I have also spent time with department colleagues because a handful of us eat lunch together in the classroom. Since the classrooms aren’t separated by subject, we have teachers all around us that teach a different subject than math that I have been able to meet. For example, in our hallway alone, we have Computer Education, Biology, English, and Anatomy & Physiology. My old Physics teacher from high school is one of the Biology and A&P teachers! It was really exciting to reconnect with her because I remember how her class was one of my favorite classes in high school.

     One thing that surprised me this week was how much more comfortable I am getting in the classroom. I would consider myself someone who is obsessed with having a plan and trying to stick to that plan, so when things go awry, I normally get stressed out about it. That is one thing that I have learned very quickly about teaching – being flexible is essential! There will only be a few times when things actually go as planned. On Monday during lunch, my teacher got a text that her son was sent home from day care because he was running a fever. Since day cares have a 24-hour rule, she informed me that she most likely was going to have to stay home the next day. She had planned for three of the classes to lecture and have them take notes and the other two classes would be working on homework, so after school that day, we spent a couple of hours going over what topics I needed to cover for the first three hours. While I was putting on a brave face, I was extremely nervous inside! I wasn’t concerned that I didn’t know the content, but I was worried about my delivery and if I could convey the concepts clearly enough. It ended up going so much smoother than I expected it to! As I was teaching the students about inverse functions and how to find the inverse of exponential and logarithmic functions, they (for the most part) were actually listening and engaging in the material! I didn’t need to handle any behavioral issues that my teacher had warned me about. All the classes were really respectful as I was teaching. After I had taught all three hours back to back, I really felt like I had run a marathon! My throat was dry from talking, and I had been standing the whole time!

     Although my week has been positive and great, I don’t want to paint a picture that my experience is going perfect so far. My teacher did make me aware that out of all three high schools in the district, our school is probably the lowest ranked academically. She told me that many of the students won’t go off to graduate from college because they have been considered a working school, so the students often enter the work force straight out of high school. I wanted to share a story that happened last Friday (Kate, Cacey, or Dr. Brugar: If this breaks any rules on sharing info, let me know, and I’ll edit this post!). When I arrived at school, my teacher’s door was closed and I heard people talking inside, so I assumed it was a meeting and waited on a bench right outside the classroom. Essentially what happened was that the head principal and math department chair came to my teacher to tell her that there was an incident with another teacher and that teacher would no longer be with the school. They came to my teacher saying they wanted to take me from her classroom and basically place me in the other classroom to teach with a sub to babysit. My teacher immediately informed them that that was not going to happen, it wasn’t an option, and to never mention that again. After school that day, my teacher sent me a long text message apologizing to me because she doesn’t want me to get the wrong idea about why she agreed to having a student teacher, and that she wants me to know that she is going to do everything in her power to ensure that I have the best experience under her wing. This made my teacher and I’s relationship stronger because it showed that she has my back no matter what. When I first began my internship, my teacher informed me that the high school was desperate for teachers, and that us math teachers are really a hot commodity. I was initially excited in terms of being able to acquire a job next year, but this event worried me on the intentions of administration and those higher up.

     I think that my teaching practice has slowly been improving since last week. I think I confidently know 75% of the students’ names so far, there are some students that have been absent or are just very quiet in class, and those are difficult to remember. Also, I’m improving on being able to better predict or understand what students struggle on most by grading because on the questions that students miss the most, they often make the same mistakes.

     For next couple of weeks (since I will be gone Tuesday – Friday), my plan is to start taking over both classes of Algebra 2 and the one class of Math Analysis. I really want to incorporate varying instructional strategies by trying out more engaging or interactive lessons. I think this will touch on Standards 7 and 8. I understand that there are some days where there needs to be a lecture to get the information to students, but I want to see them work with their peers in groups more often. 

Whew, that was a lot to get through!

Week 2 - Decimals Have a Point, Calculus Has its Limits

(I asked my calculus students for a math pun to title my blog. 🙃)

This week was a little crazy. My cooperating teacher records his lessons and puts them on YouTube so that students who miss class can watch the videos and not be too far behind when they return to school. On Monday night, I got a text from my cooperating teacher with links to some YouTube videos from previous years and he said we would be covering those lessons the next day and I could teach the afternoon classes if I wanted to. So he taught calculus and pre-calculus in the morning, I watched and took notes of things he said and did during the lesson, and I taught those classes in the afternoon. The first day of doing this (Tuesday) was pretty rough. I did not realize how difficult it would be to teach somebody else’s lesson and try to hit all the important points of the lesson, because since I did not come up with it I was trying to teach students the content, remember how to work through the examples, and remember all the guided questions my co-teacher had asked his morning classes so that the morning and afternoon classes were getting similar enough instruction. On Wednesday we did the same thing with him teaching the mornings and me teaching the afternoons, and it went a little better because I was more prepared (I color coded my notes so things I needed to remember to write were in one color and things I needed to remember to say/ask were in another, and that helped), and the students seemed more comfortable having me as their teacher so they were more willing to ask me questions. I also went to a math faculty meeting Wednesday morning where all the math teachers for the school got together to talk about new textbooks, standardized tests for the district, how to place students in math classes in the future, and what requirements students should meet in order to be placed in a pre-AP or AP class.

Thursday was a bit crazier because my teacher was gone in the morning for a conference so I was in charge of teaching the morning classes, which I had not taught before, in addition to the afternoon classes I have been teaching. The students seemed to respond well to my teaching, and I only had to address a few behavioral issues. I definitely did not realize how tired I would be after teaching all day, especially since my planning period is the last hour of the school day, so I did not really get a break. However, since I taught all day I was able to make a mental note of what worked in the morning classes and what didn’t, and use that to adjust instruction and make it more my own for the afternoon classes, even though I was still teaching my co-teacher’s lessons. I’m glad that I’ve had this easy transition into teaching the classes so far, and everything was planned out and easy to follow, but I’m excited to start teaching my own lessons and being more involved in the learning experience in ways other than lecturing and helping students with their homework.

I have managed to learn the names of a majority of the students in my two calculus classes and my one trig class, but I’m still having a hard time learning the names of the students in my two pre-calc classes because the classes are larger. It is easy to learn the names of the students who act out a lot, ask/answer questions, or are talkative in class, but it is more difficult to learn the names of the students who just quietly do their work and don’t ask many questions. I’m going to continue with trying to learn names, but I am glad that I am starting to learn what sports, clubs, and activities some students are involved in. The students also still ask me a lot of questions about college, and the students who are going to OU in the fall ask me question about OU, so it's been cool to answer their questions that I would have had as a senior in high school but didn't know who to ask.

I guess how I want to improve my teaching practice moving forward is to be more comfortable in the classroom. I sometimes feel uncomfortable telling students to quiet down or put their phones away because even though my co-teacher said I have the same authority as him to address behavioral issues, it can still be weird to call students out when they are doing something they know they are not supposed to. I have an easy time having conversations with students and helping students individually or in small groups, but when it comes to addressing the class as a whole I need to get better at my classroom management. Part of it is probably because I have been teaching lessons I did not come up with, and I’m trying to teach just like my co-teacher so the students slowly get used to me, but it’s not realistic for me to teach just like him because we have different teaching styles. I want to be able to meet my students’ learning needs, and I would love to do super creative and collaborative group activities with them and follow more of the 5E style of instruction when I’m not lecturing, but I also know that the students are not used to that so I want to be able to do this in a way that students actually stay on task and are not suffering as a result of the eventual change in teaching.

Week 2: Bye-bye Math Tutor! Hello Ms. Chang!

Gosh...where to start with this week, so much has happened. Starting last Friday, I took over 5th hour BC Calculus and I have been teaching it ever since! I would watch Julie teach calculus 1st hour to get a sense of how she would teach the subject and then adjust my teaching plan if needed. This week I had the WORST teaching experience of my life but I also had the BEST teaching experience of my life.

Part A:
Let's start with the bad. On Wednesday I had planned to teach the average value of a function to BC calculus students. I had tutored the concepts before to college students, so I understood the content. That morning Julie had decided she wanted to teach average value with more real-life example problems, so she did a little research and she comes up with really good graph problems for students to understand how the concept was used in the real world. She explains her plan to me on how she was going to teach the content and then I watch her teach her 1st hour period to see how she would teach it. Julie does a great job and the students get it. Fifth hour comes along, and it was my turn to teach the lesson and everything goes wrong. As I was teaching, I was trying to remember how Julie explained to me how the real-life problem related to finding average value. In other words, I was to figure out how to solve the problem while I was teaching the concept. Also, I was so nervous that I kept making small mistakes in my arithmetic which was so frustrating because I would have to go back and fix it and then recalculate. Eventually, I had to ask Julie for help to explain to the students how to do the problem. That day I felt like a complete failure because not only did I not know how to do the math but I wasted my students' time, and that for me was the worst feeling in the world.

On to the good. I don't usually teach Julie's 2nd period (i.e., AEGIS) but they were scheduled to learned L'hospital this week so I offered to teach for that day. I had already taught that lesson before to the BC calculus class during my level 3 observation so I knew the content. When I taught it last semester, I did okay but I remember having trouble using the Mobi because I had just learned how to use it. This week, when I taught the lesson, it went better than I had planned. The lesson started out with me reviewing with them how to take limits because it had been a while since they had done limits. Next, I went over how to use L'Hospital Rule. Then as a class, we reworked the limit problems from before but instead using L'hospital Rule. As we found the limit of each function I would have students discuss which strategy they preferred to use (e.g., L'hospital Rule, factoring, multiplying by conjugate, graphing, and tables) and have them explain their reasoning. Since there was a small amount of time left of class, as a class we worked together to prove why L'Hopital Rule works and most of the students didn't seem to mind we were doing proof--some of them seemed to really appreciate the proof.

When I compared average value lesson with my L'Hospital lesson, I realized the mistake that I made was taking some else's lesson without fully comprehending how I was going to teaching it. I don't feel comfortable trying to teach a lesson just like someone else because it takes so much energy to remember what that teacher did. From now on, I will just take a few ideas that I really like and make it my own. I have also learned that teaching is this never ending roller coaster ride. Sometimes the lesson goes well and sometimes it blows up in your face, but it's all about learning from your mistakes and refining your craft.

Part B:
This week I have been getting used to teaching a regular class period and preparing content for each day's lesson. The day before each lesson, I always make sure I look over all the students' assignments/homework for that lesson and then I make an outline of what concepts I want to cover and what problems I think are good examples to do. Most importantly, I always make sure I go over my lesson plan with Julie in the morning to get a second opinion. As I watch Julie teach 1st period, I will usually add little things to my lesson plans that Julie does that I think might help explain a concept better. My skills in planning instructions have improved a lot since I have started. I think this is really because I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone by taking on an entire class period, and because I did that I wanted to be prepared for class every day because when I am in front of the classroom teaching that's when I feel the most vulnerable--so preparation is essential!

Part C:
The first time that I taught 5th hour I noticed that my teaching was not much different than how I tutor small groups which is not a very effective way of teaching and I need to change this. I would talk a few minutes about the concepts and then I would do 3 to 4 example problems with the students on the board, then have students work on the rest of the problems on their own. I have been tutoring math for over five years and transitioning from a tutor to a teacher is hard, but I knew that I needed to take that next step which is the reason why I jumped into teaching a classroom so early in my internship. I am too comfortable tutoring students and have no problems working with individuals or small groups, but if I want to become a teacher then I know it's time that I really push myself to teach an entire classroom. The first days teaching 5th hour, I remember being really nervous I think this is because I hadn't really gotten a chance to know the students yet. I notice such a difference in my teaching when I teach 5th hour vs. 1st hour (which was the classroom that I observed last semester). When I jump into 1st hour I feel super comfortable with the students and I know all their names, so when I am teaching them I rarely feel nervous at all. For me, it's a lot easier to stand in front of a classroom of students & teach when you know your students.

One of the things that I have found helps me get to know my students and also learn their names quicker, is to grade their papers. Weird, I know. Like I had one student who has gigantic handwriting and he wrote a message on his exam which said "There is not enough room to write on here"; which I wrote back "Feel free to ask for more paper! (smiley face)". Grading papers also helps me see which students are struggling in the classroom or what are some common mistakes that I need to address when I teach. For next week, I will focus my goal on working on "Assessment". These next couple of days, Julie and I are grading exams for several of our classes because a lot of them either have just taken their exams or are about to. I think this opportunity will give me more of an idea of how I should set up my assessment when I create my unit plan.

Until next time!

Week 2- I'm A Teacher?

     This week has been about 500% better compared to last week! My teacher has been super great and helpful. She's pushing me just enough to get more comfortable in the classroom, and also giving me plenty of feedback so I don't feel too anxious. I've slowly become more and more incorporated into the classes by teaching small groups. I really like the small group study sessions because I feel comfortable teaching one-on-one and I get to know the students a lot better. I've also realized that the more I get to know students the better, the more they keep you grounded and help get you through the day. I'm definitely starting to feel more and more like I'm actually a teacher, rather than a student trying to pretend to be a teacher. The struggles I'm having right now is that my teacher hasn't been in today and she won't make it tomorrow, so I'm in charge again. It's definitely going better than last week, but I am actually teaching her algebra 2 classes. However since my first day of teaching a class was supposed to be today, my teacher hasn't been able to give me any feedback. I think I'm struggling a lot with teaching to the kids who get it, and leaving the ones who don't behind. This is mainly because the students who get it will start talking and disrupting the class if I don't move on quick enough. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! 

     This week I feel a lot more comfortable teaching in front of the entire classroom. This has a lot to do with starting out teaching to small groups like 2-3, then doing a group with 8, then going to the whole class. I've also gotten to know at least 5 names in each class, and it's been easier for me to remember them from day to day then I thought I would. Overall I think I'm just a lot more excited to go to school and get to know the students, and teach more. 

     Moving forward I really need to work on application of content. I really just need to find ways to keep the students who got it engaged while I slow things down for the students who need me to work out more problems or explain something again. Once my teacher is able to see me teach and provide some feedback, I'm hoping this will help me to teach to all the levels of learning in the classroom.

Week 1 - Jumping Right In!

 Last fall semester I worked with Mrs. Klingensmith (i.e., Julie) and I mainly observed her BC calculus class. I knew on the first day of observing her class that she was an exceptional teacher. I wanted her as my teacher mentor because I knew her world would challenge me and I would gain more experience with her than I could ever ask for. Julie teaches for six periods with four different courses: BC calculus, AEGIS 3 (pre-cal to calculus I), AEGIS 4 (calculus II-differential equations), and math analysis.

Part a: On my second day of student teaching, Julie was out on Wednesday which meant I was in charge of all the teaching aspect and it was a lot. Nonetheless, the teaching content was very doable and I knew the material well because Julie made sure to give me what the students were working on ahead time. The beginning of the day the classes were more laid back. I would do a few example problems and answer questions that students might have—easy peasy. After lunch, it got BUSY. That’s mainly because the last 3 classes the students were either reviewing for their exam and/or they just had a lot of questions. That day I really got a glimpse of how much Julie does.

During math analysis, the students were reviewing for their exam over logarithms & exponents. As I was helpings students with the problems on the study guide, I realized my method for solving logs wasn't the same as what Julie had taught her students. Some students would be okay with using my technique and some students were confused. For me, this situation frustrated me because it is difficult to teach someone your way when they have been taught another way. 

Part b: Starting this internship, I jumped right into helping out in the classroom and I think that has helped me a lot with getting comfortable with teaching and being around the students. This week I learned how to show students that two methods of solving logarithms are actually identical, and then I would encourage the students to choose which they preferred to use by telling them about the disadvantages and the advantages of each method.

Part c: For next week, I want to improve my skills on "Planning for Instruction." This week I have been working with Julie to figure out what students are working on and the curriculum schedule. I plan to be taking over 5th hour (BC calculus) starting next week, but I am hoping to also add in 7th hour (math analysis) by the end of next week. This will allow me to dive into creating/modifying lesson plans!

Week 1 - My Future

disclaimer- I did not answer in 1,2,3 format. But, all the questions are answered throughout. Let me know if this is okay or if you'd like me to change the way I'm doing this for the future :)


Wow. What a week. I don't know how else to put it - but, this week has literally changed my entire life plan.

Up until student teaching began, my plan was to graduate from OU and go straight to graduate school. One step at a time to reaching my goal of becoming a mathematics professor. Two days in to my student teaching and I have completely altered that plan. I am now going to be an in-classroom teacher for at least a year before going to graduate school because I honestly cannot imagine leaving. I have always known I was meant to be a teacher, but I didn't think I would be this good. I know that sounds conceded but I really genuinely feel that I am doing the job that I was put on the earth to do, and I can do it very well! I love every single second that I am with the students and faculty and doing math and I can't believe how lucky I am to have found a profession that actually makes me this happy.

Okay, to the actual questions now. In regards to being surprised or shocked, there were, of course, several instances. I am keeping an extensive journal of everything that happens in class because I am genuinely surprised just about every class period. Maybe the surprising events of my first week are best explained in a bullet-pointed list. Since I did my level 3 observations at the same school with the same cooperating teacher, 7th and 8th hour knew me pretty well (which explains bullet point number one). In addition, this has allowed me an incredible amount of support and comfort with my co-teacher. She has given me everything I have asked for and even more things that I haven't even thought to ask of yet. She is an absolute dream and I can't believe I'm learning from THE master. Anyways, here are the surprising events of my first week:

• Day one: 5-10 students from last semester literally ran up to me in the hall and hugged me when they saw that I was back at Irving MS
• Day one: my co-teacher introduced me to every class (before I introduced myself) with a glowing review; "We are so incredibly lucky to have Ms.Cholette with us here. She is a brilliant young teacher. We are equals and we will be treated as such." 
• Day two: I watched my co-teacher talk to a troubled kid for an entire hour about his issues with other teachers/students/home life. The student was being open, honest, and respectful and my co-teacher did it all with ease. She has a gift. 
• Day three: our school was put on lock-down. This was terrifying, but I went completely into protect mode. Had the students line up, count off, and they all listened and did everything I asked with no issues. I would call that respect (yay!). 

Differences pertaining to being at school everyday now instead of just a couple times a week are all positive differences. The students call me Ms.Cholette now instead of Ms.Emily. They respect me, listen to me, confide in me, and joke with me. My co-teacher treats me with absolute equality while also never leaving me alone or pushing me further than I am ready to go. I honestly feel so lucky to have this experience because it has shown me (already) the validation for my career path. I am a teacher and I'm so happy I'm finally teaching. 

Lastly, this semester I honestly don't have many goals. That's horrible, I know. I have my unit planned out as well as when I will be doing my two-weeks of teaching. Each of which are occurring early on in the semester so that after spring break we can focus on visiting other teachers, preparing for state-testing, going on some field trips, and the school principle offered to prep me for interviews. This is such a welcoming school and environment that my goals are being set and achieved daily. The kids respect me, listen to me, ask me questions, call me a teacher, and are afraid of me (in all the right ways). I already know most of their names, despite never grading papers or anything like that. I think I'm just learning them because they ask me so many math questions so often and they're so friendly and diverse and happy to get to know me. As of right now the only goal I have actually solidified is getting to know the faculty a little better. My fantastic co-teacher paraded me around school the other day showing me off and I had a great time getting to meet all the teachers. Since my co-teacher is so well respected and loved, she has a lot of friends on faculty and therefore, I have friends on faculty now too! 

In closing, I am aware that I am happy right now because I am co-teaching, answering questions, walking around the room, bonding with students, etc. It will definitely get harder when I am planning lessons and teaching completely on my own. I am wary and yet very excited for that moment and will report on my first teaching experience next blog as that will be happening very soon (yay!).