Laughter is the best medicine

This week was a good week, even though I did have my second observation. I will rate this week a 4 because I did have some small victories but also a loss or two. 

Observe: This week my accomplishes included making a girl peeved at me when I made her move seats. This may not sound like an accomplishment but I have been having some issues in the discipline department. She and her friend were excessively talking so I made her switch her seat and did not skip a beat. She was peeved at me the rest of the day but I counted it as a victory because she saw that I was serious and the entire class saw that I was serious. So I feel like I have established myself a little more as the “Absolute Ruler” of the classroom. I also found myself surprised at how much learning can take place when the students are having fun. A few of my classes had me in stitches this week which I will elaborate more on later. I have also started teaching my unit for my portfolio so that is exciting and new for me this week as well. 

Reflect: This week I learned that having fun is okay and laughing with your students is a great way to connect. We were doing an activity about the “haves and the have nots” during the French Revolution. A few of the students who were the “haves” were allowed to sit on one side of the room and do whatever that liked (play on their phone, talk, sleep, etc). The other students, who were the “have-nots” had to fit between two rows of desks (some of them were on the floor) and copy the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence (which is very long). If the students did not finish writing the paragraph at least once they had silent lunch for two days. If they talked to anyone in their group they got one week of silent lunch. I also passed on bonus points to anyone who completed writing the paragraph. The catch was that they had to rip the bonus point in half and give it back. The students who were doing whatever they liked received quite a few bonus points for doing nothing. This activity was to show the students the unfairness of the social system in France during the French Revolution. The point of explaining the activity was that there was one student who was sitting on his instrument instead of the floor (I had not noticed). All of a sudden I hear this big commotion and turn around and he has fallen into the floor. I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard and the students either. I did ask If he was okay but he was laughing and embarrassed but thankfully not hurt. My point is, I have learned that laughter can help students learn as well. The students remember this activity because it brought them laughter. I also feel a connection with my students I did not feel before. Next week I am going to build on this by trying to laugh more with my students to continue building rapport. 

Focus: I want my students to be engaged in my lessons and this week I tried to create lessons that they would enjoy and that would engage them in a way that would make them want to learn. During the “haves and have nots” activity I had a student who wanted to continue writing the entire Declaration of Independence so that he could memorize it. The Declaration of Independence is a very important part of our country’s history and it meant a lot that he wanted to memorize the whole thing. It is also important to  know the parts of the Declaration of Independence because that is where we see the idea that “all men are created equal.” In short, I feel like I am on my way to reaching my long term goal of creating learners who want to discover and learn new things beyond the classroom. 

Be Productive: This week I could have spent more time asserting myself as the disciplinarian rather than worrying about the students’ reactions. I know that students are not going to like you 100% of the time and I am okay with that. It is just the first couple of times I have to discipline them it is hard for me because it is a new concept. I just need to remember that I am here to teach them and if they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing then they are not learning anyway. 

Have Courage: Once again to the discipline thing, there were times I should have said something and I did not. I need to have courage to be the ruler of the roost so to speak and let them know that I am in charge not matter what. 

Begin Anew: The next logical steps for next week is to make sure that I am prepared since there may be a snow day or two. I also need to make sure that I am mentally prepared myself to discipline the students when I may need to. 

Data: Some data I analyzed this week was an activity I took up and a quiz. One thing I learned is that some students do not follow directions and other students do not study the way that they should. This made me decide that my directions needed to be clearer and that I needed to remind them of how to study and what to study. 

Standard 1: I don’t want to talk about a specific element but rather the entire standard. I find this standard the most difficult, being a student teacher. I find upholding moral standards easy but the other is very difficult. I have been working to lead in the school but it is tough. 

Standard 2: 2a. Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults: I have been working on this one this week by making sure I take the time to make sure I am making my classroom my classroom a positive place to be. We had an incident this week where a student said something that offended another student, and while it was completely innocent, I had to handle the situation so that my classroom could be a place they can feel safe. 

Standard 3: 3b. Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty: This week and for the next few weeks, I feel like I really know my content. I love the French Revolution and while I may not know everything, this is a subject I can really make my students excited about. 

Standard 4: 4a. Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students: This is something I worked on this week and my example is with the haves and have-nots activity I talked about above. I knew that there would be a few students that couldn’t handle being in the have nots groups so I chose them to be the haves so that the activity could go as planned. 

Standard 5: 5a. Teachers analyze student learning: This week I have started taking up more work to analyze because of my portfolio and because I have noticed a pattern of students not following directions. This has helped me give better directions and I will use it to demonstrate why their scores are not where they should be.