Orientation

We are currently halfway through the first complete week of school and, as many of my colleagues might agree, things are starting to feel a lot more comfortable and fluid in terms of my position as a pre-student teacher.  Things in the beginning were a little weird-students were looking at me with that awkward look of confusion: "Who is this random guy in our classroom?"

I started my placement last Wednesday, which was the first official day of school.  The high school that I am placed at uses block scheduling like I have never seen before, so this, along with the building structure, took some getting used to.  There are red and black days that consist of hour and a half long class periods.  Red days are on Monday/Thursday and Black days are on Tuesday/Friday.  On Wednesday, the class times are reduced to around 50 minutes so there are all eight class periods.  I really enjoy the class schedule!  In my opinion, it reminds me of a college schedule.

 The first few days consisted of the standard syllabi review and "get to know you activities."  I thought that my cooperating teacher did a great job of getting the students to "break the ice" as she had the students not only answer five personal questions regarding their personality but she also provided the students with an "I am" poem template.  This not only evoked the students to think creatively but also to build background on their understanding of the English Language using cue words such as "descriptive adjectives." This poem activity turned out to be a proactive way to get to know the students.

I have already learned a handful from my cooperating teacher as well as from the students in my classroom.  I also came to some realizations:  Putting names, and backgrounds to 150 faces is not all that difficult (that includes the students at the middle school that I work at), all students, regardless of demographics, desire knowledge, and also, building proactive relationships in the classroom is the primary foundation for which learning occurs.

Having said a little bit about my learning thus far in the semester, I would like to note some goals that I have established for the upcoming semester:

1)  I would like to establish my identity in terms of a classroom manager.

2)  provide my students with an engaging and interesting insight to writing and reading in the countless forms of literature and composition

3) make my mark as an educator and hopefully bridge the gaps that have previously been broken between the students and composition/reading

4) create connections between colleagues that will aid me in my adventure as a student teacher.

5) I also don't want my students to meet the standards, I want them to surpass them.