This last week was a great week for me to interract and build relationships with my students. In my health class we have been learning about alcohol use and abuse. On Friday we got to spend time with the fatal vision goggles (drunk goggles.) Students got to participate in a variety of activities with and without their goggles. They had to walk the line, throw a ball into a bucket 3 feet away, balance on one foot, and try to pick up a pencil on the ground 3 feet away from them. I got to work with a group of 8 students as they went through each activity. This was definitely the highlight of my week. We laughed and joked together and they even got me to 'walk the line' with my goggles. It was a lot of fun to gain a personal relationship with them. I still feel that I have a long way to go but I feel that I am on the right path. I will have to make the effort to create opportunities to associate myself with the students because there aren't a lot of activities where we get to interact.
I have noticed that often times teachers look for the easy way out of teaching. I do not want teaching to ever become a burden for me. I know that teaching will not always be easy but it should be enjoyable. I witnessed too many teachers in my life who simply recite information and expect it to be regurgitated back to them. I want my students to prove their knowledge and things that they have learned through fun and engaging activities. Too much of schooling has gone to the way of lecture, lecture, review, test. Repeat. This is something that I am working on how to deal with. I do not have the power to change the system and process right now but hopefully I can be influential when I do teach and have a lasting impact.
One practice that I liked that I observed this week was the way that the students were broken up into groups for their different activities. We had space to provide three different groups with the fatal vision goggles activity which made it fun for the students to have ample amounts of time to feel possible affects of drinking. In P.E. students also had the opportunity to choose whether they wanted to play Full-court basketball or team handball. Being able to break the students up into teams made for more student interaction. The smaller teams you are able to have in P.E. the more likely you are to have every student actively participating. I was in charge of the basketball group and I got to be the referee as well as jump in and play when someone was tired.
This week was also exciting because I finally got placed into an English classroom. I will start in a 9th grade English room on Thursday. I have been very nervous about being in an English classroom because it is extremely different than a Health or P.E. setting. I am so excited about how much I will be able to learn. The teachers at my school are great and so welcoming. Every time I go into the P.E./Health teachers offices sections they all say hi to me and ask me about my background and how I am enjoying my student teaching. I am very grateful for the things I have been able to learn and will continue to be able to learn. None of the teachers that I interact with are 'perfect' but neither am I. There is always something to take away from every lesson and every day spent within the school. I learn more about the teacher I want/need to be and the teacher I will work hard never to let myself become.
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