Reflection - week of 2/14/05-2/18/05

Right on schedule, we hit the third week of the semester and I took over the class. I am the primary teacher for the 12th grade Creative Writing class. My first lesson was on Tuesday and I focused on characterization. I gave them a handout listing 34 traits that a student could think about when developing their character sketch, which I also assigned. The lesson was okay - not bad for a first lesson, but there was a lot I could improve on. First, I need to develop a structure that works for me - one that I can use often and that the students will learn to expect. My main problems and with the beginning and end because neither are clear enough.

Wednesday was a significant improvement. I tinkered with the structure a little and the lesson felt better. I still feel awkward about the beginning of class, mainly because we rarely have more than four students at that point. The rest come in late, making an obvious beginning hard to manage. The middle of the lesson was fun - the class completed sentences describing age through actions or various traits. They were reluctant to share however. I finally got a few to share a sentence that they wrote and I was happy about that - gotta start small.

On Thursday, Michael joined us. My main issues were the same as the day before - beginning was weak and because of timing, there was no closing. Michael and I discussed what to do about the introduction to the lesson and I suggested the idea I got from a colleague. Each day, the "do now" is a journal entry. Each student is required to write five pages a week. If they show up only two times, they can write 2 and a half pages a day. This way, the time isn't wasted, the students are writing, and I have something to help begin my lesson. I just have to clear this with Monica.

Friday was independent reading day, so not a lot happened. The students are required to read at least one book each marking period and do a project which Ms. Summers had assigned. Overall, I think the week went fairly well. It wasn't perfect, but if it had been, I wouldn't need to do student teaching. I've been able to narrow down a few things to work on - beginnings, endings, and overall lesson structure - so now I have a direction for my future lesson planning.