Week 6: Get Out That Bag of Tricks

Anyone who has ever taken an education course has probably heard something like this; "make sure you keep this activity and use it when you're in a pinch, add it to your bag of tricks" or "add it to your toolkit" or "keep it in your back pocket."  As I get further along into my teaching experience I have had more opportunities to open this "bag of tricks."  

image - translorial.com

This week was a perfect example of that: Upon my arrival to school, I realized that my fantastic lesson on Renaissance artwork, which was entirely reliant on the use of very colorful and entertaining Renaissance artwork postcards, would have to be post-poned; I left the postcards at home!  My first reaction was utter panic - I had about 50 minutes to either re-work that lesson or scrap it and make up something else.  As I was really proud of my work on the original lesson, I decided to whip up something else instead.  So I did an introduction to some of the great Renaissance thinkers Francesco Petrarch and Leonardo da Vinci.  Now lecturing and having students take notes is straightforward, but the "bag-of-tricks" idea was pretty great.  As most historians know, Leonardo was famous for mirror-writing, or writing all of his letters and words backwards from right-left across a page.  So I demonstrated this for my students on the board (being left-handed myself I used to practice this when I was bored in class, I've developed a certain skill) and they were fascinated.  So I told them to try writing a sentence using this mirror-writing technique.  Then, as I knew would be the case with adolescent females, a few girls whipped out their mirrors and they were passed around the class so people could see how well they'd done.  A simple fun fact turned into a 10 minute activity that truly engaged the students in the subject matter - DEFINITELY keeping that in my bag of tricks.


While I usually try to keep my posts to one major topic, I just can't help but mention my first experience with  student assemblies. Today, each grade met during a different period to receive information about their course selections for next year.  Most teachers didn't remember this was occurring until yesterday afternoon, and most thought it would last the entire period.  


Fast forward to this morning, teachers find out that the assembly only lasts about 20 minutes and I am teaching a class in 15 minutes that I have NOTHING prepared for... (might I add this is only my 2nd time teaching this class)  Luckily, my cooperating teacher opened up her bag of tricks and saved the day. 


 So, I guess I really only had one topic, but I finally understand why my teachers in high school would get so frustrated and dread assembly days; not even a math teacher can formulate how to lesson plan for a class period that is lasting x amount of minutes starting at t time with a 50% margin of error...


-MB

Week Three: Notes? Pages of Notes?

Third week done and I think I've almost got a handle on this rotating schedule.  The fact that I can look out at a class and say with confidence, see you Tuesday, because my mind has already worked through the mathematics that says that period is dropped on Monday means I'm in a groove.


Speaking of grooves - nothing throws you off your teaching groove quite like having a 30+ year teaching vet come sit in the back of your classroom and take literally 15 pages of notes!  As she pointed out during our debriefing, I had nothing to be concerned about, she just wanted to write down EVERY word I said.  However, I made more mistakes (rather, had more things that needed correction or improvement) than I thought possible in a 68 minute time-frame.  Though, I suppose if I was so good that I needed no direction, anyone could become a teacher at the drop of a hat.  It is, however, amazing to consider that one person has so much knowledge about teaching locked up in one brain!  She has an answer to every question, a suggestion to every comment, and a compliment (there were a couple) for every job well done.  That being said, I'm not entirely enthusiastic to cross paths with her again on Feb. 13th...


But what about the students, you ask? Well, I have to say I burst a few (and by that I mean all) bubbles this week when I not only assigned homework, but a project AND told the honors class they would be having a quiz next week.  I guess you can say the honey-moon is over, and they're starting to realize that I'm not going to  just be all fun and games (though, I wouldn't MIND playing 7-up if there was a way to make it educational.... yes, a girl asked to play that this week).

Image - www.cartoonstock.com

But some of the best moments of the week did not occur in the classroom, instead they were in the hallways in between classes or at the end of the day.  There is nothing more gratifying than seeing a student in the hallway and hearing "hey Mr. B!" or "Have a good weekend Mr. B!" because whether or not they enjoy your class (and I'm not naive to believe they enjoy it at all...) they at least acknowledge your existence and it feels nice.  One girl, who is totally vying for the favorite student/teacher's pet award, even told me after my supervisor had visited that she thinks I'm going to be "a great teacher someday."  Regardless of the underlying motivation, it was nice to hear.

Now for the Super Bowl and some Patriots action! - wouldn't mind if the weekend dragged just a little...


-MB