It Was Nice to Be a Kid Again!

Mondays are always a struggle. It is typically my worst day of the week because I go without more than one hour-long break from 7am to 7pm. However, this week’s Monday improved drastically when I got the automated reminder that our Education 250 class was meeting at the gym to do our last round of student-taught lessons. Needless to say, I was overjoyed to find that I got to spend an hour in the middle of it all playing dodgeball and soccer as if I was a 2^nd grader. What a great mental break!

Not only did I love having an hour to destress but I also gained an appreciation for all that physical education teachers have to do to meet the same requirements as those within a “typical classroom.” It’s not easy to get an open gym full of students to focus on your instruction. There are no desks to reign them in and there a multitude of different accessories (parachutes, balls, jump ropes, etc.) to distract whatever small speck of attention the teacher thinks they have.

From firsthand experience, I can honestly say that I never took my PE classes seriously. While I participated in each day’s various sports and activities, I didn’t ever feel as if I was learning anything. We’d start a unit on basketball or some other hand-eye coordinated sport I didn’t appreciate, so I’d fake my way through the short teaching sessions until we were released to “practice” more on our own. Regardless of what sport it was, I typically spent that independent practice time playing soccer. I knew I could do this without being reprimanded so why wouldn’t I do something I loved?

Recognizing the amount of attentiveness it takes to keep all students focused in a PE class made me begin thinking about how I will keep my students engaged in my classroom. I want to set up my instruction in such a way that it is constantly requiring student input. If I frequently call on students to give me the next step of a problem or its solution, it will motivate them to soak up every word that I say so that they will be prepared when I call on them.

This method was reinforced a great deal in the 6^th grade ELA lesson taught today by another pre-student teacher. Ms. Scoggins put emphasis on student understanding by constantly having us explain what we believed each element to be. She called names specifically to eliminate the awkward lull that comes from middle schoolers not volunteering to answer questions. Taking what each student observed, she connected it to her definitions of terms using lingo like “That’s fire” and social media that her students could directly comprehend. While she shaped her lesson around 21^st century learners, Ms. Scoggins also did a fantastic job of integrating history into what she was teaching.

Through her method of connecting 9/11, Helen Keller and other events, I realized that integration does not necessarily have to be between big concepts. Even making small connections can support student understanding. As I have continued to reiterate, math classes often leave this element out of their lessons. It is taxing to relate other areas therefore leading teachers to avoid it altogether. Recognizing that connections can be made to details of my lessons has reassured me that it can not only be done but is effective. In my future classroom, I will strive to find ways to do this even when a concept first appears hopeless.

A Promising Road Ahead

When I think about my future in the School of Education and as a teacher, it is sometimes extremely daunting. There are so many factors that play a role in fostering success and it can be overwhelming to ponder how my classroom will encompass all of them. Being at the beginning of the entire process has left me focusing on how long it appears to take to get to the other side. It has been so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of our projects and lose the larger picture of a promising career. However, these stressful thoughts are heavily outweighed by the positive reassurance I receive with each class.

Today, I was refreshed by the encouraging words of a future middle school social studies teacher who is less than a semester away from student teaching. Dr. Parker and Dr. Clark asked her to come teach a lesson for our class so that we could see how much one grows throughout their time in the School of Education. My experience during her class was much more beneficial than any social studies class I have ever been a part of. While she was there to teach a 7^th grade World War I lesson, I learned so much more than the definition of imperialism and pros and cons of military alliances. She taught the major concepts of the war without ever shifting her students’ focus to the memorization names and dates.

One of the biggest elements that I appreciated about her lesson was that she drove her instruction through her students’ voices. Each time she wanted to introduce a new aspect, she empowered her students by having them form their own hypotheses through observations, make definitions and connect the vocabulary to concepts we understood from daily life. She acknowledged the strengths behind each student’s response and connected it to the larger theme she was trying to portray. As a student in her class, I interpreted this as “I’m invested in your growth and success. You have made great connections. Here is how the ideas you have connect even deeper.”

In the classroom, this is CRUCIAL. Students are more driven to contribute to discussions if they feel like their opinion will be respected and valued. Ms. Carol did a phenomenal job of acknowledging each and every one of her students, even those that were intentionally trying to be difficult. She moved forward from each formative assessment, making adjustments when there were lulls in the conversation or confused expressions. In my future classroom, I hope to approach each lesson with the same attitude Madalyn did. By letting the students know that I am devoted to their success and proud of their understanding along the way, I will be positively contributing to the overall environment and its effects on my classroom.