Since it was a four day week this week (Thursday was an in-service day), my master teacher and I agreed that I would teach three out of her five classes this week: 1st, 3rd (ELL) & 4th (GATE), and two of her classes next week when we’re back to a five day week. This will get me very close to “half time teaching,” the requirement for this week and next.
Next week, I’ll teach 2nd and 4th while my master teacher teaches 1st, 3rd & 5th.
We started a new unit this week, one that will last two weeks. Monday and Tuesday were also the days that I was running my “experiment” for TPA #2 (one of four California requirements for teachers). I had my two test subjects in period one, and I made their special assignments available to all the students for extra credit, but these two would be required to do the work (since my experiment was created specifically for them, they’ll also get credit). On Monday, my supervisor also came to observe me during the ELL class, the hardest class to teach, since it’s both a Social Studies and a Reading/Writing class. I do not think I did well during my observation, but I also don’t think the class suffered too much. I just need more skills in the area of ELL.
Tuesday and Wednesday went very well. I felt like I did alright. I also spent these two days trying my best to emulate (in fourth and fifth periods) any technique I saw my master teacher doing during second period (after I had completed teaching first period without observing her). In all cases, I think the later periods benefited.
Thursday was a teacher in-service day, which I attended. The first half of the day was all about Common Core adoption. I learned a bit, and it was interesting to see what the experienced teachers thought about it. Most were overwhelmingly positive. My Social Studies group was less enthusiastic about it because there is no Common Core for Social Studies, other than the 10 items for Social Studies contained within Language Arts. The second half of the day was spent learning how to operate the Chromebooks the school had recently purchased. Once you get to know how they work, these Chromebooks are pretty useful… if you can find a way to give up Microsoft Office.
Friday was free dress “sports” day. There was a lot of Niner’s gear on campus. I liked the atmosphere. I don’t know what my students had done on Thursday, but they all seemed tired and wiped-out (not unlike the teachers – that in-service was long and crammed with info – my brain hurt!). They did not seem to want to learn today, but they were also sleepy. We got through the reading material, and then watched a video on Lewis & Clark, which we will finish on Monday. All in all, a very good week.