Observation May 24

I had my observed lesson this week. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. For starters, my cooperating teacher was gone for the day. The class didn't behave as well as I hoped but I managed. I told my observer that I have to sometimes "yell" to get their attention and I think he misinterpreted what I meant. There are times when teachers needs to redirect the class's attention by raising their voice. It seems to work for my cooperating teacher, but I don't seem to have the same effect. I think my supervisor interpreted "yell" as an angry outburst. There have been times in class that I felt frustrated or annoyed but never angry. I'm going to keep researching management techniques until I find one that works for me and the class. My lesson plans still need some work. From now on, I'm going to stick to the rubric and meticulously cover each section. I think lesson plans are the worst part of teaching. I understand their importance and value, but I still don't like it. The only other problem my observer noted was my illegible hand writing on the board.  I don't take great pride in my hand writing, but I always thought it was legible. I was writing too quickly and could only use a small portion of the board so it stands to reason that my hand writing was sloppy. I felt pressed for time because the school was on a shortened schedule. Originally I had planned a two hour lesson, that got reduced to one hour, and then reduced to about forty minutes. I think the students enjoyed the lesson. I still need to grade their assignment but from the few that I've seen, I think they did well. The length and difficulty seemed ideal for an in-class assignment. I taught from the graphic novel Kampung Boy and was pleasantly surprised to see how engaged the class was with the story. Even the students that don't like reading, seemed to enjoy this book. I think it's important for students to find their niche in reading. Comic books, Harry Potter, and the Inheritance series got me into reading. Eventually, I learned how to appreciate a good story. That's one of the reasons I wanted to become an English teacher.