My First Practicum Week!

This week was filled with early mornings and long nights spent with lesson plans (and I wouldn't trade it for anything!).  I was nervous as I approached this week, but I think that a little nerves are healthy. My CT had emailed me and said that she believed in giving teacher candidates immediate hands on experience, which I loved. We observed for a little while and then were given the opportunity to work with the sophomores as they read The Crucible. My teaching partner and I were given roles to read in the play and I was taken aback at how excited the kids were to read their lines. This excitement fueled me to use my strongest reading voice and to make sure that I projected and expressed emotion as I read my lines. The senior classes that my CT teaches started reading Buried Child when we first went to observe. I am excited to observe and co-teach the students from start to finish with this play!
            My teaching partner and I were given an awesome opportunity to chaperone a field trip with the two senior classes to see King Lear being performed! There were 40 students who went on this field trip and their excitement was palpable as they got on the bus. These students were so mature throughout this whole experience and there was not one instance where a student had to be reprimanded. The play itself was filled with talented actors who put on an amazing performance.  The discussion that the students had after the play demonstrated their maturity and understanding of King Lear on a deeper level of reading comprehension than just the literal level.

On our third trip to the school, my teaching partner and I were given the opportunity to teach the senior class about SDQR charts and lead them through Act 2 of Buried Child. Our CT let us lead the reading of The Crucible with both of her 10^th grade classes and for one of the 10^th grade classes we were able to lead them through their vocabulary as well! I found this a great opportunity to practice writing on the whiteboard (which is one of my weak areas that I need to work on) and I was surprised that my writing was straight for the most part! The 10^th graders needed some direction/scaffolding to get them to read with emotion, so we had the students evaluate what emotion their characters were feeling and then made them reread certain lines with that emotion. Once the students got going, they were really into it!

The senior class was the one that we taught the SDQR chart to. We lead them through most of Act 2 of Buried Child and then modeled how to use a SDQR chart. Our CT liked this and assigned them homework based around finishing Act 2 and completing an SDQR chart with it. The thing that I was most surprised by was the level of enthusiasm with these students as well as their demonstration of critical thinking skills. I think that they felt more comfortable around my TP and I simply because we had spent three days this week with them, as opposed to the 10th graders who were only seeing us for the second time. 

Both classes had a blast reading their respective plays and that felt so rewarding to me! I loved knowing that we were able to make this fun for them. I loved that the students liked our lessons and it inspired to me continue striving to make lessons that were informational as well as well received. I'm really excited to see what next week holds for me!