After a long six weeks, Spring Break has finally arrived. This past week has been a great, albeit exhausting, and I’m ready for some catch up sleep and ample prep time! Lots happened this week: another TC and I switched classes for the day to gain experience as a TOC, my Science 10 classes presented their Application of Genetics projects over two days, Parent-Teacher Interviews were on Wednesday, and I had my mid-point meeting! It was very busy but there were so many incredible moments, it will be hard to summarize them all in this one post.

Highs:

• Even though we were informed 30 minutes prior to switching, my day as a TOC was a lot of fun. My SA seemed surprised at my lack of stress over having to give up my class for the day and not know what I would be doing during the day, but I felt that my classes for the day would be easy enough to follow along. My organization and depth in lesson plans made me feel confident that the TC could teach the material with little issue. In the classes I went to, I found that I had a great time with the students. My goal was to learn as many names as possible right away so I could make those connections quickly. One of the blocks was a Science 8 which at first made me feel uneasy as everyone had always said that grade 8s are difficult to teach, but I found that if I could channel their energy and talkative nature, we would have very productive and meaningful conversations. When we debriefed at the end of the day, I received a lot of really good feedback about how I handled some situations and how I presented myself to the class.
• The Application of Genetics Gallery Walks occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, with a lot of success. One my classes was far more engaged in the activity and were actively listening and interested in the projects being presented. I had one of the Vice Principals come to visit the Gallery Walk to see the work that students had put together, and he seemed to be impressed with their work. The students seemed to really like this project as they were very well versed in their topics and genuinely excited to talk about them.
• Parent-Teacher interviews, while exhausting, were a lot of fun. I received a lot of amazing feedback from parents! So many parents came in just because they had heard a lot about me being a great teacher and wanted to put a face to the name. They said that their children were really enjoying my classes and were coming home and talking a lot about what they had done in science class that day. I have been told that I am doing a good job by other teachers and even students, but hearing this confirmation from parents really solidified my confidence.

Lows:

• During my TOC switch, I ran into a few difficult situations were some of the students were complaining about their teacher, who happens to be a good friend of mine. I know that they (the teacher) had expressed a lot of frustration and stress over this class as they had been working very hard but couldn’t get their students to understand the material. I could not empathize with them as I saw how the students felt, but I also saw many of them unwilling to work slightly harder to be able to understand. I wanted to help out, but because I was so unfamiliar with the content (plant biology was never been my strong suit), I felt useless other than as a frequent enforcer or work who offered a lot of encouragement.
• My only concern with the TOC switch was “what if the students don’t understand what they were taught?” When we had our debrief, we discussed how many teachers have TOCs act as “babysitters” of worksheets, because they don’t want to have to reteach the material and would rather just teach it when they have returned. I could understand this, but as I could be a potential TOC, I didn’t like the idea of other teachers seeing me as a “babysitter.” It was slightly discouraging, but I do understand that a lot of effort is required to create thorough lesson plans to ensure that anyone could teach it.
• One of my Science 10 classes did not take the Gallery Walks as seriously, which was very disappointing. Three groups came in with empty poster boards, trying to scramble to put them together at the beginning of class, while two other groups did not to the project at all. The students also spent more time socializing during the Gallery Walk rather than presenting their information. It was disheartening, but I thought that this may occur. This class is far more independent and needs to be actively engaged or else they find importance elsewhere. This was the case and I found I spent too much time trying to keep students engaged in presentations than I could listen.
• During the Parent-Teacher Interviews, I noticed that a few of the parents were extremely confused to see me, as their child had not told them that they had a student teacher as their teacher. No parent complained, but some seemed worried that their child was not being taught by a proper teacher. My SA was always there to back me up and indicated that I was an excellent teacher. I found it discouraging that the students had not said anything to their parents, and that the lack of communication between parent and child was concerning.
• After the projects, I realized my Spring Break was going to be full of marking – 30+ poster projects, 50+ labs, 50+ quizzes… I may have piled too many assignments into one week!

 

Most important thing I have learned this week: Communication is key to any working relationship. Whether that be between myself and a student or parent, or between parents and children, if communication is lacking, the relationship cannot be strong. I hope that I can continue to work on my communication skills, and I that I can find ways in the future to encourage more communication at home.