There was an unexpected emotional moment for me during my last week’s lesson. I am both embarrassed and amused by what happened, and it is definitely going to be one of the memorable moments in my teaching career. My frustration level with the students listening and communication skills went so high that I burst into tears. I could see that my students were confused, worried, and nervous. The classroom was absolutely silent for a long time. I tried to make a lesson out of that unexpected moment. I revisited the moment a week later, but many students seemed to move on from that already.

My focus of this week is to help the student to reach their potentials, to help them show their strengths, and to build their confidence. I try to provide all students with the opportunity to show their strengths. Since the morning Me Time was canceled as a punishment for the time that they wasted during the day, I initiated the morning dance routine to replace the Me Time. I decided to get them more physically active to burn out some energy, and also to help with one of the struggling students, who is good at singing and dancing, to build his confidence by bringing his strength into the classroom.

I feel that now I have a better understanding of designing cross-curriculum lessons and finding the right moment to connect the things that have been happening in class
For example, incorporating environmental conversation into math by calculating the number of wrappers that they would use from Monday to Friday. This lesson was also one of the lessons that worked out very well this week. I planned to do multiplication worksheets but changed to a more open-ended exercise at the last minute. The students had been talking about conversation and environmental protections in the classroom. I asked the students to check their lunch bags and find out how many plastic wrappers that they had in their lunch bags. Using their numbers, the students were asked to find out how many wrappers they would use every week. They can also challenge themselves and find out about the month and also the year. I was surprised to see that almost everyone was interested and focused on their task. Only one student started eating lunch after he got his lunch bag even though I asked them not to. It was shocking to some of them to know that they would use about 60 to 100 wrappers every month, and all of these wrappers would end up being thrown away as garbage.

I am getting a more comprehensive understanding of the students’ weekly routine since I started my long practicum. For the past two weeks, I noticed how an inside day could affect the afternoon dynamic in the classroom. I also felt the impact of family situations could have on the students. I realize that the success of one lesson is often not depended on the quality of your lesson plan, but how you carry out every small part to make learning process smooth. For example, the length of sitting time is necessary to notice. Also, sending the students to get materials at the same time might cause more anxiety for the students as they all rush to one place simultaneously.  

One of the biggest Aha moments for the last two weeks is when I realized that only student-initiated questions could truly motivate the students to learn. I tried doing surrey on students’ personal information and personal interests for making tally charts and bar graphs. However, I was very surprised to see that many students did not seem to care about the result. They didn’t care much about how many students had one, two, or more pets at home. The next class, I invited the students to think of a question that they are curious about and ask at least ten of the classmates. They were more engaged and motivated for sure, but this time it was challenging to have the side conversations under control. The challenge of talking about the students’ interests (video games in this case) without getting them too excited to get focused on the task.

I am very excited to try out new things in the classroom. I have tried to incorporate more educational technologies into learning by introducing Menti.com, and students will be able to use the device to provide answers, votes, or play games. This week has been a process of having them getting familiar with this new tool and having their excitement under control. The school teacher has also introduced the website code.org to the students to explore and learn. Students are getting better at using these educational tools, and I look forward to seeing these technology devices being used in more meaningful ways.

I saw this boy, who usually acted rather silly on the Thursday during my visits before, carefully cared for his seed for many days. When many other students asked for more seeds to plant and play with, he was fully committed to that one seed that he picked and wanted to help it live and grow. His mother also shared with my school teacher that this student had been taking great care of the seed at home. The student carefully stored the seed at a safe place at home to hide it from his dog. These things change one’s perspectives, and you can only notice these small things when you are immersed in the environment with the students.