This week was very interesting to experience. There were constant highs and lows that were not things that I felt prepared for. I felt like all my highlights for the week were all little things related to establishing myself as a teacher in the classroom. Little things like being asked by students if I had time to stay after class to ask questions, or having students email me questions just to make sure that they are on the right track for their assignment made me feel like I was officially viewed as their teacher. This made me feel good because the students feel comfortable and trust me enough to ask me questions now. The low points of this week were all related to executing lessons and getting lesson activities done in the time I allotted for them. Three days in a row I didn’t manage to dismiss my PE class on time, causing students to be late for their second block.
I find that none of the UBC courses actually prepared me enough for either of these situations. For my PE methodology class, it prepared me to create a lesson, have back up and extension activities, but it didn’t really teach me how to think on the spot to modify my lesson so that I would be able to teach everything that I needed to cover while still being flexible with my time. I found that this was the main source of my trouble with dismissing students on time this week. On the flip side they also never prepared me enough for the joy that we would feel about all the little milestones and successes along the way, such as with students asking me for help and questions outside of class.
Whether you know it or not, I think that you have come to some understanding of both what is rewarding about teaching and what is critically important to assuming a leadership role, in this case in a classroom but in any endeavour where you are working with people. The reason they are now coming to you as they are, whether it be to ask to come in after school as they did or to have you help them solve a problem as you expressed in your email is because they are coming to like you, respect you and know that you care about them as learners and as people. This can be parlayed when you have to deal with the more difficult or “negative” situations. Think about a coach who is well respected and is considered to be a good communicator. This person has built up a lot of equity in his/her relationship bank account and this allow them to sometimes deliver the difficult message like “no”, “you’ll have to find a way to deal with this one yourself, etc. and still be respected. A good coach does not always give his/her players their way but works to develop and maximize each of their players strengths and potential while still maintaining control of the collective endeavour of the team.