This week, I was formally observed by my SA while teaching a Math lesson. The lesson started off okay and it was going well until I had the students engage in a partner game. Before beginning this game, I had a discussion with the students about working in partners and what that should look like. They were all very aware of what partner work should look like and its advantages as well. During the game, most students were enjoying it while others (even after having a conversation about being good partners) were starting to become upset at their partners. One student began crying because she wasn’t feeling well and she was upset that I didn’t understand her question. I asked her to take a minute to breathe and calm down and then I would come talk to her again. Before I got a chance to talk to her, the Education Assistant spotted her and took her out to speak to her. Unfortunately, she was feeling sick and she went to lay down at the office. Before then, I thought maybe my instructions weren’t very clear to her and it had caused frustration and therefore evoking tears. There was another student who was getting upset with his partner and using foul language so I asked him to take a seat at the corner to calm down and that he could come back when he is ready to be respectful.

I find it difficult to get students attention once they are fully engaged in an activity and are enjoying it and talking and laughing out loud. Although my signal is loud enough to be heard, students are reluctant to stop what they are doing and therefore after three signals and some waiting time, I had to pause before moving on to the next activity to speak about getting their attention. I briefly explained to them what the use of the tambourine is for and that I am finding it difficult to get their attention. We practiced it a couple of times and I attempted to explain to them what needs to be done once they are responding to my signal. Thankfully this discussion helped for most of the lesson.  I had a brain break which the students really enjoyed. However, after the brain break, students were becoming antsy and perhaps it was my fault for extending the lesson. I should have stopped ten minutes before recess to give them time for snacks but I had continued up until recess time even though I could see that they were becoming a little careless. Overall my SA said I did all the right things but I just have a difficult group of kids. I really hope she is right because sometimes I am very hard on myself and feel as though I am not doing good enough. I will continue teaching math until this unit is complete and next week I will be informally observed by my other SA to get a different perspective. I hope it goes well.