Last night I taught my second round of classes. Both classes went fairly well, but not absolutely amazing. I’m definitely still in the process of finding my ideal teaching style for them all while trying to learn the material that has to be covered.
I have to say, I do enjoy teaching two classes back to back. By the second class, I’ve gotten more comfortable with my lesson plan (as I’ve already taught it once) and am able to “tweak” things if necessary (i.e. spend more time on a topic that the first group got stuck on). Needless to say, I’m looking forward to starting my second semester of teaching in the spring so both groups can have that same luxury.
I have been pretty impressed with their work ethic for this first set of assignments. They had a discussion post due Sunday and most of them (as in 45 out of 60) had posted by Wednesday or Thursday of last week. They have their first real assignments, a short paper and the set-up of a blog, due this Thursday, and my phone has been blowing up with e-mails letting me know that many have e-mailed their papers in. I haven’t done the final count, but I know it is quite a few! This eagerness will probably dwindle down, but I’m enjoying it so far!
Speaking of assignments, grading is definitely something I’m having to get used to. This week (as in Sunday to Sunday), my students have (or have had) three assignments due so 60 students times 3 assignments = 180 assignments for me to grade. Obviously some of the assignments are easier to grade than others (like the discussion posts), but because I am big on giving feedback, even the little ones take a while. Since the students have been turning them in early, it has been easier to grade them in small clumps, but I’m sure there will be a time when I have all 60 assignments rolling into my inbox at the same time. It is definitely a learning process and I’m still trying to find the best way for me to handle this.
Okay as for this week (not just class, but work outside class as well) these are the things I felt went well:
- I’ve been pretty proud of myself getting back their assignments in a timely manner and thankfully not skimping on the comments. This first assignment was more of a personal reflection so I didn’t give as many writing “pointers” as I normally would, but I hope to do so on future assignments.
- I love having a lesson plan. The past two weeks, I have typed out a very simplistic lesson plan (basically talking points), but it helps keep me on track and helps me remember everything I need to cover with BOTH classes. As the class goes on, I jot down notes so I can make changes for next semester or even the next class.
- This week, the chapter served as an introduction to educational technology as well as the technology standards for teachers and students. I planned a couple activities for students to see these standards in action to help them hopefully better understand these standards. I’m very thankful I did because it really seemed to help them remember them better because they could put an example with the standard name.
These are the things I would change:
- I had been thinking about doing a check-in question to encourage them to read the chapter before class and this week gave me even more reason to do so. This week I started out the class session with a discussion and prefaced it by saying “This would be an example of your check in question”. I chose a question that I felt was pretty obvious if they’d even attempted to read the material and honestly, if they’d thought about it, they would have been able to answer. My first class did well and told me the answer right off the bat, but when I asked my second class, I swear I heard crickets chirping, so apparently they did not read. Hopefully this check-in question or activity will motivate them to read before class.
- For next semester, I am going to try to develop grading rubrics for each of the assignments. I know I feel better when I have a rubric to follow, and I would like my students to be clear on my expectations as well. I didn’t have time to do so before this class started, but I definitely hope to do so before next semester.
- I didn’t feel that I was super engaging last night. A friend that is a veteran teacher said I was fine and I shouldn’t expect for them to be super excited about everything, but as a teacher (especially an elementary one) I want them to get excited about what they are learning. I’m going to do my best in the future to make sure I am at least keeping them active so they are not just having to listen to me talk the entire time.
