Shaw middle school

This week I had the opportunity to ride a school bus from Shaw Middle School to Rogers High School for an introduction to high school assembly. It was cool to take a step outside of the English classroom and travel with the kids to another setting. We left Shaw during lunch at 1:05 and came back at 3:15. It had been a while since I sat in a school bus. A student from my 5th period class begged for me to sit next to him. On the short ride there he talked to me about baseball and how excited he was to go to high school with his older brother and sister. When we got to Rogers auditorium I got a little nostalgic. I miss the good o'l leadership days in high school and putting on assemblies. I loved to see the excitement of the middle schoolers. On the way out they were given a Rogers shirt and on the bus ride they were yelling "freshman power," while we were all crammed three to a seat. It was a lot of fun.

Thursday I taught three lessons. When preparing the lesson, I have an idea of what the students will say as a response to the questions I ask. I look at the lesson as an opportunity for me to teach the students. There is a boy in my 3rd period class who is very bright. When I asked questions, he would often bring up an aspect I had not thought about. Students can teach teachers. Together we form a learning community.

As I was teaching, I found that many students were excited to answer questions. Most would raise their hands, but they would also shout out the answer at the same time. I had to constantly tell the students to pause and speak one at a time. At the end of my lessons, I ask my teacher for any words of wisdom. He told me to always ask students to raise hands from the beginning of the lesson and only take answers from students who raise their hands. In the next lesson that my coordinating teacher taught, he demonstrated this to me. The class was quieter and my teacher hardly had to raise his voice. This is a practice I will adopt.

There is a quiet student in my 3rd period class. She is very sweet, often asks for help and really puts effort into her work. I was surprised when she told me she had lunch detention for the rest of the week from Mr. English's science class. She told me she got in trouble for not doing her work and talking. It was crazy to me to see how differently students act in other classrooms. Students often have good behavior in my cooperative teacher’s classroom. I am thankful that I was paired with such a great teacher. The students really do look up to him.