The Final Review

The Final Review:

As the semester winds down, or pumps up the intensity depending on who you speak to, it is time to reflect on the work I have done or have struggled with along the way.

In this class, we were asked to truly look at ourselves as teachers, not just as teaching candidates. As teacher, then, we had to take our class with us on a journey of education, strap them in tight with prerequisites and count down the blast off with a list of skills they would soon be masters of. But along the way, as our students stared in starry wonder at their new knowledge, we learned all that we didn't know we didn't know. I didn't know that Direct Lesson would become a backbone of my Unit Plan. I didn't know that I could use riddle solving and artifact bags to become this profound new t
ool to open up chapter books, explore web pages and give students a base to leap off into a great unknown. That is the beauty of exploring uncharted territory. That is the absolute fright of exploring unknown territory. Because just when you uncover a rock and are amazed at what could lie beneath, you could turn the rock over and realize you're in for an ugly surprise.

My ugly surprise was time. Just when I thought I had enough it was clear I never did. Time management in the classroom is a trick of the light and a mastery of physics all at the same time. I could settle students into a new classroom, have their attention rapt as I spouted out facts and numbers, but I often came up short. Either I had too much time or too little, as I fumbled around to make the time lapse or time crunch work.

What did I learn? I learned many things. I learned that working with a co-teacher was beyond rewarding. Rachel and I developed our own language, we read one another very well and learned what each other's strength's and weaknesses were. Rachel was a fast paced worker who could read an instruction just once and run with it. I, on the other hand, was someone who needed to mull over the instruction in order to start moving. We both had the same approach to classroom behavior: get in line. Which was important, because that provided that we were on the same page and the students really picked up on our expectations straight away. I would say I was most proud of the way that we were able to command a classroom of students and that we had them so engaged from beginning to end.