This week in Mr. Gwozdz's class things went pretty much as normal, the only difference was that on Wednesday I co-taught a journal with Mr. Gwozdz's since Mrs. Candela came in to do my evaluation. It was a really fun journal to teach, but it was also a really difficult one because I went in with one journal and Mr. Gwozdz changed what he wanted to do day of so I was doing things on the spot. It was fun to do none the less and afterwards a few of the students actually gave me some very helpful feedback. The students are amazing and it is hard for me to know that soon I will be leaving such an amazing group of kids, but I am super excited to move on in my experience. The thing that breaks my heart though is that I have made connections with some of the students, which I knew I had with some, but some I had no clue I had that connection and they all have been coming up to me saying that they are going to miss me not only in Mr. Gwozdz's class but at Lake Shore which is an amazing thing to hear.
Recently I also got my letter of recommendation back from my employer Mr. Gwozdz. It is a very nice letter and it made me realizing things I haven't before. In the letter he wrote about how my motivation to become a teacher being apparent and I had no clue that my motivation was obvious to others. I know it must be in some way since I am in this CFE for becoming an English Teacher but I had no idea that it was more apparent than I thought. I also didn't notice that I have been professional when dealing with the students, I just thought I was helping them like I would with a friend, I had no clue that I was professional about it. This letter from Mr. Gwozdz is very nice and has helped me realize more things about myself, which now makes me feel more confident about going into teaching.
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This past week was a little different then the past ones. Well the class wasn't really all that different except for spending Monday and Tuesday in the media center so the kids could work on their final projects for The Crucible and having Friday called off due to a power line issue nearby that could make the power go out at any moment (Which was when I was planning on taking my picture for this week, so unfortunately I didn't end up with a picture for this week, which I guess means that until I get a picture next week when I go back this post shall not have an image. Sorry) , no none of that to me seemed different. The thing that was different about this past week for me was how the students interacted with me. Over the past weeks I have been building connections with some of them and I have noticed how some of them grow more comfortable interacting with me, I like to think that I have started to really build relationships with some of them and gain their respect. This past week really showed me that some of my students actually do care about me. As you may already know this past week Lake Shore lost one of our own, we lost a recent graduate of the class of 2015 Sean. He and I were both members of Lake Shores Geek Squad and CHAOS groups, he was like an older brother to me, we had our share of fights, but we were like brother and sister so really should anything else be suspected? What shocked me above all things though was that some of my students had paid more attention to me then I noticed, my students actually care about me as much as I care about them, some of them knew of my relationship with Sean and they made sure to ask how I was and let me know that they were there for me to talk to if I needed which was really great. I really love Mr. Gwozdz and the students, I am so incredibly grateful for this experience. Every week I learn something new and this week I learned that relationships with students are very important, if you show them that you care about them they will care for you in return.
This week we had to read an article about stealing participation trophies and to be completely honest I am on the fence about the entire situation. I see how giving a trophy for just showing up can be dangerous because a child might get the wrong idea, but I also see how it can be beneficial. To me a participation trophy is a great thing...only if it is handled properly though. Growing up I got participation trophies for simply completing a grade in school but everyone got those and it was understood that they were just pieces of paper too encourage us to stay in school. The only trophies I got growing up that I worked for were perfect attendance awards. I see how both kinds of these trophies can be beneficial so I am on the fence about this situation. This past week was pretty much the same as usual, but we did have Tuesday off and Friday our class got Drama Bombed by the wonderful Drama Club of Lake Shore so I guess I can't say it was the same. The class finished reading and watching The Crucible this week and are now trying to connect it to McCarthyism since that is kind of what pushed Arthur Miller to write the book in the first place. While the kids were working on their assignments Mr. Gwozdz and I took some time to talk about what I can do with the class. Both of us have the same goal of me taking over class for a day, but we are still trying to figure out just how to do that since he does have to make sure that the class gets all of the required work done before I can take over. Plus he does have other hours that I am not in so whatever I teach I have to make sure that I don't get my hour behind the rest and make sure my lesson plans can be taught by him as well which is what we are working on figuring out. But we hope that soon I will be able to step in. On Friday as the students were working on finishing up reading an article about McCarthy and starting work on their final projects for The Crucible the Drama Club came in (unannounced to the class) and performed a scene from the book. It was amazing to not only see the Drama Club perform, but it was amazing to see how the students reacted to the performance. Overall the week was great and the Drama Club did a great job on the scene.
For this weeks journal we had to read an article about 15 Traits of The Ideal Employee and as I read it through I could see the traits I have along with all the ones I really need to work on. Personally to me I think having honest employees is really important which is a reason why I try to have this trait with the people I work with. At least I am pretty sure I have this trait but I could be wrong. One trait on the list I know I have for sure is passion. Yeah that's me with teaching I love it with every fiber of my being, even though sometimes it's annoying and it can stress me out like nothing else can I am really passionate about it. I have had people tell me I am insane for wanting to teach, but I choose to not listen to their thoughts because nothing else can give me the same thrill as teaching can. I love it and can't wait to go to college for it. Too be honest though it does suck to have people tell me I am insane for wanting to teach since I am so passionate about it. This past week was much like the rest, there really is not a ton to tell. I showed up and sat there as the kids read/acted out the Crucible like I usually do and just listened to what Mr. Gwozdz had to teach them. He is very interesting teacher to observe, I have learned a lot of helpful tips from him over the past few weeks and could not be more grateful for all he has taught me. For example on Friday Mr. Gwozdz let the kids look up articles online that interested them and then he had them present the articles to their classmates with two sentence summaries on the white board. While the kids looked up articles on the web Mr. Gwozdz erased the ones from the previous hour so no one would copy anyone else, the board was erased for the most part but one part of it really bugged me since you could still see some of the words written earlier so I wanted to try and remove as much of it as possible, as I was trying to get at the spot when Mr. Gwozdz came over to me and taught me a trick with the eraser which was really nice of him. Mr. Gwozdz is a great employer and I am so happy to be learning from him. This week for the career field experience I watched a Ted Talk about Everyday Leadership and it got me to thinking, Have I ever been a leader for someone and not noticed? I know for sure that I have leaders in my life but have I been a leader for anyone else? I can see how maybe I could be a leader to some people but I don't know if it really counts. Too me everything I do just seems to be normal, I just talk to people and try to help when I can, I don't know if that counts as leadership but who knows maybe it is. I mean I was just informed that someone that I have talked to about my experience was influenced enough to go check out the program because they are thinking of becoming an English teacher as well, maybe I am a leader and just didn't know. |
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May 2016
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