Five weeks down, five-plus to go

While one may think of this as five weeks into the latest Bears season (a surprising 4-1, with anyone's guess how the rest will go), it is hard to believe that I am already five weeks into my student teaching assignment, with little more than five weeks left to go. As Mrs. Moore might put it, I've gotten to see a lot of things so far. Nothing else has been quite as "exciting" as having the principal in the classroom for two consecutive days during the first week of school. My range of experiences, though, will prove more than informative as I transition into this new career.

Teaching three sections of theater and two sections of world literature, I see an array of students. It's only seniors in the world lit classes, but one section is inclusion. Some students are doing really well in the class, and some aren't exactly trying. This next week of assignments (post-progress reports) will go a long ways toward determining who will pass and who likely won't. We have an important study guide project due Friday and a unit project due Monday--not to mention a set of journal entries; there are a ton of points on the table this week, and failure to capitalize will be devastating for the students. At the department meeting, we were informed that a "D-F list" was to be circulated, and teachers are supposed to offer remediation strategies in order to help students pass. Mrs. Moore's philosophy, and I tend to agree, is that seniors should be able to come up with their own remediation strategies. The reality is that if the students have done their assignments, they are passing, and if they haven't been doing the work, they are not passing.

For the theater classes, I have two sections of high school students, each with a very different dynamic due to its placement in the daily schedule. The first period class has a high rate of tardiness and a greater resistance to participation. My fifth period group is much more energetic, but they get too talkative. On Wednesday last week, I had to end an imagination exercise and sit everyone down for a writing assignment due to their collective lack of respect. They did a much better job of participating on Thursday.

The other theater section is nothing short of crazy. We have some middle schoolers at the high school, and my sixth period section is really two groups of students: one that meets M-W-F and one that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are 35 students in each grouping, so it's fair to say there are still a bunch of students I cannot yet identify by name. Same for Mr. Scott. On Thursday, the students did the Edward Albee version of the lesson plan--it was just absurd. As Mr. Scott has said, sometimes you can fight the wave of energy, and sometimes it's better just ride that wave wherever it takes you. Thursday was one of those days.

Five weeks in, I can honestly say I expected more resistance from students and for the overall process to be more difficult. Have I written out all of my lesson plans in the appropriate university format, complete with the state standards which I'm hitting? No, but I have mapped out the lessons for each respective unit, basically using the "backwards" design prescribed. I have appropriate assessments and allowances for remediation. I know what my overall objectives are and know essentially what I hope to accomplish with each day. Some days have gone better than others, which isn't unexpected. What is my biggest success? I can manage a classroom. That being said, these are mostly good, nonaggressive students. Could I handle more combative students? I believe I can, but until that situation presents itself, I just have to hold onto that belief. In the meantime, five-plus weeks to go...