In Midseason Form

Yesterday was finally the initial observation from my university supervisor. Thanks to the crazy testing schedule, professional development days and other scheduling conflicts, I was worried we'd have had to push the observation too far back. We still have a midterm and final observation to go, but at least I have the first one under my belt.

The way yesterday began, I was regretting that it was the day for my observation. I had been reluctant to schedule it for a Friday, but it sure beat the alternative of having a shortened period to work with. The observation was scheduled for my fifth period theater class, and Mr. Scott and I had worked out the plans to incorporate some bookwork with the introduction to the new chapter on Mime, which I expanded into the theme of movement. Because of the schedule, we still had some show and tell performances to wrap up as well. In first period, the students were sluggish. I'm not sure if students were just out of rhythm because of the testing on Thursday or what, but they weren't buying what I was selling.
After the performances and the discussion about the chapter, I took the students to the stage area to play Machine, a favorite theater game. I'm not sure whether it was my directions or the fact that the students were resisting participation, or maybe it was some combination thereof, but the game bombed. There was virtually no energy for a game that depends entirely on physical movement. I was glad that I had the chance to rework some things before the later observation.

My second period world literature class didn't feel any better. We had listened to the audio of parts one and two of The Epic of Gilgamesh on Wednesday; yesterday, I was explicating the story from the beginning, and students put up walls of resistance. You'd think I was trying to extract teeth! While we were listening to the announcements before dismissing the class, Mrs. Moore tapped me on the shoulder to suggest we do a quiz next week. I guess we'll see how effective that is in forcing the students to become actively engaged. At any rate, I did not have high hopes for the rest of the day, including the observation.

Finally, fifth period rolled around, and my supervisor was able to talk to Mr. Scott prior to the class. We had a brief discussion as well, in which I told him about our lesson plans and how the classes had been going so far. I was able to organize the students pretty quickly when it came to finishing the performances, and then we did well with the bookwork. This time, I added a bridge activity before the Machine, and that helped. That, and I think the students were a little more awake. It still wasn't great, but it was more effective than that of first period.

After the period was over, I met with the supervisor, and he had nothing but good things to say. He liked my classroom management and how well I used the time, and he thought I involved the students well. We touched base on my world lit class, and then he was gone. Not bad. Especially considering how the day began. Not that I was that concerned heading into the observation, but it is nice to get confirmation from an outside observer that things are going as well as I perceive.