Week 13

I had wondered this week what I would write about, and thankfully, Neal has given me some questions to think about. First, I could go on and on about what I have learned from middle school. Most importantly, I have learned that this is an age-group that I could teach. I have never pictured myself teaching middle school because I had always envisioned myself as an elementary teacher. I thought that middle school kids would be so disrespectful and older than I would want to teach, but I have grown to realize that these preteens are still children! They still love to learn when the learning is fun and relevant to them. It may take a little more to motivate these students, but they are worth it. Similarly, middle school students still love to play review games and participate in hands-on activities. I thought that I would miss doing the "cutsy" activities that would normally be used in the elementary grades, but middle school students are just as hungry for them.

Second, I feel that I am the best at engaging in conversation with the students and making them feel comfortable around me. I have carried on conversations with all of the students that I have, and I feel that they are comfortable enough around me to talk to me as both a friend and a teacher. I think that this trait has helped me to build relationships with the students.

Finally, I know that I have a lot that I can improve on with teaching middle school. The first of which would to be more assertive in the classroom. I know that I can be more stern with the students and should cut off the talking a little bit more. This will definitely be an area that I will work on if I decide to teach middle school. I am glad that I now have another option for when I start my job hunt!

Week 12

This was my last week of full-time teaching. Next week, Mrs. McCutchan will start teaching the sixth grade again. It will be strange just being an extra body in the room as opposed to being the person who is running the class. It's crazy how much that these kids have grown on me. I was just telling my family about some of the students that I have and realized how much I'm going to miss them in a few weeks! I wasn't too sure about middle school at first, but now I see how misunderstood these students often are. Just like elementary students, they also need love and support.

I was telling my mom earlier that sometimes it's hard to know where to find the balance between being firm with the students and having enough of a sense of humor so that they actually care about what you have to say. I think that I'm still trying to find that balance and am definitely more on the sense of humor side. I try to be firm with the students, and I know that they respect me but think that some of them still try to test their limits sometimes.

On the other hand, we finished the six traits of writing this week in seventh grade. I was so proud of the ice cream sundae that I made as an illustration of the traits. I hope that the students will remember the six traits and apply them to their writing.

Week 11

The weeks are winding down! I have one more week left of full-time teaching to go. I was really productive this week because I have a busy weekend ahead, so all of my lesson plans are already finished for next week. On top of that, I have everything graded. If feels good to already have that accomplished. We have three seminars at WVU next week, so I know next week will be busy. To answer your question, Neal, we had to make an outline of the artifacts that we will use in the exit portfolio already. We also had to write one of our narratives. While it's hard to think about next semester already, I know it will be here before we know it, so it's good that we're starting to work on the portfolio already.

Action research is still going well. Their quiz scores on nouns were okay, and a lot of the students said that some of the grammar activities were their favorite this week. I just don't want to imagine putting all this data together to make some sense out of it!

Everything is going well overall teaching wise. My biggest problem with the middle schoolers is how chatty they are! I am constantly trying to figure out the best way for them to sit so that they don't talk so much. I know that they're at an age where all they want to do is socialize, but they need to realize that when they talk so much, it is disruptive to the rest of the class and me.

We finished the novel in seventh grade. They all seemed to really enjoy it. I wish that students had the opportunity to read more novels in school because it's books like Nothing but the Truth that keep students interested in reading. I had a few students, some who were very surprising to me, that went home and read the book on their own before we were finished with it in class. I was thrilled that they were so engaged in the novel that they couldn't put it down. How can we as teachers have our students doing that all of the time?