Striving Towards Competency

The second week of being in the field is going well I am beginning to start building relationships with some of the students and I really feel like I have made a lot of progress compared to how I was when I first began the teaching program. This week I've primarily talked with my mentor teacher about how to manage the classroom as one of the class periods I am present for is much more rowdy and energetic when compared to the other. I'm also a big fan of how Mrs. Fox gets her student's attention by using her 1-2-clap method which can turn an out-of-control classroom silent in just a few seconds without having to yell or seem aggressive at all.

 This week we began our first round of practicum teaching and I was placed in Mrs. Fox's Social Studies class at Delta Middle School. With it being the first week I didn't get to be involved too much as I am still learning students' names and understanding middle schoolers as a whole. I was a little nervous but seeing how friendly and well-behaved most of the class is that made integrating myself into the class much easier and less nerve-wracking. This first week consisted primarily of students reading their textbooks and working on small assignments which haven't been as exciting but allowed us to focus more on getting used to being a teacher in a classroom.

 This week we discussed classroom management and one thing that I would want to create with my classroom is a community within my class as it could help represent the broader community we live in. By doing this I could show my students who they live within their community and promote ways to help them identify ways to improve the community through the medium of the classroom. This is also an effective way to promote cooperation among my students and thus their community. This is another topic we touched on in SS 350 where I presented the idea that the school's primary use is not to educate but rather to help socialize students and teach them how to interact and talk to their peers and this will be the foundation that I will build my classroom from. 

      In the second week of EDJH 385, we discussed how we as educators can create a trauma-sensitive classroom and how we can best address and tend to any trauma or emotional issues our students face. One thing I will absolutely implement in my classroom and keep an eye out for is when students sleep in class as one of the examples I was given was in my SS 350 class speaking with Mr. Fossald, a very experienced and well-respected middle school teacher here in Indiana, is that one of his students would sleep in class every day and Fossald would attempt to wake the student to get them to pay attention. One day Fossald spoke with the student and learned that this student worked a full-time job outside of school to provide for his siblings as his parents had recently passed away. Mr. Fossald then explained how he apologized to the student for waking them in class and instead allowed the student to sleep in class but made arrangements to allow the student to get their class wo...