Matt’s Block Blog

My favorite memory at Aki..High was my awesome cooperating teachers.  My accounting teacher was amazing.  She showed me how to build good rapport with my students.  She had good teaching methods for me to observe and impliment into my own teaching one day, and she was an awesome person with a great attitude.  Though I enjoyed the teaching more in my accounting class I also enjoyed the tips and conversation of ways to succeed with my PE cooperating teachers.  I said teachers because their wasn’t just one of them their were 4 all together most of the time that shared stories of how they got started and how to do different things. 

All in all my experience here at Aki.. High was a good one.  I had a great proffesor,  great cooperating teachers and wonderful students to work with.

I woke up at 7:15 on a Saturday to the sound of rain.  I found that very peaceful until I realized that I forgot to blog again!  As a teacher you have responsibilities to meet deadlines, and I forget about somethings because I have alot of things going on.  So how do I fix that?  I can’t say “Well when I get a real job I won’t have as much going on”.  I guess I may not have as many different obligations and directions to look at.  Right now I have four different classes, three to four different jobs.  I’m not saying I can’t handle the workload, I just need a better memory!  Or…..a dayplanner.  Maybe I coulld try one of those

I had a good week this week so far with my PE class.  I actually got to do some teaching.  I administered the fitness gram for my cooperating teacher.  He was not in class, but the class is three classes together and the other two coaches were there.  I asked if I could fill in for him since there wasn’t a substitute.  I actually had some fun being in control and getting something done.  The students responded very well to my direction.  The fitness gram is required by the state and I think the students know that they have to do it to get credit for  the class.  That motivation is the one time I have seen most of the class participate.

Ms. Zam… was awesome!

It was very refreshing to see her enthusiasm.

I liked her story about her interviews.  I feel like I would be nervous if I thought I might get stumped with a question that I wasn’t prepared for.  I always love hearing stories about how people have been successful in their interviews.  I like to hear about questions that may have stumped them so I can be prepared for that question.  I like her comment on the answer the principal gave her about ELL’s.  It’s nice to have answers like that in my repertoire of thinking.  If I am ever asked that question I can pretend for a second that it’s a tough question and then fire back with a great answer.

I will continue to absorb information like that from all the teachers I can get information from.  I have some interview experience but it is always nice to be overprepared than under prepared.

Description:  Through talking with my colleagues and what I have observed in the classroom, knowledge of your subject area really reflects in your teaching.  Teachers that have good knowledge seem to be more effective in the classroom. 

Analysis:  Having good knowledge in your subject area allows you as a teacher to be confident and run your class smoothly during your lessons.  If you do not have the knowledge of the subject it is still possible to teach straight from the book, but not as effectively.   

Reflection:  This is a concern of mine right now because I am teaching an accounting class and I haven’t worked with accounting in a few years.  I have to reteach myself the material sometimes.  When I know what I am doing I have more confidence in what I am saying. Being very knowledgeable helps you as a teacher connect your subject to the world around you.  It also helps you answer students questions in the best ways for them to understand.

Off topic but on my mind after teaching:  I found out that as you are teaching you need to be aware of what the students are looking at when you are teaching.  You need to know what they can and can not see.  When I was teaching I noticed that the overhead projector was prolly more suited for a righty and not for a lefty like myself.  The students couldn’t see what i was writing because my hand was covering up everything that I wrote.  I wasn’t aware of this until after I did the guided practice when I noticed that one of students didn’t have anything written down in his workbook.  I asked him why and thats when he told me he couldn’t see what i was writing.

Description: I have noticed that my cooperating teacher has very good flow to her class, as well as good time-on-task with her students.  She has the students come in a start with an activity to transition them into her subject. 

Analysis:  Mrs. S is very organized and prepared for her class.  Her activity to start her class is very effective because it allows the students to make a connection from the real world to her accounting class.  Giving the students choice helps motivate them to stay on task, and successfully transition into an accounting mind set. 

Reflection:  I have seen that these methods of teaching have worked for Mrs. S and would like to incorporate them into my classroom one day.  The students really respond to her well.  I think this also could be because this class is an option elective and they want to be there.

I went out for my second observation on Monday Feb. 9th.  I had one of my best experiences here at AHS.  The class was a student leadership class taught by a TState graduate.  He had great contol of his class.  The students were very engaged and on task. 

I think the students were very cooperative because they enjoyed the class.  The class was assigned to come up with a one minute speech over any relationship they have with a person in life.  Every good leader probably has someone in their life that has inspired them to be the person/leader that they are today. 

I think that Mr. M’s topic for speeches got the students excited to be active in the class.  Picking a topic that means alot to students gets them motivated.  I also noticed that the teacher gave good constructive feedback.  He gave them positive feedback along with feedback that would help them improve in the future.  Very good tactic.

My first observation was the first eye opening experience I have had here at Akins.  I was very surprised at the amount of students that were put into one class for PE.   We walked in as observers to see three teachers working with 80 to 90 students.  The students were hearded into the gym to walk laps.  As the teachers were getting the students where they were needed to be, they were constantly on a student about some rule they were breaking

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