Pre-internship Weblog

Good day everyone!  I have just completed my second week of my pre-internship and enjoyed every moment of it.  And, needless to say, I am learning something new everyday.  Whether this is ideas on how to make my teaching better, corrections to those lesson plans or just awesome suggestions to make my life easier as a teacher.  On Friday I administered a math test for the grade 9 students.  My cooperating teacher suggested the length to be based on 1 point per minute of test time.  This worked out well on paper.  I actually had the test out of 60.  Great!  Until, I got to school.  I forgot the test on my printer.  Can you imagine that.  So I ended up driving like a mad woman back to the house to get the test.  I normally take my computer with me; not today though.  So I had to drive back to get it.  I had just enough time.  Lessons learned here:

1.  print the test off and put directly in your books going to school.

2.  always back up important documents going to school on your zip drive.

3.  always double check, before you head out the door, that you have ALL  your stuff.

Well, all I can say is I am glad it was now and not when I had a final exam and living in a huge city.

During the IP, the class were to work quietly on their assignment.  I am afraid they will not get it all finished by Tuesday.  They are having too much fun planning their trip.  I think on Monday I will have to do a lecture and step by step process of purchasing an online plane ticket and finding the accommodations.  Most of them know how to do this, it is just they are taking way to long.  I am hoping if I do the process with them, they will get it done at the same time.  Lesson learned, once again.

The rest of the day went pretty well, except one thing!  My math test was too long for them to complete in one class.  My cooperating teacher says it could be in the wording.  It took her a few tests for them to get the idea of what she was asking in her tests.  Since English is a second language to some of these students, they may not know the many possible ways sentences can be worded and still mean the same thing.  I found I was explaining the questions to the group.  I guess, if I was giving a test again for this group, I would make it shorter and spend 10 minutes at the beginning reading every question out to them and answering any questions they might have.

For next week, I will only be in the class for two days.  Monday I plan to go over the test results with the kids in Math and continue working on IP.  If the students are still no wheres near finishing up their IP assignment, it can be arranged for them to email me their assignment on Wednesday and I can return it to them via email with their assessment.

In a nut shell, if I could title this week with one phrase that describes it, I would say it was “Lesson’s Learned”.  But for some reason, I think that title can be used every week when you are a teacher, whether you are a seasoned teacher who has been doing a great job or a pre-intern who barely has their feet wet.