The First Day of School: AEE 412 Lab #2

The First Day of School... never thought I could be more terrified to stand in front of my peers/students than during our second lab where we would be role-playing the first day of school. Not entirely sure why that lab felt so intimidating... I felt after reviewing last week's video recording that I was getting better at controlling my nerves while in front of the group and I felt fairly good about my lesson.

During this second lab we had to act out our "first day of school," covering our classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences along with presenting a welcome activity and our objectives for the day. This lab was also where we learned that for all of our labs starting that day on we would be playing specific student roles as our peers were teaching, to practice our classroom management skills. The roles included the over-sharing student, the teacher's pet, the chatty Cathy, the whiny/complaining student, the "techie," and the "know-it-all."

Unfortunately no matter how good I feel before I take over, as soon as I reach that "teacher" role the nerves come back, something I'm still struggling to overcome... The nerves, and what they cause are what I am dreading the most about beginning student teaching.

For my class, my scenario was that this was the first day of my upperclass Veterinary Science course, where I would be starting with my introduction to veterinary science sanitation and safety unit. I felt pretty good as I greeted my students at the door, cheerily welcoming all of them to class and directing them to the bell-work directions which were written on the board, directing the students to pick a numbered piece of paper from the front table, finding their partner with the same number and then sitting together. Once all my students were in the class I repeated the bell-work directions and transitioned into my welcome activity and interest approach for the day's lesson: the numbered pieces of paper the students had chosen were scenarios related to safety in veterinary-related situations. In their groups the students talked through their scenarios, discussing why and/or how safety was a concern in the scenarios and what could be done immediately to address the safety concerns. The students then presented their decisions to the class while also introducing themselves and why they were enrolled in the class (it's an elective).

I felt pretty good about the scenario activity, all the students understood that the common theme amongst the scenarios was safety, though with only two scenarios I don't think it was too hard to pick up so I know that I will have to be careful to ramp up the creativity when I have to write enough scenarios for a full class while also being careful to not create scenarios that are too obscure.

While I felt good about the activity while it was happening I realized a few things that needed to change: 1) I do not have neat board writing so I will have to either have my directions and objectives presented on a powerpoint or I will have to give myself extra time to write on the board, and 2) unfortunately, I could also start to feel my nerves bubble up again as I was teaching and when my nerves take over I tend to talk fast and my instructions lose their clarity.

Transitioning from the interest activity, I moved into my first objective of covering what the students needed to know to be safe in my classroom before we could learn about veterinary safety - my classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences. Going over these classroom protocols was pretty straightforward but after watching some of my peers teach I think I should have had my students engage more in this process by asking them to give their thoughts/examples for my expectations instead of just telling my students what they were and then asking if they had questions. Some of my peers also had the idea of passing out contracts with these protocols that the students and their parents would have to sign, and while I do like that idea I'm not sure that I would always want to use that but if I use it for one course/grade I need to use it for all of them.

Keep Calm & Pretend It's On The Lesson Plan

Finally, after reviewing my video recording and my peers' feedback the one constant critique I need to work on is my confidence in the classroom. Like I noticed earlier in the class my nerves can quickly get the best of me, and unfortunately the part of my lesson where my confidence visibly dipped the most was when I was reviewing my consequences with my students, which is when I should be the most in control of my classroom if I don't want my students to run right over me.

Overall, I think the lesson went well but can always be improved and I think my main take-away from these teaching labs is to use them as confidence builders so that when I am in my classroom I feel confident and can take charge of my classroom. Until then I run the risk of being the teacher who is "nice" but has no "oomph" or excitement to her, when I need to be the teacher who's classroom the students can't wait to arrive to and drag their way out.




Here's to the next lab and more confidence!

Good advice for anyone. Would like to hang in classroom