On Monday, I had the chance to teach a math lesson to my class. I was observed by not one, but two professors and my CE. Let me just say, I was given enough feedback to last me a good bit of reflection practice. I was pleasantly surprised when a lot of my feedback was positive. I don't really know why I was expecting something negative, but knowing that all 3 of these marvelous educators want me to be my very best, I knew I would have an improvement list to last a lifetime.
My lesson was on multiplying by the multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000. Unfortunately, the technology was a little wonky, but I jumped into my lesson as soon as I realized we were losing precious learning time. The students picked up this learning SO quickly. I was very impressed, especially when our tier 3 and EC students got the hang of it! WOW! I knew my students were capable, it was just exciting to watch the learning happen in their brains. At one point in the lesson, one of the girls in my class answered the problem correct and did a little dance of joy in her seat and my heart was so full!
Lately, I have been told horror story, after horror story of the education world... It is discouraging and makes me look into the future with questions and doubt. But when I see dances of joy because LEARNING happened, I know this is good.
Now on the title of my post... Luckily, I don't have the blues from this observation. I have approached my feedback with curious appreciation and a lot of it I can work on and fix easily. For instance, I have trained myself to not say the words "like" and "um" while presenting for fear of someone keeping tally. Unfortunately, I have another filler word that distracts from learning. This terrible word is "okay." Weird, right? One of my observers counted.. And let me just say, it was a big number. I was disappointed because I feel myself getting comfortable with something and then I realize that I too have this strange tick of filling the silence with my noisy mouth.
Upon reflection, I have practiced taking more time to speak, just in daily talking. I practice allowing a little bit of silence to fill my conversations and I am pleased to say I am noticing a change in how I approach speaking. This sounds so silly, but allotting more time to speak and allowing silence makes me more comfortable with the silence of the classroom. I can't wait to try it again in the classroom for a lesson!
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI can certainly sympathize with you and your being observed while teaching. I was observed by the same two professors and my CE as well and, like you, I was given an improvement list with mostly very positive things on them. Funny enough, I also used to say "okay" a whole whole lot while I was teaching but thanks to one of our professors a few years ago, I think the problem is fixed. Hopefully, yours will work itself out as well the more comfortable you get teaching in a real classroom.
Don't be discouraged! I know there is a lot around you saying how awful this profession is but don't let that get you down because there is so much more to teaching than those few that try and bring you down. You are going to be a great teacher and students are going to benefit from your teaching in so many ways!
ReplyDeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you have taken your feedback and turned this into an opportunity to grow. I really appreciate your growth mindset here.
You are also right about the "second paycheck" in teaching - it IS a great feeling to witness a student understand something - this will make all the work worthwhile.