First day down....
Had a really good first day back in school, although a fairly restless night last night!
Was observing most of the day, not many lower school classes in the department on a monday, but taught First years period 5 and it went really well. They are starting a design unit and were beginning by doing some drawing. Demonstrations (which I detest!) are normally when I completely forget to mention something vitally important but today I felt really calm and managed to explain everything without missing bits out!! (Partly because no-one was distracting me by misbehaving!) However the class were wee angels, and after about 10 minutes of them working silently I found myself thinking... 'what do I do now? everyone is working.. and I have no-one misbehaving to discipline.' It was strange - so different to my last school where behaviour was a real issue. It was nice to have time to go round all the pupils individually and be able to talk about their work. I felt like I actually enjoyed the lesson - something which I dont think I'v been able to do up until now because I have been so concerned with getting things 'right' - whatever that might be. I remember thinking during my last placement - 'will I ever get to the stage where I dont feel sick before a class and actually enjoy it??' Although Im probably not quite there yet, I definately feel like I am able to relax a little and put a bit more of 'me' into the lesson (if that makes sense!) rather than just following a lesson plan word for word... I suppose that comes from having less to deal with discipline-wise too.
Anyway, hope everyone else had a good first day. Would love to hear all about it......
posted by stuck_in_the_middle @ 10:39 PM
1 Comments:
"I felt like I actually enjoyed the lesson"
Isn't it great when it all comes together!
Two comments, one a warning and one an encouragement. Firstly, don't let them lull you into a false sense of security. Good discipline doesn't just happen, it's something that has to be worked at and maintained. Don't assume that just because they were good this time, that's the way they will always be. It will still take effort on your behalf to prepare properly, to set up the right conditions and to keep things on track.
That may seem a bit pessemistic given the good time you've just had, but the encouragement is that it is not all down to the school environment or the pupils themselves. At least part of the reason it went well is because you have grown and developed as a teacher. Compared to the first placement you will be thinking about things differently, you will be behaving differently in the class and you will have different expectations. You are becoming a better teacher.
Doesn't that feel good!?
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