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One week of student teaching down...

I have to admit, that this past week has been the most exhausting and exhilarating week I've had since I was in the Navy.  I began my student teaching journey this week as a long term substitute teacher.  I am teaching Math to middle school students who are in the 6th and 7th grade, and boy am I learning a lot!

My students have been in school for 2 weeks now, this upcoming week will be their 3rd.  I am the 3rd teacher they have had, and the one they have had for the longest.  The school I'm teaching at uses C Scope for their curriculum, so my students do not have text books.  This is something new for me, and I feel like I'm starting to overcome this challenge.   In all of my classes, my students seem to be lagging behind, so I've been giving remedial instruction this week to make up for the lack of a more structured instruction process.  I have a lot of material to cover, and not much time to cover it in.  Each class is with me for 1 hour a day.

Currently I am focusing on fractions, decimals, percentages, and teaching them helpful ways to get this stuff figured out.  One thing I will be doing starting this week is focusing on my classroom management style with the students during their instruction.  The first week was a get to know you week, and while I've figured out my student's personality, they've gotten comfortable enough with me, that now we are having discipline issues.  This week begins pop quizzes, referrals, and a faster paced instruction.  Yes to their horror, there will be homework as well!

As far as my Master's is concerned, I feel VERY blessed to have had labor day off so that I can catch up with my homework.  It seems that lesson planning and paper grading have taken up the majority of my home time, and that hasn't left a lot of time to prepare for my classes or my certification exams.  But, I feel certain that expediting my testing will ensure I get a position next year as a contract teacher, so I'm staying up until my eyes can't stay open, waking up early, and asking everyone who has watched me teach for what I can do to better myself.


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