1. A definite highlight of this past week was the chemistry lab we conducted. This lab kicked off our chemistry unit that we will finish the year off on and it felt good to move into something completely new. The experiment revolved around finding out what two substances constituted a mystery mixture. Students worked in lab groups and got to test their hypothesis and narrow down of what they believed the mixture to be. I enjoyed using inquiry and letting kids discover the various properties of the substances on their own. I think sometimes math and chemistry go hand in hand as something that is scary to students and overwhelming. This lab however put the students at ease because they got to dive right into the "fun" area of chemistry. Who doesn't like to mix chemicals together?
2. Something that made me think a little differently about teachers was working with my cooperating teacher who heads the MSP testing. She has had to give up her class on testing days to prepare each classroom with the test materials and then organize test booklets post test. I had no idea the kind of operation that went on in keeping track of students and making sure that testing remains standardized. She has kept very calm through the process especially since she is missing class time and instruction with her kids. It makes me wonder if there can't be an outside agency that could come in and take care of the logistics if the concern is to be standardized and make sure that procedures are followed and carried through with.
3. One practice that I will adopt is explicit instruction especially when students are expected to follow a procedure. We conducted a lab that required many steps that need to be precise and accurate. My teacher took the additional time to go through those steps and explain why each step was necessary and important. I think too often teachers can just give directions without any justification or reasoning to why a particular step was needed. Without that explicit instruction students at the middle school level will either be sloppy or just plain forget.
4. A perplexing situation happened during MSP testing in which my cooperating teacher was occupied with the testing and couldn't be in class. The sub that was there was a retired teacher whose idea of a good classroom was a quiet classroom. Of course that did not happen and it was a battle the whole time. There I was stuck in the hard spot because students were looking to me to correct the situation as I know how the class is run but I didn't want to intervene with the prospect of disrespecting the sub. So I sat and watched some the chaos ensue as students were supposed to sit silently to a 1950's donald duck math movie for 25 minutes. It makes me wonder how I can avoid the pitfalls as I begin subbing to start my teaching career. It might be beneficial to include some kind of reward system or ask for the class rules and expectations.
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