Teacher Thoughts

Thus far, I’m working with students a lot more one-on-one on the days I’m at my internship. This is the time of year where students start to get sick and miss school. Last week, I was working with a student who missed a couple of days and since I have 4 sections of biology at different end points, I started from the very beginning of the PowerPoint notes the student had. First off, I want to point out that this student has increased their self-advocacy to ask for help when needed so I’m very happy about that! However, this student is one who can get lost in all the details. Right now, we’re on the unit of photosynthesis and there are so many little details students must know. When I started going over things, the student said, “Oh we already learned that, I know it.” So I had asked the student to explain it to me in their own words to teach me and that’s when the student realized that just because they’ve seen it, doesn’t mean they know it yet. That specific experienc...

This week was the first week back from Thanksgiving break and my students are already counting down to winter break. Student motivation is beginning to decrease and it shows with their lack of class participation. In an effort to change things around and re-engage students, my mentor and I acknowledge that winter break is soon approaching and have a countdown for students. Seeing a number allows a student to pace himself/herself and they can see that they can put in all their effort in the few short weeks left. The countdown is also helpful for my mentor and I to stay on track for covering what’s needed on the midterm. In biology this week, I was showing my students the transfer of energy in photosynthesis and I had to draw a stick figure cow and people. While I wasn’t comfortable drawing because my artistic ability is nonexistent to say the least, my students had a good laugh out of it. Laughing aside, my students were able to effectively understand that all energy c...