Week #1

This week went by fast! I only had one and a half days in the classroom observing Mr. Wallace and Mr. Schirmer. While observing, I picked up on a lot of tricks to use in the classroom. Here are a few of them.

•   Individual student help goes a long way in the classroom. Both instructors walk around during welding and electrical to help students who looked like they were struggling or just to watch and see how they are doing.
•   Review, Review, review! The first few minutes of class it is always important to review from the day before. It gets the students thinking and prepared for the day in the classroom.
•   Notice student behavior whether it is good or bad. Having a substitute teacher for three days is a long time for students. They begin to feel like they can do anything in class and not finish their work. It is important to read those sub reports on how the students were. When they are bad they need to have some sort of punishment for their actions. When they are good it is worthwhile to reward them for their behavior.
•  Lastly, show importance of knowing the information. Mostly, students don’t know the importance of knowing the information. Showing them that the information in the real world brings it all around for them. I noticed that both instructors choose assignments that pertain to real life situations.

With all this in mind, I feel like I can conquer the classroom. Students react to reviewing, individual help, and knowing the real life importance of what they learn in the class. Seeing how well the students react to the teachers gives me hope of a successful student teaching experience.