Wk 4 - Day 17

today was a good day. i taught ms. b's 1st period...both mrs. s and ms. b were gone yesterday and i had ended up teaching their classes. so, today she asked if i'd continue since i knew where they left off...not a problem. i can't think of anything interesting to note...the students finished their paper models, we discussed the questions/answers, they participated...i couldn't ask for more. i had spent most of my time with a student that has issues and tends to be argumentative and disruptive. we've developed a pretty good working relationship...he'll work with me and participates. i like to challenge myself to get those "tough nuts" to crack so to speak. i think of my older brother who went through school hating it and was labeled as a troublemaker. he wasn't diagnosed with adhd until he was 35. a former teacher of my brother came up and told my mom that she should give him back to social services...in front of my brother. this happened at my baptism...my brother was 12. i'd like to find that teacher...if she's still alive and give her a piece of my mind. i have two older brothers and we are all adopted. anywho...my brother said to me yesterday how important it is for just one teacher to get through to a student to let them know that they care...and he wished how he would've had a teacher tell him that they cared about him.
i told him how i make a point to have at least one good conversation with a student; ask how their weekend went, what they did, how their sport's game went, favorite book, etc. every day... my brother really liked that. i know i can't keep every student from falling through the cracks and feeling like no one cares, but i'm going to do my best to keep that from happening and not turn a blind eye.

in the afternoon i introduced the topic of fossils. after a few new vocabulary words, i passed out a picture of a live horse. i had the students discuss every thing they could tell me about that horse. i then passed out a picture of a stegosaurus skeleton and asked them to do the same thing. the students caught on pretty quick to the underlying issue...it's harder to describe the animal with only the skeleton and how scientists "guess" what the animal was really like due to lack of external evidence. it was a good discussion...a student would state something they had written down and i'd have the class tell me if they agree or disagree. if they disagreed, they had to state why. it was the effect i wanted...students discussing with other students and they didn't interrupt each other and listened. mrs. s said that it's a different style than hers, but just as effective...which made me feel good...who wants to stand in front of the classroom being ineffective?