Day 11 and 12 (5 hours) Observed Mr. R and Mrs. D, and Met Mr. Russel!

On Wednesday, I got another chance to present my mini lesson plan to the other Beginning 2D class. This class meets during 4th hour, which I had never worked with before. I had met most of the students during resource hours at the end of the day (from 2:30 pm to 3:05) but I hadn't met officially with their class during class time. A local artist, John Russel, was visiting the high school to do a mural project, so we had to move from the 2D room into the 3D room to utilize the smart board. I had never done a power point presentation with a smart board before, so clicking the spots on the board in order to make the lesson move along was a new experience! Although I have worked with smart board technology before, this felt totally different, but very easy.

My presentation went pretty well. Once again, I followed the same power point and examples that I gave to the other class. Because I didn't know the students, it made it feel a little less personal because I couldn't as easily call on students or even think of examples within their own work. One student was even falling asleep during my presentation! I even called on him to wake him up.... it sure was interesting!

While going over the presentation with Mr. R, he had some great things to say. He really liked that I was able to incorporate it into the current lesson so well. He wished I would get to know names better so I could make it a better experience for the students. I also asked questions to the students during my presentation and because they were all so quiet, I allowed them not to answer, and kept moving on. He advised that I never do this. He said "They expect you to be talking the whole time. When you pause, it is an attention getter. They will start to pay attention and feel the tension in the room as you wait for them to answer." This was great feedback, and I really appreciated the little pieces of advice. I even noticed that I went through the power point a lot faster, and didn't go into everything as thoroughly. I definitely wish I would have taken more time in this second presentation, but it still went fairly well.

This is the mock picture of a mural that the students were working on with Mr. Ruseel

After this class, they continued to work on their projects, and I got to know Mr. Russel a lot better. He was a great person to work with and really had a neat story to tell. His wife was actually from my hometown! What a small world. Mr. Russel was a true gentleman who grew to love the arts after taking photos for the Navy in WWII and then attending UW Madison to pursue a degree in the arts. He was an educator for awhile, but found his love for journalism. The rest of his life was devoted to journalism and creating illustrations for each article he publishes. He was an amazing man to work with, and I enjoyed seeing a lot of his work!

During Mr. R's prep session, I spent an hour with Mrs. D, an agricultural education teacher. She teaches vet science, animal science, horticulture and internship (a sort of work-study program for seniors to experience the work force). I really enjoyed learning about her class. It was a great experience to see how another classroom works. Mrs. D reminds me a lot of the type of teacher I want to be. She has a great relationship with her students, is able to talk and laugh with them, while still remaining very respected and looked up to. She told me "Sometimes they are too comfortable with me and seem to think that I am only their friend, when really they should respect me because I am their teacher." I really thought of this as a piece of advice to always remember that I can be a great educator and role model without being too close and personal with my students. I always want to have the best relationship possible with the children I teach, but I want to remain professional as well.

Mr. R was nice enough to show me around the greenhouse and animal room that Mrs. D utilizes for her classes! She has snakes, rodents, a turtle and even a pot belly pig! It was very fun to see the courtyard that houses the pig, Rosie, and to see the plants that Mr. R has a hand in growing as well. I could see today that his relationship with other teachers is very good, and I really respect that!

Sixth and seventh hour continued to work on their projects in process today, all of the students were well behaved and on task, which doesn't happen as often as one would think! I had a wonderful day at the high school, and came home very motivated to get back to the classroom.