Today was so exciting! It was my first day teaching Ms. Ingram's class of 11 first grader ESOL students. I was nervous at first, but I definitely got over it as the lesson went on. The students were very attentive and well-behaved and oh so cute. For example, when we did the "think-pair-share" as we read the book many of them raised their hands to volunteer animals that they recognized on the page.
One thing I noticed is that it can be difficult to pay close attention to what one student is saying and give them the proper feedback while also noticing which students are not engaged and whether any students are misbehaving. Thankfully, they were all very well-behaved for the most part.
We learned a few new words that none of them had heard of such as scales, fin, hoof or hooves, and steep. For example, we talked about how surprising it was that goats could climb steep cliffs and how their hooves helped them do that. One of the things I noticed about today was that 30 minutes isn't actually as short as I thought. I also noticed that 1st graders have shorter attention spans than I had anticipated.
Ms. Ingram and I had to rearrange when I'll be teaching on Thursday due to a change in the 1st graders' schedule. I'll now be teaching from 8:15am to 9:15am. Since I have them for an hour on Thursday instead of a half hour I'm a little concerned I won't have anything left for them to do on Friday. If I end up getting most of our project done on Thursday, I may have them do a more creative project using VoiceThread on Friday where they get to create a story as a small group.
"Teacher eyes" will come with time, practice, and classroom experience. You will also find it to be easier when you have a class of your own, one where you know the students and their nuanced behaviors.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that the first lesson went well. I totally understand about the change in schedules- I just sent you an email about two possible options. Just let me know what you decided (via email).