The lesson was, as Mr. Koreman said afterwards, excellent. I had asked the teacher about a few things before I started. I introduced the lesson, asked the kids to talk to each other about why someone would become a bully, we made a list (my writing was on a curve and not so neat, oops.), then started the chapter. They laughed at how I read. I love using expression! Ha. I kept stopping to talk about what was going on. Some of the kids were really into it. (I found out later, that since some of them have English as their second language, they needed extra time to respond.) After I finished I asked them to go to their notebooks and write an answer to: "What do we learn from chapter 3 about Bradley's home life? Key words: Motivation, communication (animal collection) and family.
They wrote for a couple of minutes, then I asked 2 kids to share what they wrote and then the teacher stopped me because they had to go to computers. *insert sigh of relief here*
Mr. Koreman sat me down afterwards and told me that I gave an excellent lesson. It meant a lot to hear him say that. He told me that I read a little fast and that I didn't wait long enough after asking questions, but those are not new things for me. He told me that the kids were eating out of my hands because I read with great expression. (I loved hearing them laugh...it was great.)
Then, he went on to say that he thinks I am mystifying. He said that on some days I look like the world is about to end, and then I give a lesson like this. Then he said (the fieldwork teacher was in the room) that last time he came in the room, I was standing on the side looking miserable. He said he sensed that I was unhappy and I should be careful because the kids might sense it, too. Okay, thanks. Ha. I had nothing to do for the first 2 weeks. THEN, the teacher wanted to give me feedback. She loved the lesson. She said the same thing about slowing down because some of the kids don't understand too much English yet, so they need things to be slowed down. She said that when I first came into the room for fieldwork, she didn't know anything about me, and then she saw the lesson and was surprised, in a good way. She said that I have an innate talent for teaching. She has kids in her class that are very out there and she has never seen the whole class engaged for so long. She told me that I am a natural and I can be confident that I will be a great teacher. She wants me to leave her classroom knowing that.
She had left me a message on Saturday night about what lesson I should give and she said I can call her on Sunday, but I didn't get a chance. I couldn't call her on the bus and by the time I got back here it was too late. She said she was surprised that I didn't call, but she was amazed at how I gave the lesson. (Yes, I started tearing...shut up.) She told me that she is always available if I need anything, even if it has nothing to do with her classroom. She's awesome. (I feel bad because Mr. K. talked about how I looked miserable when he came in on the second week, so the teacher talked about how she didn't like her placement, but it ended up being good. I really like the class, it's just not what I see myself doing. You know what I mean?)
She said I should come into a classroom and challenge myself. I should do things that I am not used to. She welcomes any comments I have about her teaching and she offered that I do a read aloud next week, too. That would be AWESOME! Afterwards, Mr. K. and the teacher both told me that they were really impressed about how I knew the names of the students. I'm pretty good at that. I don't know all of them, but I knew the ones who kept raising their hands to discuss things. Good thing.
Okay, that was my lesson. I am so relieved and happy. She really inspired me.
Editor's Note: No, this post is not an ego boost. It's so I can remember this.
