Half way there

I have been so busy between school, my job and these 100 hours of observation. The good news is I am half way there! I have gotten some great feedback from everyone at the school. One youth who I suspect is on probation (he wears some sort of device around his ankle) just came to our school and has had some real problems in math. He isn't dumb though and I have worked with him one on one and seen potential. The teacher I am observing said that he came right up to her first thing in the morning with all his homework completed. She would have never expected this! She said "I wish we had the money, we would hire you here immediately". Pretty cool - I should get a good reference from her. I have been playing a much more proactive role in the classroom beyond that of an observer. I designed an interactive Internet activity which the kids loved and I start out every class with a few jokes or riddles (usually in math class I do jokes related to math). We also look at poems that they have written and the other day we looked at funny newspaper headlines as part of their English lesson (example: "Iraqi Head Seeks Arms"). Have to go now but will post more latter.

First few days of school

Sept. 16, 2007

Last week I got the opportunity to officially start my observation hours at a Christian prep school. Though I had my doubts going into it, I now believe that it will be a unique and influential experience. On my second day I got the opportunity to teach an entire class for the entire time in my content area! It was a great experience and I fear that it has made me even hungrier! I am starting to develop new ideas to contribute to the classroom and I am glad that the teacher is so willing to let me take on such an active role in the classroom. However, I do detect that there are boundaries which I should not cross - I am just not aware of where these boundaries lay. The boundary in question is that which exists between criticism and critical thinking and the conservative and religous aura of the school itself. I want to make sure not to step on any toes - I am their guest. It seems that the school's approach is very traditional and as part of this tradition maintains a transitive (as opposed to constructivist) approach. I have suggested ways of doing things and have not met any resistance yet - my method is to push the envelope a little at a time and it is quite possible that somewhere along the line I will find the boundary and continue to work at its most periphery. I will post later to indicate how it all goes down.