The Last Class

I was unable to teach them Monday and Tuesday due to all the interviewing. I left them with an assignment to create a presentation of a famous innovator of the Renaissance. I wanted them to use outside research to learn more about the early life, accomplishments and death of each person. When I came back Wednesday I asked the psycho lady whether they finished the assignment. She said they did some work on it but she had to stop them because there was more important work they needed to complete (ie. the crap in the back of the textbook). The students were eager to share their knowledge with the class. As they each gave their presentations I displayed images of each of the people and their major works such as the Pieta, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, David, etc. I asked them at the end of class to provide feedback on my teaching. I started by asking them what they liked the most of the class. Most of them said they liked the videos and giving presentations. I asked what they liked least and the same pain in the butt who flung the rubber bands said that I spent too long on each chapter and she is used to finishing them much sooner. Another student was quick to speak out and got on her case, upset she would say that and I thanked her for the feedback. I said that I wanted to make sure that they learned the material on a deeper level beyond the textbook. I appreciated their feedback. It made me more confident in my methods. They learned best when they knew the material well enough to teach the class. I learned more in this placement because I had more freedom to explore different methods and it was easier to learn differentiation working with a smaller group of students. I'm happy about the way this placement ended.

She left me alone...

On Friday afternoon the psycho lady left me alone in the class while she was showing a Poe video. She didn't say when she was coming back. I thought about leaving the room if things became too hectic. Initially a few students were throwing rubber bands. I went over to remove the bands, but the student would not hand them to me. Then the rubber band flinging stopped. Then things settled down, a little chatter but most of them were paying attention. The movie ended and the psycho had failed to return. I handed out the reading, but there was only five minutes left of class and no one was in the reading mood. One of the students jumped up to the IPad, and my first thought was that she would put some horrible rap video, something bad and inappropriate. Instead she put on Sesame Street. It was awesome. I was taken back to my childhood. It was a happy ending to the day. The psycho lady returned during the last minute of class to all the silly singing puppets. It was great. She thought it was so uncool, and that's why it was cool. A weird rebellion against this angry woman.