Tuesday: My First Lesson

On Tuesday I took over the freshman Survey of Literature class. We are currently reading The Alchemist. This is a wonderful book and I feel like if I can teach it well, then it can open up so many positive lessons for my students. Lessons that go beyond the reading and writing skill they should be learning in class. The book has a rich combination of moral lessons, religious symbolism, and connections to real historical figures and events. I'd love to be able to share these little nuggets of knowledge with my students and had originally planned to give more background and detail during my lessons. However, I seem to be hitting some roadblocks.

For starters, yesterday I made some tactical errors by not clearly thinking through transitioning from one activity to the next. I had them take a short quiz, which they had to move their desks so they weren't facing each other. Then I wanted them to come toward the front of the room and circle up. It ended up feeling like too much desk moving and some students couldn't see the board later when I needed to use it.

Lesson #1: Think through transitions. They're just as important as the activity!

Another error that I made, that I did not anticipate, was having too many sources to look off of. I had a list of questions that I wanted to ask the students but I also had my book marked up with important quotes and a few questions in the margin. The two sources, my book and questions, were designed to follow each other and be used together. This would not have been a problem if I were able to remain stationary, but because I had to move about the room taking advantage of proximity to get some students back on task, I found myself losing my place and not following my notes or making the connections to the text that I wanted. I think I'm going to just use my book from now on. Any questions I have for them can go on a hand out or be written on the board ahead of time.

Lesson #2: Be prepared to be mobile and alert while guiding discussion.

One roadblock that had anticipated running into was talking. This was something I was probably the most conscious and nervous about before taking over the class. I knew from past experience while working with kids that I do in fact have a teacher voice and presence, but since I hadn't practiced that voice and presence for a while, I wasn't sure how fast I would be able to find it. Luckily, I found it rather quickly and only had a few interruptions and obstacles. I had one student refusing to cooperate for a few minutes and a few interruptions but overall I felt like I had control of the class. I could tell they wanted to learn. It was empowering and fun to see that interruptions dissolve and students tuning into the lesson. (I love watching them learn. I could see the wheels turning and connections being made. That feeling is fabulous!)

Lesson #3: Remember to bring my teacher voice and confidence everyday and be confident in it.

The last roadblock, that I've identified, is simply figuring out where they are academically. I think I may have started out asking some questions that were a little too abstract. Also, I really wanted to connect some of the elements from the text to historical events, people, and cultural/religious ideas, but I'm finding that most of our time is being consumed with reading comprehension and basic plot lines.

Lesson#4: Start with the basics and then add the details?

I don’t know. I’m still working this out and could use some help.

I feel like the combination of these things are slowing us down. I feel like that is okay as long as I’m recognizing it and moving forward and because I felt like transitioning and keeping my place in the notes were my primary problems on Tuesday I tried to focus on these two elements for today's lesson.