My 7th Week student teaching was better than the previous. I was still sick on Monday, which was an in-service day. I went to the doctor and got some medicine, and I even made it into school on Monday for about an hour to talk to Mr. Long. Although, the medicine didn't really start to help until the end of the week, but I muddled through the week with a hoarse voice and low energy.
In the two Entrepreneurship classes, we watched a movie, Ten9Eight, on the Tuesday back, so I didn't have to talk with my hoarse voice. I did, however, teach in the Economics 4th hour class. It was miserable and challenging, but I got the job done. It felt a little awkward to be back after being gone for a week.
The next day, I was able to get in a review of the Market Research section in Entrepreneurship and gave the post-assessment for my teacher work sample. I can now complete my teacher work sample before Spring Break as I had anticipated. We also started the next unit, which was the pricing unit. Some of the students will have more work than others on this section. Those that do retail will have to price out all of their inventory and their equipment and supplies; whereas, those that are doing service businesses will only have to price out their equipment and supplies. It seems to be getting more and more difficult to get the students to be motivated and engaged in the projects. Some of the students don't need any prompting but get the work done easily; however, I have to continually prod a few students to work during class.
A success I had last week was when one of my Entrepreneurship students came up to me after class and apologized for his behavior toward me and in my class. He was respectful and said he was working on getting caught up and doing his work. Just like the Grinch, "My heart grew three sizes that day." I don't enjoy having to stay on top of students to get their work done or having to reprimand students in class. It disengages the class as a whole. This particular student has stayed true to his word for the week, and he paid attention when I was talking and he got his work completed and turned in on time. It was a happy moment for me, and I hope that he continues with this behavior change through the rest of the semester.
On the other hand, I have a student that has been doing other classes' work in my class and not getting his work in my class completed. He is behind on all of the projects, and he is disrespectful to me. He keeps his headphones in his ears when I'm talking to him and he plays with his cell phone. I moved him away from the front of the room to sit next to me where he will have less distractions, and I can keep an eye on him. When Mr. Long returns, I will talk to him about the issue and see what further steps need to be taken in order to get this resolved.
This week was also the Career & Technical Education Advisory Board meeting and breakfast. All of the departments involved including Business, PaCE (a work study program), ACE, and Family and Consumer Sciences were all present along with the advisory board members, who gave input to the programs and how we can improve our work with the students. The Poudre High School catering team made the breakfas, and introduced themselves to the meeting.
A new week is a new opportunity to work on improving. Teaching is a work in progress, and I am continually finding new ways to communicate, engage, and motivate students.
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