Here I am starting back up my last methods class for my education program here at Stout. It's been an interesting previous year introducing myself to the basics of structuring a lesson plan and following through to actually teaching it (and discovering the limitations and surprises I hadn’t accounted for). The best experiences have been those that involved actually teaching kids, whether that be in Children’s Art Club, my practicum experience, or my substitute teaching experiences.
I’ve found that it’s fun to get to know the students in the class, establish a rapport, and try to judge what the students are really hoping to get out of the class. My struggles so far have been in being seen as perhaps too friendly, or as a ‘cool teacher’ which is apparently a code-word for allowing students to go off-topic or off-task. I’d like to be able to establish more structure and expectations in my first few sessions, so that I can allow myself to ease up and let the students explore their work and solutions without them feeling like they can do whatever they want. Naturally, this could also just be an issue of having been seen as a substitute and not a ‘real teacher’. Either way, I’m hoping to absorb as many strategies, impromptu lessons, and back-up plans as possible this semester.
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