Shedding Light.

This post is covering my last visit to Lindsay Thurber on December 5th.

December 5th was my very first full day at the school, it also happened to be my very last formal visit through the field experience course. Geoff and I decided it was a perfect day for me to attempt my very first lesson to the classes. I was to plan a warm up activity that would work for all the classes of the day. We concluded that I would present to both morning classes of the grade 9 honors, and the very last class of the day the grade 10 honors class. The remaining class of the 30-1's Geoff would teach my lesson plan, so I could observe my own plans from the other perspective. Being all classes of high school ELA I decided to read exerts from "The Book Of Awesome". The book is a collection of short stories describing moments full of "awesome". The writings are often very descriptive, full of emotion and sometimes hilarious; so I decided reading some of them to the class would be perfect. I planned ahead picking stories I thought would present well to the class, incorporating length, relate-ability, and humor.

When I arrived that morning Geoff looked over some of the stories I had chosen and agreed that the book was great for a warm up activity. He also prompted me to introduce the readings differently, including questions to the class prompting them to guess at what the topics might be, ect. This aspect of planning the lesson was one I had not considered. Getting the students interacting is the entire point of a warm up. But this was a great learning experience, it pointed me in the right direction in a way I will never forget. The presentations went without a hitch, I enjoyed sharing with the class, and I could see they enjoyed hearing from me in a more formal way. After I had read the stories to the class, I asked them to share any of the "awesome" moments they could think of with the class. The responses were wonderful, I truly loved having this kind of interaction with them before my time was over. I believe that I gained a great deal from my experiences at Lindsay Thurber, this was a great way to end it all.

The only thing I would change about my presentation for next time would be to present the same stories to each class, rather than changing for each class. This would help to add flow to verbal presentation, and make me more comfortable in front of the class.

I learned many priceless lessons through the few months with Geoff. But the most important to me at this time is that I learned just how much I truly want to be a teacher. Spending time with the students, and seeing the drawbacks and positives of the profession shed light on my passion. This experience is invaluable, and I'm so thankful that RDC made it available to me in my first year towards my goal of becoming a teacher. This will help motivate me when times get tough, this passion will drive me through the courses I don't exactly like. Knowing the goal, makes the road towards it not so tough. I can't wait to be a teacher.

Thank you.