Observed in Hannibal

I guess I shouldn't have been nervous.

Once Mr. Nyman showed up, I realized it was kind of silly that I had found him intimidating and I was reading his emails a bit wrong. He's very scattered, which is the reputation I thought I remembered him having as a junior high school English teacher, though I never had him. I taught the lesson three times before he got there for 6th bell, so I knew what I was doing. I was a little on edge first and could hear it my voice. I forget to review the day's agenda but went back to it. Teaching the kids to write an essay, an argument essay, is no easy task. But I think I'm off to a good start. These kids have little interest in learning just to learn. It's hard to put it into words. Their skills are a bit below average, but if they applied the ones the had, they could pass. I can't tell if they don't apply themselves because they give up when they don't understand or if they are just lazy. A little of each. I tend to go over instructions many times and explain things in more than one way, hoping to get as many kids as interested as possible. For the 9th bell grade wide study hall, I had told any student to come back and I'd help them step by step. I had 4 kids. But they were really excited about trying to understand. That was a moment that reminded my why I wanted to teach ELA. It was very rewarding to see them get it and more importantly get excited about "getting it".

Anyhow, when I sat down to get reviewed after my observation, he told me that I have an excellent presence. He had one useful suggestion and also, corrected my grammar. When I gave an example, I said "me and Tammy" instead of "Tammy and I". Yeah, an English teacher should get that right.

I have built some good connections, the letter I had them write me about themself that I wrote back to went a long way.

My cooperating teacher told me I was good; ready for my own classroom. It felt good. Five weeks left.