Fred's Science Inquiry Project Digital Story

The Day I Have Been Dreading

Today is a day that will live in infamy, at least up until now in my short teaching career. My MT was at a conference all day, and even though a sub was hired, the school had her helping out in other classrooms, under the ridiculously mistaken notion that as long as I was in the room, everything would be fine.

The day started out OK, but I hit a serious roadblock when it was time for math. The kids were extremely rowdy, and to make matters worse, halfway through the lesson I couldn't find the worksheets what I was supposed to pass out, and the entire class disintegrated into chaos.

Although I made a feeble recovery later in the afternoon, it was a day on which I was seriously questioning my career choice. Thankfully, I found comfort and solace in a fellow cohort member's blog entry dealing with a similarly trying day.

Her expert advice included the following:

My MT pulled me aside after class ended to talk things over. Among her suggestions were these:
1. I must nip inappropriate behaviors in the bud
2. Which means that I must develop my ability to engage my whole-class radar
3. Don't ever admit that a lesson is "dry" - must present it as fun, cool
4. Feel free to change course if it feels right

I will chalk today up to a test run, and hopefully do better next time.

Social Studies Lesson: Japanese-American Internment During World War II

This is a voicethread I created that incorporates audio, video, text and images. It's a really cool tool and something I would definitely find ways to use in a classroom.

To comment go to:
http://voicethread.com/share/959062/