Take the Challenge! (STB#12)

This week I was only at school three days, but boy were those three days challenging! My cooperating teacher was out for three days for family issues and I was out one day for a funeral as well. So the three days that I was at school I took on the challenge of planning and teaching all of the classes. I really only had one class that I haven't picked up yet; however, it is the one class that I have been a bit nervous to teach. After testing the waters with the class this week I realized that they aren't as bad as I had expected.

The class is an Ag Mechanics course consisting of 24 boys and we just started our small gas engines unit. These boys are all over the spectrum. Some know a lot about engines, some don't understand them, some are diligent listeners, some (well most) test their boundaries, and the list could go on. What they all are very good at however is making it appear as though they know everything about engines. Being in a room full of boys, each wanted to impress their peers with their engine knowledge. It was quite the experience but I pressed through and the week turned out great. I was able to let students "show what they know" and help teach other about engines.

 I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to teach this class all by myself this week; however, I approached each day confident in my lessons and carried through with all my planned materials. I heard the normal grumbling and complaining about different activities I asked them to do, but I promised myself that I would be positive about the activities I had planned and push past the negativity that they wanted to pressure me with. By keeping this positive and confident spirit in the classroom I was able to get each of my students to do the activities I had asked of them.

I also knew that I would have to get tough with some of the students. In other words the rules and consequences were going to be challenged more than ever. With my cooperating teacher gone, students were bound to test their boundaries. I am not proud of these numbers, but I had to write three students up to the principle and another student got a 5 day suspension due to his misbehavior in class. I reminded students at the beginning of the week of my rules and consequences, which apply even when Mr. Graydus is gone. Many of the rules were broken and so the consequences followed. I knew that I had to stick to my word, especially with a bunch of rowdy boys in my morning classes. Consequences are one of my weaknesses but I stuck with them this week and they seemed to improve the classroom behavior.

At the end of the week, I reflected on the three days I took on that full load and realized that it wasn't really as bad as I had thought it would be. Rather I am now more encouraged to start this coming week because I was able to make it through last week. It has also encouraged me to "take the challenge" when situations like this arise. If we never step out into the deep waters and try these challenges we may never know just how far we can make it. The best part is that we have cooperating teachers and centers that wont let us sink. Now, during student teaching, is the time to test the waters and truly see just much we can do.