This week, I had a couple of interesting experiences. To start, on Tuesday, I saw that Mrs. Horne engaged her students through the classroom environment to teach about various graphing techniques. When the students walked in, there were different stations around her classroom labelled "Transformation Town", "Piecewise Pool" and so forth. The students moved from each station to the next as they went through different graphing variations in worksheets and discussions with her. The adjustment from the normal atmosphere was a bit more engaging and interesting I think, as well as a great memory device. Now, when the students try to remember when to use each strategy, they can think back to where they were in the classroom when they saw a similar question. If they can remember they were in Piecewise Pool, then they know to split the graph in to a piecewise function. Though the idea of work centers is predominantly considered for elementary school use, I think it was very appropriate and useful in this context.
On Thursday, I really enjoyed the topic in Mr. Gmerek's Calculus class, so I stayed in there both periods instead of going to Mrs. Horne's. I even stayed during my free period afterward, because I actually had the time. This was really good for me because it gave me a look at what it's like to do the same thing for hours. I've often wondered if I'd truly enjoy teaching the same topic to different students over and over all day, but I definitely enjoyed myself Thursday. I don't think I'll have any problem with repetition as a teacher, if anything I just got to see how you adjust in later periods to how early periods react and learn. You get better throughout the day, and I like that. Overall, it was a very insightful week of observations for me.
On Thursday, I really enjoyed the topic in Mr. Gmerek's Calculus class, so I stayed in there both periods instead of going to Mrs. Horne's. I even stayed during my free period afterward, because I actually had the time. This was really good for me because it gave me a look at what it's like to do the same thing for hours. I've often wondered if I'd truly enjoy teaching the same topic to different students over and over all day, but I definitely enjoyed myself Thursday. I don't think I'll have any problem with repetition as a teacher, if anything I just got to see how you adjust in later periods to how early periods react and learn. You get better throughout the day, and I like that. Overall, it was a very insightful week of observations for me.