PhyreBards

So I was at the football game this weekend with my mom and we were purchasing hotdogs at the concession stand (obv) when I noticed that the workers were from Williams HS. I of course had to strike up a conversation and proceeded to run my mouth about how I am doing my methods internship there.

They asked my what teacher I was with and I told them, Mrs. Garrison. It think the next words out of the mom's mouth were something to the effect of: "Ooo Mrs Garrison, everyone wants her, but she is very hard."

That was pretty interesting to me. When I was in high school, I would always talk to my friends and parents about my teachers and what I thought about them. Not that I will care too too much, but it's weird to think that we'll start forming our own reputations soon.

What do you think your students will be saying about you? What will be buzzing in the hallways at the lockers about you?

So my placement is at Western High School and I'm excited about working there because I've only been to Southern and Cummings in the past. I LOVE Western. It reminds me of the type of school I want to work in one day. My mentor is Mrs. Wrenn and she is amazing. She had Ashley Runkle (not sure if any of you know her but she is a Teaching Fellow from my year, last year) last year for her Methods and Student Teaching placements. Ashley told me she really liked Mrs. Wrenn and had a great experience with her. That being said, I'm really excited about working with her! The Elon student teacher Mrs. Wrenn had before Ashley is actually working across the hall from her. They still have a great working relationship and have developed a friendship as well. I was really happy to see this because it shows me that Mrs. Wrenn is really dedicated to making sure student teachers have a good experience.
That being said, I visited Mrs. Wrenn's classroom on Thursday during all three blocks. I wanted to check out each class before I decided which one I would work with. First block is a remedial English I class. These students had great personalities and seemed fun, but had to be entertained the entire class period. Second block was 10th grade, Techniques of Writing. Mrs. Wrenn said she was just teaching this class as a favor to a friend. She explained to me that just about every student in the class has an IEP and one is severely bipolar. She also said that she doesn't suggest I choose to work with this class. After observing them, I decided she was definitely right. Her final class is during 4th block and is an English I Honors class. This class reminded me of the type of students who were in my classes in High School. I enjoyed them because they had personality, but were conscious of their education as well.
I decided to work with the English I Honors class because Mrs. Wrenn has a first block honors class next semester. I thought working with a higher level this semester would give me experience with honors for next year when I'm student teaching. I do feel like I'm taking the easy way out because I'm not working with a class that will challenge my classroom management skills. I voiced this concern to Mrs. Wrenn and she thinks it will be more of a challenge to work with the honors group because they demand a certain kind of attention and classroom management. I do want to teach honors and AP classes in the future, so I think this will be a good experience for me. But is it really a challenge if the students are already well-behaved?

Today's discussion in class was very interesting in terms of acknowledging race in the classroom. You are taught that all people are equal and people shouldn't be separated based on race. People are often times scared to stay something because it will make them look like they are racist. You are told as the teacher to be colorblind, because that is the ideal. Ideally race should not be a big influential aspect of the classroom, but it is because that is the society that we are brought up in. So in order to be responsive to the cultures in your classroom, and even if there are not any students with different backgrounds.