martes, período en el cual encontré un poco de valor

So! With my new-found courage, I asked my CT if I could be in charge of an activity for today. In Spanish 1 classes, I taught the names of the months using construction paper w/ images & words on opposite side (they were finishing up the alphabet and learning dates today). I made the connection between los días y la semana y el mes, which my CT went over, and held up a card: ¿Qué mes es? They said English name based on the image on the card, then I turned the card over to give them Spanish name and had them repeat. 2nd period was not so enthusiastic, but 4th period already knew some of the Spanish names! I was so impressed :)

Some pointers my CT gave me:
- don't be afraid to make them repeat (even if they start groaning, haha)
- use a louder voice (born with a mouse voice I'm afraid...)
- cue into writing the months in order with class help
- cue into seasons
- cue into how to write the date, then give them an example & an exercise

The cues were what my CT ended up doing (although I did do the writing the months in order thing in 2nd period) because I seem to have a hard time keeping the steps of the lesson straight. Honestly, I was just so happy with how quick they got it I was like... ok what do I do next?

Some other things to keep in mind from class for vocabulary introduction:
1. present
2. check for comprehension
3. don't jump straight to production

We also had an AMAZING speaker come today who really inspired me to want to try immersion again. From now on I'm going to try to speak exclusively with the students in Spanish, which will take some good planning, but will help them and me a lot. I know I always hated it when I had a language teacher that used too much English, but I realize not everyone is a language nerd like me, so I was trying to compensate for that. Armed with some more knowledge about immersion, however, I'd definitely like to give it a go. :)

Who's ready for a great week? :)

Dudas y temores

Okay guys, time to get honest here. I was about thiiiiiis close to giving this up all together. My first couple of days standing up in front of the class didn't go so well, and worse yet, I shifted into panic overdrive. I was having severe stage fright, which is kind of strange given I used to act and sing in front of people all the time, but I think having all eyes on you and not being sure how the students will react or who's going to test you, plus being responsible for discipline was waaaay too much pressure for me.

Luckily my friends and family pushed me back in the right direction to see that my expectations were a little too high. Although the experience of conducting parts of the lessons on my own the first few days may have been necessary, I also think I was asked to jump in the deep end before I knew how to swim yet. So, my new strategy includes getting to know the students on a more individual basis first (walking around, monitoring, praise, giving help). Then my CT and I will move to teaching lessons as a team, kind of like ping-ponging back and forth so that the students need to pay attention to both of us. After that, we will start doing a lesson where she does 90%, I do 10%, and work our way up until I have 100%.

I also have to work on a persona for when I'm teaching. I really can't be Rebecca up there or I'll feel like finding a nice hole to crawl into. I have to be Srta. Kaylor, who wants these kids to learn but ain't messing around.

So, I don't really know that I want to be a teacher after this, but I'm going to get through and give it my all while I'm here.

First day of the new semester tomorrow! First week: laid out. Seating chart: made. Worksheets for the unit: printed. I'm very excited because I get to take over at least one activity every day. By excited I mean super nervous, but I'm hoping the more I do it, the less nerve wracking it's going to be. Well, hope everything goes well tomorrow :)

El inicio

Bienvenidos a mi blog! I am a new student teacher who will be using this blog to chart my progress into the crazy world of teaching high school Spanish. Seeing as how I chose to start this blog in the limited time before I have to go give some Spanish 2's the oral section of their final exam, I can't write much, but I will check back in later. Saludos y bienvenidos!