School Placement: Carlisle School
Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead
Grade(s)/Subject(s) of Placement: 6-12 (Sports Medicine, AP Statistics, PE (6-12))
Date: 11/3/14
Summary of Today’s Activities:
Regular Monday schedule (meet with all classes; 45 min each)
Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th): Sunday, I spent the whole day mass grading. It quickly became evident that we needed a day to regroup and recover. As soon as the students entered the classroom, I gave each one a missing work report. This report covered in detail each assignment that was missing and what needed to be accomplished during the short class period.
PE (5th): We started out the class with a condensed version of the exercises, but due to half of the class being irresponsible and not dressing out, it had an affect on my lesson plan for the day. For the half that dressed out, we warmed up with passing and dribbling before playing an indoor soccer game.
AP Stats (6th): AP Stats was not resistant to the mass grading issues from Sunday - I hate to lose an instructional day to catching up, but after grading their assignments, I have no other choice! So many students have been absent for one reason or another that it is having an affect on their grade because they do not understand the material. I didn't want this trend to continue, so I gave them each a missing work report and an opportunity to earn a few extra points by additional assignments that addressed their personal weaknesses.
Mancino had to cover my 7th Middle PE today - I had to leave early for an orthopedic appointment in Greensboro! (Had surgery last December, but never really healed)
Reflections of Today's Activities:
I really hate to lose instructional days to make-up days; but I believe it was necessary in this case. Grades were suffering and the material was not understood, so I had to take a step back before it got worse. I'm also going to try to spruce up my lesson on Wednesday to get the kids more interested in the content - maybe if I spark their interest, I won't have so many missing assignments! Either way, we are having a talk about student-responsibility and my expectations are still the same as they were on the first day of school!
Aargh! Make-up work. Bane of my existence.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the bane of every secondary teacher's existence. There's no right way to manage it, but I think sometimes you do just have to take a day and regroup. Realizing you need to do that is a sign of an effective teacher. :)
ReplyDelete