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About Me
- Dr. Susan Ferguson
- I teach English Education, Foreign Language Education, and ESL Education, and I advise STEM Education Majors at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama--and I LOVE IT! I love to invite others to find the poet that is within them--I am certain a poet lies within each of us!
I hope you have all enjoyed posting. Our final posts for the semester will be displayed here. I also hope you enjoyed your spring break. Please email me with any questions re: your final observations.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend, and enjoy the Arts Festival this Fri, Sat, Sun downtown.
I am very sad that by the time my mom and I made it downtown the show was over. Anyhow, we thought we would try another day. When the second placement began I was led to think this was the worst part of the observation since Paige and I had been spoiled in the first placement. However, when we were sent to Mrs. Massey’s class things started to look up. She was a middle school teacher of mine so I was able to see her teach on a higher level, which met my expectations really. I didn’t think she would just blow us away, but I felt she had something to offer, such as structure, REAL EFFECTIVE teaching, good class management, and all the other bells and whistles of a good teacher. I can appreciate Ms. Shinn shipping Paige and I off. I almost hate to see this end because I feel we didn’t get enough of a feel on the high school level. The overall experience I have had in my observation has been positive and reinforcing to my decision in a career. I can only hope it was the same for all of you. If not, we still have student teaching.
ReplyDeleteI'm tired.
ReplyDeleteAren't you all excited? It's your last semester of college! :) I can hear that a lot of you are frustrated with your pre-practicum placements, but don't worry that you haven't learned enough; that begins next semester! :) Depending on what type of supervising teacher you have, you may the best or worst learning experience of your life. My supervising teacher was great, but she also kind of abandoned me with the class at times (something that is NOT supposed to happen--EVER). Just remember why you wanted to become a teacher in the first place, and you'll all do fine. As long as you're in it for the right reasons (those are the students-btw :P), everything will come together and you'll change the world.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you all, and I appreciate you letting me comment on your experiences. I learned so much from you guys!
This semester has been stressful but has provided a lot of useful experiences. I am looking forward to seeing the alternate share projects! We are almost finished!
ReplyDeleteMy students are sensing the end of the year and are acting accordingly. They are harder to control and their attention span is getting shorter and shorter. I am using all of the "fun" learning activites I know to keep them interested. I even have decided to forgo the last essay and do a partner project involving persuasive writing. I hope it is a hit with the students, but we will see. I am hanging by a thread as are most teachers at my school.
ReplyDeleteWell this is the last post of the semester and I will miss this class dearly. Just a bit of news, my students will now be going to Lima, Peru next summer due to the current situation in Mexico. I have learned so much in this class I hate to see it end. Ursula, I never observed another teacher nor student teached but I do understand the frustration of knowing teacher who do not doing their jobs. All I can say it is pure magic inside of a classroom which truly works. We all have are bad days just as students have their bad days. However, those days when students are making connections and you can feel the energy in the classroom where students are actually learning then it is ALL worth it. I love children and I think in someways high school students need us more younger students because there is more to deal with in their lives with little support. If we are true to our nature as teachers than students will be true to themselves.Bueno suerte profesores!
ReplyDeleteHey! Michael--I totally understand your thoughts about the kids sensing the year ending. My kids have been a little wild and crazy, too. My 9th graders have their spring plays coming up this week. Thanks to everone in class for making it so enjoyable! I hope that everyone has a great summer---keep in touch! =)
ReplyDeleteWell I thought I could get away with it, but boy was I wrong. I taught my first GRAMMAR lesson (teaching the use of commas with parenthetical expressions and adverbial clauses to be exact)to complete one of my student teaching days at Leflore High School. Thankfully, it went very well. I kept it simple. No technology, just me and the board. I felt that with the marker in my hand I could react quickly to the students' feedback, and work through more examples in the areas they needed more help understanding. I scaffolded my lesson with some handouts so that all the definitions I taught them, they would have in front of them, along with some examples so that they could work through some exercises, from a different worksheet, on their own.
ReplyDeleteJenny, you are right about teachers having bad days. Luckily Ursula and I were moved from a teacher who had a bad day everyday, to one who did her very best.
I will miss blogging with all of you. I hope everyone does well on their finals.
Paige