Week 1 Reflection

Wow! I can't believe it's Friday of week 1 already! This was the week that I dreaded and looked forward to all summer. I am very happy to say that it definitely exceeded my expectations! I have truly enjoyed being in the school again with all of my students and fellow teachers. Things have been a little crazy so far with students still working out their schedules, but it looks like I have some really good groups of kids. In every semester of the program so far I have ended up having only freshman. This year I have the pleasure of teaching juniors and seniors and it is definitely a change! I think i'm going to really enjoy this age group.

My anatomy and physiology students didn't seem too scared of everything that I had for them on the first day. I was afraid they would be overwhelmed by it all, but there wasn't too much complaining! I'm not sure how many students i'm going to end up with in this class, but I had 32 today. After an entire year of classes of 16-17 last year this is a going to be a big adjustment for me. I am hoping that sticking to routines and class procedures will help to minimize any chaos. I started using folders for them that they keep in the classroom and use to turn in and pick up their assignments. I've only used them to pass out information so far, but it does seem to cut down on "down time" at the beginning of class when I don't have to take the time to pass out or collect papers from 32 students. I am still a little worried about my own knowledge of the content for this class, but i'm going to keep reading the chapters and trying my best to learn it so that I can effectively teach it.
The forensics classes have also been going really well. Most of the students seem excited to be taking this class and find the topics that we will be covering interesting. I have big classes of 25-26 with these groups as well but it hasn't been an issue yet. There are a lot of opportunities to teach this class using hands-on and interactive activities. I hope to plan of a lot of activities that will keep the students motivated and engaged. I am conducting my action research with forensics students and I am working on preparing some inquiry-based labs that I will be collecting data from. Several of my forensics students also have my anatomy class or have been in a class of mine in previous semesters. I am trying really hard to learn all of their names because I think it's an important way to show them that I care.
I am also getting involved at the school by co-leading the Fellowship of Christian Athletes with Mrs. Barto. We have a really good group of students involved in FCA and hopefully I can help their club to grow and be successful this year. It also means waking up earlier on Thursdays, but I'll just have an extra cup of coffee that morning :-) The first football game was tonight and it was fun to see everyone preparing for the season. I hope to make it to some games this year to see my students in band, cheering, and football. Overall, I think this could end up being my favorite semester of college yet! Sarah was right about it being the "payoff" for all of the hard work that we've put in during the last four years. I know it will still be a lot of work, but I enjoy putting in the time if I know that my students will benefit from it. More to come soon- Happy Friday!