Week 4 Reflection

This has definitely been the busiest week yet! With somewhere to be almost every evening immediately after school, I barely got home in time to shower and get things together for the next day before falling asleep! On the other hand, I feel like I gave some of my best lectures yet this week. I am starting to get into a routine and I am becoming more and more comfortable with my classes every day.
I spent some time reflecting on what felt different about the way I taught this week compared to past weeks and even semesters. I realized that I am beginning to plan my lessons by deciding on the end result that I want to achieve first and then planning how to best make it happen. Instead of focusing first on the "activity" or what the students will actually be "doing" during class, I am starting to focus first on what I want them to learn or take away from it. I have started better preparing myself for the lectures in both classes by reading and studying the material ahead of time. This has helped my confidence during the lessons. My biggest concern is still ensuring that I can present them with the material that they need to learn in a way that will be effective. I worry that I won't understand something well enough to know how to teach it. By taking it one day and one lesson at a time, I am hoping that I can continue learning along with them the best that I can.
Overall, I am really enjoying my experiences in the school! I am still getting used to certain routines, such as taking attendance and recording and posting grades to Edline. These are simple things, but they are things that have never been my responsibility before so I am working to make part of my routine. My host teacher has also been wonderful so far. I am learning so much just from watching his lectures and teaching strategies with the AP Biology students. I am also very fortunate that he feels it is important to be organized because I am learning a lot about how to organize my classroom and how to handle everyday issues that must be delt with. He is very understanding about the fact that this is a learning process for me, and I enjoy hearing constructive criticisms and suggestions.
I started on my action research this week so I will write more under that topic! Hopefully the week ahead isn't quite as exhausting! At least the Mountaineers are looking good against Auburn! LET"S GOOOO!