Student Teaching Week 1- University High School

This semester, I have been placed at University High School to complete my five-week special education student teaching. Before going in, I had mixed emotions about teaching at a high school level. Would they even listen to me? How am I going to get them to take me seriously? My first experience at University was the "Back to School Bash" held on the Thursday before the students started. At this event, I felt extremely overwhelmed with all of the chaos of students becoming reacquainted with each other. At the elementary level, my students have always wanted to know everything about me and all of their eyes were on me. At high school, I am practically invisible to the students, and I could probably pass as one of them. I left that evening feeling even more nervous about what I was in store for during the next five weeks.

On the first day, I was introduced to all my new students. This day was pretty relaxed because we were not doing much instruction, just getting to know the students, fixing schedules, and opening lockers. My teacher has most of her own classes, including Algebra 1, Algebra 1 Support, and Geometry. She also goes into another classroom for a period to co-teach in a collaborative setting with a former graduate of the five-year program. We discussed a plan for the weeks to come, and she requested I waste no time and start full-time teaching. At first, I was a little uneasy about planning/teaching these classes because I haven't had either of those maths since I was in high school, which was over 6 years ago. Also, a lot of my students have behavioral issues as well as learning disabilities, so I knew my work was going to be cut out for me.

I was right! On Tuesday and Wednesday, my patience as a teacher was tested. Unlike the elementary age students I am used too, these high school students talk back, curse, fight with each other, get up whenever they want and basically do whatever they want. Since I had never had the chance to observe how my teacher handles her classroom management, I felt helpless and so overwhelmed. I knew that it was not me the students were purposely disrespecting, it is just how they normally act. I can also understand that by high school, most of them have already reached and passed their frustration points and the last thing they want is to be sitting in algebra and geometry classes, especially when they can't even do basic math independently. I discussed my issues with my mentor teacher, and she reassured me that I was doing fine and once the students got into the groove of school again, they wouldn't act up as much.

I went in on Thursday and Friday with a new positive outlook and hope that it would be a better day. To my surprise, both went much better than the two previous days. I finally felt comfortable enough to stand up for myself by demanding their attention when I was talked and reprimanding them when they weren't following classroom rules. They participated in whole group discussions, and did their work independently. I let them listen to music while they worked together on assignments, and they actually finished them. They helped each other and asked for help when they were struggling. Yes, they still cursed, got into little arguments with each other, and talked out, but they listened when I talked and did the work that was assigned. Friday when the last bell finally rang, I couldn't have been more relieved. I survived my first week of high school. Here's to hoping that on Monday things will pick back up where they left off!