Student Teaching Evaluation

Today is my second official student teaching observation. I have my formal lesson plan ready to go, and my Ottawa University supervisor will be there at 2:00 this afternoon. She will be watching me present a lesson in social studies.

I am not really extremely nervous about this evaluation. I have been getting more and more comfortable in the classroom. I am somewhat concerned, however, because the students have not been taking to social studies well. They are chatty and just not quite as receptive to learning as they are earlier in the day. We'll see what happens.

Today I am adding a game to our reading and note-taking, so I think it will go pretty well. A couple of the students don't like games, but for the most part the games have gone over well in the past. Today I am going to try a version of tic-tac-toe. The students will get to fill out the appropriate letter if they get an answer to a question correct. The catch is that I will not call on students who have their hands raised. I will be pulling names randomly, so all the students will be held accountable for getting the reading done.

Even though I am only one-third done with student teaching, my supervisor wanted my mid-term evaluation from my mentor teacher today. I guess she is killing two birds with one stone. Mr. Hodges went over my mid-term with me yesterday. I agree with the areas he marked as needing improvement, and I am thrilled with the positive comments he left. A staff member stopped me in the copy room yesterday and told me how highly Mr. Hodges speaks of me. I would love for that to translate into a job offer at the end of student teaching, but I won't get my hopes up too high. I knew going in that the likelihood of a job opening in the middle of the school year was slim.

I'm glad I got a good run in last night. Daniel watched the kids while I ran 2.5 miles. I feel strong and prepared. It's interesting how running can creep into other parts of life. There's a lot to learn from our bodies. Have a great day!