Classroom Experience
Through the GeauxTeach program, I was given the opportunity to observe and teach in a variety of classroom settings around the Baton Rouge area. These classroom experiences have allowed me to understand teaching on many different levels, and in many different environments. Below I have a paragraph on each of the lessons leading up to my semester of student teaching for which I have created a separate page. I also have an assignment available to download for each classroom experience which highlights my development as a lesson plan creator. Each classroom experience has taught me valuable lessons about managing a classroom, writing effective and descriptive lessons, and being adaptable in a lesson.
My first observation was at Bernard Terrace Elementary School where I was placed in a 4th grade math class. This was my first field experience in the GeauxTeach program, and was designed to enlighten teacher candidates on the possibility of a certification in elementary education, rather than secondary education. While my experience at the elementary school was amazing, I came to the conclusion that secondary education was the certification I wanted to pursue. I learned a lot about classroom management in this experience, as well as how to effectively communicate to students where the age gap is large. Below I have attached one of the lesson plans I created and taught in this classroom.
My next field experience was at McKinley Middle School, where I was placed in a 7th grade math class for the Spring semester of 2018. This field experience was my first in secondary education, and this class taught me a lot about classroom management. I had a lot of fun in this environment, and realized that secondary education was definitely the certification I wanted to pursue. Since the age of the class was older than the previous experience, I was able to use more technical words, but as they were around 13 years old, the lessons needed to be simplified. Below I have attached one of my lesson plans my teaching partner and I wrote for this class.
For the Spring semester of 2019, I was placed in a more intensive observation experience. Every Tuesday and Thursday of the semester I was tasked with going to Baton Rouge High School and observed one period of Algebra II. While at Baton Rouge High, I was given the opportunity to teach a two-day lesson, as well as two one-day lessons. This classroom experience gave me further insight into the day-to-day aspects of teaching and the administrative components of the profession. Because I was able to teach a two-day lesson, my partner and I were able to assign homework and see how students retain information over the period of two days. In this classroom, I had my first experience in assigning an in-class project. The project allowed me to see how my verbal directions affected the effectiveness of student work. Below I have attached the two-day lesson on synthetic division that was written for this field experience.
During the Fall semester of 2019 I observed at Liberty High School every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for one period a day. This experience was the most intensive field experience I had thus far. The purpose of the course was Project Based Learning (PBL), which is a teaching style using projects. My final project for this course was to create a unit plan for the course we observed. I observed an Advanced Math class, so my partners and I created a unit plan based on the unit they were about to begin. The unit needed to be based around a project, with the end of the unit being the completion of the project. The unit plan was meant to be hypothetical and supplied to our mentor teacher to teach to her students. The classroom was on a block schedule, so we were able to meet the students almost every time they had class. This experience gave me the opportunity to see the more intensive aspects of the classroom, and what it is like to meet with the students every day. Below I have attached a link to the website my group created for the unit. The website has a project calendar, lesson plans, assessments, and an anchor video that serves as a fun introduction to the lesson.