For this blog I will be focusing on my expectations for the upcoming visit to the classroom. I am kind of nervous since this will be the first visit but I do like the idea and take comfort in the fact that all I got to do is observe and introduce myself. I have gain valuable tricks and lessons in my public speaking classes that will allow me to prepare for the introduction. I know they are just middle schoolers but I do have a hard time with younger kids, they seem to like me and I do well I just don’t have the courage inside to actually believe that I do well with young ones. I know, with the help of my partners, all will go well on our first visit.
Back to the expectations, I read chapter two in our textbook about “design and plan” for a project. This was a full chapter, it contained lots of advice and even showed a template on how a simple project about finance was planned out. I hope to expect to see a plan or notes about how the teacher plans to teach their students. I would like to jump in tomorrow for the visit and be in the middle of a project that the students have been working on, in order to gain experience and see the mechanics behind a working project about a topic related to the class. I would love to be able to talk to the teacher and get any advice that was not in the chapter reading or even to see if a lot of the designs and plans coincided with the chapter. I would like to compare all the techniques provided by the books with the techniques I hope to learn about from an actual teacher of middle school leadership.
-Matthew Jingle
I’m interested in reading more about your economics project in the future
I could understand your feelings prior to our visit, it is a bit nerve wrecking going back to middle school. One thing that helps me when dealing with younger kids is to just have confidence. I like that you want to get advice from the teacher, that is raw advice that will probably be straight forward and not sugar coated.
Your expectations are very thoughtful. I understand your nerves going into your first visit, that is only natural. I also like the way you referenced the reading in terms of class/ project design and your hopes to gain insight in how that truly works in the real world. But I would have liked to see you mention more aspects that you expected to see, such as in the environment, content, or language/ norms.
Matthew,
I’m really curious to read your observation blog 3 and see how the “nerves” turned out. I know you seemed excited about witnessing their council ritual and that your participation felt meaningful. Having you there to witness that will mean something to them as well. It’s a public recognition.
MAJ Hodde