I know that we are supposed to talk about interactions with staff, but I want to reflect on my day today.
Today I taught my first full solo lesson, with Diane observing. I did math today. Things were going pretty well at first but when I released the students to practice with partners, I realized the most of them were not getting the concept. At that point I called everyone's attention back to the front (very quickly!) to practice a few more problems as a group.
The second time I reviewed the concept I did it wrong with the students. About ten minutes in, I realized my mistake and stopped. I told the students "I'm sorry everyone, but I made a mistake. I'm very sorry to confuse you more, but I just realized I am doing this the wrong way." At that point we had a brief discussion about how everyone makes mistakes and put the math away, because everyone including me was confused.
Diane and I met afterwards to debrief and are developing a plan to reteach this concept in a new way tomorrow.
I was very embarrassed to admit to the kids that I messed up, especially on my first solo lesson! On the other hand, I am kind of relieved to have that over with, I know it will happen again, but I also know now that I can goof up without loosing the students' respect.
These are the stories you'll never forget, Meggie. I remember when I was student teaching, we were doing a unit on the solar system, and for the ENTIRE first lesson, I was using the word astrology instead of astronomy :-( Not only was my cooperating teacher observing, but my student teaching supervisor was there, too. My blood pressure still spikes when I remember that.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, you seem to have a healthy perspective about the whole situation, knowing mistakes happen, but dedicating yourself to figuring out what you need to know to re-teach. Remember, you're not a heart surgeon--no kids died yesterday as a result of a little math confusion! I'll look forward to hearing (in tonight's post?) how the re-teaching went. Will you tell us what you were teaching, by the way? I'm curious.
And finally, I know this is hard to believe, but as hard as it is to acknowledge mistakes in front of your students, it's actually a healthy thing. It keeps everyone honest (as in, "our classroom is a place where people try hard, learn a lot and sometimes make mistakes--it's a culture of trying"), and today the kids will have the very valuable lesson that when we get confused or do something wrong, the solution is to figure it out and try again. That lesson is worth a lot more (in the grand scheme of things) than whatever math concept/skill/procedure you're going to teach them (although that is important, too).
Enjoy the day, and thanks for doing an "off list" post about an event that was meaningful for you.