3 Day Take Over

So, my 3 day take over was the last 3 days of September. I was not completely enthused with what my CT wanted me to teach (proposition and support). The Friday before my first day we met up and brainstormed a lesson together. I threw out my ideas and she critiqued them. It was a great meeting and I got to put my twist on things.

Monday, I reviewed the general topic of Proposition and Support, asking the students what they remembered about it, and who uses this format of writing. Then we read a sample persuasive letter and, as a class, annotated/marked it up. We highlighted the thesis/proposition, underlined the support and labeled the type. This pretty much took all period. That night for homework I had them do it again on another essay.

Tuesday, in my opinion, was brutal. I went over the homework and asked the students to tell me what the marked up on their sample essay. It felt like I was pulling teeth. So painful. I would have been embarrassed had someone been observing me. And it is not like the students did not do the work. When I looked at their papers, I saw they had marked it up. They were just not talking. It's so frustrating. Anyway, after that painful 20 minutes, I gave the students time in class to work on their own persuasive letters. Some used the time wisely and got most of it done in class, the others were to finish it up for homework and be ready for a Peer Review the next day.

Wednesday went a bit better. Most of the students did their homework, albeit with quite a few moans and groans about how much they had for homework. I felt bad, but not too much since I had given them 30 minutes to get it done in class. So, in partners they read the letters, using a score sheet I gave them. They were to be looking for structural issues like having support and a counterargument, and so on. That night for homework they were to take what they had and fix it up, ready to type it up in the computer lab.

Since I was not there Thursday, I did not get to see the process as it was completed, but I did pick up the ones that were done on Friday and read them over the weekend. They were all pretty well done. Although, I think I am a fairly easy grader. I have yet to decide if that is a good thing or not, however.

Overall, I think the takeover went well. The kids seemed to be engaged with everything, even the boring part.

And now, if I can I would like to be a tad unprofessional and let you know exactly how bad it was on Tuesday. It was so bad, that even I did not want to be there. If I was one of them, I would have been bored out of my mind. It was pretty ridiculous. They made me proud, though. The way they stayed polite was quite admirable given the normal antics one might expect from 8th graders.