My week teaching Geometry overall went well, even though technology was again an issue. All issues have been resolved thus far, but presenting notes and problems to students was much more difficult without the use of the Intelliboard. It also seemed to disappoint students, and their regular routine of using the IntelliBoard was altered. I am relieved and grateful that Mr. Gibson was able to fix our problem and our board is back to “normal.”
With the appreciation of technology, I have decided to present some notes and definitions on the IntelliBoard pre-typed. I think this will help students with the presentation of new material, as I recognize my hand writing is not always legible. I will see how students respond to the presentation of the definitions and am aware that I may have difficulty not presenting or discussing important content or new material while students are writing the definitions I have already typed. Normally, I am repeating the definition while writing it myself, which enables the class to work at the same pace alongside me. However, I have noticed in the past that if information is already typed (such as on a PowerPoint) I tend to want to fill the silence with discussion and elaboration on the concept that all students may not fully comprehend due to their concentration on writing the notes.
In the last week, I have administered my first test and am anxious to see how the students perform. More tests will be given on Monday and a new unit will begin on Tuesday. I am excited for the new unit to begin and have put in a large amount of time preparing the materials. I greatly enjoy the content of the new unit, symbolic logic, and am excited to transfer my positive attitude to students.
Overall, in the past week the prevailing theme was flexibility again. I suspect that this feeling will be an overwhelming theme of my teaching career! With assemblies disrupting classes and technology being unreliable, I adapted lessons to resources I had available. Also, I have decided to alter my Action Research to avoid collecting survey data by using the IntelliBoard and clickers, in fear that the system will not work again. I am confident that the upcoming unit will run smoothly and that I will learn a great deal about my teaching with my first presentation of a full, self created unit.
I have to watch the same thing. I tend to want to fill the silence with extra goodies, but the kids are so focussed on the notetaking they do not hear it. I have learned to walk around the room several times and then start talking.
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