Week 13

Week 13 is down! 


    This week, I took over the World Studies class at my second placement and began a unit on Ancient Greece. I have to say that 10th grade is waaaaaaaaay different than 5th grade. This week the students and I looked at the geography of Ancient Greece and how geography affected the development of early city-states. We also read the Greek Creation Myth together, looking for in-text evidence of different aspects of the Greek world that the myth explains. I had the students create their own myths to answer one of these questions: What happens after we die? How did mankind come into existence? a weather event (from the perspective of an ancient Greek person), or how did anger, greed, envy, violence, or hate enter the world? That assignment ended up being really fun and most of the students got into creating their myth. A few even asked if they could take it home to work on it more! That was the highlight of my week. I also had them do a group project where I assigned each group a Greek god or goddess. The students were tasked with researching a series of questions about their god/goddess, creating an illustration of the god/goddess or a symbol that represents the god/goddess, and creating a skit that shows the people of ancient Greece being rewarded or punished by the deity they were assigned. I chose to work on the myths and deities for a couple of days to start the unit because I think it is integral to fully understand the people of Ancient Greece, to understand what they believed to be true and centered their lives around.

     I also attended parent-teacher conferences on Thursday. It was helpful for me to meet some of the parents and get a better understanding of the backgrounds of some of the students. I learned there are several students who are really going through some excruciating emotional and personal issues, and it's affecting their ability to focus and be motivated to learn. 

   I also learned this week that sophomores are a really tough age. I'm trying really hard to make lessons that are engaging, but it seems no matter what I propose, I cannot make them all happy. I'm looking for the positives in every student, and there really are so many! There are so many great kids and I know I won't be there long, but I'm glad I'm getting the chance to spend some time with the students. I think the time that I came to my second placement is awkward because of the strike, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I know for certain I have a lot of growing as a teacher to do at this grade level, and I'm trying very hard. I do not feel as confident as I was at my first placement. It's like starting student teaching all over again.... but I have a LOT more students to learn. In addition, I'm learning to use an entirely new computer system and other technology in the classroom. It's been exhausting!!!! Well, cheers to more growth in this coming week!

Schmidt Chapter 10

1. What's the big deal about social justice? Students are growing up in such a globally connected world that we can no longer pretend that injustice does not exist. Children are exposed to so many social injustices, that it only makes sense to incorporate not only knowledge about what social justice is, but ways that we can help our students inside the classroom and out in the world fight and demand liberty, equality, and justice for all students and for all people! 
2. Why are the ideas of chapter 10 important for a Christian teacher? At its very foundation, Christianity stands for compassion, love, acceptance, and tolerance of all people. It stands firm in the notion that all of humankind are the children of God. He tasked us with taking care of His creation, including one another. Therefore, all children of God should have the same opportunities, empathy, and compassion for one another. Every Christian teacher should create a classroom where the students are all seen as God's perfect creation, and our job is to tend to their learning as such.

Comments

  1. TrollgeekNovember 18, 2019 at 8:14 AM

    Yes, 10th graders are not the same as 5th graders. I remember being a sophomore in high school, and I empathize with you in dealing with students at this level. They are going through so many big changes, it's no wonder they don't focus exclusively on what we are teaching. It's good that you could attend conferences and learn a bit about some of the things your students are going through.

    I love how you are getting these students actively engaged in their learning and giving them options.

    ReplyDelete

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