First Day of Teaching
Oct 6/20
Today was the first day my team-teaching partner and I were to be introduced to our practicum class and run some fun “get to know you” activities. There were some tech issues with MS Teams and getting me into the class. It was finally resolved just as my partner finished his portion of the introductions. I jumped into the class feeling behind and without knowing any of what had gone on before. I did my introduction and activity as planned. I introduced myself and we played Two Truths and a Lie. The students asked questions and participated. They were surprised by what was truth and what was a lie.
It was not until I had finished that I found out that Cancun was due to be hit with a hurricane. The lesson was cut short due to the emergency. I listened in as my sponsor teacher spoke with the kids about what was happening. She played two different audio clips for the students by a meteorologist from Texas who happened to be a friend. One was the official clip about the hurricane that was played on the news, and the other was personal message on the hurricane. With both clips, the teacher pointed out specific vocabulary, the formality of the tone and had the students respond. She was able to use current events as part of the lesson.
What this lesson highlighted for me was the importance of being knowledgeable about the events that can affect the students and being flexible enough to bring it into the learning process.