Week 12: Reflection
This week was one of the most exciting weeks of my internship so far. The students in my American Politics and Global Issues (APGI) courses finished up their Humans and the Environment CBA by teaching their interdependence and sustainability lessons to the fourth grade students at one of the local elementary schools.
The week did not start off as great as it started. The lessons at the elementary school happened on Thursday. Tuesday’s class was spent doing a trial run of the lessons. The students doing the lessons together were paired up with other groups, ran through their lessons a couple of times, and gave one another feedback. This was done to make sure the lessons took the required fifteen minutes, were engaging, and did not have any kinks in them by the end of the day. My mentor teacher and I wanted these lessons to be flawless by the time the students showed up at the elementary school. However, there was more than one group that showed up on Tuesday without having its lesson fully prepared. These students were required to get everything figured out by the next day, present it to my mentor teacher and me, and get our approval in order to attend the trip to the elementary school the next day. This CBA is worth 20% of their final grades, so it is really important. Fortunately, the groups pulled through on Wednesday. Although I have to admit that I was not real confident in some of the groups.
Thursday morning arrived and my mentor teacher and I spent the morning making sure everything was all squared away for the field trip. Students were to meet us in front of the school at 9:05 am dressed in professional attire. My mentor teacher and I went to different elementary schools that morning because one of the other APGI teachers ended up having jury duty. I was left in charge of three APGI classes; one of the counselors from the high school came with me to meet legal requirements, but I was expected to run the show.
Our two buses arrived at the elementary school and the students were sent to the different fourth grade classrooms. They immediately began their sustainability lessons with the fourth grade students. It was so exciting to watch the seniors interact with the fourth graders! Both sets of students enjoyed working with each other. From gluing plaques near storm drains to be careful about polluting streams to learning about green house emissions, the seniors pulled through and did an outstanding job on their lessons. It was clear that everyone involved was having a great time, and the fourth graders were learning a lot along the way. The fourth grade teachers were all thoroughly impressed, making comments about how this year’s lessons were a step up from last year’s, which was encouraging to hear as the student teacher who led the students through this CBA. In addition, the assistant director of teaching and learning from the school district and a reporter from the local newspaper showed up to watch my students present their lessons. The Maple Valley Reporter published an article on the lessons later on (see article).
In class later that afternoon, I was able to debrief this experience with my students. They had funny stories about the fourth graders and were so excited about how well they did. It was evident that they were proud of their work and I was so happy to see that. These students worked really hard and I had pushed them more than they liked, but it all paid off. So many of the senior guys were surprised that they actually enjoyed working with the little kids; it was a new opportunity for many of them. There was not a single group that did not do a great job on Thursday at the elementary school. Even though I was extremely nervous about the quality of student work and being at the elementary school without my mentor teacher, everything came together, I could not have asked for a better, more rewarding, experience.
