Hello,
I'm Chad Ownby, I am a recent graduate from Longwood University. Last fall, I completed my student teaching experience for theatre education . And what an experience it was. I kept thinking throughout the entire placement that it would be an awesome sitcom. I figured this blog would be a good place to share the experience I had with fellow teachers, aspiring teachers, or anyone interested.
The first lesson: Man this is exciting. My first ever lesson. I have been here about a month and I finally get a chance to show what I can do. My supervisor is coming from Longwood to observe me for the first time. I have a great relationship with her so I am not too nervous but I am very motivated to do well. The lesson should be pretty cool. I will be teaching the theatre production class and have prepared an awesome power point on the different technical jobs in professional theatre. I also prepared a Jeopardy game. I was excited because this was my favorite aspect of theatre production and I was going to get to share it with the students.
That is about where the positivity ended.
The first lesson I really learned first hand is that Theatre production is honestly and truly the dumping ground class. While several of the students were excited to be there, there were just as many who were just placed in the class and quite frankly could not care less. It makes pulling teeth look like playing laser tag(orrrr something universally fun). This is where my biggest mistake came into play. I assumed that because I loved this material, that the kids would too. This could not be further from the truth. I actually had one student say "are we done yet, because this is really boring." It was pretty much a kiss of death for my lesson. Of course because they had no interest, the students began either falling asleep, or acting up, which of course makes sense since they were not engaged in the material. Their behavior threw me off and my pacing of the lecture became ultra monotonous and I kept stopping to address bad behavior. The second big mistake I made was saying "This stuff is pretty boring huh?" My thought process was that I was letting the students know how they felt. Unfortunately all it did was reaffirm their opinion on the lesson and so any attention they were giving me was gone. I was about three fourths of the way done with my lesson when I decided to abandon the power point and instead play an improv game. This was the thing that I did right. Getting the students up and moving definately seemed to wake them up. From there we played the Jeopardy game which was meant with a decent reception for the students. Of course, I was not completely out of the woods yet. I did not time my lesson accurately and we were left with about 10 extra minutes. I learned a very valuable lesson that day: always be prepared for your lesson to be too short by preparing extra material.
After the lesson, My teacher, my supervisor and myself all sat down to discuss the lesson. By this point I was exasperated and exhausted. Luckily for me, both of them were very nice and super supportive. I had the sinking suspicion that they had both been in my position before. It was almost like a right of passage for new teachers to crash and burn I think. I remember having a job interview months later where I brought this lesson up and the interviewer began to chuckle remember his first lesson. The conversation with my supervisor and teacher was very much like an acting critique, starting with the positive, giving me some suggestions for feedback, then ending on a positive note. I ended up leaving the room with mixed emotions. On one hand, I am a total perfectionist. On the other hand, I always welcome feedback and looked at it as an opportunity to learn. One thing was certain though, my next lesson would go much much better.
I hoped.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Honeymoon Phases and Ready lines.
Hello,
I'm Chad Ownby, I am a recent graduate from Longwood University. Last fall, I completed my student teaching experience for theatre education . And what an experience it was. I kept thinking throughout the entire placement that it would be an awesome sitcom. I figured this blog would be a good place to share the experience I had with fellow teachers, aspiring teachers, or anyone interested.
The First Day: "I am tired, but excited". This is my first thought as I sprang out of bed at 6 AM that August Morning. Not to long after that I have the thought "Man I hate dressing up". Yep, I picked the right line of work. When I arrived at the school around 7:00 I just assumed I knew what to expect. I had two practicums under my belt and have been involved in educational theatre for eight years. How different could this be? When I walk into the room, My cooperating teacher hands me an agenda and with a smile on his face introduces himself. He then asks me "Are you just observational for a bit?" I was since the first week or so is supposed to be spent observing. However the question got me thinking. What if it wasn't? What if I was supposed to start right away? Even when I do start will I be ready? because right now, I sure as hell don't feel ready. Far from it. If there is a line with the word "ready" written on it, all the way on the other side of the line there would be a picture of me smiling nervously.
The first day of classes were pretty much what you would expect. The students would come in, exchange pleasantries, go over house keeping stuff, and then maybe play a game. I sat in a chair near the teacher and I felt like I was on display at a zoo. I was 22 so I kind of looked like the students only slightly older and in a suit an tie. I think this perplexed many of the students so they stared. Or at least it felt like they stared. It most likely would have been easier If I introduced myself, but I just waited for the teacher to do it. Another thing I noticed is that there was an overall vibe on positivity in every class. The kids seemed genuinely happy to be there. In fact, when my teacher introduced me to everyone in the school, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, all the time. It was odd. Not necessarily bad, but strange. Later on, I heard one of the other teacher's say "well while the honeymoon phase lasts". I guess it was just a beginning of the year thing. Over the next several months, the good mood was there, but in a much more realistic way.
I later found out that day that my teacher was also in charge of the school beautification project, which involved ensuring that the gardens and pavilions were well managed. "you have to make yourself valuable to the school" he explained to me. This is just one example of the many hats teachers wear.
During lunch time, We went and ate with two of the other arts teachers, and one of the PE teachers. I discovered very quickly that teachers, like most people, also break off into social groups. Over the next few months I learned that lunch time is one of the most valuable times of the day. As a teacher, you are always and I mean always on. You are constantly performing and functioning in some type of role or another. Lunch time allows you to catch a breath and just be you for a while. It also allows for venting, joking, fun stories and for me, the opportunity to pick the brain's of my fellow teachers. It was always interesting to say the least. The teachers are half way expecting stories from our lunch time to end up in a book someday.
After school we had a faculty meeting. This was a first for me. We sat with the same teachers, while the administration gave the same welcome back speech that I am sure they gave every year. Most of the teacher's zoned out on their computers since they had heard it all before. Before the meeting started, My cooperating teacher stood up and introduced me to the entire faculty as they clapped. (you know us theatre people love our applause) Like with the student's before, I once again felt on display. This time however it was different. I looked around and saw all of the teachers and I felt like this is something I could do. I didn't feel like a student. I felt like a peer. After four years of college, and two practicums, and countless lectures on educational theory, it was my turn to start putting theory into practice, or at least attempt to.
I'm Chad Ownby, I am a recent graduate from Longwood University. Last fall, I completed my student teaching experience for theatre education . And what an experience it was. I kept thinking throughout the entire placement that it would be an awesome sitcom. I figured this blog would be a good place to share the experience I had with fellow teachers, aspiring teachers, or anyone interested.
The First Day: "I am tired, but excited". This is my first thought as I sprang out of bed at 6 AM that August Morning. Not to long after that I have the thought "Man I hate dressing up". Yep, I picked the right line of work. When I arrived at the school around 7:00 I just assumed I knew what to expect. I had two practicums under my belt and have been involved in educational theatre for eight years. How different could this be? When I walk into the room, My cooperating teacher hands me an agenda and with a smile on his face introduces himself. He then asks me "Are you just observational for a bit?" I was since the first week or so is supposed to be spent observing. However the question got me thinking. What if it wasn't? What if I was supposed to start right away? Even when I do start will I be ready? because right now, I sure as hell don't feel ready. Far from it. If there is a line with the word "ready" written on it, all the way on the other side of the line there would be a picture of me smiling nervously.
The first day of classes were pretty much what you would expect. The students would come in, exchange pleasantries, go over house keeping stuff, and then maybe play a game. I sat in a chair near the teacher and I felt like I was on display at a zoo. I was 22 so I kind of looked like the students only slightly older and in a suit an tie. I think this perplexed many of the students so they stared. Or at least it felt like they stared. It most likely would have been easier If I introduced myself, but I just waited for the teacher to do it. Another thing I noticed is that there was an overall vibe on positivity in every class. The kids seemed genuinely happy to be there. In fact, when my teacher introduced me to everyone in the school, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, all the time. It was odd. Not necessarily bad, but strange. Later on, I heard one of the other teacher's say "well while the honeymoon phase lasts". I guess it was just a beginning of the year thing. Over the next several months, the good mood was there, but in a much more realistic way.
I later found out that day that my teacher was also in charge of the school beautification project, which involved ensuring that the gardens and pavilions were well managed. "you have to make yourself valuable to the school" he explained to me. This is just one example of the many hats teachers wear.
During lunch time, We went and ate with two of the other arts teachers, and one of the PE teachers. I discovered very quickly that teachers, like most people, also break off into social groups. Over the next few months I learned that lunch time is one of the most valuable times of the day. As a teacher, you are always and I mean always on. You are constantly performing and functioning in some type of role or another. Lunch time allows you to catch a breath and just be you for a while. It also allows for venting, joking, fun stories and for me, the opportunity to pick the brain's of my fellow teachers. It was always interesting to say the least. The teachers are half way expecting stories from our lunch time to end up in a book someday.
After school we had a faculty meeting. This was a first for me. We sat with the same teachers, while the administration gave the same welcome back speech that I am sure they gave every year. Most of the teacher's zoned out on their computers since they had heard it all before. Before the meeting started, My cooperating teacher stood up and introduced me to the entire faculty as they clapped. (you know us theatre people love our applause) Like with the student's before, I once again felt on display. This time however it was different. I looked around and saw all of the teachers and I felt like this is something I could do. I didn't feel like a student. I felt like a peer. After four years of college, and two practicums, and countless lectures on educational theory, it was my turn to start putting theory into practice, or at least attempt to.
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