I went on a field trip with my CT and the entire 8th grade class to see a production of Pirates of Penzance and it was an interesting experience. Not only did I learn about the procedures of field trips, but I was able to experience second semester 8th graders on a Friday morning in school before the field trip. They were incredibly excited to venture off as a class and see the play instead of participating in their typical routine at their school. Needless to say, they were full of energy.
I was not very nervous because I work summer camp and we go on weekly field trips. I am in charge of the seven and eight year olds and I am used to the responsibilities that come with a field trip, such as medicine, head counting, and keeping the entire group together. I felt like my experience at camp would help me during my first experience with 8th graders on a field trip. I was wrong; 8th graders are different from eight year olds. 

The bus ride was an experience in itself. It as sort of funny when my CT was taking role; when he gave the bus driver the head count, including teachers, he said the number of students and three adults, including me. The bus driver questioned my CT and looked at me and my CT laughed, along with the 8th graders who were sitting toward the front of the bus. They would constantly tell me that I look like I am in middle school because I am short; many of them are much taller than me. I was also able to hang out and talk to the students about their everyday lives. We talked about a basketball tournament and the anticipation of soccer season. It was great listening to the students talk about something that they are passionate about. 

While at the field trip, I had difficulty with managing the students. Because not all of them have seen me in my CT's classroom, they did not respect me as much as the students who are familiar with me. Two students in particular did not listen to me when I asked them to stop climbing on something, even after I repeatedly asked them to stop. Then another teacher walked over to them and asked them to stop; I did not want to believe that. That was a little stressful because I thought that I deserved a little bit of respect from them. I learned that establishing a teacher-student relationship is important if you, as a teacher, want to be able to manage a group of students.

Today was also my last day at this practicum. Although I am ecstatic to be wrapping my last semester of course work, I was sad to leave the school and the students that I have worked with. These students have no idea what they have taught me. This was my first experience in working with 8th graders and I was a little bit nervous about it at first, especially since this is the second semester of their last year in middle school. It was obvious that many of them were more than ready to start high school next fall, and that meant that sometimes they got a little out of hand in class. There would be sudden outbreaks of chatter or several distractions, but I learned, from my CT, how to get them to focus on their learning. It was a wonderful experience and I have acquired so many lessons that I will apply throughout my teaching career.

After spending a great amount of time at my assigned middle school, I have been able to teach the class. Not only was it a requirement for my class, but my CT was very excited to see my teaching skills at work. Although it was my first time teaching a lesson without any assistance from my CT, I think it went pretty well. I taught second hour a lesson on written poetry and song lyrics. During the lesson, we compared and contrasted our thoughts on analyzing poetic elements through watching a play and reading the text. Many of the students said that it was more enjoyable to hear the song, but they said that it was easier to analyze poetry in text because they have the text in front of them and are able to look at the words, rather than listen to them once. The rational for this lesson was to prepare them to listen to a play. As I thought about the play, I noticed the relationship between poetry written and sung lyrics in a play and thought that it would be an excellent lesson to both review poetry and prepare them to view the play. 

I learned that saving paper may not always be the way to go in an English class. Even though saving paper is being friendly to the environment, it may be more beneficial for students, especially those who are kinesthetic learners, to have a piece of paper with text on it in their hands that they can write on and take notes. I learned this today, among other things, from my lesson evaluator. On a positive note, she said that it was a good lesson and was also very organized in planning. I was a little nervous to teach and be evaluated because it is a little nerve wrecking when someone is in the back of the room judging every move that you make.

Some of the students today, during my lesson that I taught, were a little disruptive. During second hour, when I was being evaluated, one of the students was sitting incorrectly and fell on the floor. Not only did this completely disrupt my class, but it caused me to lose track of what was going on. During 5th hour, when my CT asked me to teach again, another student almost did the same exact thing. To add to that, two students were being disruptive and not participating in the work and I was a little disappointed that my evaluator was not present to see how well I handled those two situations. It was during individual work, and the two students were off tasks, so I walked over to them, asked what they were doing, then asked them to not waste any more time and resume work. I think that I  handled it well because both students resumed their individual work.
Overall, I think the lesson that was evaluated went well. Although it was not perfect and I found room for improvement, I think that the students enjoyed it and now I know where I need to work harder. This is a learning process, and I would rather make mistakes now and work out the kinks so that I will be able to be the most effective teacher that I am able to be.