Learning from students

My two weeks at Donegal High/Junior High have been amazing! Maybe it's because I was homeschooled, and so I'm unfamiliar with public schools, but it seems that every day brought lesson after lesson for me to learn. The very best part was that I finally got some experience in teaching full lessons to real classrooms. My co-op allowed me to teach with whatever methods I wanted to use, so I was able to integrate many of the things that we've been learning in class into my lessons. At the junior high, I taught a gifted-seminar pullout class a series of lessons on short films. I used Paperman, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and other film shorts from Pixar before leading the class into a discussion on the "deeper meaning(s)" that can be found within each piece. What surprised me the most was how engaged the eighth-graders would get during each discussion. The Paperman discussion led to a talk about the authenticity of technology in today's world, and students shared their thoughts about why texting and messaging does or doesn't promote authentic relationships. Some of the things that the students said were really deep, and I impressed by the critical thinking that each student showed. I admit, after my field experience last year, I was not expecting that kind of engagement or respectful behavior in a discussion between junior high school students. This experience was probably the most valuable lesson during my two-week placement: don't under estimate your student's capabilities! I also learned that just because a discussion stray off of the planned course doesn't necessarily mean that it's headed in the wrong direction.