Chapter 7: Unpopular

Hip-Hip-Hooray! I am halfway done with my student-teaching internship at Tri-Valley High School and am excited for these next couple of weeks to absolutely fly by!

By now, I definitely have a routine and a grove that I get into every day that seems to work for me. I get to school before anyone else does. I like to get there close to and hour before any students do so that I can make copies, get my ducks in a row (or at least the same pond), and feel confident about the day ahead. This has worked for me thus far and I plan to continue this in the future.

So what was my big takeaway from last week? That being unpopular sometimes is okay.

I assigned an activity last week to help solidify the process of soil formation to my students. They were able to be creative and create a soil comic where they had to have so many slides, incorporate so many key vocabulary words, and draw/caption the process of soil formation following any story-line that they choose.

I found out fairly quickly that some students thought it was stupid, didn't see how it was important, and turned in not so great work as a result. I gave them plenty of in-class work time and made myself available for help. I made the comment to my cooperating teacher that I didn't think this activity was going well, but she reminded me that just because some students may not be "over-the-moon" about an activity, does not means that others are not.

I found that she was right. I have numerous students warm my heart with INCREDIBLE comic strips and story-lines that reinforced my confidence in this activity. Students were able to show their creativity and do something different than a "traditional" PowerPoint.

Thus, I learned that it is okay to be unpopular sometimes. There will be days where students do not like an assignment, complain about a little homework, and find you (as the student-teacher) to be asking too much of them. But you push through anyway. I do what I do not because I need an activity to waste time, but because it was aid in further learned and understanding of content.

There is always a method to my madness, even if students can't see it at the time.