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Using Native Plant Education to Promote Land Conservation in North Carolina

Master of Arts in Teaching Electronic Portfolio

Environmental Science & Education Awareness Advocacy

Guide to Science & Education Websites

Projects for the NC Plant Conservation Program

Projects for the NC Wild Flower Preservation Society

The following excerpts are taken from the journal kept during my first semester of teaching.  The journal was maintained as a means to record thoughts, feelings, successes, failures, observations, and insights regarding my first experiences in teaching.  By writing down the events of the day, I found that I was able to step back and view things with more perspective.  This was especially helpful in dealing with the inevitable traumas and frustrations of being an intern teacher.  Putting thoughts and emotions on paper has always been an effective way for me to sort out issues and find solutions to problems.  I was also able to savor the successful moments and go back and relive them.  Whether I was just having a particularly bad day or merely reminiscing about some of my cherished interactions with my students, the journal allowed me to do both, while reminding me why I chose this profession in the first place.

August 10, 1999:  first day of class!!!!  We went over the basic stuff in homeroom, which you can tell is all standard students and some of which are marked as ld.  I had to introduce myself at the beginning of each period, but I had already met some of the students during freshman orientation.  I will be working with ninth grade honors biology students and sitting in on the AP bio class.  My mentor has been teaching for 15 yrs.  We spent the week before school getting handouts ready and attending meetings and planning the first week.  She has a reputation for being hard but seems to be well liked because a lot of her former students have been coming by to say hi.  She started notes the first day and you could tell the ninth graders were not used to this.  It is going to be a hard transition for them from middle to high school.  I also observed other teachers’ first day procedures.  Most of them just went through class procedures and policies and then let the kids sit there for the rest of the time.  I was not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be.  My mentor did a good job of introducing me as an intern/co-teacher and not just a student teacher.

August 11^th:  She threw me in the second day doing an activity on the scientific method.  At first I was nervous and unsure so I clung to my notes and it was really hard to ad lib and not follow them exactly.  As the day went on I was able to rely on them less and began to feel more comfortable in front of the class.  Even between our four classes big differences were apparent from the start.  First and third period are very calm and fairly obedient.  Fourth and sixth period are progressively more rowdy and talkative.  The activity in class went pretty good and they seemed to get the point.  I became more comfortable walking around as I talked and checking on them.  I notice that I am very concerned with being nice and need to tell them what to do rather than ask.  My mentor gave me positive feedback, said that I did well for my first try and went over some of the things I mentioned above.

September 7^th:  First day teaching my unit on coevolution.  I was coming off the high from such a first positive experience and this time was very mediocre.  I totally underestimated my time and was just not connecting with the students.  This section is particularly hard because most of the information is not in their book, and I have to make all of it up from scratch.  I made the mistake of writing my overheads as I lectured but my mentor suggested that I write them ahead of time so that I can walk around and see what’s going on while I am talking.  And then when I tried to give them book work to take up the ten minutes I finished early, it included some of the reading she had assigned to them last week and of course they were quick to let me know.  That’s one of the difficulties with switching back and forth between teachers.  Hopefully my in-class activity will go better.

October 4^th – Today I tried giving them notes orally to get them to listen rather than just copy notes off the overhead.  I still feel like I am not getting to some of them.  It’s hard getting some of them to pay attention.  I am trying to travel while I am talking, so I can keep an eye on them and make sure they aren’t talking or doing other work.  Third period is also really talkative.  I think I am going to move them tomorrow and see if that helps.  It’s hard for me to be strict with them because I am becoming so attached to them and it’s hard not to want them to like me.  I am also have difficulty keeping up with all of them and make sure they are doing well.  There are certain of them that really command my attention and some that are so quiet that I don’t feel like I notice them like I should.