First Observation!!!

Mrs. C came to observe me today during 1st block. I wasn't too nervous about it, I don't really mind being observed by now, but I did make sure to make it to school around 7:15 so that I could get everything ready for the day and in time for her arrival at 7:45. I made it to school with no problem, and since Mrs. H is away at a conference in South Carolina, a janitor opened the door for me and I got everything set up in time. Since I can't log in to Mrs. H's computer, the starter for the day was a little different, we just did a quickwrite based on the prompt that I wrote on the board. The students came in and settled down pretty quickly, I think the change in starters distracted them a little though. Not to mention the huge distraction of having had a substitute yesterday, and another one today. Somehow, when Mrs. H isn't in the room it's a whole 'nother ball game. I think, all in all, the lesson went quite well, but there were just so many times when there was talking when I was talking. So at first I was very discouraged, and by the end of 1st block (because Mrs. C stayed the whole time, I thought she would only stay 45 minutes) I was ready for a Come-to-Jesus meeting with 1st block. After she left, I flicked the lights to get their attention and told them that we would be having a discussion tomorrow. There are so many kids in that class who are respectful and really do such a great job, it's just the few (girls) who keep on talking when I ask them to stop that gets me. Also, several students had food out on their desks, which they know is against Mrs. H's class rules, and one was listening to an ipod. I was terribly afraid that Mrs. C would think I had horrible classroom management, but she actually was very complimentary and said that she thought the class had gone well. She gave me an A-, but said that was basically only to motivate me to keep improving. (I'll never understand the grading system in the education department.) They assume that if they give us an A we'll stop trying to improve. But anyway, she had only good things to say, and she really liked the activity that I did with the students. I divided them all into groups and had each group be responsible for creating a storyboard, or comic strip, of one section of The Pardoner's Tale. They did a really good job on it. :) And at the end of class, I had them all present, to give an idea of the story as a whole.