An interesting week out in my school. I went out Friday and Monday again for the full day. I definitely feel as if I get a lot more of what the whole teaching experience is like when I'm there the entire day as opposed to just a few hours at a time. Last Friday had probably my biggest highlight. It was one of the first really nice days of the year: this meant the kids were wanting to be outside playing, and the girls began to wear a bit more 'scandalous' clothing. The rule for shorts/skirts is to have the bottom of the shorts be longer than the kids' fingers. There was a group of girls who wore some short shorts and were caught by one of the teachers. She asked them to change into their gym shorts or get another option. It turned into a big deal; there was dissension among the other teachers. Some really wanted the girls to change, and others didn't think it was too big a deal b/c their gym shorts are generally shorter than the shorts they wear. This showed me just how much the rules in a school can be interpreted. The weather on Monday was not quite as nice so it will be interesting to see what happens next time it is really nice.
I have begun to think differently about how I will be interpreting the rules when I have my own classroom. My cooperating teacher, a male, had 2 of the girls in his 1st period but chose not to say anything to them because he didn't want to get himself into trouble. I can appreciate that sentiment because I know how sensitive it can be to try and tell the girls their shorts are too short. I think I would leave it up to a female teacher to approach the girls.
I did get to teach my TPA lesson on Friday as well. It didn't go as well as I would have hoped, but I still feel like the kids had a good time with it and learned a bit more about John Brown and his raiders. I had to implement a bit of my cooperating teacher's program by having them read from the textbook first. This took away some of my time and I was forced to change it a bit. Not as great as I would have hoped, it was still a quality lesson. My cooperating teacher then asked for my papers so he could use it in the future.
There wasn't much that I felt I would use in my future classrooms from my cooperating teacher. If I really had to choose something, it would probably be how he interacts with his fellow teachers in regards to the girls' shorts. He was aware of the student's complaints about how not everyone was treated equally, and he understand the rules as they stand. He does a great job of working with the entire school to try and appease everyone.
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