Reflecting

Last year I faced the first day of school with multiple anxieties. Would I have the same chaos as the first year or would it be different now since I knew procedures and a few classroom hints taken mostly from other teachers. This year after NTI, I could not wait for school to begin! I began the year equipped with so many plans and strategies. I used the lesson plan developed in the format we were taught along with the task list that I compiled this summer. This worked very well, improved my organization and my confidence as well. I involved my students from the very beginning by allowing them to complete the bulletin board with a simple analysis of their own character. They were welcomed and given hearts when they entered the room and later were asked to tag their heart with their name and most outstanding character trait. Next they were given the student handbook that I had completed in NTI which answered most of their questions about the courses. My courses are taught sequential and in essence is a 1 year course designed to certify students as Nursing Assistant, so you can imagine the questions. My students are from the surrounding schools and remain with me for half-day sessions in 3 hour blocks. Because of this, good lesson planning is essential and must be diverse and active in nature to maintain the interest of these students for that length of time. So in essence, I am going to say the lesson plan format and having these ready the very first day is the thing that has worked well for me.
It is difficult to isolate a particular item that has not worked well, because overall most have worked. I have found the most difficulty to be in timing a particular project. I have had to revise many of my lesson plans because of the time element. Also I have found that my lesson planning does require more time than I had initially anticipated and it seems to take more time to complete a lesson within the curriculum. Our curriculum for the introductory course is so theory latent; it is a great effort to include a hands-on activity. The projects and activities have basically been successful and enjoyable for the students; however, I feel I have had to race through some of the curriculum in order to include these things. Perhaps this boils down to time management as being the culprit and the thing that did not work well.