Confidence is Key

This past week I started teaching for the entire class period in my EDU 355 class. I teach the sixth graders at Dryden Middle School. My first couple of weeks I was nervous as to what to expect and stressing over “winning” my host teacher over. What if she doesn’t like me, What if the students don’t take me seriously? were the thoughts that were running through my head. It is amazing to see how different my attitude is now than it was those first couple of weeks. I find myself actually excited when Tuesday and Thursday come around because I feel I have got such a better swing of things now that I have so much more confidence. My host teacher, Mrs. Bennett, is an excellent role model for my partner and me. She is an alumni of SUNY Cortland and is even in the hall of fame. She makes what I try really hard at doing seem so easy, which she tells me will come over time. This week my partner and me started teaching the very first day of badminton with a pre-assessment, as part of our curriculum project. There was virtually no teaching involved, just a collection of data on the different skills levels of the students’ various badminton hits. It was the very first time for most of the students to ever even pick up a badminton racket, so they were in the very early stages of developing the necessary skills. What my partner and I observed in our pre-assessment was the basis of our first lesson that was taught the following day. We taught the overhand and underhand clear using various hula-hoops and creative lesson activities that kept the students engaged. I was surprised to see so many of them enjoying it and how many questions they asked us about the sport. I really enjoyed this experience and will use the confidence that was gained in my future endeavors.