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High School English Teachers Chatboard

Stumped by Simple

by lostsubteacher

Jun 10, 2012

Hi again,

During student teaching, I had the mortifying experience of not knowing how to summarize and explain the literary texts I was presenting to a group of high school seniors. Although I knew what I was trying to say, my cooperating teacher had to help me break it down every time I got up to the podium. Now that I have my teaching license, I feel inadequate, because I doubt my ability to explain the literature. I found that when I was reading to the students, I neglected to explain certain things, because I didn't know that they needed to be explained. The students had footnotes they could refer to. I'm seriously out of touch. What could be causing this? I did well in my English courses in college and should have a pretty good grasp of my subject matter, although sometimes I over think things. What should I do?

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Teri Basically, this is a learn-as-you-go type of thing. There are so many variables, namely your students! What this year's students may need spelled out in baby steps, next year's students may have no problem with.

My best advice...first, look at the standards/skills you want to teach and dissect them to their smallest parts. Then, give a pr...See More

Jun 10, 2012

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lostsubteacher We should have gone over this during student teaching, but I don't think my cooperating teacher was that interested in helping me. I never really got to the point where I could write really good lesson plans, and I think it's because I don't really know how to plan out a unit and make it into a monthly or weekly plan. What would you suggest? Are th...See MoreWe should have gone over this during student teaching, but I don't think my cooperating teacher was that interested in helping me. I never really got to the point where I could write really good lesson plans, and I think it's because I don't really know how to plan out a unit and make it into a monthly or weekly plan. What would you suggest? Are there any online resources that could help me pre-plan units for the grades that I want to teach? My district does not offer its pacing guides to the general public, but it's nearly impossible to plan a realistic unit without a pacing guide, isn't it?

On 6/10/12, Teri wrote: > Basically, this is a learn-as-you-go type of thing. There are > so many variables, namely your students! What this year's > students may need spelled out in baby steps, next year's > students may have no problem with. > > My best advice...first, look at the standards/skills you want > to teach and dissect them to their smallest parts. Then, give > a pre-test to determine where your students currently are. Be > sure to explain to your students that the pre-test will > determine how much work they have to do--if they do really > well, they'll have less work to do in the coming > days/weeks/etc. (Otherwise some students will just Christmas > tree since pre-tests don't "count.") Analyze the results and go > from there. > > On 6/10/12, lostsubteacher wrote: >> Hi again, >> >> During student teaching, I had the mortifying experience of >> not knowing how to summarize and explain the literary texts >> I was presenting to a group of high school seniors. >> Although I knew what I was trying to say, my cooperating >> teacher had to help me break it down every time I got up to >> the podium. Now that I have my teaching license, I feel >> inadequate, because I doubt my ability to explain the >> literature. I found that when I was reading to the >> students, I neglected to explain certain things, because I >> didn't know that they needed to be explained. The students >> had footnotes they could refer to. I'm seriously out of >> touch. What could be causing this? I did well in my English >> courses in college and should have a pretty good grasp of >> my subject matter, although sometimes I over think things. >> What should I do?

Jun 11, 2012

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