Week 11

The aspect of week eleven that I found most valuable was that it is week eleven I believe. I think now that we have been teaching now for eleven weeks that I am really starting to get into the grove of things. I am starting to really enjoy teaching and it shows in my lessons with my students. This week seemed to go by very slow for some reason though. I think that March was a very long month for all teachers with the PSSA's and everything. I finished my payroll project with my students this week in accounting and they really enjoyed the project. In my computer applications class on Friday, I taught a lesson on computer crimes. This allowed us to move away from the textbook and the book work that they have been working on for awhile now. They all seemed to really enjoy the topic and I feel that some of the students were very excited about the topic. I created a web page for them to access to go to the links that I provided to research about computer crimes and then they were required to make comments and use the different aspects they have learned in computer applications.
If I could go back and change one aspect of this week I think it would be trying to get some of the students motivated more. I think that it being almost April, all of the seniors are really starting to shut down. It seems like it has become so hard to interest the students and get them at all motivated in anything.

Week 10

Week ten has been a good week. It started out with the PSSA's. It felt like a very long week because of that I think. The aspect of this past week that I found most beneficial is that I feel like I am finally getting into the grove with all of my classes. I feel that I am creating better lessons, which makes the students more interested into the content. It does make it easier with accounting because I am teaching payroll. I created my second bulletin board and it is based on the entire payroll chapter. I am having the students fill out time cards everyday for the time that they are in school. They seem to really like this and are getting involved. I have noticed that some students will come in even before class to fill out their time card. Some even come at the end of the day to put what time they are leaving. It will get the students away from doing the book work for the entire chapter. At the end, all the different content that was taught to them they will need to complete with the project as a group. They are all in suspense about finding out if they are married and how many withholding allowances they have. They seem to really enjoy the project so far.
If I could go back and change anything about this I think it would be slowing down some of my lessons of Friday. I felt that Friday I had a very off day. I felt like I had no clue what I was doing. I think that just came along with the very long we that we had because of the PSSA's. I also noticed that the students did not want to do anything this week. They were very lazy and not motivated. I have noticed a big change in the senioritis kicking in also. The seniors just want everything to be finished. This is the last week for the third quarter so they are seeing the end close. So are all of us!

Week 9

The aspects of week nine that I found most valuable is that the students in my accounting classes achieved much higher grades on this chapter test than pervious tests. It makes me feel like I am explaining the material and content better and in a way that the students understand. Another aspect of this week that I found most valuable is that I am getting into chapters in my business law and accounting classes that I can relate to the students better than pervious chapters. In law I am teaching about employment contracts, which seems to be a topic that they are interested in because most students have part time jobs and all are interested in jobs when they graduate or after college. That is a topic that they will use in their lives and they can see that and relate to it more than the previous chapters. In accounting I am going to be getting into payroll, which I anticipate that the students will be more interested in then the previous chapter on posting.
If I could start the week over and change anything it would be my one lesson in computer applications. I am teaching the students about PowerPoint. I used a video to introduce the third lesson which was on using visual effects in presentations and PowerPoint’s. The video was too long for the students and I lost them throughout the lesson. They lost their interest and attention. The next day I went back and showed them the same content in a different way and it worked out well. They were more receptive the second day in the way I presented the information. It was good that I learned from that mistake and went back and re-taught some of the information, so that they really do know what to do when they are completing the step-by-steps and projects for the lessons.

Week 8

This past week has been pretty chaotic. I think the aspect of this past week that was the most important was the midterm review. I received a lot of feedback about my teaching. I am going to build on the constructive criticism and work towards improving all of them before the end of the professional semester. I feel after getting this feedback, I know what I need to focus on in my lessons. I also felt that the student surveys gave me a great idea of how the students feel that I am doing as a teacher. Most of the responses were average, but I learned the areas that I need to improve for the students also. I also felt that teaching the same class twice in one day is rewarding. It gives me the ability to improve with my lesson the second time around. This is the first full week that I was able to teach accounting twice in the same day. I would change just a few things about my lessons the second time around, based on how the lesson was during the first class. I also felt that during my business law class, that incorporating case reviews, and an Internet case activity, that the students became more interested in the content that was being taught.
If I could go back to the beginning of the week, I would make sure that I have created all my lesson plans to the way I will be teaching them to my students. I also would change the way I introduced some of my lessons, and find ways to connect the lessons to my students better. I would have also tried to make my business laws tests more challenging for the students. I know that I need to improve that before the next test. This week was a shorter week for me because I took a personal day on Friday.