First, I just want to say how glad I am to read everyone's experiences here and to see how diverse they are. I was worried at first that some people would get amazing placements and others' would suck, but, at least among people who are responding here, it seems that everyone is having a really good, but fundamentally unique time. This gives me a tremendous amount of hope that wherever I end up in fall 2011, it will be at least as good as where I am now, which is a tall order to be sure.
As with everyone it seems, I have had a single evaluation from my faculty advisor; it contains a superfluity of positive comments, and nothing negative or critical. He did mention one or two points of constructive criticism to me verbally after the lesson that was evaluated, but nothing major. I consider myself lucky though; my kids are in complete violation of Redekopp's First Law: they are, at least to a first approximation, like me. They're a joy to teach, ask insightful questions that always seem to contribute to their understanding of whatever I am teaching, and are fairly independent learners. The most notable aspect of the style of teaching I have implemented with them is that they are given a great deal of freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.
One thing that is a constant source of frustration though is that I see them for about 3 hours every week, depending on the days of the cycle (plus or minus 30 minutes): as I have been charged with the teaching of an entire unit, 3.5 weeks is absolutely not enough time to both teach as much as I want to teach, and teach it in a way that will engage them. I kind of have to pick the topics I care about and focus on them to the ultimate exclusion of everything else. It's just as well: my CT has never taught the unit I am in charge of (The Earth's Crust) in his class. With 1.5 years of science to cram into 1 (this is the advanced class meant to finish 40S science courses in grade 11 so they can do AP in 12), he has been using this teaching model (great depth with only intermittent coverage) for years.
I have also had 3 periods a cycle of younger kids (10 and 11 year-olds), which is a lot of fun (somewhat unexpectedly!), and am helping the grade 8s and 9s in their exam review, and the 9s in their preparation to start learning physics.
My schedule is open enough that I have been able to observe and participate in a whole variety of other classes, from science to gym to english. It is truly amazing how much expectations vary between teachers: some are so much more authoritarian, getting into the perennialist philosophy, while my CT is a fairly obvious progressivist. I suppose you have to expect perennialism in a religious school, but it really surprises me that in an environment where knowledge is valued so much, perennialism exists at all.
Anyway, I'd better stop writing now, I have a class in 20 minutes and while I have an idea of what I'm doing with them, it's pretty vague. I hope everyone's practicum finishes on a high note; it would be nice to hear from some of those who've been silent so far too...I'll write again before this is over I expect. Later, educators of the future!
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