Dylan Ryzner

Student Teaching Journal Entry #2

This week in my student teaching experience went very well, as I am getting used to the learning
environment and all the little technical aspects involved that help with planning, grading,
contacting students, and teaching. Classroom instruction was delivered in a co-teaching style by
me and my mentor teacher, which helped me dip my toes in the water and get more comfortable
teaching the students. One thing that helped immensely was having the mentor teacher
controlling everything in the Zoom room settings, so that all I had to worry about was what I was
saying to the students. One might not realize it, but hosting a virtual classroom takes a certain
amount of multitasking that will take getting used to. It is very easy to lose my train of thought
when I am in the middle of explaining a difficult concept, and my attention is quickly shifted to
the pop-up on my screen to allow a student (who is arriving late) into the classroom. With more
practice, however, I think I will be able to master the multitasking involved and deliver
instruction seamlessly as I have observed my mentor teacher do. I also experienced the
phenomenon of “losing my students.” There was a complex formula that was introduced, but the
students were not expected to memorize it or use it do calculations by hand. Instead, there is an
online calculator for them to utilize. I started to explain the different variables that contribute to
this formula, and the students were following along nicely, and understanding what I was saying.
As soon as it was time to put the variables to use in the formula, there was a lot of math for them
to digest, and I lost them. They were extremely relieved to hear that they would not have to use
the formula, simply find the variables, and put it into the calculator. In future lessons, I will
adjust how I approach introducing the students to complex formulas that are not necessary for
them to memorize or use by hand. Another takeaway from this week is that teaching math
virtually is difficult without a touch screen device to essentially use as a chalkboard. However,
this is an easy fix because the school will be issuing me a laptop that has the touchscreen feature.
I am also glad that I have been including self-assessments at the end of each lesson plan because
it makes writing these journal entries much easier.
Side note: I attended a meeting that revolved around how to collect evidence from your teaching
that displays the different components from Domain 1 from Danielson’s framework, which was
great.