My first official day of student teaching at Reitz High School started with a group teacher meeting in the auditorium. It was interesting to see the mechanics of how the entire faculty and staff meet at the beginning of the school year to prep for the upcoming semester.
The meeting began with the principal, Mrs. Carnahan, welcoming all of the teachers back and having the twelve new teachers introduce themselves. Next, Mrs. Carnahan introduced ideas from the book Mindset by Dr. Dweck. It focuses on the idea of adopting a growth mindset where students are praised for effort not so much intelligence. The focus is on learning and an example I remembered was that if a student is very good at Math, it is not so much that they just have a great math mind, but that they must have put in effort and work to get to where they are in being so good at Math.
Next, Mrs. Carnahan reviewed the successes from last year touching on the Dress for Success, outreach Facebook accounts, PowerPoint daily bulletins, the Pledge of Allegiance every morning with a moment of silence, and last the PLCs that were started with Common Assessments. Then announcements for changes in the new year were brought up including changes in student final exemption policies and areas teachers should remember to work on. Timely reporting on the online grade book was key as well as an emphasis on positive behavioral intervention (PBIS) with students. Teachers and faculty members were also reminded of the importance to sign in, be on time, and not allow students to have food or drinks in the classroom.
Next, Mrs. Harrington the program and curriculum administrator when over changes in the diplomas regulations as well as what was important to address in homeroom on the first day. Mr. Adams the dean of discipline followed with a short speech about the rules and making the emphasis this year on what the students are expected to do and not what they cannot do. A PowerPoint slide on the rules was sent out to the teachers to be reviewed with their homeroom class. Mrs. Hagan the Athletic Director followed with a short speech on getting involved in extracurriculars, which I hope to be able to take up on and become more involved.
The meeting concluded after a rather long video from the superintendent, that had a message on being the special change in a students life. Faculty and staff members from all over the corporation were interviewed including teachers, bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, and food service people. The main focus was on collaboration of the staff and making the year about the kids. Personal stories from the video gave insight into what it means to be a teacher or staff member and how important our effort is to each student.
The meeting gave a lot of insight into the goals and aspects of the beginning of a year for a school and a corporation. It was important for me to get the experience and meet a lot of the staff members. It is my goal to get more involved with the school itself and become a useful member of the faculty even if it is a short time from a student teaching aspect.
I then was able to go to lunch with the Social Studies department, which was nice to be able to meet everyone and get to know the people I would be working with on a personal basis. The rest of the day focused on getting the pacing guide together for the semester, as well as thinking up topics for the documentary history class and brainstorming the History Treasure Hunt. I found that I would be taking over the class right before labor day weekend, starting with urbanization. I am excited to start and nervous for the first day of school, however I know it is going to be a great experience.
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