Planning for classes became a daily, weekly, and monthly ritual as I started student teaching. As my first placement comes to a close, it’s been exciting to see how far I’ve come from the first day and reflect on my curriculum planning.Here are my unit plans for American Seminar, periods 2 & 7.
I started with this class on the first day, doing an introduction activity to try to get to know the students’ names. I fully took over the second week, with an Intro to The Scarlet Letter activity. Then I taught the entirety of The Scarlet Letter from September to October, giving the class back to my cooperating teacher in my second to last week [Oct 12].
Out of the three classes, American Seminar was the most difficult for me, just because I am not as comfortable or familiar with American Literature and some of the texts. However, I learned so much about Bradstreet, Bradford, the Colonial Period, and Puritanism, that even walking away from these classes I feel confident enough to teach (with research and re-familiarizing before stepping in front of the class, of course!)
I think my biggest challenge with this class was planning into the future. Knowing that I had the entire Scarlet Letter to move through made things easier, but after the novel, I felt lost as to where to go. I know that if this type of class is a part of my future teaching, I will have to do plenty of research and asking around to know the best ways to teach. Otherwise, what I’ve done so far has been a great experience! I think the students enjoyed The Scarlet Letter and some of my activities.
To see the pdf versions of the unit plans click here: September, October