I observed an "aha" moment on Thursday. I was teaching a lesson on stressed and unstressed syllables and the students were not understanding. I had written a sentence on the board and showed them the stress and unstressed syllables, but students made comments like, "It all sounds the same." So I had them switch the stress on the syllables and say it aloud. When they read iambic meter in reverse students all of a sudden went, "OH!" I'm hoping that this isn't actually the first time students have "gotten" something from my lessons, but it was nice to see it happen all of a sudden like this.
Speaking of positive feedback, I had a nice conversation with Mrs. Solly last week as well. She prides herself in multi-modal learning strategies (especially games) and is usually in charge of enrichment activities for the collaborative classes. But on Thursday I planned a review game for American Born Chinese and she made sure to tell me later that she thought it was great. We also talked about the bellringer discussion for the day, during which I made a rule that students were not allowed to say "I don't know." She mentioned that all teachers can prepare for classes, but great teachers know how to prepare for the day and then take advantage of the moment. She said that I have made great strides in the latter skill. I agree with her. I think I am infinitely more comfortable making decisions during teaching that will improve or enhance the class.
