Being observed isn't so bad

Tuesday was the big day. Period 1 felt like it was over in 5 minutes. I felt like I wasn't given enough time to gather my thoughts but it didn’t matter. Quick on your feet was all I could think. I looked at Miss Harrington with nerves all over my face I'm sure. Ready GO! Monday was definitely a successful day with our introduction to Macbeth. We had a great discussion about fate, free will, and curses. We wanted to give the students 3 themes Macbeth has to offer. I felt great doing the lesson because it wasn't being observed. When I think about being observed I think my nerves are noticeable. I feel like everyone can hear my heart beating out of my chest. I sometimes think nothing I say makes sense because half the time it never makes sense in my head. I guess all these thoughts are incorrect because went well for the most part. Tuesday was day 2 of Macbeth but it was really day 1 of teaching. We assigned books, went over homework from the night before, and clarified and confusion the students had with the background reading from the night before. It was a typical recap. Our objectives were to start reading scenes 1-3 together. While reading the scenes, Miss Harrington and I modeled how to take notes while reading a specific text. We wanted the students to question what they didn't understand or record what they thought was interesting at that specific moment in the play. Before we could dive into Macbeth we needed some help. Asking for volunteers was almost as bad as getting your wisdom teeth taken out. There were about 5 students that volunteered before I had to pull out my on demand teacher voice, "The more willing you are to volunteer the less of a change that I pick you myself." In the words of my grandmother, "That went over like a fart in church." If you don't know what that means here is the short hand: NO ONE WANTED TO READ! Our second objective was to break the students up into groups and begin out Macbeth Jigsaw; however, time wasn't on our side. We were able to make it through to the middle of scene 3 before the bell rang. This was the part of the lesson we were hoping to get to because it would have been a bit more engaging to the students. Although the lesson took a little bit of time and patience I think it went well. When the students came in the next day they were excited to get into their groups and find out what happens to Macbeth and all the characters. Would I take a different approach to begin the reading next time - Absolutely! Not to say our approach was bad but it could have been better. I learned that sometimes what works for one class doesn't work for all of my classes. Period 1 had a great time with the way we started reading Macbeth. Even though period 2 wasn't into our approach for the lesson doesn't mean they were turned off by the play. Thankfully Miss Harrington and I had this in our favor. We switched up our thought process for the second part of the lesson in hopes that they would understand Act 1 and appreciate what we planned for them. Some of the students understood it and appreciated the Jigsaw. I think they appreciated it mostly because they were able to get out of reading the entire Act but they still learned what happened. Teaching isn’t set in stone. I can always go back and switch up whatever didn't work. Looking back on the lesson I have no complaints. I know what I need to work on to enhance student engagement - change my reading approach, look to the master students in reading, and maybe do an inquiry with my students on how they want to read the play.