Reflection #8

Tuesday we had another classroom visit. This time I watched Kristin Massic teach at Springville High School. It was definitely an interesting visit because she didn't do any teaching. Her first period class was a prep period, and her second period Robotics class was having a work day. Normally i would have chosen to go and watch another teacher, but since I know Kristin from high school i thought it might be worth my time to talk about things from her perspective. She has been teaching for 3 years and has already taught at two different schools in two different districts. It was interesting to hear what she said about Nebo School District because that would be the district that is closer to my home.

I would really like to get a job in Nebo but the benefits are all out in Alpine School District. She explained a couple of the perks that Nebo has and none of them seemed any better to me. But... she did mention that it is easier to get a job in Nebo and they allow for more choice in what you would like to teach.

Kristin was having some interesting problems with her class. She had just barely moved into her classroom a week ago and the new computers that she was given were not set up yet. PRO - new classroom with new computers, CON - half way through the semester and she still cannot program the robots properly in her robotics class. PRO - new class = new robots. I was amazed to hear that the district was willing to buy her 25 robots at 900 dollars a piece. I would have expected them to say that she needed to buy a couple over the next few years. CON - no program on the computers yet!

Anyway it looked like Kristin had a great class going. The students were well behaved and immediately started working on their assignments, and you could tell that she had developed some really good curriculum. Kristin was also very professional and has done her research for each of her classes.