Today observation was excellent. When I arrived, the other intern that comes in on Wednesdays was doing the Daily language prep with the students as a way for her to work up to teaching a full poetry lesson later in the semester. As we moved on, Ms. Hutton explained to the students and to the other intern and I that the class would be splitting into three groups, one led by each adult, to explain/discuss the evaluation rubric for the timed narrative the students did in class a week ago or so. Ms. Hutton asked us to go through the rubric and help explain each section as well as lead some discussion among the students as to how and why they evaluated themselves.

I was pleased to find that once again I had no hesitation or nervousness about leading a group of students. I really enjoy working with them and helping them understand, so this was a welcome challenge. My group and I worked well together, with some minor difficulties. Most students in the group were cooperative and receptive to what I was saying. They were volunteering to share parts of their papers with the group as well as their self-evaluations and reasons for these evaluations. The rubric was basically a student friendly version of the rubric used to grade the ISAT tests the students will take in eighth grade. One student in my group had not written the essay because he was absent that day, and he was rather disruptive, however I made it clear to him that he needed to be paying attention, and eventually I got him to settle down. I thought I handled the responsibility well, especially considering Ms. H had not prepared us ahead of time. I also felt like this afforded me an opportunity to get to know some of the students even better. Being there only one day a week is difficult because I don't feel that I can get as close to the kids as I might like, but I am really starting to be able to match names and faces, and I think the kids are starting to recognize me not only as an intern but as an authority figure that is really there to help if they need it. I already feel that I have established the beginnings of good relationships with a few students, and that makes me very happy.