Computer Lab

Today during my visit to my designated school I had to do an observation on my own and teach the class how to do citations and references for papers they needed to write. Mrs. Teacher advised me to only do the basic MLA format with them and show them the simple way of how to write a reference.

As I checked in at the office, I was immediately stopped by one of the school security guards. He was checking everyone that was coming to the school because they had heard about possible threats at their school which was pretty scary. The security guard was really rude and very demanding, sort of taking his job way to serious from my own opinion. He told me "Sir I'm going to have to check your backpack and search it". I cooperated with him because I had nothing to hide and was in a hurry to get into the classroom. I began talking to the security guard and he was telling me what was going on, and that he couldn't wait until the end of the year because he was going to retire and was excited for that. He was an older man and advised me to stay in school and get my degree because it would help me in my future. He was a grumpy old man, but pretty concerned with what I was doing and happy that I was in college and pursuing my degree.

After a short talk with the security guard, I rushed to sign in the front office and was on my way to the computer lab. Mrs. Teacher had informed me that they were not going to be inside the class today but in the computer lab. I was pretty relieved because it would help me with my short mini lesson that I had to do with the class. I arrived in the computer class and only Mrs. Teacher was in the class lab because students were barely showing up to class for the next class period. I began to talk with Mrs. Teacher and she seemed a little frustrated from the previous class with the tone in her voice she was using. She even acknowledged that she was irritated because the students were pretty rough right before I got there. I began to remind her about my mini-lesson and she was a little relieved because I had a chance to see how I was going to be with the kids and how they would be with me.

Surprisingly the computer class was extremely small, and I was a little concerned because I didn't know where I was going to stand when I gave my lesson. After some time, the class filled up with students who were all talking amongst their selves about who knows what. Mrs. Teacher began to get the students attention and advise them about what was going to happen for their class period. She told them  that I was going to give them a lesson and show them how to cite sources and references. The class wasn't really interested and tried to change Mrs. Teachers mind and give them a free day. She was already irritated and she got upset because the students asked her that when they knew that wouldn't ever happen. She asked the students to be respectful with me and pay attention and learn from what I was going to show them. I began to ask the class a question saying "What do you think I mean when I say you are stealing someones information?" Mr. Marine answered me very respectfully "Sir, I think you mean that people are using plagiarism." I was pleased with his answer because I had planned to talk about that and answered "Good answer, hold that thought because I am going to bring it up again." Across the room sat the Class Clown and he raised his hand asking "Are we going to talk about citations?" I was happy and said "Yes, I'm glad you mentioned it!" Immediately after I said that he said "Cool, my uncle gets them all the time!" The class began to laugh so hard, and even Mrs. Teacher and I gave a little chuckle then I explained that we were talking about the other citations regarding for our papers and school oriented citations.

I gave my lesson and did it in a short amount of time, but as I noticed how the class acted, after the funny moment with the class clown the class got engaged and began to focus on class room activities and were really into their history lesson that Mrs. Teacher was going to give. Even she seemed really happy with how the class was acting. After a somewhat off topic laugh the class got engaged and the rest of the class ran smoothly.