As your Classroom Management course instructor, I will observe, assess and finally evaluate you as a Pre-Service Teacher in this domain. Being an educator for 20 years (13 as a classroom teacher with the Near North District School Board), I take this responsibility very seriously. I realize that the position of the classroom teacher brings both extreme levels of excitement and stress. The spectrum of emotions that you will experience is very wide.  Managing a class of eager and youthful learners is a great challenge.  Your emotional perspective on teaching will influence your management plan.

I want to gain some insight into your "emotional fitness" as it relates to those roles and responsibilities of the teacher. How do you feel when your students succeed? What feelings do you encounter when your students flounder? How will you react when you must deal with a high needs scenario? What reactions will you produce when you are challenged to interact with a parent or guardian of one of your students? These are very real and critical questions that I want you to consider.

TASK: 

1. Watch the video "The Emotions of Being a New Teacher" (by Mark Kelley - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
   - approximate viewing time = 26 minutes
2. Answer the following questions based on the combination of the content of the video, your experiences as both a student and adult, plus your perspectives as a "teacher-in-training"
   
   I am genuinely interested in reviewing your perspectives.
   
   a. How did you feel about Mark's situation initially? (e.g., overwhelmed, depressed, optimistic, energized, etc.) Why?
   b. After seeing Mark's attempt at engaging the class, teaching them some content, reviewing their results/products --- Did your emotions change? How did you feel? Why?
   c. Mark makes a revelation late in his classroom experience -- (seeing the drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge on the student's poster) --- "I realized that understanding what a student wants to do is much more important than what they didn't do"
   Mark realizes that it's important to value the concept that all students must be granted the consistent opportunity to HOPE, to have dreams (goals). Did you encounter this same or similar insight? Comment.
   
   
   
3. Overall, what emotions did you encounter in reviewing this video? Does this scenario act as a motivator (e.g., engaging your thinking skills making you eager to enter the teaching world to "make a difference.") or as a clarifier (e.g., a wake up call to heighten your realization that there will be challenges as well as victories each day of your teaching career)? Comment.

Option 1. Right Click on this download link and save a copy of the FLV file to your MacBook; play from your computer

or

Option 2. Click on the PLAY button on the embedded video below. View it on-line. Your internet connection must be active.