first formal observation

So on Tuesday, I had my first formal observation from Lucy (my supervisor from La Verne). They grade us on all different areas of the TPE (teacher performance expectiations). I got all 3s and 4s (passing scores, 1 and 2s are bad). The things she said I need to work on are maintaining a learning environment by keeping the students quiet and she also said that our "beyond" activity wasn't very good. As for keeping the kids quiet, I didnt feel that I could make the kids be quiet because Mr Donovan allows side talking. But apparently, I have to even if its just for the times that she's here. As for the beyond activity, it was something that Mr D and I came up with at the very last minute on Monday.... He doesn't really do beyond activities so its something new for him too.

the rest of this week the students are examing different documents from WW2 (like ads, rationing papers, etc.) to try and get a sense of what life was like in the United States during the war. On Friday, we are going to the library so that the students can work on their research reports that they are supposed to be doing at home.

As for swimming, we had our first meet on Tuesday. We won pretty easily on all levels. Its nice being a part of a winning team. With 200 swimmers and a handful of them being club swimmers, meets are pretty easy for us. Today we have another meet against Walnut, who is supposed to be on the same level as us... So we will see what happens. All the other coaches are super nice. The two girls are really fun to talk with. The rest of them are all teachers so its good to get some perspective from them. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.