Clinical Observation

During the semester, my university supervisor will be making several (okay only like 6) visits to observe my teaching. Today was the first day that he got to see me teach anatomy. What perfect timing because we are beginning our learning of the skeletal system. I purposefully say we because this is one of those human anatomy topics that I never learned. I am learning it to teach it which in reality, is good training for me. My MT came up to the front of the classroom at the beginning of 6th period to silently whisper to the two boys in the front whom I refer to as my peanut gallery. I asked them if she told them to behave because my supervisor was in the back of the room. We didn't tell the students who he was or introduce him to any of them I think because we weren't really thinking of it and we'd already introduced him to bio earlier in the year...One of my girls about halfway through the period raises her hand and when I call on her she motions for me to come to her and whispers, "Who is that old guy and why is he in the back of the classroom?"

These kids! They seriously crack me up!! That reminds me that I have to do some research on color-blindness because somehow they got on to the topic of it and I'm only familiar with red-green colorblindness and they wanted to know about loss or lack of color vision. I am thinking it would be someone without functioning cones (which are for color vision and rods are for black and white vision (so they give you your "night vision")).

I have learned to come prepared with factoids to distract the kids from asking me questions I don't know. Today my factoids were about bone marrow and its use in different cultures in cuisine. I also told them that the human body is 4% bone marrow by mass. So far, this technique seems to be working out all right. I am also becoming more comfortable not knowing the answer to questions because it's not like they think I'm a total idiot. Although I do wonder what they say because one of my students was talking about his Spanish student teacher and he said, "He's really old." I couldn't think of anyone in the program who is "old" so I asked, "Really?" He said, "Well, he's like 40, he already has kids and everything!" BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!