I'm going to preface this blog post with praise for my CT. I don't think I could have been put with a better teacher, and I've learned so much from her this semester!
My CT, Mrs. H, acknowledges that I'm there to learn and she certainly does everything that she can to involve me in the class. Lately, she's been having me practice grading essays with the 6+1 Trait rubric. I'm still not sure why we can't call it the 7 Trait rubric, but hey I don't make the rules around here. Anywho, the class turned in essays about a month ago and she made copies for me to take home and grade. Then, we compared the scores that we gave. Is it weird that I was excited to grade a stack of essays!?! I'm sure I will get over that rather quickly once I become a teacher. I was a bit nervous and afraid that my scores would greatly vary from hers, but I was pleasantly surprised (and she was, too) that the grades we gave were either the same or similar. Although I understand that grading essays shouldn't be difficult, I felt a sense of accomplishment and an affirmation that I'm competent as a soon-to-be-teacher.
On another note, I caught a student cheating on a test today at the school where I Co-op. I watched him pull a cheat-sheet out of his jacket and, quite poorly, try to hide it. This was the 4th (YES, the FOURTH) time that he's been caught cheating this semester, so he is now receiving an F for the course. My question is, at what point should a student fail a class for cheating? How many chances should they get? I can't believe that he's been given this many chances, to be honest. I realize that this question is unrelated to my pre-student teaching, but it is the most pressing question that I currently have and I would really like some feedback!
