Thursday morning I woke up, feeling ready to attack my individual observation day head-on, even with the potential for behavior problems during 1st period. As an extra precaution, I decided to wear my leopard print flats, because I have noticed that when I wear them, Carrie and I have a good day at school. After Thursday, I believe these shoes have magical powers.
I got all set up at school in the morning, my UF supervisor arrived, and I waited for my students to get to class. I expected 25 students . . . and I got 19. I got the 19 most well-behaved students in the class. Behold the magical leopard print shoes. My lesson plan was the same as Wednesday's and consisted of a somewhat interactive lecture with guided notes that took about half the class period. For the rest of the period the students worked on their writing exercise. It wasn't really until they began working on writing that I fully realized who all was absent that day. I looked over to Carrie and mouthed the words, "I wonder where they all are?" When I talked to her later she asked if I had prayed for them to all catch a cold! I did not, of course.
As the students were working, my UF supervisor took me outside to debrief me on my performance. She had nothing but praise to tell me. She said Carrie and I don't even really need a third evaluation and that we have already passed our internship, meeting all the highest standards. For official purposes we do need a third visit from her, so we will plan a lesson to co-teach sometime in the next month.
It was such a good day, I felt like I was on a "teacher-high". Everything went right, it was like a dream. I am pretty sure I smiled all day. Gotta love the leopard print shoes. And I hope my preparation and talent had a little to do with it, too.
: )
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Day 24 - Flying mostly solo
I am actually writing this post on day 24- this hasn't happened in a while!
Today I got the opportunity to run class pretty much by myself, which is really good because I am being observed tomorrow; today was good practice. I planned a pretty straightforward lesson- a lecture with guided notes, followed by a writing activity. The students were not totally enthralled in the lecture, but at times we did get some good discussion going about Gilded Age reform movements. The writing portion of the lesson went surprisingly well, too. The students kind of groaned when they saw they would be writing, but I explained to them that it was going to be good practice before their upcoming chapter test. Most students are pretty good about getting the content into their essays, but the structure of most students' writing is pretty abysmal. I gave very specific instructions for how the students needed to construct their written responses and even provided a "this is how Ms. St. George would do it" example so that the students could just fill in the blanks if they wanted to. I used to think that doing something like that was simply giving the students the answer, but I've learned that in the educational world, scaffolding/modeling, as we call this concept, are perfectly acceptable. For the students who have more trouble with writing, filling in the blanks is a good way for them to learn the structure of a good response to an essay question. I am actually looking forward to reading and grading their work.
Fifth period gave me a little bit of trouble today, just because so many of them just would not stop talking. Many of my friends would tell you that I can be an intimidating/demanding person- they call me "Mama Angie" for a reason- but I have quickly learned that 16 and 17 year olds are not as scared of me as my friends are. What a shame. It's starting to get really annoying, but after school my supervising teacher gave me some advice on how I might handle that class in the future. We don't know if we've found a perfect solution, but we picked out a few strategies to try.
Tomorrow I am being observed all by myself . . . with 1st period. This could be really good or really bad. They were awesome on the day of our first observation and I am hoping for the same tomorrow. Even if it goes horribly, I am okay with that, too, but after giving the lesson twice today I feel prepared for tomorrow. However, all happy thoughts and prayers are most welcome :)
Today I got the opportunity to run class pretty much by myself, which is really good because I am being observed tomorrow; today was good practice. I planned a pretty straightforward lesson- a lecture with guided notes, followed by a writing activity. The students were not totally enthralled in the lecture, but at times we did get some good discussion going about Gilded Age reform movements. The writing portion of the lesson went surprisingly well, too. The students kind of groaned when they saw they would be writing, but I explained to them that it was going to be good practice before their upcoming chapter test. Most students are pretty good about getting the content into their essays, but the structure of most students' writing is pretty abysmal. I gave very specific instructions for how the students needed to construct their written responses and even provided a "this is how Ms. St. George would do it" example so that the students could just fill in the blanks if they wanted to. I used to think that doing something like that was simply giving the students the answer, but I've learned that in the educational world, scaffolding/modeling, as we call this concept, are perfectly acceptable. For the students who have more trouble with writing, filling in the blanks is a good way for them to learn the structure of a good response to an essay question. I am actually looking forward to reading and grading their work.
Fifth period gave me a little bit of trouble today, just because so many of them just would not stop talking. Many of my friends would tell you that I can be an intimidating/demanding person- they call me "Mama Angie" for a reason- but I have quickly learned that 16 and 17 year olds are not as scared of me as my friends are. What a shame. It's starting to get really annoying, but after school my supervising teacher gave me some advice on how I might handle that class in the future. We don't know if we've found a perfect solution, but we picked out a few strategies to try.
Tomorrow I am being observed all by myself . . . with 1st period. This could be really good or really bad. They were awesome on the day of our first observation and I am hoping for the same tomorrow. Even if it goes horribly, I am okay with that, too, but after giving the lesson twice today I feel prepared for tomorrow. However, all happy thoughts and prayers are most welcome :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 23 - Terrific Tuesday
Today we reviewed sections 15.1/2 with 1st period and they took their quiz. They were generally very well behaved during the review (an impending quiz tends to subdue them) and exceptionally well-behaved during the quiz. For some reason, the class that normally gives us the most trouble is the most respectful during quizzes and tests. It is all we can do to get 4th and 5th period to stop talking while their classmates finish working, but 1st period is so quiet it's almost disconcerting. Don't get me wrong, though, I am SO not complaining :)
Happy story of the day:
One of our first period students made up her chapter 14 test after school today. During homeroom, though, I asked her if she wanted to study the vocabulary or ask any questions about the essay prompts that might be on her test. She told me that she usually doesn't answer the essay questions, to which I immediately responded, "Well, you are going to answer them today." She ended up taking our vocab flashcards to study during the school day and I gave her a review packet that included the possible essay questions. She came in after school and I reviewed the essays with her. She took her test and did much better than she usually does, largely because she got full credit on her essay responses. It was a proud moment for me and a minor accomplishment that makes the tough moments more bearable.
Happy story of the day:
One of our first period students made up her chapter 14 test after school today. During homeroom, though, I asked her if she wanted to study the vocabulary or ask any questions about the essay prompts that might be on her test. She told me that she usually doesn't answer the essay questions, to which I immediately responded, "Well, you are going to answer them today." She ended up taking our vocab flashcards to study during the school day and I gave her a review packet that included the possible essay questions. She came in after school and I reviewed the essays with her. She took her test and did much better than she usually does, largely because she got full credit on her essay responses. It was a proud moment for me and a minor accomplishment that makes the tough moments more bearable.
Day 22 - Mondays are weird.
Here is the short and sweet version of Monday (I will come back and add more when I find time):
-We saw all of our students because on normal Mondays the students have all 6 periods. It was the second time we experienced this and it made me feel like we hit a whole week in one day. It was weird and I am totally not used to 50 minute class periods anymore.
- One student in 1st period refused to move to her assigned seat when I asked her to. I deferred to our supervising teacher and he took her outside to talk to her about it. She has been assigned an in-school-suspension, but I hope that the time we spent talking with her maybe opened up some avenues of communication. We'll see.
-We saw all of our students because on normal Mondays the students have all 6 periods. It was the second time we experienced this and it made me feel like we hit a whole week in one day. It was weird and I am totally not used to 50 minute class periods anymore.
- One student in 1st period refused to move to her assigned seat when I asked her to. I deferred to our supervising teacher and he took her outside to talk to her about it. She has been assigned an in-school-suspension, but I hope that the time we spent talking with her maybe opened up some avenues of communication. We'll see.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Day 21 - Thank Goodness It's Friday
For a four day week, this past one seemed to last forever, but at the same time I couldn't believe it was already Friday. After Thursday, the relief of the impending weekend was all I needed to motivate me through Friday. We wanted to give the students a break from group work and make sure they had time to finish their work before their quiz on Monday, so Carrie planned a brief lecture, followed by individual work, with plenty of time given for students to finish their journal work. This was a good idea for some students, but some students had a little too much time on their hands.
Friday was generally good, 5th period was a little more rowdy than 4th period, but it is a bigger class later in the day. After school we gave some make-up quizzes and may have had a minor breakthrough with one of students whose personal life has severely gotten in the way of her academic life.
Now it's Sunday and I get to look forward to a 5 day week during which I will be observed during 1st period. PRAY FOR ME.
Friday was generally good, 5th period was a little more rowdy than 4th period, but it is a bigger class later in the day. After school we gave some make-up quizzes and may have had a minor breakthrough with one of students whose personal life has severely gotten in the way of her academic life.
Now it's Sunday and I get to look forward to a 5 day week during which I will be observed during 1st period. PRAY FOR ME.
Day 20 - Oh. My. Goodness.
Okay, I am going to do my best to not make this post sound like a ranting, venting, complaining, whining fest. We'll see just how successful I can be.Get your popcorn, this could be a long post.
On Thursday all Carrie and I had to do was get through 1st period. I started class by giving them 15 to 20 minutes to finish their presidents charts from Tuesday. As I was circulating and helping students, two girls spoke with me about the way things had been going so far and the things about class that were frustrating them. I felt that all three of us talked honestly and openly and I thought several important issues were addressed. I was ready for a good day.
Know the phrase, "Don't count your chickens . . . "? Yeah, that one kind of smacked me in the face on Thursday. I collected the students' finished charts and began grading them as Carrie started her lesson, which she had already done the day before with periods 4 and 5. The lecture portion seemed to go alright and I graded papers while moving around the room. Because the girls I spoke to earlier had expressed being a little tired of all the group work we've done, so Carrie generously decided to give them the option of doing the activity individually or in groups. After a class vote, it was a group activity. The students got to choose their groups of 2 or 3 and because of the sheer size of that class there were many groups completing the same parts of the activity. They were working well, but we knew that we wouldn't have time for all the groups to present their work to the class. In an effort to be more productive, we turned on the document camera so that the rest of the class could see the group's notes. BAD move. Here is some of what happened as a result:
The student audience complained about the document camera: I can't see - - I can't read that handwriting - - the paper isn't straight - - can you turn off the lights - - what does that say . . . on and on and on.
We tried to explain that we had not yet figured out how to work the lamp on the document camera and so turning off the lights was not going to be an option. In response, one of the girls I had been speaking to before class loudly explained to us that Ms. So-and-so does it and blah blah blah. (and this isn't even all of the problems we had). Carrie and I never should have turned on the document camera and so we are partly to blame for the chaos during the group presentations, but the students' comments and reactions were so extreme and uncalled for that Carrie and I both found ourselves biting our tongues. I kept saying to myself, "Don't lose it. Calm down." I was sooo close to yelling at the class, but I kept it together.
Recognizing the hostile environment in the classroom, Carrie and I asked four girls to stay after class. One girl flat out told me she would not stay and only did because our supervising teacher asked her to. Well, talking to all four girls at once was a bad idea. I won't bore you with all the details, but there I think there are two main conclusions Carrie and I can draw from class on Thursday:
1. Three out of the four girls don't like us. They made it clear that they have no problems with their English intern, but for some reason they don't get along with us. We aren't taking it personally, because they don't like their normal teacher, either.
2. We will no longer be tolerating such disrespectful behavior in class. On Thursday our classroom was neither a healthy learning or teaching environment. The hardworking students are tired of it and we won't be bullied by our students.
The silver lining on Thursday was that we got to go to an African American History assembly right after and we saw many of the 11th graders make great contributions in art, singing, and theatrical performance. It is also so encouraging that our supervising teacher fully supports us and wants to help us do well. While Thursday was extremely trying and frustrating, Carrie and I are both still grateful to be having this experience now rather than later when we are on our own.
On Thursday all Carrie and I had to do was get through 1st period. I started class by giving them 15 to 20 minutes to finish their presidents charts from Tuesday. As I was circulating and helping students, two girls spoke with me about the way things had been going so far and the things about class that were frustrating them. I felt that all three of us talked honestly and openly and I thought several important issues were addressed. I was ready for a good day.
Know the phrase, "Don't count your chickens . . . "? Yeah, that one kind of smacked me in the face on Thursday. I collected the students' finished charts and began grading them as Carrie started her lesson, which she had already done the day before with periods 4 and 5. The lecture portion seemed to go alright and I graded papers while moving around the room. Because the girls I spoke to earlier had expressed being a little tired of all the group work we've done, so Carrie generously decided to give them the option of doing the activity individually or in groups. After a class vote, it was a group activity. The students got to choose their groups of 2 or 3 and because of the sheer size of that class there were many groups completing the same parts of the activity. They were working well, but we knew that we wouldn't have time for all the groups to present their work to the class. In an effort to be more productive, we turned on the document camera so that the rest of the class could see the group's notes. BAD move. Here is some of what happened as a result:
The student audience complained about the document camera: I can't see - - I can't read that handwriting - - the paper isn't straight - - can you turn off the lights - - what does that say . . . on and on and on.
We tried to explain that we had not yet figured out how to work the lamp on the document camera and so turning off the lights was not going to be an option. In response, one of the girls I had been speaking to before class loudly explained to us that Ms. So-and-so does it and blah blah blah. (and this isn't even all of the problems we had). Carrie and I never should have turned on the document camera and so we are partly to blame for the chaos during the group presentations, but the students' comments and reactions were so extreme and uncalled for that Carrie and I both found ourselves biting our tongues. I kept saying to myself, "Don't lose it. Calm down." I was sooo close to yelling at the class, but I kept it together.
Recognizing the hostile environment in the classroom, Carrie and I asked four girls to stay after class. One girl flat out told me she would not stay and only did because our supervising teacher asked her to. Well, talking to all four girls at once was a bad idea. I won't bore you with all the details, but there I think there are two main conclusions Carrie and I can draw from class on Thursday:
1. Three out of the four girls don't like us. They made it clear that they have no problems with their English intern, but for some reason they don't get along with us. We aren't taking it personally, because they don't like their normal teacher, either.
2. We will no longer be tolerating such disrespectful behavior in class. On Thursday our classroom was neither a healthy learning or teaching environment. The hardworking students are tired of it and we won't be bullied by our students.
The silver lining on Thursday was that we got to go to an African American History assembly right after and we saw many of the 11th graders make great contributions in art, singing, and theatrical performance. It is also so encouraging that our supervising teacher fully supports us and wants to help us do well. While Thursday was extremely trying and frustrating, Carrie and I are both still grateful to be having this experience now rather than later when we are on our own.
Day 19 - Carrie's Observation
Wednesday morning was Carrie's individual observation, so I spent most of 4th period grading papers and talking to our UF supervisor. I enjoyed having some time to talk to her and get her perspective on students in general and, more specifically, on our students. I tried to give Carrie as much space, control, and independence as I could during her observation, but I helped out students a couple of times. It was hard staying on the sidelines and Carrie said it was weird being the only one "in charge" at the front of the classroom.
5th period went pretty well, too, but they are so talkative that it can be exhausting trying to deal with it for 100 minutes. Our student who wants to use his 504 as a crutch was at it again, trying to find an excuse to turn in an assignment late. I had a thorough argument/discussion with him and I think maybe I started to get through to him about the importance of being responsible and making smart decisions about doing his work- only time will tell.
5th period went pretty well, too, but they are so talkative that it can be exhausting trying to deal with it for 100 minutes. Our student who wants to use his 504 as a crutch was at it again, trying to find an excuse to turn in an assignment late. I had a thorough argument/discussion with him and I think maybe I started to get through to him about the importance of being responsible and making smart decisions about doing his work- only time will tell.
Day 18 - Goodbye, four day weekend.
My apologies for not updating all week . . .
Four day weekends are a gift from heaven. I spent most of mine on a retreat with the Catholic Campus Ministry at UCF and it was a much needed spiritual vacation. And lucky me, I got to jump back into real life on Tuesday by getting back into the classroom. The four days of school last week were awesome and I had high hopes for the upcoming four days.
Since we had done the Haiti lesson last Thursday with first period, we started them on section 15.1 on Tuesday. This was the Presidents of the Gilded Age lesson with the Gallery Walk activity. The students weren't thrilled about this activity, but they did it. We didn't quite have enough time to finish up, so I planned to give them a little more time on Thursday. I learned later that day in our seminar class at UF that I probably could have improved my lesson and made life easier for myself and my students by being more specific about the instructions for the gallery walk posters. But, as the first day of a four day week, Tuesday went pretty well.
Four day weekends are a gift from heaven. I spent most of mine on a retreat with the Catholic Campus Ministry at UCF and it was a much needed spiritual vacation. And lucky me, I got to jump back into real life on Tuesday by getting back into the classroom. The four days of school last week were awesome and I had high hopes for the upcoming four days.
Since we had done the Haiti lesson last Thursday with first period, we started them on section 15.1 on Tuesday. This was the Presidents of the Gilded Age lesson with the Gallery Walk activity. The students weren't thrilled about this activity, but they did it. We didn't quite have enough time to finish up, so I planned to give them a little more time on Thursday. I learned later that day in our seminar class at UF that I probably could have improved my lesson and made life easier for myself and my students by being more specific about the instructions for the gallery walk posters. But, as the first day of a four day week, Tuesday went pretty well.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Day 17 - Observation numero uno
Today was the day of our first observation! Our UF supervisor came to watch us teach and give us feedback on our performance. Our grade for this 9 credit internship is riding on these observations, so it's important that we do well. Since it is Thursday, we were teaching 1st period, so by this point you probably realize that this is the class that presents us with the most challenges. We took a risk in planning a special lesson for this class; we delivered it for the first time today. Crazy, I know, but here is why we did it:
- Our goal is to keep 1st period a day behind periods 4 and 5. Since we have no school on Friday or Monday, we had to find something to fill in this space. We haven't started a new chapter yet, so today was the perfect day to try something different.
- We need to teach a global studies lesson at some point during this internship and write a reflection paper. The assignment isn't due until April, but since we just taught it, we can get that assignment out of the way now. AND we have to do a 30 minute micro-teach of a global studies lesson for our classmates and ta-da! We already have one!
- Finally, we knew we were taking a risk with this lesson. But if it bombed, so what? We would have room for improvement.
For our entertainment and enjoyment of rhyme, we can call today's lesson a Haitian Investigation. Our teacher subscribes to New York Times: Upfront, which is a magazine for students about current issues. There was an article about Haiti and the recent earthquake, so we decided to use it as the inspiration for today's lesson. I am going to try to give you the briefest possible outline of the lesson:
- Anticipation guide (students respond "agree", "disagree", or "don't know" to statements about Haiti)
- Video: Special Report- Obama on Quake Relief (students took notes as they watched/listened)
- Article: "What's Next For Haiti?" (page 6 in Upfront)
- Discussion: What should be the role of the United States government in Haiti? We split the class in half. One half was going to argue that the U.S. government should have a very strong, leading role in the post-earthquake relief efforts. The other half was going to argue that private organizations, individuals, and other nations should be the major contributors. The procedure for the discussion was as follows:
Our UF supervisor had so many good things to say about our lesson and our teaching- it really made me so happy. The students (most of them, anyway) seemed to enjoy the topic, too. The best compliment we got was that one student told us, "You're making us think too much today." Get used to it, my dear!
- Our goal is to keep 1st period a day behind periods 4 and 5. Since we have no school on Friday or Monday, we had to find something to fill in this space. We haven't started a new chapter yet, so today was the perfect day to try something different.
- We need to teach a global studies lesson at some point during this internship and write a reflection paper. The assignment isn't due until April, but since we just taught it, we can get that assignment out of the way now. AND we have to do a 30 minute micro-teach of a global studies lesson for our classmates and ta-da! We already have one!
- Finally, we knew we were taking a risk with this lesson. But if it bombed, so what? We would have room for improvement.
For our entertainment and enjoyment of rhyme, we can call today's lesson a Haitian Investigation. Our teacher subscribes to New York Times: Upfront, which is a magazine for students about current issues. There was an article about Haiti and the recent earthquake, so we decided to use it as the inspiration for today's lesson. I am going to try to give you the briefest possible outline of the lesson:
- Anticipation guide (students respond "agree", "disagree", or "don't know" to statements about Haiti)
- Video: Special Report- Obama on Quake Relief (students took notes as they watched/listened)
- Article: "What's Next For Haiti?" (page 6 in Upfront)
- Discussion: What should be the role of the United States government in Haiti? We split the class in half. One half was going to argue that the U.S. government should have a very strong, leading role in the post-earthquake relief efforts. The other half was going to argue that private organizations, individuals, and other nations should be the major contributors. The procedure for the discussion was as follows:
- Pairs- With a partner, students examined resources we provided to find the best points supporting their side of the argument.
- Small groups- Three pairs met up to compare their arguments, consolidate them into the best possible arguments, and select a speaker.
- Presentation of arguments- There were two speakers for each side of this issue and we alternated back and forth. First one student argued for private organizations, individuals, and other countries to step up, and then the side in favor of strong U.S. government involvement got a turn. Then we repeated this with the other two speakers. After each speaker gave his or her argument, the class got to ask questions.
- Small groups- Back in their groups of six, the students looked at the notes they took about the opposing side of the issue. They then formulated what they thought was the best argument in favor of that position. This makes sure that they have thought about both sides of the issue.
Our UF supervisor had so many good things to say about our lesson and our teaching- it really made me so happy. The students (most of them, anyway) seemed to enjoy the topic, too. The best compliment we got was that one student told us, "You're making us think too much today." Get used to it, my dear!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Day 16- Venturing into the "gallery walk"
I planned the lesson we gave to 4th and 5th period today, which started chapter 15. The section we focused on was about "Politics in the Gilded Age". We started by going over a few key vocabulary terms to place the activity we were going to do within its basic historical context. In this section of the textbook, the authors focused on the major issues of patronage (which led to corruption of the government) and economics (regulation of the railroads, tariffs, and depression) and what the presidents of this time period did to resolve them. So, to simplify the content, I decided to plan a lesson based on the "gallery walk" strategy.
Allow me to explain . . . The students received a chart with a column for all 6 presidents were going to learn about. There were 6 pieces of information for the students to fill in for each president. In pairs (and sometimes groups of 3), the students were assigned to research only one of the presidents. They could use their textbooks and a folder containing extra information that I provided. After doing their independent research each group made a poster that would educate their classmates about their president. These were then hung about the classroom and the students rotated amongst the posters in our homemade "gallery." During the rotations the students took notes based on their classmates' posters.
That is the essence of the gallery walk. The purpose of this activity was to look at the challenges facing the presidents, their achievements, and the ways in which they were effective and/or ineffective. Most of the time most of the students were doing their work, but sometimes it felt like I was herding a bunch of crazy sheep around the room. Hopefully the point of the lesson made it into the students' heads through all the talking and goofing off and being distracted and unfocused. Carrie and our teacher liked the lesson, and we think it is feasible to do it with 1st period next week, so I am going to be saying some mega prayers that it works out.
Today Carrie and I stayed at school until nearly 5pm planning our lesson for tomorrow. We are treating 1st period to a current events/global studies lesson about Haiti and we are also being observed for the first time by our UF supervisor. Send happy thoughts our way between 8:30 and 10:15 tomorrow morning!
Two anecdotes of the day:
1. One group drew an arrow on their poster, connecting two related points the wanted to make. One of the students thought it would be funny to dress up the arrow with the words "Live Nudes," which I didn't notice until another student pointed it out. Lovely, right? Needless to say, Carrie and I both spoke to him and he will not be pulling anymore shenanigans like that without getting a referral.
2. Another student tried to use his 504 plan to get extra time on an assignment. Generally, the purpose of the 504 plan is to adjust the curriculum as the students needs require. In this student's case, he can receive extra time to complete assignments. HOWEVER, he had at least thirty minutes to work on it in class after he took his test on Monday, but he didn't. When he got swamped with math homework, he didn't do his history homework, and thus tried to use his 504 as an excuse for not doing his assignment. We told him that if he had been using his time wisely during class, trying to get his work done, that we would have no problem giving him an extension. Given his deliberate choice to not do his work during class, Carrie and I, with the support of our teacher, will not be accepting this late assignment. Students think they are so clever.
Allow me to explain . . . The students received a chart with a column for all 6 presidents were going to learn about. There were 6 pieces of information for the students to fill in for each president. In pairs (and sometimes groups of 3), the students were assigned to research only one of the presidents. They could use their textbooks and a folder containing extra information that I provided. After doing their independent research each group made a poster that would educate their classmates about their president. These were then hung about the classroom and the students rotated amongst the posters in our homemade "gallery." During the rotations the students took notes based on their classmates' posters.
That is the essence of the gallery walk. The purpose of this activity was to look at the challenges facing the presidents, their achievements, and the ways in which they were effective and/or ineffective. Most of the time most of the students were doing their work, but sometimes it felt like I was herding a bunch of crazy sheep around the room. Hopefully the point of the lesson made it into the students' heads through all the talking and goofing off and being distracted and unfocused. Carrie and our teacher liked the lesson, and we think it is feasible to do it with 1st period next week, so I am going to be saying some mega prayers that it works out.
Today Carrie and I stayed at school until nearly 5pm planning our lesson for tomorrow. We are treating 1st period to a current events/global studies lesson about Haiti and we are also being observed for the first time by our UF supervisor. Send happy thoughts our way between 8:30 and 10:15 tomorrow morning!
Two anecdotes of the day:
1. One group drew an arrow on their poster, connecting two related points the wanted to make. One of the students thought it would be funny to dress up the arrow with the words "Live Nudes," which I didn't notice until another student pointed it out. Lovely, right? Needless to say, Carrie and I both spoke to him and he will not be pulling anymore shenanigans like that without getting a referral.
2. Another student tried to use his 504 plan to get extra time on an assignment. Generally, the purpose of the 504 plan is to adjust the curriculum as the students needs require. In this student's case, he can receive extra time to complete assignments. HOWEVER, he had at least thirty minutes to work on it in class after he took his test on Monday, but he didn't. When he got swamped with math homework, he didn't do his history homework, and thus tried to use his 504 as an excuse for not doing his assignment. We told him that if he had been using his time wisely during class, trying to get his work done, that we would have no problem giving him an extension. Given his deliberate choice to not do his work during class, Carrie and I, with the support of our teacher, will not be accepting this late assignment. Students think they are so clever.
Day 15- Who are you and what have you done with my students?!?
We gave the chapter 14 test to 1st period yesterday, fully expecting to have to remind the students to be quiet while everyone took the test, much like we had to do on Monday- it was like those students were incapable of being quiet for 30 minutes. Maybe it was the weather, but 1st period was so well-behaved that Carrie and I almost didn't know what to do with ourselves! Our supervising teacher even said it was funny to watch us watching them, because we were just stunned that they were behaving so well. Only a couple of times did we have to remind students not to talk and they were respectful enough to ask us if they could work in pairs on their post-test assignment. We told them that they could, but only once all students had turned in their tests. They understood and waited patiently and quietly while working on their work individually!!! I am so glad for this pleasant surprise and I hope they continue to demonstrate improved behavior.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Day 14 - Chapter 14 Test, Take 1
Today we gave the chapter 14 test to periods 4 & 5, so it was a pretty easy day. We spent some time reviewing the essay questions and clarifying vocabulary terms before the test, so these students got the luxury of more in-class review time than I ever experienced as a student. Most of them did pretty well on the test, which makes me feel good about our lessons. However, it is evident that the students in 5th period who do more talking and less paying attention generally get lower grades. This seems like it should be common sense, but to see it actually happen in the classroom where Carrie and I are teaching is eye opening. We will probably be making a seating chart for period 5 to further reduce some of the talking problems and see if we can get everyone to focus more on learning than on socializing.
Tomorrow - Part 2 of the chapter 14 test!
Tomorrow - Part 2 of the chapter 14 test!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Day 13 - Lucky Number 13.
Today was the 13th day of Carrie and I teaching, and it was an excellent day!
We finished the political cartoons in 5th period and during both 4th and 5th periods we reviewed the essay questions and had time to review vocabulary again. I was really proud of the way the student groups planned their essays. I could tell that in addition to looking in their textbooks, all the students had, on at least a small level, absorbed some of the information we taught them. I saw students making connections, asking solid questions, and making inferences and drawing conclusions based on historical content. While not all of them were on task 100% of the time, they got their work done and they did it in a timely fashion. Our supervising teacher had very positive feedback to give us after 4th period and Carrie and I felt great. Now, if the students study for the test and do well next week, then I will be even happier.
Today I felt like a teacher and it felt really, really good.
We finished the political cartoons in 5th period and during both 4th and 5th periods we reviewed the essay questions and had time to review vocabulary again. I was really proud of the way the student groups planned their essays. I could tell that in addition to looking in their textbooks, all the students had, on at least a small level, absorbed some of the information we taught them. I saw students making connections, asking solid questions, and making inferences and drawing conclusions based on historical content. While not all of them were on task 100% of the time, they got their work done and they did it in a timely fashion. Our supervising teacher had very positive feedback to give us after 4th period and Carrie and I felt great. Now, if the students study for the test and do well next week, then I will be even happier.
Today I felt like a teacher and it felt really, really good.
Day 12 - Goodness Gracious. Geez Louise.
Goodness Gracious. Geez Louise.
These are the two phrases that come to mind when I think about 1st period on Thursday.
Our supervising teacher's description of the 100 minutes was:
"The stress in this room was palpable; you could have cut the tension with a knife."
We started off the day by giving the students time to finish and present their political cartoon packets. For some groups, it was like we asked them to pull out their own teeth without anesthesia. Some students nearly refused to do their work. Hello? I never would have done that as a student. I really need to find a way to relate to some of these students, or else I think the next seven weeks are going to be a battle of wills. And I will not be the loser.
After telling the students to stop talking every 30 seconds during the presentations of their political cartoons, we moved on to reviewing for the essays. Our first mistake was that we let the students' groups get too large. We will not be making that error again. Due to all the talking during class and the amount of time they spent off task, we only got to see essay presentations from two groups. This means we will be reviewing the essays again before the test. Many of the students will not study this weekend, and since we won't see them until Tuesday, I worry that their only time spent studying for the essays will be Tuesday morning. Hopefully everyone will be able to focus then.
Needless to say, Carrie and I were fully exhausted by 10:15 Thursday morning. However, we continue to learn more about our students, ourselves, and this profession we call "teaching" every time we face these challenges.
These are the two phrases that come to mind when I think about 1st period on Thursday.
Our supervising teacher's description of the 100 minutes was:
"The stress in this room was palpable; you could have cut the tension with a knife."
We started off the day by giving the students time to finish and present their political cartoon packets. For some groups, it was like we asked them to pull out their own teeth without anesthesia. Some students nearly refused to do their work. Hello? I never would have done that as a student. I really need to find a way to relate to some of these students, or else I think the next seven weeks are going to be a battle of wills. And I will not be the loser.
After telling the students to stop talking every 30 seconds during the presentations of their political cartoons, we moved on to reviewing for the essays. Our first mistake was that we let the students' groups get too large. We will not be making that error again. Due to all the talking during class and the amount of time they spent off task, we only got to see essay presentations from two groups. This means we will be reviewing the essays again before the test. Many of the students will not study this weekend, and since we won't see them until Tuesday, I worry that their only time spent studying for the essays will be Tuesday morning. Hopefully everyone will be able to focus then.
Needless to say, Carrie and I were fully exhausted by 10:15 Thursday morning. However, we continue to learn more about our students, ourselves, and this profession we call "teaching" every time we face these challenges.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day 11 - Pointy toed, leopard print flats
As the title of this post suggests, I wore a new pair of shoes to school, which automatically made today a good day. Plus I got a few compliments on the shoes, making me very happy that I purchased them. However, the shoes don't really have anything to do with teaching today, so I will move on now.
4th and 5th period were set to do the same review activities as 1st period did yesterday. We gave the practice quizzes, went over them, and played vocab bingo. 4th period was pretty productive. We even had time at the end of class to present the political cartoons the students started on Monday. I hope they retained what we did today- strike that- I PRAY that they retained what we did today, because we are spending way more time reviewing in class than we planned and they had all better do well on this test next week.
And then there was 5th period, the most interesting part of the day. A group of 4 students was sitting on the left side of the classroom- 2 girls who are best friends, and two boys sitting behind them who are also friends. Well, many of our students find it close to impossible to not talk. Like, I think they might explode if they were quiet for too long; they just can't keep their mouths shut. One student in particular in that group of 4 just would not stop talking and it was getting on my nerves. I wasn't mad, I didn't overreact or yell, I just finally got tired of saying, "Stop talking." So, to the surprise of that student (and probably the rest of the class) I just finally said, "Can you do me a favor?" When he said yes I pointed at an empty desk on the other side of the room and said, "Come sit over here." He didn't think I was serious at first and tried to convince me that he would stop talking to his friend, but I wasn't born yesterday- close to it, but not quite. The student moved to the new desk, to the dissatisfaction of some of the students on that side of the room. BUT, I dealt with an issue fairly smoothly today and I was very proud of myself, and my supervising teacher approved of how I handled it, which made me feel even better.
The school I am at is a k-12 school and some of these students have been together for many, many years. This makes dealing with behavior problems challenging because students are very loyal to their friends and adamantly and willingly let you know who they do not like. I don't think an ideal seating chart exists, but we need to figure one out.
Two more days left this week! And we are going to be working on the essay questions for the test and I am actually looking forward to i.
I know that you are dying to see my new shoes, so we had a little photo shoot today :) Enjoy!
4th and 5th period were set to do the same review activities as 1st period did yesterday. We gave the practice quizzes, went over them, and played vocab bingo. 4th period was pretty productive. We even had time at the end of class to present the political cartoons the students started on Monday. I hope they retained what we did today- strike that- I PRAY that they retained what we did today, because we are spending way more time reviewing in class than we planned and they had all better do well on this test next week.
And then there was 5th period, the most interesting part of the day. A group of 4 students was sitting on the left side of the classroom- 2 girls who are best friends, and two boys sitting behind them who are also friends. Well, many of our students find it close to impossible to not talk. Like, I think they might explode if they were quiet for too long; they just can't keep their mouths shut. One student in particular in that group of 4 just would not stop talking and it was getting on my nerves. I wasn't mad, I didn't overreact or yell, I just finally got tired of saying, "Stop talking." So, to the surprise of that student (and probably the rest of the class) I just finally said, "Can you do me a favor?" When he said yes I pointed at an empty desk on the other side of the room and said, "Come sit over here." He didn't think I was serious at first and tried to convince me that he would stop talking to his friend, but I wasn't born yesterday- close to it, but not quite. The student moved to the new desk, to the dissatisfaction of some of the students on that side of the room. BUT, I dealt with an issue fairly smoothly today and I was very proud of myself, and my supervising teacher approved of how I handled it, which made me feel even better.
The school I am at is a k-12 school and some of these students have been together for many, many years. This makes dealing with behavior problems challenging because students are very loyal to their friends and adamantly and willingly let you know who they do not like. I don't think an ideal seating chart exists, but we need to figure one out.
Two more days left this week! And we are going to be working on the essay questions for the test and I am actually looking forward to i.
I know that you are dying to see my new shoes, so we had a little photo shoot today :) Enjoy!
Day 10 - "I actually learned something today."
Carrie and I were really nervous Tuesday morning as we thought about the impending talk we wanted to have with some of our students. There was a test on Tuesday, though, and some of the students did not check in before heading to the library for their test session. So, we only got to talk with a group of three students. They seemed to hear what we said, but only time will tell if they actually listened to it.
With several students missing because of testing, 1st period was smaller and a bit more manageable. We gave the students some practice quizzes to start reviewing for the chapter test they are taking next week. We reviewed the quizzes and spent the rest of the class period going over key terms and playing vocabulary bingo. Some of the students we wanted to speak with arrived to class late, so hopefully we will be able to talk to them on Thursday morning. We moved pretty slowly and took our time going over the review quizzes and vocabulary, making sure the students understood the material. It was really nice to hear one girl say at the end of class, "I actually learned something today." The real kicker is that she was one of the students we spoke to before class. Hopefully this keeps up. We'll see what happens when all of 1st period is back on Thursday.
With several students missing because of testing, 1st period was smaller and a bit more manageable. We gave the students some practice quizzes to start reviewing for the chapter test they are taking next week. We reviewed the quizzes and spent the rest of the class period going over key terms and playing vocabulary bingo. Some of the students we wanted to speak with arrived to class late, so hopefully we will be able to talk to them on Thursday morning. We moved pretty slowly and took our time going over the review quizzes and vocabulary, making sure the students understood the material. It was really nice to hear one girl say at the end of class, "I actually learned something today." The real kicker is that she was one of the students we spoke to before class. Hopefully this keeps up. We'll see what happens when all of 1st period is back on Thursday.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Day 9- Monday
Today was the first time we have spent a Monday at the school. Tuesday through Friday, the school runs on a block schedule with 100 minute classes, but on Monday the school follows a "normal" day with 50 minute classes. After adjusting to the longer classes, it was really difficult to plan for a short period! The lesson I created worked when the students focused and concentrated on their assignment. It did not work when the students spent more time socializing than working. Granted, between 1st and 4th periods I was able to shorten my PowerPoint presentation and I was much more comfortable with my short lecture by 5th period. However, 1st period's behavior today was not good. Part of the problem was that I decided not to let it bother me- I should have let it bother me because then I would have taken more action to correct the problems. We talked to our teacher about it later, and tomorrow Carrie and I will be having some discussions with the sources of the misbehavior to set some ground rules about what will be happening in the future if they don't make some changes. Tomorrow could go well and yield positive results... or it go badly... either way, it is the first really big challenge for me and Carrie and all your prayers and happy thoughts are both welcome and NEEDED.
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