This week has, admittedly, been a little easier. I think the teachers are getting use to me being there and while they don't exactly include me, they say "hello" to me now. One thing I know for sure...I do not want to teach eighth grade! We visit the high school today so the eighth graders could get a peek at what's in store for them and I felt more at home. I have been teaching everything after first period (I think it's called "mirror teaching") and Friday I am giving my students their pre-test and survey for edTPA! I know 98% of the student's names, and I have good rapport with 99% of them. This one kid does NOT like me but that's OK...I don't like him either. ;) I have come into my "teacher voice" which is amazing. It's almost like it just came over me one day. I still have classroom management problems with 5th period so next week I am working on that specifically along with recording 4th period for edTPA.
Not gonna lie I wasn't a big fan of middle school either. My host teacher said "you have to be a certain kind of crazy to teach middle school" ....I don't think I am that type of crazy :P
There are a few people who truly feel it when they say, "I'd be happy teaching either middle school or high school," but I've found that the vast majority of MAT's feel much more of a resonance with one or the other.
I am glad things are getting better for you. When you head into WWI I highly recommend using the WW1 simulation Dr.Vice showed us a couple weeks ago. My students all loved it.
I'm glad that things are improving for you. I feel the same way around the teachers at my school. Though Baldwin's social studies department have an awesome faculty, I still feel like an outsider in a foreign land.
I found out last semester that I was not really cut out for middle school. The younger students intimidated me. I was alway worried I would hurt their feelings.
This week has been pretty good despite the fact that I've been wrestling with a sinus infection while also trying to catch up on homework I forgot about (sorry Dr. Alby :p). I'm more confident in my ability to teach my students and have planned a weeks worth of lessons for my two painting classes! I'm loving high school a lot, I'm seeing so much talent in every class and I really want to bring out the confidence in them to be more daring. I definitely feel at home here, the students and staff are all very friendly. I'm developing good rapport with all my students (even the troublemakers, you have to "befriend the ringleader" am I right?). Overall a very good week, I think this is my favorite placement!
I am absolutely terrified of catching something at school! I am so excited that you've finished so many lesson plans because I know it will ease your way considerably!
I can sympathize with being sick while trying to catch up on work! It's the worst! Im glad you feel at home in your placement! It definitely helps boost your confidence when you feel comfortable with the people around you.
I hope you feel better. My baby's doctor told me that he can usually predict to the day when a baby will get sick after starting daycare or school. He says that it usually takes two weeks for the germs to catch up with a kid, and I can't imagine that it would be much different with us. I feel a little tickle in my throat, but I can't tell if it is from singing too loud on my long commute to my school, or if I have caught something.
I know what you mean. I have fallen victim to the germs of the public school! I think they have tried to kill me!! But, we survive and find that germex is our friend.
This week I got to experience what it's like to teach/do a dissection with 87 7th graders. I was expecting it to be crazy (and I was not wrong in that thinking). The night before I stayed at the school until 6pm helping set everything up. Then the day of I spent an extra hour after school cleaning everything up. While lab work is a TON of extra work for the teacher, students are so much more engaged. Every single student was engaged and interested during the dissection. Of course there were a few kids that said "ew, gross." But they all kept working.
How exciting! My 11 year old got her frog, grasshopper, and worm dissection kit in the mail yesterday and I am hoping she will do them with Tad tomorrow. Yuck!
Being able to do hands-on learning is definitely more engaging and fun for the students but it can definitely be a lot of work for the teacher as well.
I'm glad you're doing labs and not doing what many science teachers do and drudge on about science without actually having us (Students) literally get in the muck of it. I wish I would've gotten to dissect a frog!
I had a great time this past week. I have helped teach every class everyday. On Wednesday I had my classes do a WW1 simulation game shown to the History people in our Saturday class with Dr.Vice. All my students loved it. And I mean all of them. Only had one student in first period who was being a poor sport, but she still was engaged. I was amazed in second period when I had to make a group add a girl ,who has issues with a lot of people in class, and it ended up being the best group. They were engaged in the role play and all got along as if they were actual friends. This is so cool to me because one of the students at the beginning of the game said they don’t get along and shouldn’t be around each other. Another student, who is always in trouble for defiance and lack of participation, wrote in his review of the game he “LOVED IT AND WOULD PLAY IT AGAIN” all in big letters. I made adjustments as the day went on and by fourth period the game was perfected. Now my fear is that the kids are all hyped up about me teaching with all games the next two weeks, which isn’t the case. I have one game that will take two days at the end of the unit. I really like my lesson plan, but it’s no war game. I was actually having to start flat out saying to my classes that not every lesson I teach will be a game and we will have to take notes. I don’t want to disappoint. One girl who was in ISS on the day we played the game said she felt so sad she missed it and she promised she would try not to get back in ISS because she doesn’t want to miss any more games in my class. So no pressure.
I don't think you'll have to worry about disappointing the students. If they played games everyday they would probably get bored of them eventually. I think the key to keeping students (especially middle schoolers) engaged is to have diversity in instruction.
The fact that your students are really motivated to learn must mean that you are making your lessons extremely engaging and fun. Keep up the good work.
Overall this past week has been a very good one. I have gotten to the point where I know most of my kids names (which is a big task for me since I'm terrible with names). I have also gotten to know many of the students very well which helps to motivate and engage them in what we are learning. There were some days with frustrating behavioral issues such as students sleeping or getting distracted by their friends or cell phone. I have a no-cell phone policy in place but sometimes kids will try to sneak their phone past me. I gave a quiz on Friday that was fairly challenging to a lot of students. A majority of students did pretty well but I had many students who did not even come close to passing. If the student paid attention in class and did some studying at home then they should have no issue passing but it appears that many students did not do that. I am starting to realize that many students will have some major issues in my class simply because they do not put in the outside effort to do their homework or study. I want to give my students every opportunity to succeed but they have to also work on their own to make it happen.
I feel you over the frustration of kids just not doing ANY work to help themselves. I am taking that into consideration with my ten day unit and building in opportunities to go over the material over and over. I know with a language though it takes serious dedication and self motivation. What about having students challenge each other on Duolingo and awarding them with Jolly Ranchers when they reach certain goals? Making it competitive might give them the extra push...
I had a the same thing happen to me this week. I felt as though it was my fault since I was teaching and I had not done a good job. I talked to my host teacher and he said that actually the scores were not out of the ordinary for this class. I have a few who chit chat during class and don't really participate or pay attention. I feel bad because I want them to find it as interesting as I do. It's only January, we will soon get the hang of things.
Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion. This past week went well. I am still transitioning into solo teaching. I feel like I am behind in that aspect. However, I've been learning the names of my students and have taught a few lessons. In my sociology class, we took the students outside and did a Likert scale. There are two trees right outside the classroom that are perfectly spaced. We are discussing deviance and morality so I read them some different statements dealing with capital punishment, legalizing drugs, etc. The students were really into it and were passionate about defending their stances. One student was particularly passionate about a statement and kept talking about it even after class had ended. The next day she jokingly said that she hated the activity because she and her parents had a whole debate about it over dinner.
It felt great knowing that she went home and continued to discuss it. That's my goal every time that I teach a lesson.
I'm sharing your same sentiments in terms of feeling as though you are behind with solo teaching. It's pretty awesome that your student is talking about what you did in class after the fact--I love being able to see that kind of enthusiasm and passion in my students. I have one that we've deemed our "resident communist" and he regularly goes on tangents against capitalism whenever we start talking about government and economics.
This week has proven to be both rewarding and aggravating. While I am continuing to further my involvement in class and developing a solid rapport with my host teacher, using the copiers and organizing papers is a skill that continues to elude me. Having to copy large amounts of paper with both front and back sides with lots of content proved to be both an arduous and infuriating task for me. The mail room at Baldwin High school felt like a prison as I tried and failed to correctly print review sheets and study guides without skewing the borders or chopping off parts of the paper. Printing and filing papers is one part of teaching that I am sure that I will come to dread.
It just takespractice, but I notice that even at Putnam it can be a pain because paper will jam, the copier won't be out of paper, and worst of all, teachers will take your copies (yes this has happened to me, I had to go back to classroom to get paper and when I got back the copies that already made were gone >_<)
I feel like that would totally be me. I'm certainly a novice when it comes to making copies, etc. Like Sam said, it just takes practice. I bet you'll have it down sooner than you think.
Organization is something I struggle with as well. Organization has never been one of my best attributes and keeping up with hundreds of papers is a daunting task. I am getting a lot of ideas from my host teacher. I think I'll invest in some file cabinets.
The thing that really stood out to me the most this week,now that I am familiar and comfortable with the students and my teacher, is how many things that I would do differently in the class room if I was the head teacher. Do not get me wrong by any means, I absolutely love my teacher and all that she has done for me, but I can definitely see now how in some aspects we are quite different and how we would handle certain scenarios differently. My teacher, like most old-school art teachers, is very easy-going and flexible with many of the things that go on in the classroom, such as talking, not setting due dates, and doing other homework during the classroom. Personally I believe that an art class should be held to the same expectations and standards as any other courses taught in schools and many of the things going on in the classroom would not be allowed in others. Without the set due dates for projects or without the higher set expectations for projects, many students slack and slide on by with receiving great grades just by waiting to the last minute and rapidly throwing something together; unfortunately resulting in students seeing the Visual Arts as less important or not as significant to their lives. I don't usually have a problem with talking and discussion in the art room as a general rule, but whenever students are only talking and are getting away with not completing the tasks at hand, it is definitely a problem. Without overstepping my place as a student teacher, I really hope that I will be able to raise the expectations for the projects and for the students' behavior with the weeks to come. I have no doubt that with raising both to the place it is expected in other traditional courses that students will meet expectations and have a deeper respect and appreciation for both the lead teacher and the course itself. I hope that I will be able to voice my opinion to my partner teacher and hope that it leads to positive effects in the upcoming weeks!
I can see why the overly relaxed expectations are frustrating. The students aren't held to a higher standard and because of that they don't see art as something to be valued. That is really unfortunate and a disservice to the students. Looking back they may realize they wasted an opportunity to learn something meaningful and significant. However, I know that you will continue to be a positive influence. Hopefully they will see your passion for art and it will become contagious. If any one can make art awesome, it's you.
I have thoughts on this all the time. It can be super frustrating to see something that needs mending and not being able to mend it. I'm sure you have the patience though. But I feel like you are hitting on something big, students tend to see their fine arts classes as less than their academic classes, and I think if we can show them that the fine art classes will in fact be held to the same standards then they will work better. (I struggle with these issues last semester trying to teach a drama fundamentals one class, I feel you.)
I think this is actually a great opportunity for you. You can inspire other art teachers to feel the same way that you do. I think that if more art classes were the way you suggest, then there would be a good opportunity to bring art back into schools.
I have a similar problem, but in my case, I believe my host teacher is too rigid on occassion. I agree that an art class should meet the same expectations as other classes and demand the same excellence from the students, but at a certain point, you have to allow students their own expression. I've heard some students complain that they can't do what they want with their art. Also, peer communication in art is important. I understand not wanting students to talk about what they're wearing to prom or who was in a fight on the bus the day before, but at the same time, students can be inspired by each other. There is no music in my host classroom, either, and I believe that music can stimulate creativity. If you don't want them to listen to their iPods, then play music quietly in the classroom. While I admire my host teacher and am learning so much from her, she is more rigid than I think art teachers should be.
I agree with you Sam, I have gotten frustrated with students who finish WAY early and then just sit on their phone the rest of class. My teacher has a no phones policy but every time we say put it away they bring them out again when they aren't looking. I feel like the only way to fix this would be to lay down the law first day and give only a few options for things you're allowed to do if you finish early like free draw, read, or do homework for other classes. ~Kaitlyn
Week 2 was great! I Got to know the kids alot better and I got finished my lesson plans for EdTPA and my 10-day unit. Everything is falling into place nicely and I'm very happy for that! The highlight of my week was the job fair on Saturday; I felt like a college football player at the NFL draft! Saw many principals, even some I had known from my schooling; Newton County's booth had Eastside High School's principal, who was an AP when I was in Middle School! I talked to alot of people, gave out alot of resumes, and I felt I really sold myself! I'm excited to actually start applying and going in for interviews!
In the classroom, the highlight of my week probably was a discussion we had in one of my U.S. History classes about the American Revolution. We talked a good bit about the military strategies the Colonial Army and how they helped the Colonists win the war, and we also talked about how the Americans had certain technological advantages over the British to help them win the war. One example of this newer technology is rifiling, which are grooves inside the barrel of a gun to help the bullet travel faster, further, and with greater accuracy. The kids loved it because we got to talk about guns in class, and many of the students came from families who are gun enthusiasts and hunters, so that really clicked with them.
The big thing I'm feeling is excitement. I want to keep this feeling of motivated excitedness going til the end of the semester!
That's great :) I had a similar experience. This kids got so into the discussion, we ran out of time and had to catch up the next day. I felt bad getting them off schedule, but it was a good feeling to get them engaged and have the information connect with them.
That's so exciting about the job fair! I'm sending all the good vibes your way! And I'm super jealous you got to teach on the American Revolution. That's my favorite (though that's not a secret to anyone that had class with me over the summer)! I can't wait until I get there!
This week was great :) It was my first week teaching on my own and things went very well. I don't want to jinx it but I had a real confidence boost and feel really comfortable. My only negative this week is that I haven't taken a history nor govt. class since 2010, so the information doesn't have as quick of a recall with me but having US history has given me a way to ease back into it. (government on the other hand...not so much, but I'm getting there). I find myself constantly thinking about teaching; how I can do it better and how to make the information fresh for the kids. Dr. Vice has been amazing in our pedagogy class and offers a lot of inspiration. I am looking forward to another week of teaching, but this week is going to be a busy one so unfortunately there will be more note taking than activities. Plus with the research project they are doing all semester long, it's going to take one day out of every week. It kind of throws a wrench in my scheduling for edtpa, but the kids have found a passion for it and it is great thing to be a part of.
I'm so happy that you got to teach! I think it is very important to find new ways to make material as interesting as possible for the students, so I hope you end up finding lots of new ideas and plans! Good luck next week, you got this!
It's amazing how much you learn from just trying to figure out why your host teacher does things the way they do. My host teacher, Mr. Harder, shows his students this segment on CNN of like the ten big things that happened that day or that week. Then most days he talks to them about it and I am constantly amazed how much some of these students know. They are far more aware of the world than I was growing up. One thing that stood out wasn't something that happened to me, on Thursday they came over the intercom to the entire school that because ISS was overloaded they would be moving some students' suspensions to a later time. Now this was stunning to me, how is it that so many students landed themselves into ISS? So it is becoming the question then of is it the students' fault or the teachers'? On a personal note, I am so happy that we have a more solid routine this semester.
There is this kid in my class that the other teachers really have problems with. He tells a lot of lies, and it is hard to tell when he is lying and telling the truth. He has already lied to me multiple times, and I don't really know what to do, or how to help him. Most of the teachers have adopted the policy of not really listening to him when he is obviously lying, but there must be some other way to handle it. Let me know what you think.
I might try talking to him after class for a little CPS. It looks like he's really trying to get attention. Honestly I'd make him my assistant--have him pass out assignments and materials.
There's a student in one of my classes that is very similar. There have been a lot of issues surrounding this student that the entire faculty is very aware of. The student is very aggressive and has already almost been kicked out of school for fighting. It's a really frustrating situation and no one knows the best way to help him.
There is a kid in my second period who ALWAYS has his head down and NEVER participates. For the past two weeks I always singe him out by name in the hall, "Hey, Name!" and use him as my helper (like Betsy said). I also use him when I;m doing mini-lectures to represent my wife or servant, etc. Now he ONLY participates and does his work when I am doing my lessons and he will even joke around with me a little while I wander the classroom. If you remain undaunted and whatever you do DON'T treat him the way he expects to be treated, then you will make inroads. Good luck!
One of my classes tends to be much louder than the others and it's mostly because of four students. My host teacher usually goes into that class fearing the worst and I think it shows. The day she was out in the first week of placement, I had some interesting interactions with three of those students. One needed help with his drawing and I am always more than happy to help, but this time I let him sit at a table with several other students (my host teacher has separate him and two of the other louder students so they won't talk, but this hasn't really helped... at all). Anyway, he was able to get work done and I had two other students issue a challenge (they said they could draw something faster than a senior who had been working on a painting for three months). So, I had them grid a piece of paper and draw the lines of the picture. It was the same thing they were doing in class but more challenging. They realized it was much harder than it looked but they got more practice out of an activity. The following Monday, one of those students came up to me and told me that he really enjoyed that class. I think, just being patient, kind, and inclusive helps quite a bit.
This week has been good--unfortunately it has been eclipsed by EOCT retakes, which makes the class schedule a little awkward. At one point, because the health instructor was proctoring the exam, we had to teach high school health class. The class was reading Go Ask Alice, and we read the first few chapters aloud. It went about as well as you would expect. I spent the rest of the week focused on the students in college support and got to teach about the Great Wall of China on Friday. Overall the lesson went pretty well. I'm still frantically trying to teach myself world history to stay ahead. One day at a time.
I'm having a similar problem at my placement. The first hour and a half every Monday for the rest of placement is taken up by studying for Milestones. That makes all the other classes shortened by five to ten minutes. It has disoriented the students and it is amazingly ridiculous how much that affects the lessons. I hope the testing and retakes eases soon and everything goes back to normal for you!
Everything is going really well, I've had the chance already to lead class a few days and they all went really well. This week the students are working on their big projects where they create a living museum about the 1920's along with a research paper about their topic. I've been working one on one with students to help them with annotated bibliographies and research which has actually been very fun and rewarding.
I've started planning my edTPA unit/two week unit and, while I've been stressed, I'm actually very excited about some of the things I have planned. One of the ideas I came up with is to create a Great Gatsby Mannequin challenge where students make visual representations of a chapter from the book. Another is a hotseat activity where one student plays the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the class interviews him or her as if it were a talk show.
I took over the IB art class the second week and taught my favorite, color theory! There's only four students in this class I'm (the other half are seniors and are preparing for their show in their second year of IB. The half I'm teaching are in the first year of IB). They were a good class to ease myself into taking over classes. The intro to art classes started contour drawings, with a couple days on blind contour at the start. I saw more frustration with this project than any other I have helped them with. It was the first time they had to draw something three-dimensional and they had to do it without lifting the pencil. I feel more challenged than ever to help them believe that they can get better at drawing. I had one student watch me go through a contour drawing and tell me that I cheated somehow. She couldn't believe that anyone could just draw like I did, with or without practice. I feel they are more discouraged now and disliking art than any time I've been in the class. Not all the students feel that way, but it is a large number of them. I started planning my EdTPA and am now down to the day-to-day planning. Later this week, I will give them the pre-assessment so I can gauge what they know, what they want to know, and what they're still learning. Also, the last few times I went through the EdTPA process, I found filling out the Planning Commentary has helped me deepen the planning of the lesson itself. I don't know if that's just me. A struggle I'm having is finding time to practice my art. I'm trying to keep on top of my reading and planning and find my hours quite taken up.
I have come to realize that teaching my inclusion classes is going to be more difficult than I expected. A significant portion of my students in these classes have EBD and take offense to things very easily. This makes teaching difficult when asking them to do simple tasks. I have also been surprised about the amount of students that are absent and have ISS in all of my class periods. I anticipate these things being some of the biggest challenges as the semester progresses. It is also discouraging to see that because students are suspended and absent so much, expectations seem to be lower.
This second week at the school made me feel a bit more settled. The students are getting used to me being in the classroom, and I have started doing some of the teaching. It is a bit of a balancing act trying to keep up from day to day. The students are supposed to read in the book at night, so that they come to class prepared. That just does not happen with most of them. I have been teaching the last two classes of the day, and that does seem to factor into how the students participate. Friday afternoon, they are mentally out the door before class has even started. It is going to be a challenge.
This week has, admittedly, been a little easier. I think the teachers are getting use to me being there and while they don't exactly include me, they say "hello" to me now. One thing I know for sure...I do not want to teach eighth grade! We visit the high school today so the eighth graders could get a peek at what's in store for them and I felt more at home. I have been teaching everything after first period (I think it's called "mirror teaching") and Friday I am giving my students their pre-test and survey for edTPA! I know 98% of the student's names, and I have good rapport with 99% of them. This one kid does NOT like me but that's OK...I don't like him either. ;)
ReplyDeleteI have come into my "teacher voice" which is amazing. It's almost like it just came over me one day. I still have classroom management problems with 5th period so next week I am working on that specifically along with recording 4th period for edTPA.
Not gonna lie I wasn't a big fan of middle school either. My host teacher said "you have to be a certain kind of crazy to teach middle school" ....I don't think I am that type of crazy :P
DeleteThere are a few people who truly feel it when they say, "I'd be happy teaching either middle school or high school," but I've found that the vast majority of MAT's feel much more of a resonance with one or the other.
DeleteI am glad things are getting better for you. When you head into WWI I highly recommend using the WW1 simulation Dr.Vice showed us a couple weeks ago. My students all loved it.
DeleteI'm glad that things are improving for you. I feel the same way around the teachers at my school. Though Baldwin's social studies department have an awesome faculty, I still feel like an outsider in a foreign land.
DeleteI am so glad that things are getting a little better. Hopefully, by the end of all of this, you won't completely hate it.
DeleteSounds like your edTPA is going to be smooth sailing!
DeleteI agree though. Middle school is no bueno.
I found out last semester that I was not really cut out for middle school. The younger students intimidated me. I was alway worried I would hurt their feelings.
DeleteThis week has been pretty good despite the fact that I've been wrestling with a sinus infection while also trying to catch up on homework I forgot about (sorry Dr. Alby :p). I'm more confident in my ability to teach my students and have planned a weeks worth of lessons for my two painting classes! I'm loving high school a lot, I'm seeing so much talent in every class and I really want to bring out the confidence in them to be more daring. I definitely feel at home here, the students and staff are all very friendly. I'm developing good rapport with all my students (even the troublemakers, you have to "befriend the ringleader" am I right?). Overall a very good week, I think this is my favorite placement!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are loving it there!
DeleteI am absolutely terrified of catching something at school! I am so excited that you've finished so many lesson plans because I know it will ease your way considerably!
DeleteI can sympathize with being sick while trying to catch up on work! It's the worst! Im glad you feel at home in your placement! It definitely helps boost your confidence when you feel comfortable with the people around you.
DeleteHope you start to feel better soon! Are you at Jones County High School? I really loved it there and in general I really love high school.
DeleteI hope you feel better. My baby's doctor told me that he can usually predict to the day when a baby will get sick after starting daycare or school. He says that it usually takes two weeks for the germs to catch up with a kid, and I can't imagine that it would be much different with us. I feel a little tickle in my throat, but I can't tell if it is from singing too loud on my long commute to my school, or if I have caught something.
DeleteI know what you mean. I have fallen victim to the germs of the public school! I think they have tried to kill me!! But, we survive and find that germex is our friend.
DeleteThis week I got to experience what it's like to teach/do a dissection with 87 7th graders. I was expecting it to be crazy (and I was not wrong in that thinking). The night before I stayed at the school until 6pm helping set everything up. Then the day of I spent an extra hour after school cleaning everything up. While lab work is a TON of extra work for the teacher, students are so much more engaged. Every single student was engaged and interested during the dissection. Of course there were a few kids that said "ew, gross." But they all kept working.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! My 11 year old got her frog, grasshopper, and worm dissection kit in the mail yesterday and I am hoping she will do them with Tad tomorrow. Yuck!
DeleteBeing able to do hands-on learning is definitely more engaging and fun for the students but it can definitely be a lot of work for the teacher as well.
DeleteFrog legs, anyone?
DeleteI'm glad you're doing labs and not doing what many science teachers do and drudge on about science without actually having us (Students) literally get in the muck of it. I wish I would've gotten to dissect a frog!
You're going to be a great science teacher. Always going the extra mile.
DeleteI had a great time this past week. I have helped teach every class everyday. On Wednesday I had my classes do a WW1 simulation game shown to the History people in our Saturday class with Dr.Vice. All my students loved it. And I mean all of them. Only had one student in first period who was being a poor sport, but she still was engaged. I was amazed in second period when I had to make a group add a girl ,who has issues with a lot of people in class, and it ended up being the best group. They were engaged in the role play and all got along as if they were actual friends. This is so cool to me because one of the students at the beginning of the game said they don’t get along and shouldn’t be around each other. Another student, who is always in trouble for defiance and lack of participation, wrote in his review of the game he “LOVED IT AND WOULD PLAY IT AGAIN” all in big letters. I made adjustments as the day went on and by fourth period the game was perfected. Now my fear is that the kids are all hyped up about me teaching with all games the next two weeks, which isn’t the case. I have one game that will take two days at the end of the unit. I really like my lesson plan, but it’s no war game. I was actually having to start flat out saying to my classes that not every lesson I teach will be a game and we will have to take notes. I don’t want to disappoint. One girl who was in ISS on the day we played the game said she felt so sad she missed it and she promised she would try not to get back in ISS because she doesn’t want to miss any more games in my class. So no pressure.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you'll have to worry about disappointing the students. If they played games everyday they would probably get bored of them eventually. I think the key to keeping students (especially middle schoolers) engaged is to have diversity in instruction.
DeleteThat must be so rewarding to hear students ASKING to learn! Keep up the good work!
DeleteThe fact that your students are really motivated to learn must mean that you are making your lessons extremely engaging and fun. Keep up the good work.
DeleteOverall this past week has been a very good one. I have gotten to the point where I know most of my kids names (which is a big task for me since I'm terrible with names). I have also gotten to know many of the students very well which helps to motivate and engage them in what we are learning. There were some days with frustrating behavioral issues such as students sleeping or getting distracted by their friends or cell phone. I have a no-cell phone policy in place but sometimes kids will try to sneak their phone past me. I gave a quiz on Friday that was fairly challenging to a lot of students. A majority of students did pretty well but I had many students who did not even come close to passing. If the student paid attention in class and did some studying at home then they should have no issue passing but it appears that many students did not do that. I am starting to realize that many students will have some major issues in my class simply because they do not put in the outside effort to do their homework or study. I want to give my students every opportunity to succeed but they have to also work on their own to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteI feel you over the frustration of kids just not doing ANY work to help themselves. I am taking that into consideration with my ten day unit and building in opportunities to go over the material over and over. I know with a language though it takes serious dedication and self motivation. What about having students challenge each other on Duolingo and awarding them with Jolly Ranchers when they reach certain goals? Making it competitive might give them the extra push...
DeleteI had a the same thing happen to me this week. I felt as though it was my fault since I was teaching and I had not done a good job. I talked to my host teacher and he said that actually the scores were not out of the ordinary for this class.
DeleteI have a few who chit chat during class and don't really participate or pay attention. I feel bad because I want them to find it as interesting as I do. It's only January, we will soon get the hang of things.
Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion. This past week went well. I am still transitioning into solo teaching. I feel like I am behind in that aspect. However, I've been learning the names of my students and have taught a few lessons. In my sociology class, we took the students outside and did a Likert scale. There are two trees right outside the classroom that are perfectly spaced. We are discussing deviance and morality so I read them some different statements dealing with capital punishment, legalizing drugs, etc. The students were really into it and were passionate about defending their stances. One student was particularly passionate about a statement and kept talking about it even after class had ended. The next day she jokingly said that she hated the activity because she and her parents had a whole debate about it over dinner.
ReplyDeleteIt felt great knowing that she went home and continued to discuss it. That's my goal every time that I teach a lesson.
I'm sharing your same sentiments in terms of feeling as though you are behind with solo teaching. It's pretty awesome that your student is talking about what you did in class after the fact--I love being able to see that kind of enthusiasm and passion in my students. I have one that we've deemed our "resident communist" and he regularly goes on tangents against capitalism whenever we start talking about government and economics.
DeleteThis week has proven to be both rewarding and aggravating. While I am continuing to further my involvement in class and developing a solid rapport with my host teacher, using the copiers and organizing papers is a skill that continues to elude me. Having to copy large amounts of paper with both front and back sides with lots of content proved to be both an arduous and infuriating task for me. The mail room at Baldwin High school felt like a prison as I tried and failed to correctly print review sheets and study guides without skewing the borders or chopping off parts of the paper. Printing and filing papers is one part of teaching that I am sure that I will come to dread.
ReplyDeleteIt just takespractice, but I notice that even at Putnam it can be a pain because paper will jam, the copier won't be out of paper, and worst of all, teachers will take your copies (yes this has happened to me, I had to go back to classroom to get paper and when I got back the copies that already made were gone >_<)
DeleteI feel like that would totally be me. I'm certainly a novice when it comes to making copies, etc. Like Sam said, it just takes practice. I bet you'll have it down sooner than you think.
DeleteOrganization is something I struggle with as well. Organization has never been one of my best attributes and keeping up with hundreds of papers is a daunting task. I am getting a lot of ideas from my host teacher. I think I'll invest in some file cabinets.
DeleteThe thing that really stood out to me the most this week,now that I am familiar and comfortable with the students and my teacher, is how many things that I would do differently in the class room if I was the head teacher. Do not get me wrong by any means, I absolutely love my teacher and all that she has done for me, but I can definitely see now how in some aspects we are quite different and how we would handle certain scenarios differently. My teacher, like most old-school art teachers, is very easy-going and flexible with many of the things that go on in the classroom, such as talking, not setting due dates, and doing other homework during the classroom. Personally I believe that an art class should be held to the same expectations and standards as any other courses taught in schools and many of the things going on in the classroom would not be allowed in others. Without the set due dates for projects or without the higher set expectations for projects, many students slack and slide on by with receiving great grades just by waiting to the last minute and rapidly throwing something together; unfortunately resulting in students seeing the Visual Arts as less important or not as significant to their lives. I don't usually have a problem with talking and discussion in the art room as a general rule, but whenever students are only talking and are getting away with not completing the tasks at hand, it is definitely a problem. Without overstepping my place as a student teacher, I really hope that I will be able to raise the expectations for the projects and for the students' behavior with the weeks to come. I have no doubt that with raising both to the place it is expected in other traditional courses that students will meet expectations and have a deeper respect and appreciation for both the lead teacher and the course itself. I hope that I will be able to voice my opinion to my partner teacher and hope that it leads to positive effects in the upcoming weeks!
ReplyDeleteI can see why the overly relaxed expectations are frustrating. The students aren't held to a higher standard and because of that they don't see art as something to be valued. That is really unfortunate and a disservice to the students. Looking back they may realize they wasted an opportunity to learn something meaningful and significant. However, I know that you will continue to be a positive influence. Hopefully they will see your passion for art and it will become contagious. If any one can make art awesome, it's you.
DeleteI have thoughts on this all the time. It can be super frustrating to see something that needs mending and not being able to mend it. I'm sure you have the patience though. But I feel like you are hitting on something big, students tend to see their fine arts classes as less than their academic classes, and I think if we can show them that the fine art classes will in fact be held to the same standards then they will work better. (I struggle with these issues last semester trying to teach a drama fundamentals one class, I feel you.)
DeleteI think this is actually a great opportunity for you. You can inspire other art teachers to feel the same way that you do. I think that if more art classes were the way you suggest, then there would be a good opportunity to bring art back into schools.
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DeleteI have a similar problem, but in my case, I believe my host teacher is too rigid on occassion. I agree that an art class should meet the same expectations as other classes and demand the same excellence from the students, but at a certain point, you have to allow students their own expression. I've heard some students complain that they can't do what they want with their art.
DeleteAlso, peer communication in art is important. I understand not wanting students to talk about what they're wearing to prom or who was in a fight on the bus the day before, but at the same time, students can be inspired by each other. There is no music in my host classroom, either, and I believe that music can stimulate creativity. If you don't want them to listen to their iPods, then play music quietly in the classroom.
While I admire my host teacher and am learning so much from her, she is more rigid than I think art teachers should be.
I agree with you Sam, I have gotten frustrated with students who finish WAY early and then just sit on their phone the rest of class. My teacher has a no phones policy but every time we say put it away they bring them out again when they aren't looking. I feel like the only way to fix this would be to lay down the law first day and give only a few options for things you're allowed to do if you finish early like free draw, read, or do homework for other classes.
Delete~Kaitlyn
Week 2 was great! I Got to know the kids alot better and I got finished my lesson plans for EdTPA and my 10-day unit. Everything is falling into place nicely and I'm very happy for that! The highlight of my week was the job fair on Saturday; I felt like a college football player at the NFL draft! Saw many principals, even some I had known from my schooling; Newton County's booth had Eastside High School's principal, who was an AP when I was in Middle School! I talked to alot of people, gave out alot of resumes, and I felt I really sold myself! I'm excited to actually start applying and going in for interviews!
ReplyDeleteIn the classroom, the highlight of my week probably was a discussion we had in one of my U.S. History classes about the American Revolution. We talked a good bit about the military strategies the Colonial Army and how they helped the Colonists win the war, and we also talked about how the Americans had certain technological advantages over the British to help them win the war. One example of this newer technology is rifiling, which are grooves inside the barrel of a gun to help the bullet travel faster, further, and with greater accuracy. The kids loved it because we got to talk about guns in class, and many of the students came from families who are gun enthusiasts and hunters, so that really clicked with them.
The big thing I'm feeling is excitement. I want to keep this feeling of motivated excitedness going til the end of the semester!
That's great :) I had a similar experience. This kids got so into the discussion, we ran out of time and had to catch up the next day. I felt bad getting them off schedule, but it was a good feeling to get them engaged and have the information connect with them.
DeleteThat's so exciting about the job fair! I'm sending all the good vibes your way! And I'm super jealous you got to teach on the American Revolution. That's my favorite (though that's not a secret to anyone that had class with me over the summer)! I can't wait until I get there!
DeleteThis week was great :) It was my first week teaching on my own and things went very well. I don't want to jinx it but I had a real confidence boost and feel really comfortable. My only negative this week is that I haven't taken a history nor govt. class since 2010, so the information doesn't have as quick of a recall with me but having US history has given me a way to ease back into it. (government on the other hand...not so much, but I'm getting there).
ReplyDeleteI find myself constantly thinking about teaching; how I can do it better and how to make the information fresh for the kids. Dr. Vice has been amazing in our pedagogy class and offers a lot of inspiration.
I am looking forward to another week of teaching, but this week is going to be a busy one so unfortunately there will be more note taking than activities. Plus with the research project they are doing all semester long, it's going to take one day out of every week. It kind of throws a wrench in my scheduling for edtpa, but the kids have found a passion for it and it is great thing to be a part of.
I'm so happy that you got to teach! I think it is very important to find new ways to make material as interesting as possible for the students, so I hope you end up finding lots of new ideas and plans! Good luck next week, you got this!
DeleteIt's amazing how much you learn from just trying to figure out why your host teacher does things the way they do. My host teacher, Mr. Harder, shows his students this segment on CNN of like the ten big things that happened that day or that week. Then most days he talks to them about it and I am constantly amazed how much some of these students know. They are far more aware of the world than I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stood out wasn't something that happened to me, on Thursday they came over the intercom to the entire school that because ISS was overloaded they would be moving some students' suspensions to a later time. Now this was stunning to me, how is it that so many students landed themselves into ISS? So it is becoming the question then of is it the students' fault or the teachers'?
On a personal note, I am so happy that we have a more solid routine this semester.
There is this kid in my class that the other teachers really have problems with. He tells a lot of lies, and it is hard to tell when he is lying and telling the truth. He has already lied to me multiple times, and I don't really know what to do, or how to help him. Most of the teachers have adopted the policy of not really listening to him when he is obviously lying, but there must be some other way to handle it. Let me know what you think.
ReplyDeleteI might try talking to him after class for a little CPS. It looks like he's really trying to get attention. Honestly I'd make him my assistant--have him pass out assignments and materials.
DeleteThere's a student in one of my classes that is very similar. There have been a lot of issues surrounding this student that the entire faculty is very aware of. The student is very aggressive and has already almost been kicked out of school for fighting. It's a really frustrating situation and no one knows the best way to help him.
DeleteThere is a kid in my second period who ALWAYS has his head down and NEVER participates. For the past two weeks I always singe him out by name in the hall, "Hey, Name!" and use him as my helper (like Betsy said). I also use him when I;m doing mini-lectures to represent my wife or servant, etc. Now he ONLY participates and does his work when I am doing my lessons and he will even joke around with me a little while I wander the classroom. If you remain undaunted and whatever you do DON'T treat him the way he expects to be treated, then you will make inroads. Good luck!
DeleteOne of my classes tends to be much louder than the others and it's mostly because of four students. My host teacher usually goes into that class fearing the worst and I think it shows. The day she was out in the first week of placement, I had some interesting interactions with three of those students. One needed help with his drawing and I am always more than happy to help, but this time I let him sit at a table with several other students (my host teacher has separate him and two of the other louder students so they won't talk, but this hasn't really helped... at all). Anyway, he was able to get work done and I had two other students issue a challenge (they said they could draw something faster than a senior who had been working on a painting for three months). So, I had them grid a piece of paper and draw the lines of the picture. It was the same thing they were doing in class but more challenging. They realized it was much harder than it looked but they got more practice out of an activity. The following Monday, one of those students came up to me and told me that he really enjoyed that class. I think, just being patient, kind, and inclusive helps quite a bit.
DeleteThis week has been good--unfortunately it has been eclipsed by EOCT retakes, which makes the class schedule a little awkward. At one point, because the health instructor was proctoring the exam, we had to teach high school health class. The class was reading Go Ask Alice, and we read the first few chapters aloud. It went about as well as you would expect. I spent the rest of the week focused on the students in college support and got to teach about the Great Wall of China on Friday. Overall the lesson went pretty well. I'm still frantically trying to teach myself world history to stay ahead. One day at a time.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a similar problem at my placement. The first hour and a half every Monday for the rest of placement is taken up by studying for Milestones. That makes all the other classes shortened by five to ten minutes. It has disoriented the students and it is amazingly ridiculous how much that affects the lessons. I hope the testing and retakes eases soon and everything goes back to normal for you!
DeleteEverything is going really well, I've had the chance already to lead class a few days and they all went really well. This week the students are working on their big projects where they create a living museum about the 1920's along with a research paper about their topic. I've been working one on one with students to help them with annotated bibliographies and research which has actually been very fun and rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI've started planning my edTPA unit/two week unit and, while I've been stressed, I'm actually very excited about some of the things I have planned. One of the ideas I came up with is to create a Great Gatsby Mannequin challenge where students make visual representations of a chapter from the book. Another is a hotseat activity where one student plays the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the class interviews him or her as if it were a talk show.
I took over the IB art class the second week and taught my favorite, color theory! There's only four students in this class I'm (the other half are seniors and are preparing for their show in their second year of IB. The half I'm teaching are in the first year of IB). They were a good class to ease myself into taking over classes.
ReplyDeleteThe intro to art classes started contour drawings, with a couple days on blind contour at the start. I saw more frustration with this project than any other I have helped them with. It was the first time they had to draw something three-dimensional and they had to do it without lifting the pencil. I feel more challenged than ever to help them believe that they can get better at drawing. I had one student watch me go through a contour drawing and tell me that I cheated somehow. She couldn't believe that anyone could just draw like I did, with or without practice. I feel they are more discouraged now and disliking art than any time I've been in the class. Not all the students feel that way, but it is a large number of them.
I started planning my EdTPA and am now down to the day-to-day planning. Later this week, I will give them the pre-assessment so I can gauge what they know, what they want to know, and what they're still learning. Also, the last few times I went through the EdTPA process, I found filling out the Planning Commentary has helped me deepen the planning of the lesson itself. I don't know if that's just me.
A struggle I'm having is finding time to practice my art. I'm trying to keep on top of my reading and planning and find my hours quite taken up.
I have come to realize that teaching my inclusion classes is going to be more difficult than I expected. A significant portion of my students in these classes have EBD and take offense to things very easily. This makes teaching difficult when asking them to do simple tasks. I have also been surprised about the amount of students that are absent and have ISS in all of my class periods. I anticipate these things being some of the biggest challenges as the semester progresses. It is also discouraging to see that because students are suspended and absent so much, expectations seem to be lower.
ReplyDeleteThis second week at the school made me feel a bit more settled. The students are getting used to me being in the classroom, and I have started doing some of the teaching. It is a bit of a balancing act trying to keep up from day to day. The students are supposed to read in the book at night, so that they come to class prepared. That just does not happen with most of them. I have been teaching the last two classes of the day, and that does seem to factor into how the students participate. Friday afternoon, they are mentally out the door before class has even started. It is going to be a challenge.
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