Finally some real teacher experience :)

            This week has been both hard and satisfying. I had taught all day Thursday, all 4 classes and finally felt like a real teacher. On Tuesday I had my observation and got filmed for my video analysis project. So it has been busy, but I loved every minute of it. With videotaping I was surprised that it was not as painful as I thought. I actually did not look too out of place in a classroom. The students really got into the discussion on madness and Poe during the lesson. It was one of those TV moments when you can’t help but think this is amazing, they actually care about this stuff. So there are a lot of highlights because of all the teaching I got to do.

            My juniors asked me to come to watch their show and that was so sweet. They looked at me with those googly eyes that I could not say no. I wanted to scream inside from happiness, because it felt that they really cared that I was there and I was not just some student teacher that they had to tolerate for a while. That is the best thing for me about teaching is building relationships. The other is having multi-dimensional discussions in the classroom, going beyond the text.

            One thing that has happened that made me think differently about differentiated instruction is actually applying that in my classroom. It is one thing to write it on a TPA and another applying it in real life. One student I knew had trouble organizing his thoughts in a paper form and he has not started on his prompt question. I knew that he understood the material, but I could sense his reluctance, so I came to him and said, I’m gonna give you an option, you can tell me what you know about his prompt instead of writing and guess what? He knew the answer. That was an Aha moment. I know there is a lot of “I” in this paragraph, but I somehow applied what I have always been taught and made differentiating instruction a reality.

            Something that I will take away that I have learned was what my supervisor told me. When you ask a question, but you get crickets, try to simplify the answer, reword it. For instance, if you ask what an unreliable narrator is and you don’t get anything. Ask what reliable means and now what is unreliable in that sense. Then piece all these things together. I definitely will use that tactic.

            There were not really any conflicting situations that have happened. I know that one thing that I could improve on is making assumptions. Coming into a classroom, you assume students know what MLA citations are, maybe not be proficient in citing, but at least have an idea. Then you find out that is not true. I got a lot of that, assuming one thing and then realizing all the things I thought they have learned they did not. So I could definitely stop assuming and do some initial assessment. I try to do that, but at times I fail; so to less failing, less assuming, more figuring out the facts.

 

Actually teaching... real stuff!

This week was exciting for me because I got to teach an actual full 2 lessons. I did an overview on Poe and the Gothic Literature genre. The first period went by very smooth with no nerves whatsoever. I finally felt comfortable and capable. Now, fifth period was a different story.  I think it showed me the importance of differentiating instruction and maybe changing your management plan when needed. I had to really remember what to do when you have a lot of side-bar conversations. So, my 3 second plan in motion was to change my place, move around. It is kind of hard when you are presenting a subject, especially when introducing something new, but I moved to the middle of the classroom, and that actually improved things a lot. It was a funny day. My clicker did not like me; I had to think of plan B on the fly because my planned lesson finished earlier than necessary. I definitely felt like a teacher – thinking on my toes.

            So this is what I learned – just to go with the flow and reflect as you go. If something does not work and you are aware of it, think of what you can do differently. I had to learn from my own experience instead of my teacher this week, because I was doing all the teaching. Another thing is sometimes you have to give the students some space. One boy was just having an off day, struggling, but knowing him and knowing that he actually does his work, I talked to him and let him just relax. We were in the library doing research at that time. Trusting your students is another thing. You know just not being on their case all the time. We not there to baby-sit and I have to kind of try not to, especially with AP students. I gotta remember to give them time to independently work and take responsibility for their work.

            I think that is what I would also take away to my own teaching is giving students time for independent study. They are capable of that, of being the proprietors of their own education and I need to let them do that. So having some research and independent work day when I will have my own classroom would be very beneficial for my students.

            I guess a hard situation this week was just the side-bar stuff during the 5^th and the issues with the clicker. I was a little lost on how to minimize it. I do not mind a bit of it, but instead of answering the question so the whole class could hear, many students just told the person next to them. I had to fish the answers out of them. Overall, it was not so bad, I like their energy and not everything always goes on perfectly and different classes have different dynamics. All in all, I had a lot of fun teaching and figuring out that I can fit in to that role and be that personal teacher that cares about her students. Keep marching on!!!

Teaching, school parades, and skipping.. All in one!

This week I finally got to teach four lessons for my 11^th grade classes. I taught on the cumulative project, but still it was amazing. I really enjoyed going to work with them to the library and work with each student individually, trying to figure out what they want to do and how they want to accomplish it. Letting them be independent workers and know that they could broaden my view. I finally felt that I was fitting into my teacher role. The students asked me questions and came to me to get extra materials and that felt good. Even my cooperative teacher said I looked like I had fun and I did.

            Since it was mostly me teaching this week, I did not learn too many new skills, but what I did learn throughout the experience is the importance of being personable with students, building the relationship, and having a sense of humor through it all. That’s what I am trying and will implement in my future classroom, that relaxed and trusting environment for the students and myself of course.

            One thing that happened today that have broaden my view and it was also my other highlight was the school-led parade this morning. As I was standing by the wall, the students that participated were some of my students, who I just worked with on their assignments. I had no idea they were involved in those activities such as band or cheerleading or football. It showed more of their talents and made me not only be proud of them, because they have so much to offer to the world they are living in, but also just see them in a whole new way.

            The one perplexing situation that happened during my observation was on the day that the substitute teacher was where almost half of the students were skipping. It is not surprising, I think I did the same thing when I was in high school, but I guess I did not notice it of the bet. The students all needed to go to the library, so whole bunch of passes were wrote out. The next Monday, it finally hit me, because the girls that stayed in the classroom told my cooperative teacher that that is basically what happened on Friday and I did not even comprehend it until that moment. So yea, that’s my week!

Pick your battles!!!

This week my favorite moment was going to accelerated reader celebration for the students who have met their reading goal this year. They got a chance to see the author Michael Harmon and ask him questions. A lot of students seem really enthusiastic. The author had hard life growing up and he never graduated, so encouraging students to read to better their life and to achieve their goals, I think made a difference to them.

            The lesson that I have learned from my teacher this week was “to pick your battles”. You cannot get students for everything. You cannot reprimand them for everything. So, sometimes you gotta pick your battles, what is most important to you, what you will not tolerate. I feel like it is something I can use that in my teaching, because I do not want to be a classroom management Nazi, but I also do not want to be a push over.

            Now, there was a conflicting situation during the accelerated reader celebration. Some of the students few rows behind kept clapping very loudly, loudly to the point that is disruptive and made everyone’s ears hurt. They kept continually doing it and no one stopped them. The other students tried to tell them to stop, but it only made them do it more. For me, I did not know as a practicum teacher how to handle that, how much control to exhibit. The other teachers who were near by ignored it, but for me it was hard. So what would you do? What can you do?

Being part of the school, reading out-loud, and relationship with your students!

So, the best part of my week was meeting all the other teachers and people that work at my school in different departments. Basically I was building a social network, not intentionally and that was the best of it. Other teachers are very friendly in my school; they do not shy away from meeting even a lowly practicum teacher.  They treat you as if your presence there is just as important as they fellow coworkers. I, also, got an opportunity to be a chaperon for a prom, which is exciting for me. I never got a chance to go to my own prom, so this is kind of a way to experience that, but also get to be involved in a school life.

            This week what was memorable to me and that I would like to take away for my own teaching repertoire was reading out-loud to the students. It is not just reading out-loud, but my cooperative teacher did all the voices when reading and it was fun and the students loved it just as much. My cooperative teacher said that they tell him that is what they remembered and enjoyed about the class the most. I think it makes reading fun for the students. Not all of them associate reading with fun. A lot of students I know struggle with finding time to read and also motivation to do so; therefore, having time to read as a class helps solve some of that problem.

            A conflicting situation that did not really happened to me, but that I witnessed was that this student was walking in the hall and saying that he/she is not going to the 6^th period class. The student was saying how much he/she did not like that teacher and that the teacher was out to get him/her. I think that made me think about the importance of a good relationship with your students, because if the student feels that you are, as a teacher, do not treat him/her, then the student would not even want to be in your class. Then, learning does not happen. I just encouraged that student, saying that it is just one more period and that he/she can do it, and then he/she is free. It is better to go, but I also could understand his/her point of view.

Grading papers and other little situations

The best part of this week at my school was helping individual students to write their essays and do revision on them. I enjoy the most working close-up with students and interact with them, so that was exciting to do that. Also, oddly enough I enjoyed grading assignments. Maybe it is a sadistic part of me, but I finished and actually thought it was fun. I learned a lot from that experience. First, it is all the things you need to consider when you grading. How much point do I award for certain things and what seems fair. Especially when you are grading on completion, you have to kind of compare student papers. If I gave same amount of points to two people, did they work actually was similar or because I got kinder at the end on my grading or more strict in the beginning. I had to consider all those factors and sometimes go back, because I messed up. Through this, I also found beneficial to write comments next to their grade. I thought students should know why they missed so many points and also I think it’s important to encourage them to keep doing well.

One thing I would adopt from my teacher along with the grading that includes comments along with the grade is modeling the work that I expect them to do. I found it so helpful and refreshing to see a teacher explain how a student should for instance annotate a poem. You can’t expect to know what you want from them unless you show it, so I found that practice to be valuable.

Now, a situation that was a bit difficult was when you know you need to help a student, but they do not want your help. The teacher told me to help a student and also told the student that I am here to help. What I found really quick that she really did not want my help, but from what the teacher still need it. What I learned from this is that students sometime put on guard. It could be that they don’t like working with someone, but as my teacher said, sometimes it just makes them feel like they are not good enough. If you need help then it means you are stupid, but of course that is not true. Confidence is a big issue in a school like mine and I guess I’ll just have to find a way that will both help them and not undermine their feelings about their competence. It’s difficult. Any suggestions?

Self-Assessment in a Foreign Language Classroom

 

The article that I read focused on Self-Assessment and applying it to a Foreign Language Classroom, but I think it can be applied in any classroom with the right modification to fit your class and your teaching style. Through self-assessment students develop study skills and it also helps their motivation. Self-assessment also increases confidence in one’s own judgment. The students are very capable of self-evaluating themselves. “Research has found general correspondence between students’ ratings of themselves and teacher evaluation of these students” (858).

Learning a foreign language myself in a college classroom, I know that sometimes students themselves can see clearer how much they know compare to their peers, also, how well they know that material or comfortable with it. They might do well on a test, but in reality do not grasp the concept or vocabulary wholly. So, self-assessment can be an important tool to see if students need more time with the concept or more practice with vocabulary. Isn’t what assessment is all about, not just to give a student a grade, but to help them improve?

Now there is a huge focus on communicative competence when it comes to foreign language learning, so consequently, the rule of the teacher changes to a facilitator and a mentor, therefore, a new way to evaluate is also necessary. For the self-assessment to work, students need a clear guideline on how to grade themselves. They need a carefully designed rubric for each assignment, project, performance that students will use to evaluate themselves. It does feel like a lot of work, but you will not use self-assessment for every assignment.

 For instance, a good idea is to use self-assessment for in-class participation. My Spanish teacher did this and I found it to be useful. She had a rubric for participation and attendance, in which you decide how well you listened to others this week, how much you participated, and did you use Spanish the whole time or mostly English, and there is a ranging score for each part. So you can decide how low or high on a scale you truly were this week. Then she writes comments or adjusts the score if needed, mostly up rather than down. It was great to reflect on one’s self and it encouraged me to use Spanish more and participate in the class more often since I will grade myself. To wrap-up, self-assessment can be used poorly and well, so if you just using because you feel like you have to instead of figuring out a way to make it beneficial to the students’ learning, then it can be a waste of time. So, use it carefully!!!

The article was found on JSTOR.
Geeslin, Kimberly L., Student Self-Assessment in the Foreign Language Classroom: The Place of Authentic Assessment Instruments in the Spanish Language Classroom. Indiana University. 2003.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20062958 .

Meeting the new classroom!!!

Since this was my first week working with new class and new students, the highlight of my week was meeting the students and being surprised at how brilliant they all were. I am working in an AP English classroom and the students have exceeded my expectations if I had any. They are just a joy to my heart. I guess I warmed up to them.

            Anyway, there were few students who a few years ago barely spoke any English and now were an AP classroom and according to the teacher were doing very well and made huge leaps in their knowledge of the language and in class. Another boy was Autistic and he moved from a special classroom to a regular classroom to an AP course. Talking to him, I never would have known that; I thought he was just a little peculiar. It was interesting to talk to the students about the books, them showing interest in what we were reading. That boy goes I did not expect this book to be good, not that we discussed it more and I understood it more, I want to read more and more. That was a good feeling, connecting with the students. You just ask what they think about certain subjects or books and they open up in a way you never would have expected it. So that definitely made my week.

            So this kind of interactions made me think differently about capabilities of students. We sometimes do not expect as much, but I think we should, because the students can surprise us. I always wanted and definitely would adapt a way of teaching that lets students have a chance to talk about their thoughts on books and share their responses about what we are studying.

Also, one thing my cooperative teacher does is have a free come and go policy, meaning he does not write passes for the students, but if they need to use the restroom or get a book from the library, they have freedom to go and do that, just like in a college classroom. Of course they are seniors and juniors, but to my surprise they also did not abuse it. I think I might adapt that, be freer about those things. One thing to remember is of course set clear expectations and my teacher said I give you freedom, but if you are gone for 15 minutes, you know that consequences of that, so just remember that. And guess what? It works. They been so good about it, but then again the teacher had a whole year to work with them on it. It takes time. Lastly, there were not any perplexing situations this week; it was very smooth.

 

Music in a Spanish Classroom

 

So this quarter I did not have any field experience yet, because I started working with a new teacher and that starts tomorrow, but I will share a highlight of what happened to me last quarter during the observations. I was observing a Spanish classroom. What I liked about it was that the teacher used music to engage them in their learning. The teacher played music when they worked individually on a task as a way to make if a more relaxing atmosphere and also they knew that when the song or two would end, they would have to finish their task. He played songs in Spanish to incorporate cultural aspect to the class.

Moreover, what was the most interesting is that he had them memorize different chants to Spanish grammar to popular music beats. It was a way to take boring out of grammar study. They also learned songs for –AR verbs, which was fun. It was for Justin Timberlake’s Bring the Sexy Back, instead it was Bring the Conjugations Back. It is definitely be something I would use in my teaching. Youtube is a great resource for such things.

What made me think differently with that experience is that teaching grammar does not have to be boring, there are other approaches. I will definitely take away that lesson into my own teaching and use activities that stimulate the brain and the body. I mean with music, you memorize and remember things better and also it’s fun. It helps those kids that learn kinetically if you involve movement and by hearing.

A conflicting situation I experiences was that during one of the games we played, I did not address a situation where one student gave a card to another, which caused that person to win in that group. Of course it upset one person and I think if I listened better and addressed that right away instead of let it glide over, it would have been much better. Sometimes you don’t think about those things, but you gotta make sure you are fair, even when it requires more work.

 

Classroom Management for Successful Student Inquiry

                The article I focused on spoke of how to successfully manage student inquiry-based activities and also some benefits to using this kind of approach in the classroom. In the classroom where teacher focuses on inquiry-based activities, he/she becomes a participant and not a focus of student attention. This requires different kind of management in the classroom. First of all, students are very engaged in inquiry-based classroom and do not need any extrinsic motivation, they are motivated intrinsically by their desire to learn more about the subject they are studying.

            I want to teach that kind of classroom where students are fully engaged and I am not a holder of all information, because honestly speaking as a beginning teacher; I do not know much yet. I am still trying to figure out my way around, gaining my own knowledge of content, so, this kind of classroom is ideal and not just because of that, but because I wish the students to be engaged, to work together to learn new concepts and expand their thinking.

            Now, a few strategies to manage this kind of classroom are necessary. First, as a teacher you need to be prepared. It is more time consuming, but in the end there will be less supervision and the students will work together. Some of the concerns of course are to keep students on task. One way to do that is to keep reminding them what to work on, circulating the room, giving them suggestions on how to approach the task, and to be involved with them. The teacher needs to be a part of this, not just sitting comfortably at his/her desk. Prompting them and asking periodical questions on their progress, on what they discovered is essential.

            In the beginning, this kind of approach will require structure, then the structure decreases and student autonomy increases. If students are just dived into this without some prep and structure, they might get lost and thus they will get off task, because they are confused. A way to help them is to also stop the class during discussion and ask them to convene with other students on what they have. Ex: brainstorming in small cooperative groups. I think another point that was not mentioned in the article is accountability. There needs to be a way in which student will be accountable for what they do; they need to show some kind of product at the end or gaining of knowledge.

            One more important thing to remember is to modify activities to meet individual student needs, basically differentiate your instruction.

            Last note, in the article this approach to classroom management was meant for science classes, but I think it could work well in any other setting, such as English or Math, because in all classes there are problems that could be solved as a class.

The article can be found on JSTOR. "Classroom Management for Successful Student Inquiry" by William P. Baker, Michael Lang, and Anton E. Lawson. The Clearing House. May/June 2002.

TPA Lesson Plan Response

The TPA has a lot of very good functions. I think that it tries to hit all of the things we should consider when we are planning a lesson. The inclusion of Content Standards and Assessment are vital to a lesson that is focused and knows exactly where it is headed, how it will be measured, and what you are basing your lesson on. Any curriculum, even the strictest one has room for individuality and also for bad teaching. Therefore, the template helps a teacher to focus and to actually have some kind of backbone to the lesson, why is he/she teaching the curriculum a certain way and what standards are he/she hitting.

 

Another important aspect of the TPA is Lesson Rationale, without it again the question is why are you teaching and how you are teaching what you teaching. There has to be a reason behind actions and I think it is smart and beneficial to have that in the TPA. In addition, I think it is important to specify the time in the Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks and the estimation of time will help to keep the teacher on track and to realize how much something takes times.

 

Also, the inclusion of Student Voice is an essential piece. To me, it helps make sure that each student gets a voice in the classroom and has a chance to speak. It helps the lesson to be more than a lecture, but instead for it to have student engagement. They get to be part of their learning and to speak their concerns or show their understanding.

 

I also like the breakdown of each part of the TPA into sections that include questions to answer. It gives farther explanation on what each of the parts means. Without it, it is hard to understand what is necessary to meet each part of the TPA, what is required of the lesson. Those questions serve as a guide when creating the lesson plan. There are also a lot of them, so it is a bit difficult to include all, but it is a great starting point in planning. With experience, a teacher can see how to meet all these criterions and to answer all the questions within those criterions. Less work will be required.

 

Now some of the things I find tedious and a bit confusing still are the Differentiated Instruction piece and the Parent and Community Connections. Since, this is the first time I see the Parent and Community Connections part, it is confusing how to incorporate that in the lesson. Also I question what is important to include in Differentiated Instruction piece. A lot of students just put a reference to 504 plans or IEPs but no specifics. Sometimes it feels that it is hard to include everything a TPA asking for and it is a bit mundane and repetitive, but I also recognized this process is important, especially in the beginning stages of teaching.