Week 4 September 10-14, 2012

For the past few weeks in my PDS, my mentor teacher and I have been implementing her form of classroom management. I have found it is a lot different and sometimes harder to create a management plan when you are teaching in a grade that switches classes every period compared to a class (like an elementary grade) that stays in the same class the entire day. Luckily, I didn't have to think to much about some type of plan for my classes because my mentor teacher has already developed a really good one. She has all 5 periods of classes she teaches written on the chalk board with 5 blank spaces going out from each of the 5 periods. Her plan is that she will not ask a class to QUIET down. She will go over to the board and write a letter each time she feels like the class is out of control. At the end of each week, the class that has the fewest letters receives an award like an Opps Coupon, or first to lunch coupon. This is a great system because the students are still really young, just coming out of elementary school and they are still competitive and awards like the coupons work well for them. If a class gets the entire word QUIET spelled out, they eat lunch in our classroom.

This week I tried doing some partner/group work with the English class I have taken over. It worked really well! This particular class gets a long very well, even though they are awfully chatty! They still get quality work done, so as long as they are working cooperatively and not disturbing other groups, I don't mind if they talk. They worked with a partner to fill out a few sheet for their Chapter 1 grammar test, and they enjoyed it. I think this was a great way for the students to work together on something that can be kind of boring and tedious, so it was just something different for them.

This week I also got to sit in on a SAT meeting. It was very eye opening. It truly showed me how much the teachers and administration care of each and every student. They took their planning time to meet along with the student's parent. I was able to see all the documentation like SR's ABC's, grades, and papers done by the student that is needed to prove this student needs a SAT. The mother of the child really seemed to want to help her child, which seemed to make the meeting more peaceful and move smoothly. My mentor teacher cautioned me that sometimes parents become defendant of their child and look past the issues that may be there. I saw how the team of teachers came together and formed a special plan for the student in order to get them back on track with their grades and classwork.

The team of 6th grade teachers at my PDS have built a really great professional learning community. They come together everyday and discuss everything from announcements to issues in their classrooms. They offer each other advice and critiques, but in a way that is helpful. I hope that when I become a teacher I have a strong relationship with the other teachers around me. They have each other to fall back on when something isn't going well. I think the most important thing about being in teaching profession is to build that strong relationship with others and share advice and ideas with others. We shouldn't hide behind our classroom doors and not be open to suggestions of others. We should let other professional educators in and hear their advice, even if we do not agree with it.

Next week in the English class I currently teach, we are starting a novel study and I am really excited because literature is my favorite thing and the group of students I have do really great work!

Week 3 September 3-7

I have slowly started to take over more and more responsibility in my classroom. I am now fully in charge of my mentor teacher’s English class. I am so excited to teach these kids! Not only do I love English, but they are also a really great group of kids who work hard. I have also started teaching the skills group station in the Read 180 class. This class includes a full group lesson for 20 minutes, and then 3 rotations of computer, silent reading, and skills group each for 20 minutes. With this type of schedule, I teach the same lesson 3 times and I have noticed over the past few days of teaching this class that I become more confident and comfortable by the third rotation. This shows me how great it will be down the road when I am teaching the same thing year after year. I am able to reflect on how the lesson went in between rotations and hopefully change a few things before the next rotation.  However, I feel bad for the first group of students because I feel like I don’t provide them with a good enough lesson compared to the middle and last group. Is this the case? How can I change things throughout the lesson in order to benefit all students?

After one of my lessons this week, my mentor teacher discussed some things she noticed. She had a ton of good things to say but she also gave me some suggestions. I love getting feedback from my mentor teachers because they are the professionals and are helping me become a professional myself. She told me during some of the lessons I need to try to move quicker, specifically during skills group. She noticed this with the first rotation group and said the pace greatly increased as the groups rotated through, as I became more fluid with what I wanted to teach them.  She said that I ask a lot of questions, which can be a good thing, but she suggested I try to form some of my questions into commands. Instead of asking who would like to read a passage, I could say, “(student’s name) please read the passage.” I tried to use some of these suggestions the next day when I taught and she said she noticed a definite change and I seemed more confident. I can say that each day that goes by I am becoming more and more relaxed with my classes. I know I have an issue with moving quickly through lessons because I am so used to primary students and working at a day care over the summer, that I want to make sure each and every child is aware of what is going on, but sometimes you must move on in order to get through material. The students are old enough by now to know that they need to be paying attention and it is there responsibility to ask questions and get help if they need it. Timing of lessons and keeping them moving will be some thing I work on as the weeks progress.

Next week I am fully in charge of the English and Read 180 class! I have developed my lessons and am very excited to get started. With the Read 180 class, since it is a special program, I can’t really deviate from the material, but my mentor teacher told me I can switch things up as I come to them if I would like to! She is awesome about sharing her class with me and really encouraging me. She has really great ideas so most of the time I have been using her lessons and adding some of my own things. Next week I will also start taking over one of the math classes. We have one regular class and a collaborative class. The collaborative class makes me kind of nervous because I just want to be able to reach all the students. With the collaborative teacher’s help, I can move towards this goal. It is still sad to see students struggle so much. Each Friday my mentor teacher and the math collaborative teacher plan together. I really like this because they are able to talk about what they can do to help the students in their class. Today they decided to take the SPED teacher’s case load to a separate place in the classroom to help them complete a 5 minute check. They also took a few other students in order to mix it up and not make it so obvious that only certain students were getting pulled away. This really helped because they were able to go over the material even slower and it helped the other students in the class because they could move at a faster-pace as well. 

Week 2 August 27-31, 2012

This week has bee crazy! First, I started taking over some of my host teacher's classes. She asks me what I would be comfortable with teaching, shows me her ideas, and we go from there. I find this way less stressful! My teacher's lesson plans are simply a chart of the week with each class and what she plans on doing in those classes for each day. They are very clear and easy to follow, without being ridiculously long! I have started to teach math first. This was a good place to start because she teaches the same class 1st and 3rd period and has her planning period 2nd. This allows me to teach 1st period (or watch her teacher) and then model her teaching during 3rd period. I have also started taking some of the responsibility for her English class, which I have really enjoyed. I am specializing in English, and her class seems like they will do excellent work when I assign them projects I want them to do!

The 6th grade teachers at my school have TEAM planning 8th period. This is when all the 6th grade teachers come together and discuss issues in the classroom, upcoming events, and anything else that will make their days go smoother. I didn't see anything like this in my home PDS, which is a shame. During this time I have learned so much about the students and what problems teachers face. A lot of time they discuss certain students, how these students behave in each other's classes, and what needs to be done to fix the problem. They discuss IEPs, SATs, and setting up meetings with parents. There is a ton of professional collaboration and feedback. I have enjoyed being apart of these meetings because I really feel like part of the staff! I hope the school I teach at in the future has something like this because all the teachers are a "team" and work together to meet the needs of each student. The best thing is, these meetings are everyday, which allows everyone to know what is going on at all times.

To meet a requirement on my rubric, I attended the school's cross country meet on 8/30. Having run cross country at Suncrest it brought back a lot of memories. The kids were all really excited to see me there too, I think it meant a lot to them. I was also able to tell them how I run cross country and track for WVU, which they thought was really cool. I liked being able to show my students that we have something in common and that a passion you have in middle school can be something you do all your life! I think making connections and showing students their interests is also one of yours is very important in forming a good relationship with them! It was great to see such a large number of students participating in an activity that keeps you so healthy!

To end my crazy week, there was a sub in room Thursday and Friday. Although I was a little nervous, I had no choice but to suck it up and make sure the kids had a great day. It was excellent practice for when I take over full time teaching! The subs didn't do much, they sat at the computer which meant I taught the whole day full time! It was fun and exciting! The students really relied on me for problems and questions. They all know my name now! The day went by super fast as well. This experience taught me how organized you must be if you have to call in a sub. My mentor teacher left great notes and I had no problems at all following what she needed done. It made me feel like I can actually do this! Having taught full time for 2 days, I have learned how hectic a day can be when you are the only teacher in the room. Sometimes there are 10 students asking different questions, but I learned that you just need to take a deep breathe and remember that you are their role model, the one they are looking to for help, and to me, that is the greatest job in the world! I am starting to really feel prepared to teach my students everyday very soon. I also believe the unexpectedness of having a sub 2 days in a row was a great thing for me to work through. I am such a planner and like to know what I am doing days before it happens. However, I learned that being a teacher and especially a sub, you will not know what you are getting yourself into. This experience showed me that I can show up and do what needs done, even without planning! Something I was worried about and didn't want to have to do was give students SRs. I finally had to today, I felt bad, but the student knew he needed to fill it out.

There is one particular students who has done no work for any classes. I wonder why she is like this? What can I do as a student teacher to help her complete work?

EDUC 600 Picture of Education

This picture represents how I view Education. The blue piece of paper represents the word with a boy and girl in the middle. These are our students. The red and yellow paper have the words explorer, problem-solver, independent, respectful, and responsible. All of these words are things we need to teach our students that are not necessarily in the curriculum. Not only do we need to teach our students math, science, social studies, and English but, we also need to teach them to be successful in the real world and to become a part of society. If students are able to master all of these things, they are on their way to be life long learners in the world.

Week 1 August 20- 24, 2012

I just ended my first week at Suncrest Middle School and I have already learned so much!  The past two years I have been placed at a Suncrest Primary school, which only serves pre-k to 3rd grade. This semester I am doing an 8/8 week spilt beginning with 6th grade. I was so nervous coming into this week, I wasn't sure what to expect from older students. I soon learned that there really isn't to much difference between the younger students and older students, besides the curriculum! The 6th graders are new to Suncrest as well, so they are still getting used to the middle school routines and expectations, such as not leaving their books in the desks when they switch classes. 6th graders still need very clear instructions, meaning, you can not expect them to read your mind and know what you want from there. I found this very similar to the young students I have worked with. Clear instruction is important know what grade level you are working with!

I have enjoyed watching my mentor teacher this week and learning from her style of teaching. She is very positive in everything she does. If a student, for one reason or another, is struggling with something, does not understand directions etc., she always points out something good about what they are doing. This can be something as simple as raising their hand if they are known for blurting out. She certainly makes each student feel good about themselves.

For the next 8 weeks I will be teaching 2 math classes, a reteach class, English class, and Read 180 class. I am not excited about the English class! I am looking forward to having them create some unique products. I am also excited about the Read 180 class because I would like to become a reading specialist. We have already tested the kids to see what level of reading they are on, so I am already becoming familiar with the program. I am a little nervous about the math classes because I am not a math person, but my mentor teacher has assured me I will be fine!

As far as research goes, I have done a little bit of thinking about my wonderings, but it is hard to pick a topic when I have not even met the students I will be working (I am doing my research during the second 8 weeks!) I am definitely wanting to do something with English, reading or vocabulary. Perhaps something with literature circles? I plan on contacting my mentor teacher at Suncrest Primary and ask her for some advice.

Inquiry Celebration at my PDS

I won’t be able to attend the Inquiry Celebration this weekend, so I attended the staff meeting at my PDS where the interns presented their action research studies. I was glad I did this because I was able to see what I will be doing next year.

It made me excited to think of a topic to study, but it also made me see how hard it is to think of something so specific to implement. I believe that will be the hardest part about doing my Action Research next year. Analyzing the results and thinking of things to do in the classroom will be difficult, but in my opinion, not as difficult as first thinking of a research question. Luckily I have all summer to think about this. Next semester I will be spilt between my home PDS and a middle school, so I will also have to think about in what setting I will want to conduct my research. I am more familiar with the teachers at my home PDS so I’m thinking I will be more comfortable doing research there.

The interns did a really nice job. They created PowerPoints that had a bunch of important information, but were not bogged down and boring.  They all presented their results in table format, which is something I will probably do next year, this really gives a great visual representation of all the data. One of the interns did a pre and post assessment in which they gave the same test/activity before and after they implemented their study. I will make sure to do that next year as well because it really helps you see the affect your study had on the student’s learning.

It was really interesting to see what they did in their classroom. One girl looked at vocabulary lessons in her classroom and two other interns did theirs together and looked at number sense. I thought it was really cool how the two girls did their together. I wish there was going to be in inter at my school that was placed in the same grade as me so we could do ours together. Theirs was interesting because they were both in a kindergarten setting and were able to compare results from their activities in the two different classrooms.

Overall, I wish I would have been able to attend the Inquiry Celebration because I was not able to go last year either, but being able to watch the interns do their presentations in front of the whole staff at my PDS gave me confidence that I can do the same next year. I also know how I should create my presentation next year.

Characteristics 6 & 7 of the Novice Teacher

Characteristic 6: We believe that the novice teacher should have in-depth knowledge of content.

An artifact I can represent Characteristic 6 of the Novice Teacher with would be my Education 461 Literacy Workstations. I am specializing in English, so I believe my workstations show what I have learned from not only my literacy classes, but also the many English classes I have taken the past 4 years. My Literacy Workstations include many activities for the students to do that revolve around West Virginia Social Studies. Other subjects like math, science, and vocabulary are also integrated into the workstations. I believe this shows that I can take my content specialization area and connect it to many different subjects.

Characteristic 7: We believe that the novice teacher should effectively integrate content and pedagogy.

An artifact I can use to represent Characteristic 7 of the Novice Teacher would be my Education 440 (Science Methods) learning cycle on rocks and minerals. I believe this artifact represents characteristic 7 because my learning cycle uses the 5-E Teaching Model of engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation to teach the students about rocks and minerals. During my learning cycle, the students work in groups while in stations. I also utilized a lot of visual arts in order for students to express themselves and be creative. Since this is a science learning cycle, I believed the best way for students to learn the content was to have them be hands on and discover information for themselves rather than me telling them the information. I think science is a very hands on discovery subject and during my learning cycle the students get to experience that.