Actually Teaching

Actually Teaching

            Just wanted to drop a little post about actually teaching a class for the first time.  I taught two classes with Caroline in an inclusion Social Studies class.  It was a great experience and I think it went well. 

We both planned the classes together and we both thought them together.  We did each focus on one culture to teach, Japanese culture and Afghani culture, but when we went to the discussion part we just both facilitated the discussion and asked question of the students.  We taught an 11^th and a 12^th grade inclusion class.  Our cooperating teacher, Ms. Simas was a great help in the preparation for this class.  Her classes are very structures as her students like it that way.  They have a routine that works for them and we planned the classes according to that routine.  That plan was a great help, it kept us on track, it kept us on topic and it help us get back when something happened that wasn’t expected.  We did know there were going to be disruptions, as we observed her class before teaching but I think we did prepare for them.  Even though we planned for them, the part where we stumbled the most was correcting the student when they did disrupt the class or were not doing what was appropriate for class.   Even though we didn’t know the students, which I think why we were not as assertive, Ms. Simas stated it would have been fine to be assertive and make the correction as soon as possible.  That is something that I am going to take with me when I do have my own class.  I think it will be easier when it is my own class and I know the students, but it is something that I will make sure I do.  Make the correction that is needed as soon as possible and just be more assertive with the students.  The other think I really took from this class was get the students involved.  We had great discussions about the similarities and differences between the cultures.  The students were really involved with the discussions, answering the questions the posed and even talking to each other about how cultures really might be more similar than we first thought.  Al in all in was a great lesson.

Just wanted to post this to share my experience and want to say thanks for Caroline with the co-teaching.  It really was a great experience.

 

Teacher Walk

Teacher Walk

            Just a quick note on what we saw last class.  I really did learn a lot form going out on the walk

 with the other teachers to observe different classrooms.  Seeing how other teachers rate their peers

was eye-opening.  It was also eye-opening seeing how a rating system, the chart that the groups used

 that ranged from not seen to 4, was flawed even though it was designed by teachers and I am

assuming the administration.

            Going out and observing was nothing new for us as we have been doing this all semester. 

Going out with other teachers, observing different teachers and then essentially grading those

teachers we observed was different.  For the most part we observed a room for about ten to fifteen

minutes then went into the hallway and graded them on certain items.  The teacher I was with pointed

 out that the system can be flawed and I saw that first hand.  One question asked about relating to a

previous lesson.  The teachers I was with did not see anything and the teacher would have received a

low score.  However I did see and hear the teacher going over with a student, in a far area of the

room, a previous lesson on how to draw in a grid, this was an art class.  If I had not heard this teacher,

 who was doing an excellent job, she would not have done well at least on this part of the

observation.  This showed the frustration that some of teachers have.  They are doing the job, doing it

well, and it’s not just being seen.  I know there are teachers that are not doing the work the right way,

but the ones that are doing the work are still getting hurt by the process.  I also know that statistically

it should even out, that they will be seen doing the right thing, but the operative word is should. 

            In the debriefing with the entire group I saw just a small part of the politics involved in

teaching.  They want to get the information across but they don’t want to be seen as going against

 other teachers.  It puts them the teacher involved in this process in a hard place.  They seem to be

 caught in the middle.  It just brings to light, to me at least, that the politics of teaching is just another

aspect that I must think about along with everything else.  If this process is used correctly, as a way to

 improve teaching, and not seen as a way to “get” teachers I really think it could be a good tool.  Take

the politics out and make an assessment protocol that is not as flawed and I think this process can

really help facilitate change for the better.

406 Microteaching II

Please post about how I did on my Microteaching II.  Any and all suggestions and comments welcome.  Thank you in advance.

SED 460 Observation Assignment #4

SED 406:  Observation Assignment #4

 

In this observation assignment, your goal is to create an assessment for the lesson you observed. Please write a 10 minute quiz that will determine if students can meet the objective.

 

*Remember, it’s about 1 minute for multiple choice and matching, 3-5 minutes for problems and short essays.

 

**Yes, you can ‘double-dip’ one of the observations that you have already made.

 

1) What do you think the objective is?

 

I think the objective for the lesson I saw was that the student will be able to write a proficient constructive response essay analyzing a political cartoon about the immigration policies of the United States in the late 1890’s to the early 1910’s.

 

This is the cartoon that was shown.

 

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

 

The level for this objective is analysis.  The students have to look at the cartoon and analyze what the cartoon is trying to say about the policies of the US.

 

3) How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?

 

I would give another political cartoon of the same era

 

 

Ask the question:  Now look at this cartoon.  Is this cartoon the same as the first?  Why or why not?  Just a couple of sentences. 

 

If time I would give them another modern one.  Now look at this cartoon dealing with immigration today.  Is it the same?  Yes or No?  Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

As they are writing their responses I would be going around the room, reading as they are writing and asking them questions about their responses.  I want to sure that they get the idea that cartoon are drawn to represent different views from different parties and they can have a many different meanings.

407 Observations

407 Observations

 

            The What:

I observed four classes of an inclusion social studies class.  In all of the classes the teacher, Miss Simas, was on the same topic; how to write a constructive essay about immigration using the SEE (statement, evidence, explanation) graphic organizer.  The classes were freshman, sophomore and junior classes.  The one thing that I saw that was throughout all the observations in all the classes was that the teacher had an established plan and an established procedure that allowed her to handled any situation that came up and was still able to continue the lesson and teach the students.  She had a plan and a procedure for the unexpected and the unplanned. 

 The So What:

All of the classes are inclusion classes in which all of the students have an IEP that is either learning or behavior based.  The teacher stated that most were behavior based.  She has the same procedure for each class start a “do now” that is on the board when the students enter the room.  After it is completed and discussed she starts the CNN student news in which the students are to pick two of the stories from the report, write about them in their binder and then discuss them in class.  After this the class would then move on to the constructive essay about immigration lesson.  Miss Simas had the same established procedure for each of the classes.  She told me the students like it this way, they like the routine and that they do not like to have this routine disturbed.  Miss Simas along with the assistant that is in the class would go around helping the students with the exercise.  The students would work as a group to come up with the individual parts of the SEE graphic organizer and then with the help of Miss Simas and the assistant would make sure they had it copied to their graphic organizer.  After this was done she would then help the class as a whole come up with a constructive essay based on the individual parts of the graphic organizer.  This was then written on the board to allow the students to copy the whole fully constructed essay.  While observing this I noticed various students what would I call acting out, especially since I have never seen an inclusion class.  One kept getting up, one student pulled out his cell phone and one let out a scream.  Miss Simas, without missing a beat in the lesson, corrected all there behaviors quickly and then resumed the task that was her plan.  She has a routine that the students are to follow if the disruptions get out of hand, which one did.  The student that had pulled out the cell phone had to be corrected a second time, which consisted of saying a statement that the teacher has posted at the front of the room.  Again when this was done she moved right back into the lesson and helping all the students.  He then pulled out the phone again.  Miss Siams asked him to put it away and then he began to argue, while swearing.  I was getting concerned for I have not seen this kind of anger from a student before.  Miss Simas though stayed calm, tried to defuse the situation, but when she couldn’t she had the assistant call down for a “disciplinary expert.”  She then moved right back into the lesson as though this hadn’t even happened.  Moving from student to student helping where needed and keeping them on track.  When the person arrived he talked to the student but he eventually had to take the student from the room.  While this was going on Miss Simas continued the lesson, continued to develop the constructive essay with the students and basically just continued the class.  There were further small disturbances in the class, mainly getting out of a seat, some talking an occasional scream but all were handled smoothly with a plan in mind.  She kept to the routine that she had set up and kept to the plan that she has had since the start of the year.  The other classes were about the same, but with nothing as severe as the incident with the cell phone.  In one class a student is allowed to have a lizard from the science class come into the room.  He is even allowed to have the lizard out as it keeps him calm.  He even let me hold it as he went to the bathroom.  There was some disruption in this class with the lizard as another student was trying to hold it, but again Miss Simas stopped took care of the situations calmly and quickly, went back to the lesson and went back to helping the students. 

I really did like how she was able to move so smoothly from teaching a lesson, to class management, back to teaching again after the situation was resolved.  You can tell how she has had a routine and a plan from the start of the year to handle any type of situation, foreseen and unforeseen.  In this class she established the routines and plans at the start of the year.  She knew her students, knew what would work for them, told them the routine and procedures and followed them when something expected or unexpected happened.  I really thought it was done well, done calmly and in a way which the students would not seem persecuted, for the lack of a better term.

Finally, the What now:

For me, even though I am not going to concentrate on special education, I am still going to plan, plan thoroughly, establish that plan at the start of the year with all my classes which I will differentiate based on the students and what works in that class and establish a routine for that plan when a situation arises, even if it is unexpected.  These observations have showed me that only by thoroughly planning, even for the unexpected, can a classroom still function as a place to learn the subject matter.  I know that as a starting teacher there is going to be a lot of trial and error and a lot plans but as long as I continue to revise the plan, and more importantly, keep the students informed of the changes and get their input, I will be able to establish a classroom that is well managed and managed in a way that learning can be accomplished even in the face of unexpected happenings.  I think this will help be establish my identity as a teacher that has a plan for the class, the day the week and so on.  Not just a plan in getting the lesson done and the information to the students, but a plan, a routine, that will allow myself and the class as a whole continue through whatever may come.  It could be a cell phone, a lizard, a fire drill, a tech issue with a computer or any one of a thousand things, I will be prepared to deal with it, calmly, professionally and compassionately all because I will have a plan and a routine that is geared to my individual classes and students and one that is derived from myself and my students.   

406 Reflection on Promising Practices

406 Reflection on Promising Practices

 

            After attending the conference I realized many different things about education.  One of things that I will take away from this conference is the need to know your students so that you will be able teach them, so that you can change your way of teaching in order to reach the students.  Each class is different, each students is different and as a teacher you have to be able to adapt.
            The conference showed me that in order to teach in today’s classrooms a teacher really needs to know the students on a level beyond just a list of names on an attendance sheet.  Getting to know their interests, their likes, and what makes up their lives.  This is one way I will change my classroom.  I will ask the students what their interests are, what they like outside of school.  I will ask this in each class for, as I said before, each class is different.  Dr. Emdin stated, for example, a rap circle might work in an inner city school in LA, but it would not work in a rural school in the Ozarks.  You need to know your students, your class and your community.  By really knowing this you can really begin to teach the students on a level that they can be interested.  It will keep them more focused on the lesson at hand because you are teaching in a way that is geared toward the outside interest of the students.  Bringing this type of teaching into the classroom, in my opinion, will show the students that you care about them beyond that letter grade in a grade book.  You are showing the student that you asked the about their interests and that you actually listened when you integrated their interests into a lesson that they probably thought would be boring and would have nothing to do with their real lives.
            One way to do this is to integrate technology into the classroom as much as possible.  In one of the breakout session we were shown how to something as simple as Google Maps and Google Earth can be used in a classroom for a history lesson.  Everyone uses Google Maps and Google Earth so why not bring that into the classroom.  Kids that have smartphones can actually use them in class or classroom PCs can be used as part of a lesson.  The outbreak session showed how a lesson on D-Day using Google Earth can really bring to light what a soldier, close to the students ages, were doing on that day.  We can relate the images to the students and to let them imagine what theses 18, 19 and 20 year old kids were facing.  I plan on using technology, which is everywhere today, in the class so it can help relate and make relevant a lesson that the students, at first, might think has nothing to do with them.
            Getting to know your students, your school and your community beyond the surface is

something that I plan on doing after attending this conference.  It just makes sense to know this

information and then beyond knowing it, integrating it into the classroom learning so that it is

something that can relate to your students.  If you make it relevant to their lives, they will be more

interested which, I believe, will lead to actually learning.

SED 406 Observation #3

SED 406 Observation 3

 

            This observation was done in the same self-contained social studies class as the earlier observations, but this was a class of juniors.  The observation was for the purpose of observing classroom management.

            As the students entered the room the teacher was in the center of the desks.  They are arranged in a semi-circle with the classroom computer and projector at the center in the front of the semi-circle.  The students on the way in would take the “do now” sheets that were located on a desk near the door of the classroom.  She has an established routine for this as she later explained the students in this type of class like the routine.  There are no assigned seats but the students go right to the desk they have chosen where most of them read the “do now” that is on the board and start to fill out the “do now” sheets.  As this is taking place the teacher starts attendance for the students that have come in before the bell as rung.  As more students enter they automatically pick up the “do now” sheets find their seat and again most of them start working right away on them.  The teacher takes the last of the attendance after the bell has run.  All during this time she is watching the students and reminding the students that should be working on the “do now” sheets as they will be discussing them shortly.  While they are finishing the sheets the teacher goes to the computer and starts to set up for the CNN student news video.  She tells the students that they have two minutes to finish the “do now” as she finishes the technology set-up.  When the two minutes were up, the teacher begins to go over the “do-now” with the students.  The discussion goes smoothly until one student pulls out his cell phone.  The teacher stopped the lesson when she saw this and addresses the student directly with “what is the rule for cell phones in this class?”  He responds with the answer that goes along with the classroom rule that is posted in the front of the room.  He puts the phone away and the lesson continued until the bell rang for lunch, this was a split lunch period.  They students hand in the “do now” sheets and exit the room for lunch.  This all goes smoothly.  Again the teacher set up a routine.
            As they come back from lunch one new student joins as he was in guidance for the first part of the class.  The assistant in the room helps him get caught up as the teacher checks the attendance again and starts the CNN news.  She reminds them before the video starts that they have to pick two stories from the CNN news that they find interesting and why and that they will discuss after class and then they would move onto the writing exercise on immigration after the CNN discussion.  The teachers goes to the back of the semi-circle to make sure the students are watching and taking some notes.  At the end of the video the teacher gave the students some more time to write on two of the stories that they saw.  She asks a few of them what they wrote about and then has the students bring them up to the desk and then to go get their binders from the cabinet to go over the immigration lesson.  It looks like they have been doing this exercise for a couple of classes.  It gets a little hectic as some of the students do go right to the cabinet.  Some stop to talk to another student, some go back to their seat only to have to get up again.  It take a little longer than expected but the class gets settled down and they start the writing exercise.  At this point the student that brought out the cell phone did it again.  The teacher again reminded him of the rule but this time he started to argue back.  The teacher kept her voice normal and went through their first step of de-escalation while at the same time told her other students to keep working on the assigned work.  It still did not lesson the situation.  After the third step of de-escalation did not work she had the assistant call down to a discipline expert.  She continued to teach the class until the discipline expert came to the class to talk to the student.  He eventually had to be taken out of the class.  During this the other students stayed on their assigned work as the teacher handled the situation.  The rest of the class proceeded with no further interruptions.  The teacher walked around to check on their individual progress and giving praise.  Heard her say “great job”, “that’s a great opening” and saw more than one pat on the back.  With about five minutes left in the class she asked her students to finish the work they were on and to put the binders back in the cabinet, which went off smoothly.  When they were seated she went over what was going to happen in the next class and if there were any questions.  The bell than rang and the kids left the room in order.
            I think the classroom was managed very well.  Time was used effectively.  Even with the split lunch and the disruption caused by the incident with the cell phone the teacher was able to get her plan in and continue the lesson.  She has an established routine for this class that she started at the beginning of the year and the students know what to do even in the event of a disruption.  I think this just helps the students in their leaning.  She established a pattern and a set of behaviors that she expects, she told the students and you can tell they have been practiced.  The students, I think, felt comfortable even with the disruption and I saw that they were able to continue their work even as it was going on.  The teacher was very effective of keeping her students on task and was able to help them through the exercise.  All in all it was a very well run class which I believe will just make it easier for the students to learn.