Today was a tough day. I taught my first class - geometry - and I had to prove that a quadrilateral that has one set of parallel and congruent sides is a parallelogram. I could do the proof but I had to go slowly to double check that the angles were consistent and that the class shorthand for the theorems was correct. I felt like I should have had the students do more work at their desks, I should have walked around more and I should have rememebered closure. (I forgot closure because by the time the class was over, I was feeling a bit upset about my teaching skills.) So now for the students - most did not say anything, started at the teacher, texted on their phones (I really hate those cell phones) or were not paying attention. A few key students did participate and help with the theorem. WQhere can I get a class of those students?
Oh one more thing - can you tell the teachers that they should hide the complaining of school rules and pay and long hours and no appreciation until after the student teacher leaves the room? Hearing about how kids nowadays don't want to do any work and want everything handed to them can be very depressing. Just a thought. I am actually better off my myself in my classroom and only talking to other teachers when I want to better understand how they are teaching a certain chapter or section.
I have mentioned the negative attitude and behavior of some teachers. I'm sure there are some big time go-getters there as well! The trap is to provide unengaging instruction then blame the kids for not wanting to learn.
The prescription is provide short instructional units then provide immediate opportunities for independent work.
I have been long term subbing for three weeks. I will admit that during the first week I made a few rookie mistakes, nothing bad, just some of the don’ts we were told about. I catch myself and am more aware and do not repeat the error. Generally things are going well. I post objectives, homework assignments and the “do-now.” The do – now is great. It gets them settled in and allows me time to take attendance and misc stuff. It did take about a week or so before the students got into the routine, but they know to look for it and for the most part begin working on the task at the start of class. For me the biggest lesson is getting better organized.
I have four and a half classes; two geometry, two precalc and one calculus. I say one half because admittedly my calculus is too rusty to teach so another teacher does the actual instruction while I take care of the misc matters. When all of the students are present things go okay. But when one is absent from geo 1, another is absent for two days from geo 2, then two students from precalc go on a field trip, three others missed the quiz, another..... well you get the picture. My cooperating teacher has been great and the department head is very supportive. They are helping me and I am getting much better at keeping things straight. I knew that planning was very important but staying organized with all of the handouts, etc. ranks right up there as well.
I agree with Jim - organization is key to success. When I went into school today, I thought I was all set with reviewing the sections for the quiz tomorrow. I had copied the worksheets that we decided to use from the book, I also printed out the answer key and looked at it and I had my planner in front of me with the homework from yesterday as well as the homework for today. Well, as you can imagine, I really was not ready. What I should have done - and what I did during the quiz today in Pre-Calc - was write up a number of overview pages so both the students and I knew what was on the quiz. The overview sheets was for me to make sure that I got the theorems correct but the kids seemed to like it. My coordinating teacher is a stickler for being exact in her theorems, her abbreviations etc. I haven't had to write proofs since my freshman year in HS! This weekend - in preparation for next week's classes in Geometry - I sat down at did every question in the pre-test and the chapter test myself and checked my answers. I am also going to work on more overview sheets for the beginning of the chapter. Lastly, I need to study these theorems - and any others that come up from previous chapters.
I do have one question for everyone - how are you getting along with your classes? I have one class that just sits there and stares and does not answer my questions but will do the work. My cooperating teacher says that I am not confident enough with my answers and she thinks that the students are picking up on it.
My cooperating teacher did not want to do an intro like the bingo page so she just introduced me. I have been busy getting my class set up so I have not been very good about standing at the door and greeting the students when they walk in. Today, I did greet as many of the last class as I could - and I explained to them that I am trying hard to remember their names so I will answer their questions after I look up their names. This class seems to be a better class for me.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Do I re-introduce myself to each class?
So far I've been doing a lot of observing. I am set to start on Monday.
I am surprised to see so much time spent on Formal Proofs. I thought there was less emphasis placed on proofs in recent years? Similar to Ann, last time I had to do a proof was on the Geometry Regents exam.
One observation is that A LOT of time is spent on HW and reteaching that there is very little time for any new material. Very much like what is discussed in the Johnson books.
Today was the end of the marking period so it has been a mad rush all week by the students trying to make up all of the work (DO NOWs, HW, Quizzes, special projects) that they missed during the marking period. They all show up after school, frantically trying to boost their grades.
The first week of student teaching has been an exhausting experience. I knew going in that the lesson planning and the actual execution of the lessons in the classroom were going to be big challenges. But I whole heartedly agree with Jim and others that the efforts surrounding organization of all the activities to manage each course are a real eye-opener. Keeping track of students’ missed work (due to absences or other reasons to not being able to be at class), making such work readily available to them, dealing with three different classes of the same course where, of course, each class is progressing differently is really hard to manage. Re-teaching a lesson or objective and developing a second assessment for one class while the next moves on takes a huge amount of time and organization. This “managing of the course” is probably one aspect of teaching that I didn’t fully appreciate until confronted with it this week.
Another thing that struck me this week is the occasional defiant attitudes of some of the students, mainly the girls. The boys that are not interested find ways of getting into trouble in ways one might expect (moving around the room, talking, etc). I can deal with the boys and get them back on task. But some of the girls seem to actually take pride announcing they did not get any of the worksheet or homework right or that they “don’t understand any of it”. It seems almost as if they are saying “and there is no way you can teach this to me either”. And when I try to work with them to draw out more specific questions to help with or try to engage them individually to the side, the wall comes up like they are looking right past me. I really need to find the hook, the engaging exercises that will “thaw” these “ice queens” and get them maybe to smile and better yet even try and make an effort.
My co-operating teacher had a non-functioning smartboard in his room, since I had said I wanted to use it, he made sure that it was in working order when I started teaching. I have run the gamut with technology. My first day the smartboard worked for my first two classes and not my last. Today it didn't work at all for the first class, I used it as a projector for the second and during the third it worked perfectly. It certainly keeps me on my toes and I need to make sure I can change my instruction at a moments notice. My co-operating teacher started doing 'do nows' since he new this was a part of my instruction. I have been trying to do them with the senteos so the kids get instant feedback (as do I). I can also tell which question they had problems with and those are the ones I revisited.
I have been teaching three pre-algebra classes and I start my algebra class on Monday. We also have activities and ACT, as well as All Skills. The rotating schedule has taken some getting used to - I made myself a calendar, showing which day was which and posted it in the front of the room, I also made a schedule of starting and ending time of classes - and how long each class runs - this really helps me to keep track of my time.
I love the kids - they are mostly all great. I have one class which has 10 special ed kids (out of 24) - it causes me to think of how to handle things differently and that I cannot have the same expectations for every student. I have had some students come to me during All Skills for extra help - it is so refreshing.
There is a lot planning (and making of copies) but I have a rhythm down for my pre-algebra. I have been having a harder time with algebra - I think mainly because I know what to expect more from my other classes, but I have been assured that it it easier to plan than pre-algebra.
The first day I forgot to actually say the word closure - now I have it as my last slide of my smartnotebook file. The students know where the objective is located and are happy to reiterate it to me at the end of class.
We decorated the room last night - it was still empty from CMTs, my co-operating teacher tells me the room is mine as well so I picked out what I wanted to put up - I have my own desk and he has been very accommodating and very helpful. We had a town meeting and I was introduced to the entire school.
With one week down and three to go - I already know that I will miss these kids and my co-operating teacher when the time comes to leave.
I still can't understand why everyone seemed to be so down on middle school - I think it's great!
Hey Anne, What I did the first day I was teaching (Wednesday) I put together a 3 page powerpoint to formally introduce myself, it took no more than 5 minutes. Title Slide - About Ms. Raymond (the school uses Ms instead of Mrs, I kinda like it), it had some animation so the kids thought that was cool. Slide 2 - Where I went to school (includes HS because it's the same district), favotire baseball team, what I like to do (volleyball, read, MATH!!!). Slide 3 - Ms. Raymond's Golden Rules - Reglas (yes they are in Spanish as well, there are a number of ESOL and 1 ELL students). I think it helped. I also had them make name tents with colored pencils to help me remember, it's been very helpful. I can remember most of the boys names and about 1/2 of the girls, they are quieter and don't demand as much mental energy. Jen
Overall I'd have to say that the first week went pretty well. Every day is better than the last. I have 4 classes of 6th grade math, 2 are a bit more advanced than the other 2. There are about 10 LD students, 2 ESOL who are both very fluent, 1 ELL student who often uses other spanish speaking students or the para for translation, and 2 ED students. But only 1 has a true math disability, so the challenge for me is more with behavior and keeping all students on task than differentiation at this point.
I understood the theory behind scaffolding, but it wasn't until I got into the classroom and did it this week that it really comes together and makes sense. I've received good feedback from my cooperating teacher on building on prior day's work and invoking previous knowledge. With the 6th grade I've learned that I really need to scaffold each day and go back each day to the prior knowledge. And then I have to do a spiral review of all of the topics covered, especially after this weekend break.
After the first day teaching, I can really see the benefit of the timer. I knew pacing would be an issue and after the first period I was told to speed it up. I've learned that giving the kids all the time they need to finish is too much time. Keep them on task and working. I've gotten better but still run up against the end of class and I'm not really hitting closure in each class but am making a better effort to stay on time and have closure.
I have consistently put the "Daily Learning Objective" on the board and am having the students write it in their notebooks. Why, they ask, because how else are you going to know what your notes are about? Today when we finished the "Daily Math" (the do now) and we were moving into the lesson, about half of the student have already written the objective in their notebook. Structure & consistency works!!
With one particular girl who had announced to the class that she got "none of the work sheet" correct, I asked her to select one of the problems (multiplying mixed numbers) she would like to see explained (giving her some power of choice). Luckily she selected one that others had had an issue with as well. I then scaffolded the solution with her verbalizing the work. At the end she offered a minimal "oh" (with no joy in it at all). We followed up with another problem similar to that one with every one working on it individually on their paper. I walked around the room looking for the process. In her case, I needed to gently prod her to simplify the resulting expression, but she had at least gotten to that point (changing mixed to improper fractions, looking for simplification opportunities dividing by GCF for numerator and denominator before multiplying numerators and denominators). I praised her for her job. My satisfaction was seeing her essentially applying the process. I could not see any satisfaction on her part however. I guess you take what you can get.
I am reminded that life s not fair. For no reason I seem to have had the luck to be paired with a very intelligent, very organized, very successful teacher in a relatively new HS building. The school culture could be described as positive. Teachers are expected to collaborate. The atmosphere is uplifting. The three classes are made up of kids that generally have the ability to learn, though more than a few lack the motivation.
The HS uses block scheduling, so periods are 80 plus minutes. Classroom management has required almost no effort. Classroom structure prior to my arrival was well defined. The students expected a Problem of the Day. They knew homework would be audited.
I'll talk about the Algebra classes since this is where I have started.
After several days of observation I picked up working on 'factoring trinomials'. This seemingly small section of the book was allocated a full week of time. The reason is that this topic is one that involves 'guessing' not a strict formulaic approach to problem solving. This uncertainty presented the students with a new type of problem.
After three days of presenting the same lesson to two classes in succession I hope I have made the many basic teaching errors for the last time. I won't even say how many time I made arithmetic and algebraic errors on the board. The rate dropped dramatically when I went from doing half the work with a student to letting the student do 100% of the work. I simply transcribe.
We've done almost every problem on the board with student participation. In some respects this lesson is a giant 'drill'. Factoring is something that takes repetition. It's been good to hear many say things are getting easier. The real assessment will be the quiz on Monday.
I find that I'm spending more time creating problems than I had expected. These are mostly for in class use, but also for homework. I've used almost no complex technology. There is a LCD projector that presents an image of a computer screen for all to see. I've used this to display problems and answers.
I had great insight into how to present a topic. My initial proposals often miss some of the deconstruction that Randy has always been stressing. With more practice I hope I start seeing things better from the eyes of the student.
Not to go on forever, I'll finish with the Algebra class by saying that it's hard to over estimate teh value of working with such a skilled teacher with such great programs. I feel in some respects like I'm cheating in that I copy so much of what she says.
A few notes on the Pre Calculus class. I've only been observing. They are doing Trig. Unit Circle. Next week is Trig Applications. I really want to jump in. I think there is an opportunity to explore my premise that kids learn 'to do' without enough on the 'why do we do it'. Next week is typically very challenging for these rather bright kids. I have some ideas. For example, does anyone recall ever hearing about the THE RHIND MATHEMATICAL PAPYRUS? I'm making a proposal to my cooperating teacher on how I'd like to cover the material.
By the way I got to see how school safety procedures work. Smoke in a workshop brings in lots of fire apparatus and can be quite chilly standing outside. Life star landing in the parking lot can require a school 'lock in'. Not for outside threats, just to maintain clear hallways and provide privacy to the injured.
This was an interesting week and my comments are the same as Bruce's. There was a considerable time spent on Do Now's (the Assured Experiences that all Bridgeport students should be familiar with) and HW. In fact, I attempted to follow my cooperating teachers lead in teaching and did not cover the objective set. Though my cooperating teacher has a great handle on her class, it wasn't in the format of our methods suggestions and so I'll be attempting to get the AE to be homework so that I can stage a do now that operates more of an initiation into the lesson and I'll also institute the HW review tools we learnt. Additionally, it is pretty clear to me that I need hands-on-activity to stear away from talking to much. I found myself questioning but afraid of the silence that followed.The one to one interaction was successful but it was clear that structure is the key to engage all at once. I also discovered that since the abilities vary widely, scaffolded and differentiated work needs to bring the students to their points of success. So I have an uphill battle this weekend. One interesting display of the theory in our mehtods class was that of classmates urging a disruptive student to conforming to acceptable behavior. This student was an intelligent but antisocial one who had an IEP in another state before moving to Bridgeport. He doesn't have one now but the classmanagement techniques worked! Oh another thing, the idea that one must have a back up plan at all times was evident this week. My cooperating teacher has a smartboard which she used exclusively and wouldn't you know it.. the thing gave up the ghost on Friday during my session. The bulb blew and what I learnt was that the teacher may end up having to buy that bulb herself if it means that much to her as the school will buy the technology but don't quite get around to maintaining and upgrading. Anyway, I say this as a reminder that we need to have alternative plans. Interesting week but I must admit I'm planing for a better week.
Wow. I was so exhausted after the first week. I am moving from room to room and up and down floors between each class. While I try to remain organized, some times I am not as organized as I thought. For example, I have asked for homework to be out and they remind me I didn't assign homework to them yesterday. Trying to keep track of the times for each class is also a challenge - 40 minutes goes by very quickly. Next week I am going to use a timer - 5 minutes for do now, then set it for 30 minutes so I can do closure. This week, my cooperating teacher had them doing a problem of the day related to CMT material. Next week I will switch that to a "do now" type of problem that is related to the content of the day. I agree with Jen about pacing and giving the students time to finish up. I need to cut them off after a certain amount of time otherwise some students are sitting around looking to make mischief. I also agree with Anne about jaded teachers. It is really depressing to sit in a team staff meeting everyday and hear about awful students. That said, I have truly gained an appreciation for the issues facing some of these students - horrible home life, learning issues, and using poor behavior as a mask for not understanding the material. I have several girls who can be defiant. I try to speak to them quietly as I move around the room and offer suggestions or questions for their next steps and so far it has worked. In study hall, I have found having one girl work on the board rather than in her seat has focused her energy somewhat. Study hall is an altogether different animal. I have worked with multiple students on math work during the period but haven't had to run the whole period alone yet.
Jim, You commented "I knew that planning was very important but staying organized with all of the handouts, etc. ranks right up there as well." and I fully agree. My cooperating teacher uses a weekly plan that summarizes what the daily homework, the strategies, the objectives and the do now for the week are and so at the end of the day she has everything all resources needed and displays updated for following day ready and waiting. Consequently, I've learnt that its not enough to grab the papers to be marked and run home to modify. There are things to be done on location. Printouts, paperwork you need to have in place before you start a new day. I believe this will come natural as one gets more experience.
I am having a challenge of trying to fit the way I want to teach into my teacher’s process. Her classroom structure do now (is not based on the work for the day) It is on one page and they do some problems each day and those problems are used for the quiz at the end of the week. Then it is proceeded with guided practice with the teacher reviewing problems from the book and then independent problems from the book. My first day, I was doing a lesson on scatterplots. I created a do now with some easy problems to check for PK. My teacher assured me that they knew how to do all of the problems (since they were the high algebra class). I collected the do no to review (just to get a gauge) and many students got the point slope question wrong. The teacher was surprised and the next day, she wanted to review it with the students who got it wrong and pulled them to the side. I also did an activity for the students to plot points with an activity. I had the students drop a ping pong ball and count how many times they got it in a cup. I thought that it would be a good activity to get them up. Wrong. It took a long time to get them back and settled in their seat cutting the lesson short. I am asking them to write the definitions down as we go through the lesson but none of the students have notebooks and it is not in their routine. The challenge would be for them to get notebooks for one month and then the teacher would not use them The second day I followed up with the facebook data that Randy had shared with us. The kids got excited but I had a major disaster. Preparation and Organization are key as we have learned. I was copying so many things that I forgot to copy the key page for them to work on. I had all these piles and I was searching through my piles and then the only thing I could do was hand out a blank graph paper to give them to use, Unfortunately it did not have the scale so I had to have them put the scale on it. I need to have a better system to use and I must figure out a way to function with the teacher desk that is covered with papers and piles. I only taught one class this week and next week will be even more of a challenge. I felt horrible after that class. I am struggling to figure out a way to help engage the students. On Friday, it is quiz day. At the beginning of each class, we reviewed similar problems that were going to be on the test. Many kids did not even work on them. After I looked at the tests, many students got the exact answers wrong that we had just reviewed before the lesson. The other thing is speed. I talked about assessment with my teacher and the concept of pop quizzes during the lesson. She was not opposed but she said that she quizzes every week to review the previous weeks work. The tests don’t look to good. I feel that the teacher is whizzing through the lessons(boring) but the students don’t really get the concepts. I am young and naïve and she has been doing this for 33 yrs. She has her system down. I asked about having kids redo problems on the test. She does not allow this as it takes too long with 118 kids. There are many behavioral issues and it disrupts the class. I feel frustrated when this happens and it goes on throughout the entire period. Can I make an impact in 3 weeks? I am trying to come up with fun and engaging things for the students to do. I am jealous that so many of you are having such a great experience but the behavioral issues are quite the problem where I am. I feel that I can spend a day writing reflections on what my first week’s experience has been. I am going to focus on a few small things that I can focus for each class: somehow integrating my teacher’s warm up with my Do now, assess during the lesson, and closure I am also having the students write down their answers and use the name cards to call on the students to ensure that they are all doing the work. I also checked with the teacher to ensure that I was not calling on anyone that has special needs. This seemed to help.
Let the show begin. Well this is what I got from my first week. We are individual performers acting in one-person shows. The audiences are a very critical group of young students. In my show they are sixth and eighth graders. We, as teachers, have to perform at our best and be prepared for every show. We have five and sometimes six shows a day. If the audience is not pleased they will interrupt and try to take over the show. Our shows are very complex. Although they are only in one subject area, still we have to come up with all kinds of skills and different types of presentations to give. The only way I can explain the complexity of our shows is by giving an example from other shows. No other show in our world is open five days a week for six hours a day. No other one-person show is specialized in all kinds of genres that combine: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Disaster ,Documentary, Drama, Epic, Family, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Sport, Thriller and let’s not forget the Circus!
Okay, I believe all of you can connect with that. My first week was great and I love the middle school age and environment. I believe they are funnier than high school kids in some ways. I think most of our presenters must have had bad experiences with this age group. I would say if they cannot connect with middle school kids, it is not necessarily that they are harder than high school kids. It is very hard to step in to someone else “Show”. Like Randy said, it is April, and we cannot change much. It is hard if not impossible to apply all of what we learned in such a short time, but I can definitely see how I will apply ALL of it when I start my own show.
I got to play the bingo game with just one class and did a full PPT with another class. Next week when I add more classes, I plan and hope that my teacher will let me just talk my one page and have them fill out my index cards with favorite things and the tent cards which I am using in the one class that I have taught last week. The name cards are helpfula and so are the index cards that I can refer to and chat with the students about their favorite things. I hope that I can do this next week.
Hi Everyone, From reading every ones posts sounds like we all got very lucky when it comes to the co-operating teachers. My teachers ( yes, I have 2, 7th grade and 8th grade) also told me that the room is mine and I am free to do whatever I think would work best. I spent 3 hours last Friday (3/25) changing the seating arrangements and reorganizing the classroom because I knew that I will be teaching starting Monday and I wanted to start the new routines from day one. I was very impressed how well the kids responded to changes. (Well, almost). I got class lists ahead of time and made name tents, color-coded for each class and I would place them on kid’s desks before every class. They would come to class, get their Do Now and find their seat. I thought it was great until Wednesday when one boy came to me and said,” Do you know how it feels not knowing where you are going to sit every day?” WOW! It was amazing! Of course I knew, this boy felt the same way we did every methods class when we did random presentation of our microteaches. I fixed that and the kids still have name tents and love them but they sit in the same seats every day. That’s my little piece on routines and organization… There is so much that I am keeping a notebook just for notes, teachers’ comments, kids comments and my reflections from every day. Now about teaching… I have been teaching 3 7th grade classes since Monday, had my first observation on Thursday and I am starting to teach 8th grade on Monday. That is full schedule, 5 classes, 1 prep and 1 team meeting every day. I love it but I am now truly realizing how busy that is and the only way to manage this is to be very organized. Both classrooms that I teach in have smartbords and I have been preparing lessons on smartboard notebook every day. It is very convenient when I teach and allows me a lot more creativity, also keeps me more organized but it takes a lot of time to prepare and I am realizing this as I go. The great advantage is that in a very little time I can change the lesson, add, skip, whatever it takes, (divide and conquer…) . I love the Do Nows! (I collect them every day and use it as feedback for me how the kids are doing, especially that I was put in the middle of a chapter and I need to know what they know and what I still need to cover or reteach). One day on the Do Now I had a simple problem involving a unit rate a realized that kids still needed help with that. Next day we had a 10 min partner activity with 10 different cans of chicken noodle soup and it was great. I had one student not follow the specific directions which worked out perfect because that gave me the opportunity to introduce the idea that there could be two different unit rates. And that happened during my observation… I have to say that my biggest problem is time!!! My first 2 days I probably went very slow which is not good because I will lose the bright kids but I am learning, it also helps getting to know the kids and be more and more comfortable with the smartboard. Is it only my feeling that the time is flying? I have a student in every class who reminds me every day that we have 5 min left to the end of class and it helps. One other thing that I still don’t have a routine is HW, I check it every day and I had a 90-95% completion but I don’t go over it every day, I don’t know? Any advice???
I plan to use Dr. E's prescription of short instructional units followed by immediate opportunities for independent work, but am not sure of the best way to implement this strategy in an old school 5 by 6 seating arrangement. If I give a worksheet for independent practice how can I efficiently walk around to all 26 students to gauge if they are doing it right or need help? I don't think this work and that excessive talking will ensue.
Currently, the procedure is to review everything as a group, but there are probably only 5 or so students who participate, the rest just sit there. One student was actually fast asleep. Changing the seating arrangement is unfortunately not an option.
Barbara - Regarding homework. In the 9th grade my teacher doesn't collect homework. It's checked every day. You get 2 pts if you try all. Zero for anything less. Every day we go over the homework. We show the answers overhead, kids are asked to check work, an dask if there are any problems the kids want to see done.
At the end of my first week in school, I want to say that I would like to ban all cell phones in my classroom. I feel like the cell phone police! In one week's time, I have heard either myself or the cooperating teacher tell at least two people in each class to put away their cell phones.
I also find that the seniors spend more time arguing with you about grades and asking why they need to learn the math that we are curently working on. I even get that from the 9th graders taking geometry. I am finding that the school I am in has students very concerned about their GPA. The students will actually drop an honors class if they do not like their grade. I found out recently that the classes are all weighed the same. This year, the valedictorian of the class of 2011 has not taken even one honors or AP course while other students have taken these courses and are right behind this person w/r/t GPA. I find this very discouraging. I have one student in my geometry class that dropped into my class from honors because she did not like that she was getting a B. Now she sits in this middle geometry class rolling her eyes, not doing her homework, not doing her classwork and just exuding attitude. So what do I do with her? Do I give her harder problems in class? Will she do the harder problems? She really should be in the honors geometry course and someone - the guidance councellor or the honors math teacher or someone should not have let her drop the class (the honors course already covered the material we are currently going over).
So: 1. How do you motivate someone like this girl who should be in honors and is now in the lower level class because she was getting a B in honors and wants an A? 2. How do you answer the question of "when will I ever need to know this when I am out of high school?" 3. How do you get the students to stop using their cell phones in class? The cooperating teacher has a rule - if she catches you with your phone, it gets confiscated until the end of the class. For tests and quizes, all phones are placed at the front of the room. If you do not put your phone at the front of the room and your phone rings or if you are caught holding your phone in your hand, you get a zero on the test or quiz. Is this really enough? I don't see it working. I want to talk to the cooperating teacher about jail. I don't know the school policy for phones in school but I would love to put them all in jail until the end of class.
My teacher gives homework every other night and reviews it on Friday when she gives her quizes. Friday she does homework review, review for the quiz and then the students take the test.
At least in middle school, cell phones are not a problem. I have many kids who just sit and do nothing as well. Since I was observing, I was walking around the class prodding kids to do the work. I walked up to a girl and she said that she was dumb and that is why she didn't do any work. I tried to talk with her about it and the teacher says that she was just trying to get my sympathy?? Almost every one of my classes has aids that come in a help out the students. I also have a colab class with almost all special needs kids. They have a pre-algebra plan that is simplified.
Hi Anne, I don’t have the cell phone problem at the school where I am student teaching but I can share with you what we do at the HS where I work. If the student get caught using a cell phone in class we take their phone and bring it to the office until the end of the day. This student needs to see the principal at the end of the day to get their phone back. It works for our school because all the teachers are on board with this rule and kids really don’t want to give up their phones for a day. Hope this helps, don’t be discouraged! I am starting a Probability chapter in grade 8th and surface area and volume of tree-dimensional figures in grade 7. Dave , thanks for the tip on HW, I still feel like I have to address it at some point but having the answers posted on smartboard is a good idea and maybe just address the once that they have questions on? Have to work on that… Best of Luck for next week everyone!
Do Nows - each year we have co-op teachers who dig the Do Now that they start incorporating it themselves. You guys seem to be taking to it much more readily than some other cohorts.
Homework - 20 minutes on homework!?!?! We discussed this. I haven't seen a lot analysis or evaluation on this, just some narrative. What do you guys think?!
It's funny how the challenges I expected to face were no problem at all, but I uncovered new challenges that I will need to overcome. My main concern coming into student teaching was my ability to create a solid lesson plan that included a detailed task analysis and scaffolding and that met my stated objectives. To my surprise, and my cooperating teacher concurred, that my lesson plans themselves are good. My biggest problem is keeping the class moving at a pace so that students who completed guided practice were not waiting around for students who are struggling. I had a bunch of bored students sitting in front of me as they awaited their classmates to finish up work. The Math chair gave me some great advice when I talk to her about this challenge. She suggested I gives three or four guided practice problems that are similar to one another, and only expects that half of the students will finish all of them in an allotted time.. If the other half only finish one, that's okay because at least they got some practice in.
Like others who posted comments, I too am struggling to multitask – checking homework, taking attendance, addressing individual needs... I keep hearing it will get easier in time, but right now I feel completely spastic.
Anne poses an important question that you guys will address at some point after student teaching, most likely. Why do students need to know this? Related to this is motivation in general - the other thread for this week.
My thoughts on the why question.
I think therefore I am. Humans think. That's the essence of who were are.
Our mind helps us make sense of the world around us. Education broadens our ability to understand the world. Why does Lebron James lift weights if he's not going to run out on the court and lift weights? He's developing his body just as we develop our minds.
We never know what we'll encounter in the future. 20 years after I took high school physics I had to pay thousands of dollars to rewire an old house. Amps, voltage and other electrical terms that were covered in high school were discussed.
We interact with other people in areas that we have in common. If we meet a stranger, we talk about the weather. At work we talk about work. Our friends have a lot in common with us. Why is a joke funny? Because it makes sense to us, we have knowledge to understand it.
Finally, show the students who don't are about honors courses a UConn admissions application (or most others). They want to know the level of courses students are taking.
I have a problem. I am obsessed. I am living every waking moment (and too many of them) trying to determine what I need to do to be as effective as I can be. I need to pace myself or me and my family will cease to function.
Liz, I have observed that my teacher does what your chair has suggested. She has a few guided problems and moves through them quickly but most of the kids will get through almost all,but not everyone. Then she has independent problems for the kids where she walks around and helps them out so that the pace of the class and learning works out. It seems like such an easy flow.
To all the Do Nows - I have been doing them using the senteos showing the results on the smartboard and then I will go over the one or two problems that most of the class had issues with.
When I decorated my classroom, I looked through all the available items my co-operating teacher had. I chose something important to me 'Save the Planet' for the border on my areas. I have started word problems and found a poster involving the steps of word problems. After I finish up the section I am currently teaching I will be going into patterns - so I put up posters about that as well.
Ofer - I never thought of it that way - but I think it is exactly right! That's why the third class of the day is better because I have already rehearsed it twice!
Nadeen - the beauty of older children - I just say I have 5 hours of work to do tonight - you can talk to me now for a little bit and then please leave me alone. Everyday I come home from school they ask how my day was - they know how important it is to me. They know it is only for a short time right now and they are so understanding.
For the first time I'll have three classes for about 80 minutes each. The Pre-Calculus class will be my first time with them. The topic is problem solving using Trig. I'm advised the topic is one they don't pick up on immediately.
I've asked my cooperating teacher to let me approach the lesson very differently from the way she would. She's skeptical, so we've agreed that my backup plan is to be ready to teach this lesson her way. The primary objective is still the kids need to learn the lesson.
My approach will be to work the problem backwards. I plan to ask students to create their own trig word problems, share them wit the class, critique them, and as a last step solve the problem. I also hope to mix this with 'real' problems from the book. The question is 'How good will these student generated problems be?", Will the students learn the lesson not by solving the problems, but by creating problems?
I'm hoping for a dynamic that engages these kids o compete for the most challenging problems. And yes, this is a great class. Not honors, but well disciplined, enthusiastic, and generally quite intelligent.
I had an interesting week. My ½ calculus class was traded away and now I have a statistics class. So I have five classes, which makes for a very full day. Like Nadeen, I seem be to obsessed with trying to make things perfect and sometimes try to cram too much info into a single lesson. So I have backed down a bit form the amount of info I will try to cover. I guess you learn from your experiences. Most of the classes have been going well but I have had a couple of clunkers. When I think about the clunkers afterwards it seems there is a common thread. Preparation is a vital key.
I had a functions lesson in which I was anticipating that students might have difficulty fully grasping. As a result I spent a lot of time trying to scaffold and chunk the information for them. My geometry classes had an upcoming quiz so I thought their day was going to be review work, and I guessed that their lesson did not need much prep, just respond to their questions. Well those were difficult periods. As a result of not being fully prepared for geometry I stuttered and stammered and they were not happy and I was becoming frustrated as well. When looking back at the most productive lessons and comparing them to the less productive lessons it is obvious that that my preparation was the common thread.
Lesson learned. Do your preparation and homework before entering the classroom, you will feel more confident and the students will sense it. The more preparation I gave to lesson planning, the better it flowed.
I create a leave a response each time I especially enjoy a article on a website or I have something to contribute to the discussion. Usually it is a result of the fire displayed in the post I read. And on this post "First Week of Student Teaching".
I was moved enough to drop a commenta response :-) I actually do have some questions for you if it's allright. Could it be just me or does it appear like some of these comments look as if they are left by brain dead people? :-P And, if you are writing on additional sites, I would like to keep up with you. Could you list the complete urls of your social pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
Today was a tough day. I taught my first class - geometry - and I had to prove that a quadrilateral that has one set of parallel and congruent sides is a parallelogram. I could do the proof but I had to go slowly to double check that the angles were consistent and that the class shorthand for the theorems was correct. I felt like I should have had the students do more work at their desks, I should have walked around more and I should have rememebered closure. (I forgot closure because by the time the class was over, I was feeling a bit upset about my teaching skills.) So now for the students - most did not say anything, started at the teacher, texted on their phones (I really hate those cell phones) or were not paying attention. A few key students did participate and help with the theorem. WQhere can I get a class of those students?
ReplyDeleteOh one more thing - can you tell the teachers that they should hide the complaining of school rules and pay and long hours and no appreciation until after the student teacher leaves the room? Hearing about how kids nowadays don't want to do any work and want everything handed to them can be very depressing. Just a thought. I am actually better off my myself in my classroom and only talking to other teachers when I want to better understand how they are teaching a certain chapter or section.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
I have mentioned the negative attitude and behavior of some teachers. I'm sure there are some big time go-getters there as well! The trap is to provide unengaging instruction then blame the kids for not wanting to learn.
ReplyDeleteThe prescription is provide short instructional units then provide immediate opportunities for independent work.
It is a roller coaster.
I have been long term subbing for three weeks. I will admit that during the first week I made a few rookie mistakes, nothing bad, just some of the don’ts we were told about. I catch myself and am more aware and do not repeat the error. Generally things are going well. I post objectives, homework assignments and the “do-now.” The do – now is great. It gets them settled in and allows me time to take attendance and misc stuff. It did take about a week or so before the students got into the routine, but they know to look for it and for the most part begin working on the task at the start of class. For me the biggest lesson is getting better organized.
ReplyDeleteI have four and a half classes; two geometry, two precalc and one calculus. I say one half because admittedly my calculus is too rusty to teach so another teacher does the actual instruction while I take care of the misc matters. When all of the students are present things go okay. But when one is absent from geo 1, another is absent for two days from geo 2, then two students from precalc go on a field trip, three others missed the quiz, another..... well you get the picture. My cooperating teacher has been great and the department head is very supportive. They are helping me and I am getting much better at keeping things straight. I knew that planning was very important but staying organized with all of the handouts, etc. ranks right up there as well.
I hope all of you are doing well.
Jim
I agree with Jim - organization is key to success. When I went into school today, I thought I was all set with reviewing the sections for the quiz tomorrow. I had copied the worksheets that we decided to use from the book, I also printed out the answer key and looked at it and I had my planner in front of me with the homework from yesterday as well as the homework for today. Well, as you can imagine, I really was not ready. What I should have done - and what I did during the quiz today in Pre-Calc - was write up a number of overview pages so both the students and I knew what was on the quiz. The overview sheets was for me to make sure that I got the theorems correct but the kids seemed to like it. My coordinating teacher is a stickler for being exact in her theorems, her abbreviations etc. I haven't had to write proofs since my freshman year in HS!
ReplyDeleteThis weekend - in preparation for next week's classes in Geometry - I sat down at did every question in the pre-test and the chapter test myself and checked my answers. I am also going to work on more overview sheets for the beginning of the chapter. Lastly, I need to study these theorems - and any others that come up from previous chapters.
I do have one question for everyone - how are you getting along with your classes? I have one class that just sits there and stares and does not answer my questions but will do the work. My cooperating teacher says that I am not confident enough with my answers and she thinks that the students are picking up on it.
ReplyDeleteMy cooperating teacher did not want to do an intro like the bingo page so she just introduced me. I have been busy getting my class set up so I have not been very good about standing at the door and greeting the students when they walk in. Today, I did greet as many of the last class as I could - and I explained to them that I am trying hard to remember their names so I will answer their questions after I look up their names. This class seems to be a better class for me.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Do I re-introduce myself to each class?
So far I've been doing a lot of observing. I am set to start on Monday.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised to see so much time spent on Formal Proofs. I thought there was less emphasis placed on proofs in recent years? Similar to Ann, last time I had to do a proof was on the Geometry Regents exam.
One observation is that A LOT of time is spent on HW and reteaching that there is very little time for any new material. Very much like what is discussed in the Johnson books.
Today was the end of the marking period so it has been a mad rush all week by the students trying to make up all of the work (DO NOWs, HW, Quizzes, special projects) that they missed during the marking period. They all show up after school, frantically trying to boost their grades.
The first week of student teaching has been an exhausting experience. I knew going in that the lesson planning and the actual execution of the lessons in the classroom were going to be big challenges. But I whole heartedly agree with Jim and others that the efforts surrounding organization of all the activities to manage each course are a real eye-opener. Keeping track of students’ missed work (due to absences or other reasons to not being able to be at class), making such work readily available to them, dealing with three different classes of the same course where, of course, each class is progressing differently is really hard to manage. Re-teaching a lesson or objective and developing a second assessment for one class while the next moves on takes a huge amount of time and organization. This “managing of the course” is probably one aspect of teaching that I didn’t fully appreciate until confronted with it this week.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that struck me this week is the occasional defiant attitudes of some of the students, mainly the girls. The boys that are not interested find ways of getting into trouble in ways one might expect (moving around the room, talking, etc). I can deal with the boys and get them back on task. But some of the girls seem to actually take pride announcing they did not get any of the worksheet or homework right or that they “don’t understand any of it”. It seems almost as if they are saying “and there is no way you can teach this to me either”. And when I try to work with them to draw out more specific questions to help with or try to engage them individually to the side, the wall comes up like they are looking right past me. I really need to find the hook, the engaging exercises that will “thaw” these “ice queens” and get them maybe to smile and better yet even try and make an effort.
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteMy co-operating teacher had a non-functioning smartboard in his room, since I had said I wanted to use it, he made sure that it was in working order when I started teaching. I have run the gamut with technology. My first day the smartboard worked for my first two classes and not my last. Today it didn't work at all for the first class, I used it as a projector for the second and during the third it worked perfectly. It certainly keeps me on my toes and I need to make sure I can change my instruction at a moments notice. My co-operating teacher started doing 'do nows' since he new this was a part of my instruction. I have been trying to do them with the senteos so the kids get instant feedback (as do I). I can also tell which question they had problems with and those are the ones I revisited.
I have been teaching three pre-algebra classes and I start my algebra class on Monday. We also have activities and ACT, as well as All Skills. The rotating schedule has taken some getting used to - I made myself a calendar, showing which day was which and posted it in the front of the room, I also made a schedule of starting and ending time of classes - and how long each class runs - this really helps me to keep track of my time.
I love the kids - they are mostly all great. I have one class which has 10 special ed kids (out of 24) - it causes me to think of how to handle things differently and that I cannot have the same expectations for every student. I have had some students come to me during All Skills for extra help - it is so refreshing.
There is a lot planning (and making of copies) but I have a rhythm down for my pre-algebra. I have been having a harder time with algebra - I think mainly because I know what to expect more from my other classes, but I have been assured that it it easier to plan than pre-algebra.
The first day I forgot to actually say the word closure - now I have it as my last slide of my smartnotebook file. The students know where the objective is located and are happy to reiterate it to me at the end of class.
We decorated the room last night - it was still empty from CMTs, my co-operating teacher tells me the room is mine as well so I picked out what I wanted to put up - I have my own desk and he has been very accommodating and very helpful. We had a town meeting and I was introduced to the entire school.
With one week down and three to go - I already know that I will miss these kids and my co-operating teacher when the time comes to leave.
I still can't understand why everyone seemed to be so down on middle school - I think it's great!
Hey Anne,
ReplyDeleteWhat I did the first day I was teaching (Wednesday) I put together a 3 page powerpoint to formally introduce myself, it took no more than 5 minutes. Title Slide - About Ms. Raymond (the school uses Ms instead of Mrs, I kinda like it), it had some animation so the kids thought that was cool. Slide 2 - Where I went to school (includes HS because it's the same district), favotire baseball team, what I like to do (volleyball, read, MATH!!!). Slide 3 - Ms. Raymond's Golden Rules - Reglas (yes they are in Spanish as well, there are a number of ESOL and 1 ELL students). I think it helped. I also had them make name tents with colored pencils to help me remember, it's been very helpful. I can remember most of the boys names and about 1/2 of the girls, they are quieter and don't demand as much mental energy.
Jen
Overall I'd have to say that the first week went pretty well. Every day is better than the last. I have 4 classes of 6th grade math, 2 are a bit more advanced than the other 2. There are about 10 LD students, 2 ESOL who are both very fluent, 1 ELL student who often uses other spanish speaking students or the para for translation, and 2 ED students. But only 1 has a true math disability, so the challenge for me is more with behavior and keeping all students on task than differentiation at this point.
ReplyDeleteI understood the theory behind scaffolding, but it wasn't until I got into the classroom and did it this week that it really comes together and makes sense. I've received good feedback from my cooperating teacher on building on prior day's work and invoking previous knowledge. With the 6th grade I've learned that I really need to scaffold each day and go back each day to the prior knowledge. And then I have to do a spiral review of all of the topics covered, especially after this weekend break.
After the first day teaching, I can really see the benefit of the timer. I knew pacing would be an issue and after the first period I was told to speed it up. I've learned that giving the kids all the time they need to finish is too much time. Keep them on task and working. I've gotten better but still run up against the end of class and I'm not really hitting closure in each class but am making a better effort to stay on time and have closure.
I have consistently put the "Daily Learning Objective" on the board and am having the students write it in their notebooks. Why, they ask, because how else are you going to know what your notes are about? Today when we finished the "Daily Math" (the do now) and we were moving into the lesson, about half of the student have already written the objective in their notebook. Structure & consistency works!!
I'm really happy and having a great time!
"Structure and consistency" seems to be the emerging theme
ReplyDeleteAnne addressed this. How is engaging the students tied into much of what you are experiencing?
Jen, can you share an example of scaffolding you have successfully attempted?
ReplyDeleteChris, how did you address the defiant behavior?
Sandy, can you give examples of decision making you are undertaking as you decorate your classroom? What are you doing and why?
With one particular girl who had announced to the class that she got "none of the work sheet" correct, I asked her to select one of the problems (multiplying mixed numbers) she would like to see explained (giving her some power of choice). Luckily she selected one that others had had an issue with as well. I then scaffolded the solution with her verbalizing the work. At the end she offered a minimal "oh" (with no joy in it at all). We followed up with another problem similar to that one with every one working on it individually on their paper. I walked around the room looking for the process. In her case, I needed to gently prod her to simplify the resulting expression, but she had at least gotten to that point (changing mixed to improper fractions, looking for simplification opportunities dividing by GCF for numerator and denominator before multiplying numerators and denominators). I praised her for her job. My satisfaction was seeing her essentially applying the process. I could not see any satisfaction on her part however. I guess you take what you can get.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded that life s not fair. For no reason I seem to have had the luck to be paired with a very intelligent, very organized, very successful teacher in a relatively new HS building. The school culture could be described as positive. Teachers are expected to collaborate. The atmosphere is uplifting. The three classes are made up of kids that generally have the ability to learn, though more than a few lack the motivation.
ReplyDeleteThe HS uses block scheduling, so periods are 80 plus minutes. Classroom management has required almost no effort. Classroom structure prior to my arrival was well defined. The students expected a Problem of the Day. They knew homework would be audited.
I'll talk about the Algebra classes since this is where I have started.
After several days of observation I picked up working on 'factoring trinomials'. This seemingly small section of the book was allocated a full week of time. The reason is that this topic is one that involves 'guessing' not a strict formulaic approach to problem solving. This uncertainty presented the students with a new type of problem.
After three days of presenting the same lesson to two classes in succession I hope I have made the many basic teaching errors for the last time. I won't even say how many time I made arithmetic and algebraic errors on the board. The rate dropped dramatically when I went from doing half the work with a student to letting the student do 100% of the work. I simply transcribe.
We've done almost every problem on the board with student participation. In some respects this lesson is a giant 'drill'. Factoring is something that takes repetition. It's been good to hear many say things are getting easier. The real assessment will be the quiz on Monday.
I find that I'm spending more time creating problems than I had expected. These are mostly for in class use, but also for homework. I've used almost no complex technology. There is a LCD projector that presents an image of a computer screen for all to see. I've used this to display problems and answers.
I had great insight into how to present a topic. My initial proposals often miss some of the deconstruction that Randy has always been stressing. With more practice I hope I start seeing things better from the eyes of the student.
Not to go on forever, I'll finish with the Algebra class by saying that it's hard to over estimate teh value of working with such a skilled teacher with such great programs. I feel in some respects like I'm cheating in that I copy so much of what she says.
A few notes on the Pre Calculus class. I've only been observing. They are doing Trig. Unit Circle. Next week is Trig Applications. I really want to jump in. I think there is an opportunity to explore my premise that kids learn 'to do' without enough on the 'why do we do it'. Next week is typically very challenging for these rather bright kids. I have some ideas. For example, does anyone recall ever hearing about the THE RHIND MATHEMATICAL PAPYRUS? I'm making a proposal to my cooperating teacher on how I'd like to cover the material.
By the way I got to see how school safety procedures work. Smoke in a workshop brings in lots of fire apparatus and can be quite chilly standing outside. Life star landing in the parking lot can require a school 'lock in'. Not for outside threats, just to maintain clear hallways and provide privacy to the injured.
This was an interesting week and my comments are the same as Bruce's. There was a considerable time spent on Do Now's (the Assured Experiences that all Bridgeport students should be familiar with) and HW. In fact, I attempted to follow my cooperating teachers lead in teaching and did not cover the objective set. Though my cooperating teacher has a great handle on her class, it wasn't in the format of our methods suggestions and so I'll be attempting to get the AE to be homework so that I can stage a do now that operates more of an initiation into the lesson and I'll also institute the HW review tools we learnt. Additionally, it is pretty clear to me that I need hands-on-activity to stear away from talking to much. I found myself questioning but afraid of the silence that followed.The one to one interaction was successful but it was clear that structure is the key to engage all at once. I also discovered that since the abilities vary widely, scaffolded and differentiated work needs to bring the students to their points of success. So I have an uphill battle this weekend.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting display of the theory in our mehtods class was that of classmates urging a disruptive student to conforming to acceptable behavior. This student was an intelligent but antisocial one who had an IEP in another state before moving to Bridgeport. He doesn't have one now but the classmanagement techniques worked!
Oh another thing, the idea that one must have a back up plan at all times was evident this week. My cooperating teacher has a smartboard which she used exclusively and wouldn't you know it.. the thing gave up the ghost on Friday during my session. The bulb blew and what I learnt was that the teacher may end up having to buy that bulb herself if it means that much to her as the school will buy the technology but don't quite get around to maintaining and upgrading. Anyway, I say this as a reminder that we need to have alternative plans.
Interesting week but I must admit I'm planing for a better week.
Wow. I was so exhausted after the first week. I am moving from room to room and up and down floors between each class. While I try to remain organized, some times I am not as organized as I thought. For example, I have asked for homework to be out and they remind me I didn't assign homework to them yesterday. Trying to keep track of the times for each class is also a challenge - 40 minutes goes by very quickly. Next week I am going to use a timer - 5 minutes for do now, then set it for 30 minutes so I can do closure. This week, my cooperating teacher had them doing a problem of the day related to CMT material. Next week I will switch that to a "do now" type of problem that is related to the content of the day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jen about pacing and giving the students time to finish up. I need to cut them off after a certain amount of time otherwise some students are sitting around looking to make mischief.
I also agree with Anne about jaded teachers. It is really depressing to sit in a team staff meeting everyday and hear about awful students. That said, I have truly gained an appreciation for the issues facing some of these students - horrible home life, learning issues, and using poor behavior as a mask for not understanding the material.
I have several girls who can be defiant. I try to speak to them quietly as I move around the room and offer suggestions or questions for their next steps and so far it has worked. In study hall, I have found having one girl work on the board rather than in her seat has focused her energy somewhat.
Study hall is an altogether different animal. I have worked with multiple students on math work during the period but haven't had to run the whole period alone yet.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteYou commented "I knew that planning was very important but staying organized with all of the handouts, etc. ranks right up there as well." and I fully agree. My cooperating teacher uses a weekly plan that summarizes what the daily homework, the strategies, the objectives and the do now for the week are and so at the end of the day she has everything all resources needed and displays updated for following day ready and waiting. Consequently, I've learnt that its not enough to grab the papers to be marked and run home to modify. There are things to be done on location. Printouts, paperwork you need to have in place before you start a new day.
I believe this will come natural as one gets more experience.
I am having a challenge of trying to fit the way I want to teach into my teacher’s process. Her classroom structure do now (is not based on the work for the day) It is on one page and they do some problems each day and those problems are used for the quiz at the end of the week. Then it is proceeded with guided practice with the teacher reviewing problems from the book and then independent problems from the book. My first day, I was doing a lesson on scatterplots. I created a do now with some easy problems to check for PK. My teacher assured me that they knew how to do all of the problems (since they were the high algebra class). I collected the do no to review (just to get a gauge) and many students got the point slope question wrong. The teacher was surprised and the next day, she wanted to review it with the students who got it wrong and pulled them to the side.
ReplyDeleteI also did an activity for the students to plot points with an activity. I had the students drop a ping pong ball and count how many times they got it in a cup. I thought that it would be a good activity to get them up. Wrong. It took a long time to get them back and settled in their seat cutting the lesson short. I am asking them to write the definitions down as we go through the lesson but none of the students have notebooks and it is not in their routine. The challenge would be for them to get notebooks for one month and then the teacher would not use them The second day I followed up with the facebook data that Randy had shared with us. The kids got excited but I had a major disaster. Preparation and Organization are key as we have learned. I was copying so many things that I forgot to copy the key page for them to work on. I had all these piles and I was searching through my piles and then the only thing I could do was hand out a blank graph paper to give them to use, Unfortunately it did not have the scale so I had to have them put the scale on it. I need to have a better system to use and I must figure out a way to function with the teacher desk that is covered with papers and piles. I only taught one class this week and next week will be even more of a challenge. I felt horrible after that class.
I am struggling to figure out a way to help engage the students. On Friday, it is quiz day. At the beginning of each class, we reviewed similar problems that were going to be on the test. Many kids did not even work on them. After I looked at the tests, many students got the exact answers wrong that we had just reviewed before the lesson.
The other thing is speed. I talked about assessment with my teacher and the concept of pop quizzes during the lesson. She was not opposed but she said that she quizzes every week to review the previous weeks work. The tests don’t look to good. I feel that the teacher is whizzing through the lessons(boring) but the students don’t really get the concepts. I am young and naïve and she has been doing this for 33 yrs. She has her system down. I asked about having kids redo problems on the test. She does not allow this as it takes too long with 118 kids.
There are many behavioral issues and it disrupts the class. I feel frustrated when this happens and it goes on throughout the entire period. Can I make an impact in 3 weeks? I am trying to come up with fun and engaging things for the students to do.
I am jealous that so many of you are having such a great experience but the behavioral issues are quite the problem where I am. I feel that I can spend a day writing reflections on what my first week’s experience has been. I am going to focus on a few small things that I can focus for each class: somehow integrating my teacher’s warm up with my Do now, assess during the lesson, and closure
I am also having the students write down their answers and use the name cards to call on the students to ensure that they are all doing the work. I also checked with the teacher to ensure that I was not calling on anyone that has special needs. This seemed to help.
Let the show begin. Well this is what I got from my first week. We are individual performers acting in one-person shows. The audiences are a very critical group of young students. In my show they are sixth and eighth graders. We, as teachers, have to perform at our best and be prepared for every show. We have five and sometimes six shows a day. If the audience is not pleased they will interrupt and try to take over the show. Our shows are very complex. Although they are only in one subject area, still we have to come up with all kinds of skills and different types of presentations to give. The only way I can explain the complexity of our shows is by giving an example from other shows. No other show in our world is open five days a week for six hours a day. No other one-person show is specialized in all kinds of genres that combine: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Disaster ,Documentary, Drama, Epic, Family, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Sport, Thriller and let’s not forget the Circus!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I believe all of you can connect with that. My first week was great and I love the middle school age and environment. I believe they are funnier than high school kids in some ways. I think most of our presenters must have had bad experiences with this age group. I would say if they cannot connect with middle school kids, it is not necessarily that they are harder than high school kids. It is very hard to step in to someone else “Show”. Like Randy said, it is April, and we cannot change much. It is hard if not impossible to apply all of what we learned in such a short time, but I can definitely see how I will apply ALL of it when I start my own show.
I got to play the bingo game with just one class and did a full PPT with another class. Next week when I add more classes, I plan and hope that my teacher will let me just talk my one page and have them fill out my index cards with favorite things and the tent cards which I am using in the one class that I have taught last week. The name cards are helpfula and so are the index cards that I can refer to and chat with the students about their favorite things. I hope that I can do this next week.
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteFrom reading every ones posts sounds like we all got very lucky when it comes to the co-operating teachers. My teachers ( yes, I have 2, 7th grade and 8th grade) also told me that the room is mine and I am free to do whatever I think would work best. I spent 3 hours last Friday (3/25) changing the seating arrangements and reorganizing the classroom because I knew that I will be teaching starting Monday and I wanted to start the new routines from day one. I was very impressed how well the kids responded to changes. (Well, almost). I got class lists ahead of time and made name tents, color-coded for each class and I would place them on kid’s desks before every class. They would come to class, get their Do Now and find their seat. I thought it was great until Wednesday when one boy came to me and said,” Do you know how it feels not knowing where you are going to sit every day?” WOW! It was amazing! Of course I knew, this boy felt the same way we did every methods class when we did random presentation of our microteaches. I fixed that and the kids still have name tents and love them but they sit in the same seats every day. That’s my little piece on routines and organization… There is so much that I am keeping a notebook just for notes, teachers’ comments, kids comments and my reflections from every day.
Now about teaching… I have been teaching 3 7th grade classes since Monday, had my first observation on Thursday and I am starting to teach 8th grade on Monday. That is full schedule, 5 classes, 1 prep and 1 team meeting every day. I love it but I am now truly realizing how busy that is and the only way to manage this is to be very organized. Both classrooms that I teach in have smartbords and I have been preparing lessons on smartboard notebook every day. It is very convenient when I teach and allows me a lot more creativity, also keeps me more organized but it takes a lot of time to prepare and I am realizing this as I go. The great advantage is that in a very little time I can change the lesson, add, skip, whatever it takes, (divide and conquer…) . I love the Do Nows! (I collect them every day and use it as feedback for me how the kids are doing, especially that I was put in the middle of a chapter and I need to know what they know and what I still need to cover or reteach). One day on the Do Now I had a simple problem involving a unit rate a realized that kids still needed help with that. Next day we had a 10 min partner activity with 10 different cans of chicken noodle soup and it was great. I had one student not follow the specific directions which worked out perfect because that gave me the opportunity to introduce the idea that there could be two different unit rates. And that happened during my observation… I have to say that my biggest problem is time!!! My first 2 days I probably went very slow which is not good because I will lose the bright kids but I am learning, it also helps getting to know the kids and be more and more comfortable with the smartboard. Is it only my feeling that the time is flying? I have a student in every class who reminds me every day that we have 5 min left to the end of class and it helps. One other thing that I still don’t have a routine is HW, I check it every day and I had a 90-95% completion but I don’t go over it every day, I don’t know? Any advice???
Question:
ReplyDeleteI plan to use Dr. E's prescription of short instructional units followed by immediate opportunities for independent work, but am not sure of the best way to implement this strategy in an old school 5 by 6 seating arrangement. If I give a worksheet for independent practice how can I efficiently walk around to all 26 students to gauge if they are doing it right or need help? I don't think this work and that excessive talking will ensue.
Currently, the procedure is to review everything as a group, but there are probably only 5 or so students who participate, the rest just sit there. One student was actually fast asleep. Changing the seating arrangement is unfortunately not an option.
Barbara - Regarding homework. In the 9th grade my teacher doesn't collect homework. It's checked every day. You get 2 pts if you try all. Zero for anything less. Every day we go over the homework. We show the answers overhead, kids are asked to check work, an dask if there are any problems the kids want to see done.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of my first week in school, I want to say that I would like to ban all cell phones in my classroom. I feel like the cell phone police! In one week's time, I have heard either myself or the cooperating teacher tell at least two people in each class to put away their cell phones.
ReplyDeleteI also find that the seniors spend more time arguing with you about grades and asking why they need to learn the math that we are curently working on. I even get that from the 9th graders taking geometry. I am finding that the school I am in has students very concerned about their GPA. The students will actually drop an honors class if they do not like their grade. I found out recently that the classes are all weighed the same. This year, the valedictorian of the class of 2011 has not taken even one honors or AP course while other students have taken these courses and are right behind this person w/r/t GPA. I find this very discouraging. I have one student in my geometry class that dropped into my class from honors because she did not like that she was getting a B. Now she sits in this middle geometry class rolling her eyes, not doing her homework, not doing her classwork and just exuding attitude. So what do I do with her? Do I give her harder problems in class? Will she do the harder problems? She really should be in the honors geometry course and someone - the guidance councellor or the honors math teacher or someone should not have let her drop the class (the honors course already covered the material we are currently going over).
So:
1. How do you motivate someone like this girl who should be in honors and is now in the lower level class because she was getting a B in honors and wants an A?
2. How do you answer the question of "when will I ever need to know this when I am out of high school?"
3. How do you get the students to stop using their cell phones in class? The cooperating teacher has a rule - if she catches you with your phone, it gets confiscated until the end of the class. For tests and quizes, all phones are placed at the front of the room. If you do not put your phone at the front of the room and your phone rings or if you are caught holding your phone in your hand, you get a zero on the test or quiz. Is this really enough? I don't see it working. I want to talk to the cooperating teacher about jail. I don't know the school policy for phones in school but I would love to put them all in jail until the end of class.
My teacher gives homework every other night and reviews it on Friday when she gives her quizes. Friday she does homework review, review for the quiz and then the students take the test.
ReplyDeleteAt least in middle school, cell phones are not a problem. I have many kids who just sit and do nothing as well. Since I was observing, I was walking around the class prodding kids to do the work. I walked up to a girl and she said that she was dumb and that is why she didn't do any work. I tried to talk with her about it and the teacher says that she was just trying to get my sympathy?? Almost every one of my classes has aids that come in a help out the students. I also have a colab class with almost all special needs kids. They have a pre-algebra plan that is simplified.
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteI don’t have the cell phone problem at the school where I am student teaching but I can share with you what we do at the HS where I work. If the student get caught using a cell phone in class we take their phone and bring it to the office until the end of the day. This student needs to see the principal at the end of the day to get their phone back. It works for our school because all the teachers are on board with this rule and kids really don’t want to give up their phones for a day. Hope this helps, don’t be discouraged! I am starting a Probability chapter in grade 8th and surface area and volume of tree-dimensional figures in grade 7. Dave , thanks for the tip on HW, I still feel like I have to address it at some point but having the answers posted on smartboard is a good idea and maybe just address the once that they have questions on? Have to work on that…
Best of Luck for next week everyone!
Other emerging themes:
ReplyDeleteDo Nows - each year we have co-op teachers who dig the Do Now that they start incorporating it themselves. You guys seem to be taking to it much more readily than some other cohorts.
Homework - 20 minutes on homework!?!?! We discussed this. I haven't seen a lot analysis or evaluation on this, just some narrative. What do you guys think?!
Cell phones: yep
It's funny how the challenges I expected to face were no problem at all, but I uncovered new challenges that I will need to overcome. My main concern coming into student teaching was my ability to create a solid lesson plan that included a detailed task analysis and scaffolding and that met my stated objectives. To my surprise, and my cooperating teacher concurred, that my lesson plans themselves are good. My biggest problem is keeping the class moving at a pace so that students who completed guided practice were not waiting around for students who are struggling. I had a bunch of bored students sitting in front of me as they awaited their classmates to finish up work. The Math chair gave me some great advice when I talk to her about this challenge. She suggested I gives three or four guided practice problems that are similar to one another, and only expects that half of the students will finish all of them in an allotted time.. If the other half only finish one, that's okay because at least they got some practice in.
ReplyDeleteLike others who posted comments, I too am struggling to multitask – checking homework, taking attendance, addressing individual needs... I keep hearing it will get easier in time, but right now I feel completely spastic.
Best wishes to everyone next week!
Liz
Anne poses an important question that you guys will address at some point after student teaching, most likely. Why do students need to know this? Related to this is motivation in general - the other thread for this week.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on the why question.
I think therefore I am. Humans think. That's the essence of who were are.
Our mind helps us make sense of the world around us. Education broadens our ability to understand the world. Why does Lebron James lift weights if he's not going to run out on the court and lift weights? He's developing his body just as we develop our minds.
We never know what we'll encounter in the future. 20 years after I took high school physics I had to pay thousands of dollars to rewire an old house. Amps, voltage and other electrical terms that were covered in high school were discussed.
We interact with other people in areas that we have in common. If we meet a stranger, we talk about the weather. At work we talk about work. Our friends have a lot in common with us. Why is a joke funny? Because it makes sense to us, we have knowledge to understand it.
Finally, show the students who don't are about honors courses a UConn admissions application (or most others). They want to know the level of courses students are taking.
I have a problem. I am obsessed. I am living every waking moment (and too many of them) trying to determine what I need to do to be as effective as I can be. I need to pace myself or me and my family will cease to function.
ReplyDeleteLiz,
ReplyDeleteI have observed that my teacher does what your chair has suggested. She has a few guided problems and moves through them quickly but most of the kids will get through almost all,but not everyone. Then she has independent problems for the kids where she walks around and helps them out so that the pace of the class and learning works out. It seems like such an easy flow.
To all the Do Nows - I have been doing them using the senteos showing the results on the smartboard and then I will go over the one or two problems that most of the class had issues with.
ReplyDeleteWhen I decorated my classroom, I looked through all the available items my co-operating teacher had. I chose something important to me 'Save the Planet' for the border on my areas. I have started word problems and found a poster involving the steps of word problems. After I finish up the section I am currently teaching I will be going into patterns - so I put up posters about that as well.
Ofer - I never thought of it that way - but I think it is exactly right! That's why the third class of the day is better because I have already rehearsed it twice!
Nadeen - the beauty of older children - I just say I have 5 hours of work to do tonight - you can talk to me now for a little bit and then please leave me alone. Everyday I come home from school they ask how my day was - they know how important it is to me. They know it is only for a short time right now and they are so understanding.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time I'll have three classes for about 80 minutes each. The Pre-Calculus class will be my first time with them. The topic is problem solving using Trig. I'm advised the topic is one they don't pick up on immediately.
ReplyDeleteI've asked my cooperating teacher to let me approach the lesson very differently from the way she would. She's skeptical, so we've agreed that my backup plan is to be ready to teach this lesson her way. The primary objective is still the kids need to learn the lesson.
My approach will be to work the problem backwards. I plan to ask students to create their own trig word problems, share them wit the class, critique them, and as a last step solve the problem. I also hope to mix this with 'real' problems from the book. The question is 'How good will these student generated problems be?", Will the students learn the lesson not by solving the problems, but by creating problems?
I'm hoping for a dynamic that engages these kids o compete for the most challenging problems. And yes, this is a great class. Not honors, but well disciplined, enthusiastic, and generally quite intelligent.
I had an interesting week. My ½ calculus class was traded away and now I have a statistics class. So I have five classes, which makes for a very full day. Like Nadeen, I seem be to obsessed with trying to make things perfect and sometimes try to cram too much info into a single lesson. So I have backed down a bit form the amount of info I will try to cover. I guess you learn from your experiences. Most of the classes have been going well but I have had a couple of clunkers. When I think about the clunkers afterwards it seems there is a common thread. Preparation is a vital key.
ReplyDeleteI had a functions lesson in which I was anticipating that students might have difficulty fully grasping. As a result I spent a lot of time trying to scaffold and chunk the information for them. My geometry classes had an upcoming quiz so I thought their day was going to be review work, and I guessed that their lesson did not need much prep, just respond to their questions. Well those were difficult periods. As a result of not being fully prepared for geometry I stuttered and stammered and they were not happy and I was becoming frustrated as well. When looking back at the most productive lessons and comparing them to the less productive lessons it is obvious that that my preparation was the common thread.
Lesson learned. Do your preparation and homework before entering the classroom, you will feel more confident and the students will sense it. The more preparation I gave to lesson planning, the better it flowed.
I create a leave a response each time I especially enjoy a article on a website
ReplyDeleteor I have something to contribute to the discussion. Usually it is a
result of the fire displayed in the post I read. And on this post "First Week of Student Teaching".
I was moved enough to drop a commenta response :-) I actually do have some questions for
you if it's allright. Could it be just me or does it appear like some of these comments look as if they are left by brain dead people? :-P And, if you are writing on additional sites, I would like to keep up with you. Could you list the complete urls of your social pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
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