BEDUC 406 Day Four

There are multiple ways to transition in a classroom with students or get from place to place as well as multiple ways of classroom management. It seems though that the most important thing is to know your students and yourself in order to use what works best for EVERYONE!

I am a detail person; I like to have details. I am anxious to meet my dyad placement teacher since I will be meeting her and her students at the same time for the first time in little over a week.

I am excited to see how a dual language classroom works!

Can I come back in January, to my main placement and pick up where I left off with students in rm 402? Errr... with only seeing them maybe once a week, if at all, maybe not so easy to do?

Book Reports Made Fun!

My master teacher has a great system for book reports. Each student does three a trimester but each book report has to be a different genre. The genre coincides with what assignment they do for their report. For example if a student reads a fantasy book they would write five things that support it being a fantasy book but if a student reads a mystery book they would need to interview the main character about events in the story with at least five questions. All they would rate their books on a 1 to 5 star system and provide reasoning for the rating. My master teacher also emphasized that the report can be as pretty as possible but if details are not given enough so that it seems the student has read the book... Wrong, no credit!

I like this because it enables students to be more creative in their assignment AND writing. Also students end up reading a type of book they might not normally choose to read. This could broaden their horizons and open up new interest in types of book to read!

Drum roll please!

HAHA! The simplest thing can make part of an activity fun. Today Room 402 started on a new country for their caravan unit. Each group was assigned a different country. The group name would be called with a drum roll. Students would drum on their desks, all thirty of them, with huge 6th grade grins; the biggest smiles I've ever seen on some of these students thus far in the year. A drum roll can be more than just noise and interruption it can be a way for students to take a more active way in desicion making. Though yes, this may not work with all students, with this group at the end of assigning groups countries, attention was brought back to the teacher and learning commenced!

Juggling

Perhaps a prerequisite for being a teacher is taking a juggling class because man oh man does a teacher have to multi-task! Between administration meetings, extra community building jobs (social chair...), parents, own family and friends, and oh yeah teaching students how to learn... phew, teachers need to be organized. We could give Santa a run for his money when it comes to making a list and checking it twice.

One thing that I found useful when observing my master teacher is she is really good at knowing what is something she should put on her plate and what is not. For example an email from a parent commenting on how she wants her child in high-cap because her feeling of boredom she has now is not helping with her depression, Erin knew that she couldn't help her if her child had already taken the test or missed the test date. She then forwarded the email to the high-cap teacher and the building principal. She responded by thanking the parent for the useful information and how this new awareness would help her in the classroom as well as confirming that the steps the parent has taken to place her daughter in high-cap are all the right ones. My master teacher also recommended not responding right away, giving herself time to digest and think helps, especially if the email from a parent is not positive. Though I'll have to juggle when I'm teaching I hope I can realize when to delegate and when to charge head on with an issue!

Classroom Map

Room 402 is one of the biggest rooms in the building, big enough that weekly administration meetings are help in it. I like the set up for a couple of reasons. Groups are close together to create easy discussion for major group project that students start the year out with. Secondly it creates a welcoming and social environment at the begining of the school year so students feel comfortable in their new classroom. My master teacher also moves them as groups every two weeks while working on their group project in the fall. Then, I think, in the winter and spring they switch groups every two weeks. Awesome!

P.S. "Your file is corrupt or unreadable." This is over due from tech difficulties. Just be smarter than the computer.

What I know About Students in Rm 402

The students in Rm 402 have similarities and differences from when I was in 6th grade. Overall they are all children on their way to becoming adults.

Some students do not have an easy home-life, varying from abuse, depression to single parents and English not being spoken at home. This was discovered through a variety of ways; past teacher in put, parent meetings and student comments.

On a happier note most love some kind of sport, music, or have a favorite movie/television show and are in the beginning of preadolescence. We passed out a student information sheet and an about-me-sheet to gain general information from student's favorite sports and who is in their family.

Talking to students during transitions, and before and after school also provides great insight. The students aren't that different from myself in worries and things that make them happy. I always look forward to lunch (yum) and enjoy a good football game. I also, like students in rm 402, worry about my family and homework time.

At the end of my teaching day I want to be able to remember this similarities and difference and the big picture of their being more similarities than differences!

BEDUC 406 Day Four

I'm nervous about how I will know if ALL students have learned or not.

I'm excited to create lessons that I think will be engaging for students. And to get to know students so I can create engaging lessons for them.

A lesson plan seems to be a more structured and simple plan of learning. As I teacher I need to first know what they know, then what students need to know and if they do (ealrs). Then I need to figure out how to get them to know the stuff they need to (lesson plan). Finally I will need to know if they got it(assessment). Then repeat repeat repeat the cycle all over again starting with what students know.

When lesson plans don't work out (and I realize this in the middle of the lesson) what kind of things should I have in my "bag of tricks" to supplement my own mistakes and still have the time be constructive to student learning?

Student Learning : V

V is very low when looking at test scores. But she can learn! Because English is a second language for her it helps her to hear a passage and then repeat back what she wants to record or what she thinks is important. She is definitely an auditory learner. I wonder how much her scores on tests reflect her ESL aspect or her actual academic ability. I know she has learned something when I work with her the next day and she can recall the facts and statements she wanted recorded the day before. This ability to recall will be very useful in college. How as a teacher can I help her with the other ways to learning though. There is still visual, kinesthetic, and oral learning. As a teacher should I still help her improve her skills in those ways of learning?

Darnit! Another One

This observing without judgment thing is not easy, not to mention I think I have another bias, another assumption that I need to get over. When a student is labeled a behavior issue or I see that they may be a behavior problem in class I tend to think,"oh they must be on the lower end of the class academically." This is not necessarily true AT ALL! Ack, I'm ashamed to be realizing this but at least I am now aware of it and will NOT make the same assumption again.

I am reading a book titled, How To Talk To Kids So Kids Can Learn, and I realize just labeling or thinking of a student as a "behavior problem" will not help them learn or me teach. Though it focuses on talking about how a teacher/adult should acknowledge the feelings a student is having, I think the lack of acknowledgment can lead to issues in the class if I as a teacher only critize their attitude or frustration or even only give advice.

BEDUC 406 Day Three

I'm very anxious about how to plan out lessons so that each student is learning or at the very least that at the end of a lesson I know if each student has learned.

I'm excite to see how students in room 402 can learn from each other in their Caravan groups (social studies unit in which they gather information about countries to earn points to travel from country to country collecting artifacts for their museum).

There are many other factors that each students may be dealing with that can either help with their learning or interfere with their learning. As a teacher I've learned it is my job to help them do their best and be the best learner they can no matter what those factors are. I've also learned that I may not be able to help as much as I would like and I'm going to have to learn how to deal with that.

I understand that I need to teach the underlying concept of something and not just the procedure. There are many procedures, ways of solving a problem (math, spelling...) but only one resounding concept, usually. How do I help a student if they do not get a concept after using multiple ways of teaching it (visual, oral, kinesthetic...)?

Teacher learning and students teaching

The traditional idea of who is teaching and who is learning seems to reverse during the first week or two of school. The teacher is learning and the students are teaching. Partly this is from assessment and knowing where each student is at academically (dibels testing). Another is getting to know each student as a person and let them get to know each other (about me sheets, group projects). Amazingly the teacher is not doing as much teaching the first two weeks as I thought. This looks to be important as much for the student as for the teacher: to help build community, routine, and classroom expectations. 

Also in the past two days of school (total amount of school this year 7 days) there has been two new students (at an even 30 students now) adding another layer especially with block student planning for literacy and math. As well as making sure the two new students get caught up in routines, expectations and become part of the community. When would a school district/school stop adding students to a class? 32? 30? 35?

Awesome idea: create a binder for all student information (about me, IEP, sample work).

Curriculum vs. standards

Shoreline has a new assessment for grades k-6 in reading and math. EasyCBM was introduced to staff at Meridian park this morning at our admin. meeting. One of the presenters made the comment that curriculum is the tool used to teach not the topic. The topic being taught should be the washington state standards. This was said to answer the concern, that some teachers may be using different curriculums to teach their students and what if their curriculum didn't align with the test? Though the assessment had many other properties, as well as measuring NCTM focal points in math with benchmarks, low cost for students, and short in duration this idea of what curriculum is compared to what is being taught really resonated with me. 

This difference of curriculum and standards should be at the focus of most assessments in my mind. My assessment may differ if I want to know how a student learns (curriculum, how topics are taught)than what they have or have not learned(standards). It seems between DIBELS, WASL, EasyCBM and many other assessments that create, at times, an overwhelming amount of data it will be important for me as a teacher to remember what the assessment was for to know what to do with the data in the end. Question to ask myself: How does this information help my student(s) and I learn better?  

My own bias

One bias that I have which was not easy to recognize was my affection for the "good kids". This affection is, I just recently noticed, connected to the idea that they will not need as much of my attention. This may be true for classroom management but not in their learning. Either way I realize this bias could get me in trouble. First all students want to know that their teacher is fair and can create a safe learning environment whether or not they have behavior issues or not. Second all students need to have individual attention whether they are a "bad kid" or "good kid". Finally I need to not label a student in my mind as good or bad or let outside opinions and information influence my idea of who a person is. Because no matter what, if a student is good or bad, it is only one aspect of the whole and will never give me a complete picture of who the student is as a person. 

It seems I need to remove judgement of my students. Is this possible? Can I only remove the social aspect (behavior) and not the academic (grades) or both? Can I assess/evaluate my students in academia and behavior without being judgmental? 

BEDUC 406 Day Two

I am so excited about getting to know our students more and just to observe them in the classroom. The first day they were very tentative so I'm interested in seeing how and when that tentativeness is gone or not for students.

I'm anxious about communicating to my teacher that I still want feedback from her: constructive criticism. We are getting along so well that I don't want a wall of fear of endangering what we already have by giving me criticism.

I learned today that even if a student doesn't learn very well, say orally or visually as a teacher I still need to give them opportunities where they do experience that type of learning to improve their skills and not just make one way of learning stronger and stronger for them.

I have two questions but I'll save the other one for later... How do I keep consistency in the classroom for the students during my student teaching but still be ME as a teacher and not just a "clone" of my master teacher?

Student Autonomy and Classroom Management

Students from 402 showed me that when students have autonomy in their own classroom it supports a positive classroom management plan. For example, an activity they did today was to come up with classroom expectations as groups for brainstorming. Ideas from each group were compiled into a class list and students individually found overall themes throughout. They had time to independently look at the class list of expectations and make a choice on what was most important to to them. As a class they shared their ideas of groups and then made a list of 5 final expectations together as a whole class. Expectations were written on a poster board and each student signed their name. Also I've notice that my master teacher will give students choices or if she decides on something she will ask what they think before putting something in action (do you think this is fair? how about we do this for 5 more minutes then move on?).

I really liked the use of student autonomy, not only to support the idea of a classroom management plan that is caring and emphasizes student involvement, but also gave students empowerment in THEIR classroom. Overall in my opinion this sharing of power builds a stronger sense of community in the classroom as well as a greater sense of respect from teacher to student and student to teacher.

First Day of School Awesome Activity

Twenty eight students are divided into six groups due to the seating arrangement. As a get-to-know--your-classmates activity each group makes a poster with their first names on it and answers to five questions such as what sports do you play and where were you born. The instructions beyond that are up to them; how they want to show their answers, arrange their names, by drawing, by words, graphs. It is up to them. I liked this activity because it helped students get to know their group and gave them an opportunity to be social on the first day of school. As a teacher I can walk around and see how some students work together or not and take note of strengths and weaknesses when students are working in a group. The impact on learning was overall positive. It gives the teacher a better idea of where their students are when communicating with others and working as a group and helps the students feel more welcome and comfortable in their new classroom.  

First Days of Meridian Park Tips and Management

A couple "to do" on the first day of school includes getting a good nights sleep, don't forget to send a "welcome" letter home the first day (first positive interaction with parents), and to remember that students are getting the feel for you and may be tentative at first so be approachable and practice routines again and again. Also there has to be a good balance of social getting-to-know-you activities with class work as students are just getting back from break.

The tentativeness may only last a week or so though, then the testing starts: the students testing your boundaries. Neither my master teacher nor the teacher she co-teaching with have a classroom management plan. Though some years they say after a few weeks they will use one. The idea is that if they stay consistent in expectations with each individual and a class with engaging and caring lessons a more structured discipline isn't needed. They try to be proactive not reactive and keep general class rules minimal so the need for discipline is less. They remind themselves and their students they are not their friend but their teacher. And if it is needed they will make a more structured discipline plan on an individual basis if needed.

They feel this plan is more realistic and can work with the changing communities of the classroom and build a stronger sense of community and teamwork within the classroom as well as respect, not just to the teacher but between students.

It seems a fine line of friend vs teacher to walk in order to gain respect and the idea that the teacher's opinion matters so I can or cannot do this... I'm interested to see it put in place, in action and what happens if it doesn't work with some students.