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...)?