My Wednesday practicum hours showed me how switching from one unit to the next can cause a little bit of chaos. Logistically, there were still some students who were concerned with the previous unit. They had just taken their summative assessment on Monday and had received their scores and feedback. Some students knew that they were expected to retake the assessment to see if they could improve their score. Other students had yet to take the assessment because they were absent. This seemed a little chaotic to me at the beginning of the class sessions because some students were so focused on what they had gotten on the assessment, when they would retake it or take it for the first time, while Mr. Scott and many other class members were ready to put the unit behind them and start to discuss the American Revolution.
It was good to see this little chaotic scene (it really only lasted maybe five minutes or so in each session, but it really stuck out to me) because it shows me how transitions can become complicated. The students will have the time to retake or take the assessment as it was fairly short and they could use their break time to complete it (which is standard practice, the students know that break time is used to complete assignments if they are not finished, if they hadn't started them when they were expected to, or if they need extra time).
Some of this seemed to set the tone for the first class, though. It seemed to me like the students could never really get focused. Mr. Scott used his usual classroom management system by using "Gimme Five" - which did work to get their attention when he needed to speak or give directions. What didn't work, though, was his use of the "think cards". Rather than halting his lesson to speak to an individual about their behavior, he simply hands a think card to the student or students who needed a reminder of the expectation and they know that it is a warning of sorts. For Henry, the think card was effective. He knew that he had been talking when he wasn't supposed to be and his behavior changed accordingly. For Josh, the think card didn't change much about his behavior. He quieted down for a short period of time, but he never focused on the reading assignment. He didn't work with his group to complete the assignment despite reminders. Josh was more worried about his food and making comments on the things that people in other groups would say - that tended to be quite off-topic - rather than meeting the classroom expectations. With about ten minutes left of class, after being separated from his group mates with the expectation that he would get serious about the assignment and really work on it, Josh was given his final warning and eventually had to go out in the hallway for a private conversation with Mr. Scott about classroom expectations and how his behavior did not meet them.
This was a new experience for me. I had seen Mr. Scott give out these think cards, but he had never had to go as far as separating a student so the rest of his group mates could work without distraction or to take a student into the hallway. It was a nice reminder that even when we are clear with our expectations and are consistent in making sure that students are meeting them and being respectful, the early interventions in our classroom management won't always do the trick. In a veteran classroom, it's hard to see this in action all the time because most of the time there aren't really any classroom management issues to observe. A lot of it is handled silently or so discreetly that nobody really notices it. It will be interesting to see if there is a pattern over time that when a unit ends or there is some other significant transition, classroom management becomes more important in keeping everything in line. Regardless, I have something to keep in mind when looking toward the future.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Friday, October 21, 2016
Academic Freedom and the Politics of Education
I have really slipped as of lately on my content area reading, so in the coming days there will be more posts about what I'm reading and what I'm learning.
Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach by Alan J. Singer: Chapter 4 (What are Our Goals?) and Chapter 5 (Is Social Studies Teaching "Political"?)
Both of these chapters were great and I was able to fly through them because I was able to connect to them so well with where I'm at in my learning and understanding. This is true in particular for chapter four. Essentially, the chapter addresses the question of what goals we have for ourselves as teachers, for our students, and for our lessons and units. All of this is both short-term and long-term as we need to have different types of goals throughout the year and for our careers. Both chapters also looked at how ideology can affect the curriculum. This was discussed at length in the fifth chapter about how politics can shape what students are "allowed" to learn in the classroom. Chapter four addresses it as many packaged curricula will promote a certain ideology and it's evident in the phrases that are used and the messages that they send to the students. If teachers are not aware of this, then do we really know what it is that our students are learning and what message that they're taking away from our lesson?
Three Things I want to Remember:
More than anything, this is something I want to write down because I want to explore it more. Chapter four, and a bit of chapter five, references "culturally relevant pedagogy" and the importance of making sure that all of our students are represented in the texts we read and the history we learn about (57). We need to be intentional in our planning to make sure that we don't exclude viewpoints and perspectives that students may never have been exposed to. This all relates back to knowing who are students are, which is absolutely essential to being a great teacher, in my opinion. Because this is such a big piece of education and is so important, I want to do further research on culturally relevant pedagogy and find resources that give advice on where to find great examples of perspectives that we don't get in the whitewashed version that history textbooks traditionally provide.
This quote from Chapter five stuck with me long after finishing my reading: "our main choice as social studies teachers is whether we allow political forces to dictate us, or we become activists who shape what takes place in our classrooms and who influences broader policy debates" (71). This is huge. It relates back to what I said earlier about ideologies affecting what is taught. Often, the decisions that are made about what is allowed to be in the state and eventually school curriculum is decided by men in suits who have never taught before. This quote is empowering because it asks the question of if we simply sit back and teach based upon what those men believe is most essential for our students (who they don't know and likely never will know). Or we can stand up and really push back against this to regain control over what is actually essential for students to know. I believe it's related that we also empower our students to take control of their learning. This quote reminds me that we always have a voice and we get to choose how and if we use it. But where our students are concerned, if they're not getting what they really need and deserve from their education, then they deserve teachers who are willing to stand up and be activists to make a change.
Finally, I think it's important to remember the aspects on the importance of student input. Again, we need to allow students to find their voice. If students want to hear a perspective that is more reflective of who they are and what their background is, then I believe we owe that to them. They should have a say in some of the direction we take in our units and lessons. As long as the skills are being taught and the standards are being met, why not allow students to have some say in if they learn about one topic or the other in order to meet those goals? Of course they may not get what they want all the time, but I do think that if we let students have a voice in their learning and the direction we take sometimes, it will be much more engaging and memorable for our students.
Two Controversial Ideas/Things I Disagree With
A controversial idea I have brought up already has reappeared this week. This controversy is whether or not teachers should be able to express their opinion in the classroom. Chapter five addresses how one teacher was dismissed because she told her students that "she sometimes 'honks for peace'" (76). This is absolutely wrong, in my opinion. How on Earth are students ever going to hear different opinions if teachers constantly have to hide their own? As long as a teacher stresses the importance of students coming to their own conclusions and that disagreements are okay, why can't a teacher say how they feel about certain topics? If a teacher gives their opinion every single class period on controversial topics, sure that may not be the best. But it is not my belief that teachers automatically lose their First Amendment rights the second that they walk through the classroom door. We need to teach students to be critical of all opinions, including that of their teacher.
The second controversial topic that came up was the idea of academic freedom. I was really bothered by how many instances there were where individuals tried to limit what is taught in schools based upon their own beliefs. We hear about it often, unfortunately. The one story that really bothered me was when high school seniors were reading a book about teenage behavior and a parent took offense to it because "a passage referred to masturbation" (78). These aren't second graders we are talking about, these are high school seniors who are about to enter the outside world. If they did not know what masturbation was before they began reading that book, then the school had bigger issues to begin with. But the fact that one individual's opinion on the matter was enough to have the school initially drop the book from the curriculum before students and other parents fought to have it back really bothers me. The topic isn't a particularly offensive one and it is most certainly a real topic. Unless there are truly offensive aspects, why are we sheltering what our children will know because one person didn't like it's inclusion in the classroom? This bothered me tremendously.
One Question:
Early in chapter four, Singer describes how there has been disagreement with how classes are structured at different levels. For middle school courses and lower-level high school courses, teachers work harder to maintain student attention. But when high school students reach the AP level or when we enter college, many teachers or professors switch to a "chalk and talk" format where the instructor simply speaks and gives their knowledge to their students and leaves it at that. Singer, thankfully, expresses disappointment with this approach. My question is why this approach has stuck around for so long? I see it weekly in some of my courses. Sure, students may speak up here and there and we are "encouraged" to think for ourselves, but at the same time, we are subjected to listening to the professor speak for 90 minutes straight. We see students perform well when instructors use less passive approaches to teaching, so why have we allowed this model to exist at the highest level of our education? What can we, as students, do to demand that more interesting and better forms of teaching take place outside of our education classrooms?
Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach by Alan J. Singer: Chapter 4 (What are Our Goals?) and Chapter 5 (Is Social Studies Teaching "Political"?)
Both of these chapters were great and I was able to fly through them because I was able to connect to them so well with where I'm at in my learning and understanding. This is true in particular for chapter four. Essentially, the chapter addresses the question of what goals we have for ourselves as teachers, for our students, and for our lessons and units. All of this is both short-term and long-term as we need to have different types of goals throughout the year and for our careers. Both chapters also looked at how ideology can affect the curriculum. This was discussed at length in the fifth chapter about how politics can shape what students are "allowed" to learn in the classroom. Chapter four addresses it as many packaged curricula will promote a certain ideology and it's evident in the phrases that are used and the messages that they send to the students. If teachers are not aware of this, then do we really know what it is that our students are learning and what message that they're taking away from our lesson?
Three Things I want to Remember:
More than anything, this is something I want to write down because I want to explore it more. Chapter four, and a bit of chapter five, references "culturally relevant pedagogy" and the importance of making sure that all of our students are represented in the texts we read and the history we learn about (57). We need to be intentional in our planning to make sure that we don't exclude viewpoints and perspectives that students may never have been exposed to. This all relates back to knowing who are students are, which is absolutely essential to being a great teacher, in my opinion. Because this is such a big piece of education and is so important, I want to do further research on culturally relevant pedagogy and find resources that give advice on where to find great examples of perspectives that we don't get in the whitewashed version that history textbooks traditionally provide.
This quote from Chapter five stuck with me long after finishing my reading: "our main choice as social studies teachers is whether we allow political forces to dictate us, or we become activists who shape what takes place in our classrooms and who influences broader policy debates" (71). This is huge. It relates back to what I said earlier about ideologies affecting what is taught. Often, the decisions that are made about what is allowed to be in the state and eventually school curriculum is decided by men in suits who have never taught before. This quote is empowering because it asks the question of if we simply sit back and teach based upon what those men believe is most essential for our students (who they don't know and likely never will know). Or we can stand up and really push back against this to regain control over what is actually essential for students to know. I believe it's related that we also empower our students to take control of their learning. This quote reminds me that we always have a voice and we get to choose how and if we use it. But where our students are concerned, if they're not getting what they really need and deserve from their education, then they deserve teachers who are willing to stand up and be activists to make a change.
Finally, I think it's important to remember the aspects on the importance of student input. Again, we need to allow students to find their voice. If students want to hear a perspective that is more reflective of who they are and what their background is, then I believe we owe that to them. They should have a say in some of the direction we take in our units and lessons. As long as the skills are being taught and the standards are being met, why not allow students to have some say in if they learn about one topic or the other in order to meet those goals? Of course they may not get what they want all the time, but I do think that if we let students have a voice in their learning and the direction we take sometimes, it will be much more engaging and memorable for our students.
Two Controversial Ideas/Things I Disagree With
A controversial idea I have brought up already has reappeared this week. This controversy is whether or not teachers should be able to express their opinion in the classroom. Chapter five addresses how one teacher was dismissed because she told her students that "she sometimes 'honks for peace'" (76). This is absolutely wrong, in my opinion. How on Earth are students ever going to hear different opinions if teachers constantly have to hide their own? As long as a teacher stresses the importance of students coming to their own conclusions and that disagreements are okay, why can't a teacher say how they feel about certain topics? If a teacher gives their opinion every single class period on controversial topics, sure that may not be the best. But it is not my belief that teachers automatically lose their First Amendment rights the second that they walk through the classroom door. We need to teach students to be critical of all opinions, including that of their teacher.
The second controversial topic that came up was the idea of academic freedom. I was really bothered by how many instances there were where individuals tried to limit what is taught in schools based upon their own beliefs. We hear about it often, unfortunately. The one story that really bothered me was when high school seniors were reading a book about teenage behavior and a parent took offense to it because "a passage referred to masturbation" (78). These aren't second graders we are talking about, these are high school seniors who are about to enter the outside world. If they did not know what masturbation was before they began reading that book, then the school had bigger issues to begin with. But the fact that one individual's opinion on the matter was enough to have the school initially drop the book from the curriculum before students and other parents fought to have it back really bothers me. The topic isn't a particularly offensive one and it is most certainly a real topic. Unless there are truly offensive aspects, why are we sheltering what our children will know because one person didn't like it's inclusion in the classroom? This bothered me tremendously.
One Question:
Early in chapter four, Singer describes how there has been disagreement with how classes are structured at different levels. For middle school courses and lower-level high school courses, teachers work harder to maintain student attention. But when high school students reach the AP level or when we enter college, many teachers or professors switch to a "chalk and talk" format where the instructor simply speaks and gives their knowledge to their students and leaves it at that. Singer, thankfully, expresses disappointment with this approach. My question is why this approach has stuck around for so long? I see it weekly in some of my courses. Sure, students may speak up here and there and we are "encouraged" to think for ourselves, but at the same time, we are subjected to listening to the professor speak for 90 minutes straight. We see students perform well when instructors use less passive approaches to teaching, so why have we allowed this model to exist at the highest level of our education? What can we, as students, do to demand that more interesting and better forms of teaching take place outside of our education classrooms?
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Success and Failure in my First Lesson
This was a busy practicum week! I actually visited Mr. Scott's classroom on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. The big deal this week - I taught my first lesson.
The good news is that I think it went well. The students really seemed to learn from it. They were engaged in the lesson (for the most part) as they found the topic interesting. The responses that I got from students on their discussion forum and submissions were quite good. As an assessment strategy, their responses were great because they gave me an idea of where I could have spent more time on my lesson. I saw fairly quickly that I could have spent more time allowing students to think about causes of the Salem Witch Trials and the mass hysteria. Perhaps more discussion with each other around those causes would have been beneficial and maybe there would have been more variation in their responses. I think that most of the responses ended up being about the same because they went with the cause that I spent the most time discussing and they thought it was most valuable as a result of that time spent. If I was going to carry this lesson forward and put more emphasis on it, I would address this and have students discuss it more and take more time looking into additional causes and see how/if their responses changed as a result of that.
I also learned a valuable technology lesson. ALWAYS find a way to test your lesson's components out on the technology that the students will be expected to use. I didn't do this because I don't own an iPad. Next time I plan a lesson, I'll ask to borrow Mr. Scott's iPad during my practicum hours to make sure that it will work. I was able to adjust my lesson this time, but what would I have done if that adjustment wasn't easy to make? Or if it was impossible? I had additional ideas that could have been incorporated into the lesson, but none of them could have salvaged the lesson as a whole. It honestly would have been a disaster. That was a nice reminder for me. Just because I triple-checked the technology on my laptop and saw the lesson would work on my end does not mean that it will work on the iPads and that it will go as I plan there.
The best part about teaching this first lesson is what it has done for me after teaching. I'm more confident in the classroom now. I feel a million times more comfortable with the students. I can tell that they're more comfortable with me, too. So many students opened up to me on Wednesday, the first day I went back to Mr. Scott's room following teaching, and they spent more time talking to me. They also expressed excitement that I had taught them and they were asking when I would teach again. Some of these students were even part of that first group that I taught on Monday, where the lesson didn't go exactly as I had planned and they weren't as engaged in the lesson as following groups. This was reassuring to me that even though I felt like I had failed that group to some extent, they were still excited about the lesson I taught and could forgive that I wasn't as bright and cheery walking into the lesson at the beginning as I should have been.
I'm excited to see what the next two months holds for me. I'm a bit anxious about getting all of my lessons in as time is ticking down and students are now switching into a new unit, so it may be another couple of weeks before I get the opportunity to teach again. But, this will be a good test for me and Mr. Scott and see how well we can communicate with each other and work together to plan how we move forward. We'll see what happens next week, but I'm feeling good about where I am in the classroom and how I'm progressing in my teaching!
The good news is that I think it went well. The students really seemed to learn from it. They were engaged in the lesson (for the most part) as they found the topic interesting. The responses that I got from students on their discussion forum and submissions were quite good. As an assessment strategy, their responses were great because they gave me an idea of where I could have spent more time on my lesson. I saw fairly quickly that I could have spent more time allowing students to think about causes of the Salem Witch Trials and the mass hysteria. Perhaps more discussion with each other around those causes would have been beneficial and maybe there would have been more variation in their responses. I think that most of the responses ended up being about the same because they went with the cause that I spent the most time discussing and they thought it was most valuable as a result of that time spent. If I was going to carry this lesson forward and put more emphasis on it, I would address this and have students discuss it more and take more time looking into additional causes and see how/if their responses changed as a result of that.
I also learned a valuable technology lesson. ALWAYS find a way to test your lesson's components out on the technology that the students will be expected to use. I didn't do this because I don't own an iPad. Next time I plan a lesson, I'll ask to borrow Mr. Scott's iPad during my practicum hours to make sure that it will work. I was able to adjust my lesson this time, but what would I have done if that adjustment wasn't easy to make? Or if it was impossible? I had additional ideas that could have been incorporated into the lesson, but none of them could have salvaged the lesson as a whole. It honestly would have been a disaster. That was a nice reminder for me. Just because I triple-checked the technology on my laptop and saw the lesson would work on my end does not mean that it will work on the iPads and that it will go as I plan there.
The best part about teaching this first lesson is what it has done for me after teaching. I'm more confident in the classroom now. I feel a million times more comfortable with the students. I can tell that they're more comfortable with me, too. So many students opened up to me on Wednesday, the first day I went back to Mr. Scott's room following teaching, and they spent more time talking to me. They also expressed excitement that I had taught them and they were asking when I would teach again. Some of these students were even part of that first group that I taught on Monday, where the lesson didn't go exactly as I had planned and they weren't as engaged in the lesson as following groups. This was reassuring to me that even though I felt like I had failed that group to some extent, they were still excited about the lesson I taught and could forgive that I wasn't as bright and cheery walking into the lesson at the beginning as I should have been.
I'm excited to see what the next two months holds for me. I'm a bit anxious about getting all of my lessons in as time is ticking down and students are now switching into a new unit, so it may be another couple of weeks before I get the opportunity to teach again. But, this will be a good test for me and Mr. Scott and see how well we can communicate with each other and work together to plan how we move forward. We'll see what happens next week, but I'm feeling good about where I am in the classroom and how I'm progressing in my teaching!
Friday, October 14, 2016
Busy Week
So I forgot to post about my Wednesday practicum, so I'm going to combine my two visits into one post.
Wednesday for me was about getting back into the swing of things. I hadn't been in the classroom for a week and a half, and after being incredibly sick and still not feeling 100% I saw how exhausting it can be as a teacher. Mr. Scott asked me to kind of take the lead on helping students on Wednesday and doing quick check-ins with them as they worked through an assignment in pairs where they would complete a reading (a page or two), and then fill out a structured diagram. I was happy to have the challenge, but found myself completely exhausted after 20 minutes. It was a piece of cake checking in with some students as they just seemed to really understand the reading and exactly what they should write on each part of the diagram. Other students, not so much. When I tried to check in with Billy, I was getting nowhere. He wouldn't start the reading. When he did, he would just scribble on the page rather than actually read it or highlight. He was having an off day and so was I.
I felt guilty, but I started to give up after a while. I didn't understand why Billy didn't want my help. I offered many times to sit and read with him. I asked him to speak to his partner about what he needed to do and maybe they could do the entire assignment together. He would always say "that's okay, I'm fine" to get me to walk away, and then he would go back to scribbling or something else to occupy his time. Mr. Scott did step in and speak to Billy eventually to get him to start the assignment, and once he started, then he was open to receiving my help. This was a meaningful learning experience for me as I saw my reaction to the situation and how it was my first instinct to walk away when I was frustrated that he wouldn't begin. When I have my own classroom, and when I become more and more comfortable with these students, I think it will be easier to have those more difficult conversations and discuss with Billy why he wouldn't start rather than allowing him to say something to placate me and walk away. The situation could have been totally different too if I had been feeling more like myself - but I still need to be aware that this is my reaction, because I won't always be feeling my best when I have my own classroom but that doesn't mean I should change as a teacher.
Today, I still wasn't myself but I had a less active role in the classroom. Students spent advisory setting up a portfolio space either online or through an app on their iPad to document evidence for their PLPs. Today was mostly about setting up the different pages or tabs that they will enter information into. One section is about them and who they are as a learner and a person. Another section is about their goals - short term in addition to long term goals like what they want to be when they graduate and where they see themselves in 30 or 40 years. This is part of the portfolio that I think is really significant because it provides a space to connect what students are learning in the classroom to their goals - which is one of the main points behind personalized learning plans. Then, they set up folders for each class that they are taking so they can add content to it. I wish that students had started to discuss their goals and who they are as learners, but they didn't get that far today. Hopefully I will be there on a day where they continue that conversation and I can see how PLPs work.
I can't wait to get back to feeling like myself again so I can enjoy my time in the classroom a bit more. I teach a lesson on Monday and Tuesday, so I will have a better understanding of the students in the classes after that. I'm excited but nervous. I guess we'll see what happens, but at the very least, I know I'm prepared!
Wednesday for me was about getting back into the swing of things. I hadn't been in the classroom for a week and a half, and after being incredibly sick and still not feeling 100% I saw how exhausting it can be as a teacher. Mr. Scott asked me to kind of take the lead on helping students on Wednesday and doing quick check-ins with them as they worked through an assignment in pairs where they would complete a reading (a page or two), and then fill out a structured diagram. I was happy to have the challenge, but found myself completely exhausted after 20 minutes. It was a piece of cake checking in with some students as they just seemed to really understand the reading and exactly what they should write on each part of the diagram. Other students, not so much. When I tried to check in with Billy, I was getting nowhere. He wouldn't start the reading. When he did, he would just scribble on the page rather than actually read it or highlight. He was having an off day and so was I.
I felt guilty, but I started to give up after a while. I didn't understand why Billy didn't want my help. I offered many times to sit and read with him. I asked him to speak to his partner about what he needed to do and maybe they could do the entire assignment together. He would always say "that's okay, I'm fine" to get me to walk away, and then he would go back to scribbling or something else to occupy his time. Mr. Scott did step in and speak to Billy eventually to get him to start the assignment, and once he started, then he was open to receiving my help. This was a meaningful learning experience for me as I saw my reaction to the situation and how it was my first instinct to walk away when I was frustrated that he wouldn't begin. When I have my own classroom, and when I become more and more comfortable with these students, I think it will be easier to have those more difficult conversations and discuss with Billy why he wouldn't start rather than allowing him to say something to placate me and walk away. The situation could have been totally different too if I had been feeling more like myself - but I still need to be aware that this is my reaction, because I won't always be feeling my best when I have my own classroom but that doesn't mean I should change as a teacher.
Today, I still wasn't myself but I had a less active role in the classroom. Students spent advisory setting up a portfolio space either online or through an app on their iPad to document evidence for their PLPs. Today was mostly about setting up the different pages or tabs that they will enter information into. One section is about them and who they are as a learner and a person. Another section is about their goals - short term in addition to long term goals like what they want to be when they graduate and where they see themselves in 30 or 40 years. This is part of the portfolio that I think is really significant because it provides a space to connect what students are learning in the classroom to their goals - which is one of the main points behind personalized learning plans. Then, they set up folders for each class that they are taking so they can add content to it. I wish that students had started to discuss their goals and who they are as learners, but they didn't get that far today. Hopefully I will be there on a day where they continue that conversation and I can see how PLPs work.
I can't wait to get back to feeling like myself again so I can enjoy my time in the classroom a bit more. I teach a lesson on Monday and Tuesday, so I will have a better understanding of the students in the classes after that. I'm excited but nervous. I guess we'll see what happens, but at the very least, I know I'm prepared!
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