It's done. I've made it through Institute. And I'm still alive.
Yesterday, after one session of casual reflection (I know! It wasn't that bad!), we had some nice bonding experiences as a school team and then parted ways.
We did a nice activity, that consisted of the thirty or so of us CMs to stand in two concentric circles. The folks in the inner circle closed their eyes. The folks on the outside were asked to tap the shoulders of the people on the inside circle who inspired them as a teacher. Then, who will now be a lifelong friend. Then, who made them laugh. After a half dozen of these, the circles switched places, and I was now standing on the inside with my eyes closed. The first category was "Tap the shoulder of people who gave it their all". A couple of seconds went by. Another couple of seconds. Then...tap. Tap. Tap tap tap tap.
I cried.
Also, one of the CMs made peach cobbler. There was a slideshow. We went home early. My parents helped me move out of the dorms.
Oh! I have a interview! I was invited to an interview at a public school in Bridgeport next Wednesday. I'm really excited. I think most of the rest of the CT science CMs who haven't been placed have interviews next week. I might have a placement soon!
Now I will relax for a few days. I will not work, I will not teach, and I will sleep. If only I could stop sounding like a teacher all the time...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Reflection Reflection
Yesterday I realized what I find frustrating about Institute and the TFA training process: reflection. In reflecting upon reflection, I realized that a lot of the program is teaching us how to reflect. We are being taught how to reflect on our lessons, our students, our preconceived notions, and our assessment scores. It seems, though, that this is something that I have already done. As a writer, I spend a lot of time reflecting, even if I am not conscious of it at the time. As a writer, my reflections are recorded so I can go back and look at them later, even if I never really wanted to see them again.
The problem is this: if I knew we would be given 10 or 15 or more minutes of quiet time to fill in boxes with specific reflection questions in it, I would not have spent the time earlier reflecting on what I've accomplished this month. Not only have I done the reflecting already, but I've done it in a natural and free-flowing manner, rather than in an overly-guided MS Word table like the many that TFA loves to give us.
Today, our assignment was to reflect (on specific things) on index cards, which we would glue (with a glue stick) to a manila folder to keep forever.
I guess I understand the purpose of this exercise; reflection is important, and is necessary for being good at anything, especially a new endeavor. But. But I don't need the guide. I don't need to be forced. Not only does it make it harder, it also makes me instinctively take it less seriously. It's like if you were handed a crossword puzzle, and then given a list of answers to the clues. And then you were told you had 15 minutes to sit and fill in the clues. I'm sure it's a challenging puzzle, and probably fun to do, but not if they give you the answers. I'd rather take the puzzle without the answers. Or, don't expect me to fill in the answers we are given.
I write anyway. I reflect anyway. And I love it. But forced guided reflection ruins it for me.
On the bright side, it got me thinking about differentiation. How do I give students interesting projects that challenge every student at every different level? How can I make sure that every student is feeling included, even though their abilities differ considerably? For every student who isn't understanding the lesson, there's another student who is bored and unchallenged.
This will be challenging. I will have to make enrichment work for different levels. I plan on providing my students with a classroom library for extra "science" education (Ender's Game! Fahrenheit 451! Ray Bradbury! Robert A. Heinlein!). I hope to provide extra credit opportunities at all levels.
(Today, our forced guided reflection involves writing letters to our future teacher selves.)
Differentiation is challenging for all teachers at all levels.
The problem is this: if I knew we would be given 10 or 15 or more minutes of quiet time to fill in boxes with specific reflection questions in it, I would not have spent the time earlier reflecting on what I've accomplished this month. Not only have I done the reflecting already, but I've done it in a natural and free-flowing manner, rather than in an overly-guided MS Word table like the many that TFA loves to give us.
Today, our assignment was to reflect (on specific things) on index cards, which we would glue (with a glue stick) to a manila folder to keep forever.
I guess I understand the purpose of this exercise; reflection is important, and is necessary for being good at anything, especially a new endeavor. But. But I don't need the guide. I don't need to be forced. Not only does it make it harder, it also makes me instinctively take it less seriously. It's like if you were handed a crossword puzzle, and then given a list of answers to the clues. And then you were told you had 15 minutes to sit and fill in the clues. I'm sure it's a challenging puzzle, and probably fun to do, but not if they give you the answers. I'd rather take the puzzle without the answers. Or, don't expect me to fill in the answers we are given.
I write anyway. I reflect anyway. And I love it. But forced guided reflection ruins it for me.
On the bright side, it got me thinking about differentiation. How do I give students interesting projects that challenge every student at every different level? How can I make sure that every student is feeling included, even though their abilities differ considerably? For every student who isn't understanding the lesson, there's another student who is bored and unchallenged.
This will be challenging. I will have to make enrichment work for different levels. I plan on providing my students with a classroom library for extra "science" education (Ender's Game! Fahrenheit 451! Ray Bradbury! Robert A. Heinlein!). I hope to provide extra credit opportunities at all levels.
(Today, our forced guided reflection involves writing letters to our future teacher selves.)
Differentiation is challenging for all teachers at all levels.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Last Day of School
Today was our last day teaching this summer (don't worry, we still have a full day of sessions tomorrow before they let us go). I received many nice words from the three students that attended, and one of them gave me a hug. I almost cried. That's not true. I cried.
The assessments were...eh. The class certainly improved, from a 39% average at the start of the summer to a 62% average now, but I'm disappointed. I guess if you consider that the assessment tested different objectives than the ones we were required to teach, the scores can be considered a little higher (if we don't count the material that we were told not to teach). That includes a nice chunk of the test, which might have raised our class average to the arbitrary goal that was set for us, 75%. I'm disappointed, but I think it had to do more with planning objectives and creating assessments than with teaching.
Fortunately, we had a session on creating unit plans and other long-term planning techniques. In addition to making me more anxious about the placement I don't have yet, we learned how to take a year-long curriculum and plan each day. I love planning. I'm great at planning. This school year will be very good (I hope).
I've learned that some awesome people are reading this blog. I'd like to shout out to the coolest girl in Memphis (and her new kitty!) and my favorite small writer in NYC (who will get a great job soon, I'm sure of it).
I realized today that I really love teaching. I think I've picked the right thing. Well, 1.5 days left of Institute, and 2 years left in TFA. Proud, eager, and excited.
The assessments were...eh. The class certainly improved, from a 39% average at the start of the summer to a 62% average now, but I'm disappointed. I guess if you consider that the assessment tested different objectives than the ones we were required to teach, the scores can be considered a little higher (if we don't count the material that we were told not to teach). That includes a nice chunk of the test, which might have raised our class average to the arbitrary goal that was set for us, 75%. I'm disappointed, but I think it had to do more with planning objectives and creating assessments than with teaching.
Fortunately, we had a session on creating unit plans and other long-term planning techniques. In addition to making me more anxious about the placement I don't have yet, we learned how to take a year-long curriculum and plan each day. I love planning. I'm great at planning. This school year will be very good (I hope).
I've learned that some awesome people are reading this blog. I'd like to shout out to the coolest girl in Memphis (and her new kitty!) and my favorite small writer in NYC (who will get a great job soon, I'm sure of it).
I realized today that I really love teaching. I think I've picked the right thing. Well, 1.5 days left of Institute, and 2 years left in TFA. Proud, eager, and excited.
Final Exam
I rarely get nervous for final exams. I'm nervous for this one. It doesn't help that we didn't get to write the exam, and that it doesn't align to the objectives we were told to teach this summer. It is also frustrating that we were expected to teach isolated objectives to prepare them for the final, and we had to squeeze in the foundational knowledge on our own. Oh well, it's up to the kids now. They always do better than I think.
Yesterday we had one of the most useful sessions I've seen so far: grading. How to grade, what to grade, when to grade. For example, if you grade every single homework, the students feel uncomfortable practicing new skills. However, if you never grade homework, they won't put enough effort into it.
In addition, it is important to create a rubric or grading system prior to giving the exam, so that you are grading by a standard, rather than giving points for effort. Don't confuse effort with mastery.
The students' grade should reflect their level of mastery of the material.
My students are taking the exam right now. The review session went well, so we'll see how they do in practice.
I am even more anxious about placement now. In the last couple of weeks, many of my fellow CT CMs have been placed. I haven't heard anything. I have no idea what city I'm going to be in or exactly what grade I am going to be teaching. I know that placement occurs right up to the start of the school year (and sometimes a few days later), but I am really hoping to be placed sooner rather than later. I'd like to have some time to find an apartment and move in, as well as creating a unit plan for my classes. I don't want to be that one person who wasn't placed until a week into the school year.
As for now, I'll worry about the final exams. Results to follow.
Yesterday we had one of the most useful sessions I've seen so far: grading. How to grade, what to grade, when to grade. For example, if you grade every single homework, the students feel uncomfortable practicing new skills. However, if you never grade homework, they won't put enough effort into it.
In addition, it is important to create a rubric or grading system prior to giving the exam, so that you are grading by a standard, rather than giving points for effort. Don't confuse effort with mastery.
The students' grade should reflect their level of mastery of the material.
My students are taking the exam right now. The review session went well, so we'll see how they do in practice.
I am even more anxious about placement now. In the last couple of weeks, many of my fellow CT CMs have been placed. I haven't heard anything. I have no idea what city I'm going to be in or exactly what grade I am going to be teaching. I know that placement occurs right up to the start of the school year (and sometimes a few days later), but I am really hoping to be placed sooner rather than later. I'd like to have some time to find an apartment and move in, as well as creating a unit plan for my classes. I don't want to be that one person who wasn't placed until a week into the school year.
As for now, I'll worry about the final exams. Results to follow.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Importance of Binder Clips
Yesterday we had a session on multicultural education. I learned the following:
Sidebars in textbooks often encourage stereotypes. Instead, offer examples that are seamlessly woven into a lesson.
Don't have the “heroes and holidays” mindset (i.e. Black History Month): it puts people in boxes on calendars, instead of celebrating then all the time.
Multi-Cultural Education is NOT:
at odds with western civilization and with the teaching of western history, literature, and thinking.
appropriate enrichment only for students who have already mastered “basic” content and skills.
a curriculum movement only for disenfranchised or marginalized groups.
We have the ability to help change mindsets of children, as well as to help them develop pride in their own culture/background/life history.
Students do better when they have something to relate to, so we need to give enough examples to reach every kid in our class. Learn about the students so you can leverage their backgrounds to help them get invested.
Teach them to stand up for themselves.
During that session, the CS (Curriculum Specialist) did something very nice for me, which shows me how good she is as a teacher. I arrived at class early, and she had this to say to me, "I know you like fidgeting on your computer during class, but this session's notes are only in hard copy, so no computers today. But, here's a binder clip and some masking tape to play with."
I learned that binder clips are a great and quiet way to entertain fidgety students to help them focus.
We also had a special session on science education. I learned to always have a substitute teacher binder, which includes attendance rosters, emergency class plans (Mythbusters and the Scientific Method, House and the Scientific Method), and exam review sheets. Also, make sure the students have computer and internet access, because they won't always have them at home. Inform the students on the locations and hours of local libraries. Also, make friends with a lab supply salesman, the art teacher, and local fast food shops for free (or cheap) lab supplies, including sugar packets and straws.
Class went really well yesterday. I had all of my students working hard on writing a letter to the editor of the New York Daily News regarding an article about cutting down a grove of trees in the Bronx. They were writing to inform the readers about the effect of deforestation on global warming. They didn't want to stop writing to leave class!
Only one more day of teaching left, and one day of review and assessment after that. Almost done. And I'm almost sad about it.
Sidebars in textbooks often encourage stereotypes. Instead, offer examples that are seamlessly woven into a lesson.
Don't have the “heroes and holidays” mindset (i.e. Black History Month): it puts people in boxes on calendars, instead of celebrating then all the time.
Multi-Cultural Education is NOT:
at odds with western civilization and with the teaching of western history, literature, and thinking.
appropriate enrichment only for students who have already mastered “basic” content and skills.
a curriculum movement only for disenfranchised or marginalized groups.
We have the ability to help change mindsets of children, as well as to help them develop pride in their own culture/background/life history.
Students do better when they have something to relate to, so we need to give enough examples to reach every kid in our class. Learn about the students so you can leverage their backgrounds to help them get invested.
Teach them to stand up for themselves.
During that session, the CS (Curriculum Specialist) did something very nice for me, which shows me how good she is as a teacher. I arrived at class early, and she had this to say to me, "I know you like fidgeting on your computer during class, but this session's notes are only in hard copy, so no computers today. But, here's a binder clip and some masking tape to play with."
I learned that binder clips are a great and quiet way to entertain fidgety students to help them focus.
We also had a special session on science education. I learned to always have a substitute teacher binder, which includes attendance rosters, emergency class plans (Mythbusters and the Scientific Method, House and the Scientific Method), and exam review sheets. Also, make sure the students have computer and internet access, because they won't always have them at home. Inform the students on the locations and hours of local libraries. Also, make friends with a lab supply salesman, the art teacher, and local fast food shops for free (or cheap) lab supplies, including sugar packets and straws.
Class went really well yesterday. I had all of my students working hard on writing a letter to the editor of the New York Daily News regarding an article about cutting down a grove of trees in the Bronx. They were writing to inform the readers about the effect of deforestation on global warming. They didn't want to stop writing to leave class!
Only one more day of teaching left, and one day of review and assessment after that. Almost done. And I'm almost sad about it.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Bad Investment
“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
Dr. Hiam Ginott
Today I received some unpleasant news about my class: any student with three absences will lose credit for the course. For my class, that means losing three of the four students. And here's the kicker: they won't be told until after Thursday, so "it doesn't affect our statistics".
Our school operations manager (SOM) says that it isn't my fault and that we did nothing wrong, that these things happen. I feel like I failed. Either my class wasn't good enough for them, or I couldn't invest them enough to make them understand the importance of attending school regularly. Bummer.
I must do better next time.
I still have to teach the class, although we haven't had nearly full attendance this week. Today I'm teaching about global warming. In order to do this, I'm going to do this in the form of learning how to write a letter about global warming. Their project today is to write a letter to the editor of the New York Daily News in response to a recent article about removing a grove of trees from a park in the Bronx. I hope they will be able to explain that removing trees is deforestation, and since trees absorb carbon dioxide, there will be more carbon dioxide in the air, which is a greenhouse gas, and greenhouse gases cause global warming.
It is a simplified explanation, but it works. I wish I had the time to explain to them the different prediction models of the effects of global climate change and the debates over the IPCC data. Maybe next year.
Dr. Hiam Ginott
Today I received some unpleasant news about my class: any student with three absences will lose credit for the course. For my class, that means losing three of the four students. And here's the kicker: they won't be told until after Thursday, so "it doesn't affect our statistics".
Our school operations manager (SOM) says that it isn't my fault and that we did nothing wrong, that these things happen. I feel like I failed. Either my class wasn't good enough for them, or I couldn't invest them enough to make them understand the importance of attending school regularly. Bummer.
I must do better next time.
I still have to teach the class, although we haven't had nearly full attendance this week. Today I'm teaching about global warming. In order to do this, I'm going to do this in the form of learning how to write a letter about global warming. Their project today is to write a letter to the editor of the New York Daily News in response to a recent article about removing a grove of trees from a park in the Bronx. I hope they will be able to explain that removing trees is deforestation, and since trees absorb carbon dioxide, there will be more carbon dioxide in the air, which is a greenhouse gas, and greenhouse gases cause global warming.
It is a simplified explanation, but it works. I wish I had the time to explain to them the different prediction models of the effects of global climate change and the debates over the IPCC data. Maybe next year.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Second-to-Last Friday
It's Friday!
This morning, we learned about special education.
When it comes to special needs students (and all students, really), it is our responsibility to advocate for our students. It is our legal obligation to uphold the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for each student.
There is a big distinction in actions we can take.
Accomodations: change the process, but not the content (i.e. organizers, large font), change to the way students show learning
vs.
Modifications: change to the content or difficulty level of the gen ed curriculum
And then we watched a video that was obviously filmed in the 1980s that reminded us that telling student with learning disabilities to “try harder” will never, ever work.
We learned to teach students to advocate for themselves. Not every teacher knows to ask for an IEP. A student needs to tell a teacher that they have special requirements and what those requirements are. The students need to learn how they learn best, and what they can do on their own to succeed.
Also, fair is not always equal. We were shown an example
Later in the morning, we had a session on meeting the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). The most important part is to remember that ELLs include those who don't speak English as a first (or second, or third) language, as well as those who don't readily speak “academic” English.
One of the examples was a passage we were given in French, with some questions in English following, to show us how difficult it was to answer questions about a passage in a language we don't understand. I actually translated it for the class, which made me feel special; I guess I haven't forgotten too much from high school French. It was also pointed out to us, though, that the questions was even more difficult because we didn't understand the culture it described (the French school system).
The heart of the achievement gap is a literacy gap, or vocabulary gap. They may speak the language, but there is a big gap between speaking the language and being able to decode academic texts. Hence my students' problems with multiple-choice questions. There is a big difference between being able to communicate socially and being able to understand a teacher.
And then there's the issue of getting a kid comfortable enough with a non-native language to ask questions he might be uncomfortable asking in the first place. (I'm really considering creating a participation-required IDK box.)
We now have a couple more ideas in our toolbox for differentiating the lesson for students who are special education or ELLs.
I also received a comment on a lesson plan complimenting my key points, one of the most important parts of our plans: “Good WHAT, WHY, and HOW”. This is the TFA equivalent of an A+.
In other news, Texas' abstinence-only education program seems somehow flawed. For some really shocking reason, it seems that since enacting the program, rates of teen pregnancy have increased. Gov. Perry, who is considering a bid for president, when asked for a statistic to suggest it works, replied that "I'm just going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works."
That's why I need to be a science teacher.
The day ended with a nice, honest group discussion. We were expressing our frustration with some of the TFA logistics that leave us cramming our lesson planning into sleep hours while sitting around for hours while some programs (and breaks!) are dragged out. We were reminded, by an adored superior of ours, that we're here for a reason. We're here because we want to teach and because we want to help people. We're not here because we love everything about the organization that runs the program. We're here because we want to be.
Although, if you really want a fun time, wait until the heat index pushes 115 and sit in traffic on a yellow school bus. Oof.
This morning, we learned about special education.
When it comes to special needs students (and all students, really), it is our responsibility to advocate for our students. It is our legal obligation to uphold the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for each student.
There is a big distinction in actions we can take.
Accomodations: change the process, but not the content (i.e. organizers, large font), change to the way students show learning
vs.
Modifications: change to the content or difficulty level of the gen ed curriculum
And then we watched a video that was obviously filmed in the 1980s that reminded us that telling student with learning disabilities to “try harder” will never, ever work.
We learned to teach students to advocate for themselves. Not every teacher knows to ask for an IEP. A student needs to tell a teacher that they have special requirements and what those requirements are. The students need to learn how they learn best, and what they can do on their own to succeed.
Also, fair is not always equal. We were shown an example
Later in the morning, we had a session on meeting the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). The most important part is to remember that ELLs include those who don't speak English as a first (or second, or third) language, as well as those who don't readily speak “academic” English.
One of the examples was a passage we were given in French, with some questions in English following, to show us how difficult it was to answer questions about a passage in a language we don't understand. I actually translated it for the class, which made me feel special; I guess I haven't forgotten too much from high school French. It was also pointed out to us, though, that the questions was even more difficult because we didn't understand the culture it described (the French school system).
The heart of the achievement gap is a literacy gap, or vocabulary gap. They may speak the language, but there is a big gap between speaking the language and being able to decode academic texts. Hence my students' problems with multiple-choice questions. There is a big difference between being able to communicate socially and being able to understand a teacher.
And then there's the issue of getting a kid comfortable enough with a non-native language to ask questions he might be uncomfortable asking in the first place. (I'm really considering creating a participation-required IDK box.)
We now have a couple more ideas in our toolbox for differentiating the lesson for students who are special education or ELLs.
I also received a comment on a lesson plan complimenting my key points, one of the most important parts of our plans: “Good WHAT, WHY, and HOW”. This is the TFA equivalent of an A+.
In other news, Texas' abstinence-only education program seems somehow flawed. For some really shocking reason, it seems that since enacting the program, rates of teen pregnancy have increased. Gov. Perry, who is considering a bid for president, when asked for a statistic to suggest it works, replied that "I'm just going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works."
That's why I need to be a science teacher.
The day ended with a nice, honest group discussion. We were expressing our frustration with some of the TFA logistics that leave us cramming our lesson planning into sleep hours while sitting around for hours while some programs (and breaks!) are dragged out. We were reminded, by an adored superior of ours, that we're here for a reason. We're here because we want to teach and because we want to help people. We're not here because we love everything about the organization that runs the program. We're here because we want to be.
Although, if you really want a fun time, wait until the heat index pushes 115 and sit in traffic on a yellow school bus. Oof.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Panel
(Today included one of the most useful sessions we've had so far. In one hour, we heard almost all of the advice it took us a month to learn, from the mouths of those who knew it best. The following is a summary of the panel we listened to today. The panel included 6 students and 3 veteran teachers from this school. I have included most of the students' comments. My thoughts are in parentheses.)
A great teacher is into you, they care about you, they call home to introduce themselves, they call you out for not doing your work, but you know it's for your own good.
A great teacher says that they care about you and whether you go to college. They give motivational speeches, tell you that you can do it, make you want to do your work.
Advice for new teachers:
Don't come off as too friendly because students take advantage, but don't come off as too strict.
Other student: be nice, let students get to know you.
Be funny.
Find a way to relate to the students in any way.
Videos, music, short abbreviated activities.
Give the kids an opportunity to relate to you.
Connect the subject matter to itself and to their lives.
(The students loved talking and taking charge of the classroom)
Allow students to make mistakes, point them out, but don't criticize the first time.
Start off the year with team-building exercises for the class.
LEARN NAMES! Pay extra attention for the kids who are not super popular, and make connections with them.
Remind students it's okay to ask questions. Show them you don't think they're dumb. Have a question box (IDK Box) – sometimes make each student contribute an idea.
Let students work in groups, they may be more willing to ask each other questions and learn from each other (consider ELLs).
Let students self-teach sometimes, and they'll be more curious.
Remind them to ask questions, to stop and reflect.
If you call home with positive feedback, students are more likely to do it again.
Any student is willing to write an essay if it's on a topic they like. They also dislike writing because it's challenging, they haven't had enough practice. They feel like they don't write as well as they speak. Don't make writing a punishment. Break down essay-writing into chunks.
Breaking things down into steps makes any task accessible. It makes them feel like they're taking a shortcut.
Don't go crazy with the red pen. It makes kids hate writing. It makes them feel like they wasted their time. Tell them they accomplished something.
Students enjoy classroom debates.
If you have a bad day, the students will notice, but they'll forgive you. Tomorrow is another day. Similarly, allow students to redeem themselves. Forgive them as well.
A good teacher notices your weaknesses and turns them into strengths.
Having a good teacher makes you want to visit them every year and tell them how well they're doing.
Students don't readily see a reward for succeeding in class—show them how to connect academic success with future financial success (right now I'm pretending that all of my friends who paid $180,000 for a college education are employed).
(And they they turned the tables:) What do teachers want in a good student? (We raised our hands, they called on us. They moderated each other. They corrected each others' grammar! They asked for equal participation around the room.) How do teachers deal with rowdy students? What are teachers willing to do for struggling students? Why did you want to become teachers? (They wanted to hear answers from all of us.)
A student interrupted the closing commentary to say: The last thing my father said to me before I never saw him again was Don't fear failure. You will fail, and it will be okay anyway, and then you'll be better.
The last thought: A great teacher is _______________________.
Persistent.
Motivational.
Epic.
Exciting.
Forgiving.
Understanding.
Engaging.
(I think they saw us as people today.)
A great teacher is into you, they care about you, they call home to introduce themselves, they call you out for not doing your work, but you know it's for your own good.
A great teacher says that they care about you and whether you go to college. They give motivational speeches, tell you that you can do it, make you want to do your work.
Advice for new teachers:
Don't come off as too friendly because students take advantage, but don't come off as too strict.
Other student: be nice, let students get to know you.
Be funny.
Find a way to relate to the students in any way.
Videos, music, short abbreviated activities.
Give the kids an opportunity to relate to you.
Connect the subject matter to itself and to their lives.
(The students loved talking and taking charge of the classroom)
Allow students to make mistakes, point them out, but don't criticize the first time.
Start off the year with team-building exercises for the class.
LEARN NAMES! Pay extra attention for the kids who are not super popular, and make connections with them.
Remind students it's okay to ask questions. Show them you don't think they're dumb. Have a question box (IDK Box) – sometimes make each student contribute an idea.
Let students work in groups, they may be more willing to ask each other questions and learn from each other (consider ELLs).
Let students self-teach sometimes, and they'll be more curious.
Remind them to ask questions, to stop and reflect.
If you call home with positive feedback, students are more likely to do it again.
Any student is willing to write an essay if it's on a topic they like. They also dislike writing because it's challenging, they haven't had enough practice. They feel like they don't write as well as they speak. Don't make writing a punishment. Break down essay-writing into chunks.
Breaking things down into steps makes any task accessible. It makes them feel like they're taking a shortcut.
Don't go crazy with the red pen. It makes kids hate writing. It makes them feel like they wasted their time. Tell them they accomplished something.
Students enjoy classroom debates.
If you have a bad day, the students will notice, but they'll forgive you. Tomorrow is another day. Similarly, allow students to redeem themselves. Forgive them as well.
A good teacher notices your weaknesses and turns them into strengths.
Having a good teacher makes you want to visit them every year and tell them how well they're doing.
Students don't readily see a reward for succeeding in class—show them how to connect academic success with future financial success (right now I'm pretending that all of my friends who paid $180,000 for a college education are employed).
(And they they turned the tables:) What do teachers want in a good student? (We raised our hands, they called on us. They moderated each other. They corrected each others' grammar! They asked for equal participation around the room.) How do teachers deal with rowdy students? What are teachers willing to do for struggling students? Why did you want to become teachers? (They wanted to hear answers from all of us.)
A student interrupted the closing commentary to say: The last thing my father said to me before I never saw him again was Don't fear failure. You will fail, and it will be okay anyway, and then you'll be better.
The last thought: A great teacher is _______________________.
Persistent.
Motivational.
Epic.
Exciting.
Forgiving.
Understanding.
Engaging.
(I think they saw us as people today.)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Eighty-Seven Percent
Today was a pretty good day.
Due to various circumstances, today my collab and I ended up listening to the advice we'd been given and only teach one objective per class hour, rather than trying to cram in more material. Though it means we've skipped more material overall, the students are really knowledgeable about mitosis and meiosis, and how to compare and contrast them (there were Venn diagrams and everything). They aced the translation review, and then we made a chart, and a diagram. They even wrote in complete sentences for me on the exit ticket. Overall mastery was 87%, which is excellent. I was proud.
It's good to know that for the school year, I should teach objectives well at the expense of a few at the end, rather than trying to squeeze any material in last minute. In a year or two, I should get the hang of which topics are best to leave out.
During the last couple of minutes of class, I tried to chat up the students again. Yesterday's magical moment had passed. They stared at me for a minute and I let them go for the day.
No more students accidentally expressing that they were disappointed wouldn't be teaching here in the fall.
Tomorrow, we talk about natural selection and phylogenetic trees. It's nice that these kids have already been through the course, so I don't have to worry about any questions about the validity of the theory of evolution. On a related note, today Google is celebrating Gregor Mendel's birthday. Who would have guessed he would become so famous for his experiments that were initially designed to prove Lamarck's theory of evolution (which is famous for being wrong)?
I bet you're wondering what the picture at the top is, the one with the lockers. Today, one of our sessions was about formal writing with our students. We learned how to teach the steps of creating a written piece, such as a poem or essay, based on a model. We did this by writing our own poems! The poetry was taped up in the hallway and we commented on each others' work using Post-Its.
Post-Its are pretty ubiquitous around here. So are red pens and chalk hand-prints on business clothing.
As we approach the penultimate day of the penultimate week of Institute (lolz, sorry, can't do that with a straight face), the sessions have been getting a little less formal and ending a little earlier each time. We've had an extra half hour or so today to relax in between sessions. It's nice, and it helps me feel like I'm not the only one looking forward to the end of this.
By the way, I finished my LAST LESSON PLAN OF INSTITUTE today. It didn't hurt that it was a lesson that the other Living Environment class had already done, so I got to borrow large pieces of lesson plan. Like we were encouraged to.
Four days left of instruction!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
All About Them
Today was an awesome day. It wasn't perfect with the lesson (70% mastery on the exit ticket), but the lesson ended early. I taught DNA transcription and RNA translation, and they mastered the big amino acid chart pretty quickly. In the last 15 minutes, I sat with my class and talked about myself. And they talked about themselves. My collab joined us and helped.
Student 1, who struggles most in class, but is always there with a smile, wants to be a detective when she grows up. She laughs a lot. She went to the beach this weekend and came to class with a nice sunburn. She's good at recall, but sometimes struggles with the analytical aspect of the material. She always raises her hand to participate.
Student 2 is the only boy in class. He missed the first three days in class, but made sure that his attendance wasn't a problem with the main office. He begged us to share his midterm score with him so he can keep track of his progress. He wants to be an architect when he grows up. He draws creative and clever cartoons in my class (you should see his enzyme comic).
Student 3 is very shy, but she shared today that she loves the class and that it is changing her mind about biology. I was never sure, because she is always so quiet in class. She doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up, which I assure her is okay, but her favorite class is math.
I got to know the most about Student 4. She has attendance and tardiness problems, which I learned today is due to the fact that she is living with a family member on Long Island this summer...and commuting to the Bronx every day. She looks sleepy because she is tired, but she is really enjoying the class. She needs this class for credit recovery because she was not a great student sophomore year, but has since improved. She wants to be a nurse or a second grade teacher. She wants to go to Stony Brook, but doesn't think she has the grades, so she might to to a community college on the way. Her exit ticket was great today (70%), showing extra effort.
It's nice that I have only four students, but I should have gotten to know them earlier.
I shared that I like to run, went to Brown, and enjoy video games but haven't played much since Nintendo 64.
In other news, my Macbook is repaired and back in my hands. Ahhh.
Last night I attended a workshop on setting up science experiments in the classroom. I can't wait for this stuff to start.
I can't wait to make my classroom.
I can't wait to meet my kids.
Monday, July 18, 2011
People Are Not Bananas
I read an interesting article today. It argues that the world is entering a new stage of super fast evolution, as shown by a survey of mutations in human genomes. Humans have changed considerable in the last 10,000 years, leaning towards smaller bodies and brains, which is possibly evidence of a less significant need of old-school survival characteristics. Instead, we've evolved more to eat better food (lactose) and fight off new diseases (HIV).
Interesting. I would have thought the opposite true, that we were evolving more slowly than in the past. I was worried that we were becoming bananas, slowly losing the genetic diversity required to survive large-scale disease outbreaks. I guess we're safe for now. Let's just keep a handle on the antibiotic-resistant bugs we're creating.
I've also spoken to some interesting people lately. This weekend I was listening to stories from a couple of guys in my fire department who had fought in Vietnam. Not only did they have some cool stories of combat and training, they also had some tales about my hometown when they were in high school (class of '66). Apparently there were some gang issues in the school at that time. Who'd have guessed?
I've already made my copies for class tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm ahead of the game. I really can't resist these opportunities to plan ahead. I guess that's my weakness. I can live with that.
Interesting. I would have thought the opposite true, that we were evolving more slowly than in the past. I was worried that we were becoming bananas, slowly losing the genetic diversity required to survive large-scale disease outbreaks. I guess we're safe for now. Let's just keep a handle on the antibiotic-resistant bugs we're creating.
I've also spoken to some interesting people lately. This weekend I was listening to stories from a couple of guys in my fire department who had fought in Vietnam. Not only did they have some cool stories of combat and training, they also had some tales about my hometown when they were in high school (class of '66). Apparently there were some gang issues in the school at that time. Who'd have guessed?
I've already made my copies for class tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm ahead of the game. I really can't resist these opportunities to plan ahead. I guess that's my weakness. I can live with that.
Monday Schmonday
Everyone here is having this sort of day.
I did have one major accomplishment today: I pointed out to our school director that the three hours of CM work time scheduled on Friday might be more useful earlier in the week, since our final lesson plans are due Thursday morning. Schedule changed. Yes.
In general, though, Mondays are intimidating. I can handle the thought of one day of work, but five days all thrown at me at once? Four days of teaching, four lessons to plan, and one whole day of PD? Oy.
But today's lesson went well. I tried some new ways to introduce more rigor and a higher level of understanding to the lesson. They were really getting more engaged. Besides, we were talking about vaccines, and who doesn't like vaccines? (Did you know that an estimated 300-500 million people died during the 20th century? And that the last case of smallpox ever was in 1978? I'm reading Demon in the Freezer.) The exit tickets were better (70% average), but I'll do even better tomorrow.
One of the students had to make up the midterm. She was NOT happy about it.
We had a session this morning that dealt with co-teaching. There are some interesting situations I might find myself in this fall, including having a co-teacher to deal with special ed students in my class. It would certainly be interesting having two teachers in the classroom. It would be up to us whether to split teaching duties, or have one teacher and one helper, or to split up the class. I can't wait to see what happens.
As for that, no news. They are expecting a lot of hires in the next few weeks, and I hope I'm one of them.
Back to planning. Next week we have to cram in the whole ecology unit before the final assessment on Thursday. Only 6 more days of instruction!
I did have one major accomplishment today: I pointed out to our school director that the three hours of CM work time scheduled on Friday might be more useful earlier in the week, since our final lesson plans are due Thursday morning. Schedule changed. Yes.
In general, though, Mondays are intimidating. I can handle the thought of one day of work, but five days all thrown at me at once? Four days of teaching, four lessons to plan, and one whole day of PD? Oy.
But today's lesson went well. I tried some new ways to introduce more rigor and a higher level of understanding to the lesson. They were really getting more engaged. Besides, we were talking about vaccines, and who doesn't like vaccines? (Did you know that an estimated 300-500 million people died during the 20th century? And that the last case of smallpox ever was in 1978? I'm reading Demon in the Freezer.) The exit tickets were better (70% average), but I'll do even better tomorrow.
One of the students had to make up the midterm. She was NOT happy about it.
We had a session this morning that dealt with co-teaching. There are some interesting situations I might find myself in this fall, including having a co-teacher to deal with special ed students in my class. It would certainly be interesting having two teachers in the classroom. It would be up to us whether to split teaching duties, or have one teacher and one helper, or to split up the class. I can't wait to see what happens.
As for that, no news. They are expecting a lot of hires in the next few weeks, and I hope I'm one of them.
Back to planning. Next week we have to cram in the whole ecology unit before the final assessment on Thursday. Only 6 more days of instruction!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday! Friday!
We had a session today about diversity and inclusiveness in our classroom that tried to get us to talk openly about issues while simultaneously making us feel uncomfortable giving honest opinions. It was an interesting insight on how to keep students comfortable in a classroom during a serious discussion. I think the punchline, though, was that it is important to believe that kids mean well and can become accepting.
We also have to remember not to overreact in a moment and be able to trust our own instincts, because we are adults. Ha.
I was starting to worry about placement, since 22 CT CMs had an interview on Tuesday, but it turns out the school only hired a handful of them. Unfortunate for TFA, but at least I'm not alone. The CT corps is probably around 50% with placement. Other corps seem to be similar. I've been told that August brings A LOT of public school placements.
In other news, it's Friday! Weekend! Fire house swimming pool Kindle weekend!
We also have to remember not to overreact in a moment and be able to trust our own instincts, because we are adults. Ha.
I was starting to worry about placement, since 22 CT CMs had an interview on Tuesday, but it turns out the school only hired a handful of them. Unfortunate for TFA, but at least I'm not alone. The CT corps is probably around 50% with placement. Other corps seem to be similar. I've been told that August brings A LOT of public school placements.
In other news, it's Friday! Weekend! Fire house swimming pool Kindle weekend!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Results
I know you're all as eager as I was to get the results of my midterm assessment. You know what? It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The class average was 65%, which is a big improvement from the pre-assessment average of 42%. Good enough to pass the Regents, but still room to do better. Now that I know how my lesson plans have failed, I'll be better. The most comforting news is that the student who still needs to pass the Regents got a 67% (passing is 65). Considering he missed the first 3 days of class, he should be able to succeed on the exam.
In addition, we gave surveys to our students asking them questions about whether the teachers make you feel comfortable and cared about, and whether the class is enjoyable and motivating. I couldn't believe how nice they were. My favorite answer is posted above (number 16).
My students like me. I can't wait to teach next week.
I'm so proud.
Eureka!
Here's your assessment for today:
Which of the following is most challenging to me?
(1) Delivering lessons in front of up to 25 high school students.
(2) Obsessively planning every hour of every day of our activity-filled summer.
(3) Making phone calls to the intimidating parents of our class to introduce myself.
For those of you who chose (3), you know me the best! 100%!
And guess what I did yesterday? (3) again!
And it wasn't even that bad. One girl's father was so nice and grateful. The other father I spoke to was defensive about his daughter missing class that day because she had to register for school, but otherwise nice. Whew.
I also had a Eureka! moment in a session yesterday. They presented an issue that we had all been struggling to name so for this summer. See, we were given a list of daily objectives to teach over the summer, and a couple assessments worth of questions. We were told to write lesson plans to teach the objectives only, and nothing extraneous. However, the level of the assessments were much more difficult than the level of the objectives. We were planning and executing lessons that didn't prepare students for success on the exit tickets. This is why my students were understanding the material but scoring so low.
Yesterday this problem was acknowledged officially, and we were instructed on how to increase the rigor of our objectives. I had to rewrite a couple of lesson plans (frustrating) to match the new objectives, but I did, and it felt good.
I'm not too optimistic about our Mid-term Assessment today, especially in light of yesterday's discoveries, but I can't wait to teach my awesome new lesson plans next week (vaccines! transcription! mitosis!).
Unfortunately, I learned that one of the kids involved in the fight yesterday was from the later biology class, which I subbed for, and he was expelled. He is a really smart kid and I hope he sorts out his life soon.
Which of the following is most challenging to me?
(1) Delivering lessons in front of up to 25 high school students.
(2) Obsessively planning every hour of every day of our activity-filled summer.
(3) Making phone calls to the intimidating parents of our class to introduce myself.
For those of you who chose (3), you know me the best! 100%!
And guess what I did yesterday? (3) again!
And it wasn't even that bad. One girl's father was so nice and grateful. The other father I spoke to was defensive about his daughter missing class that day because she had to register for school, but otherwise nice. Whew.
I also had a Eureka! moment in a session yesterday. They presented an issue that we had all been struggling to name so for this summer. See, we were given a list of daily objectives to teach over the summer, and a couple assessments worth of questions. We were told to write lesson plans to teach the objectives only, and nothing extraneous. However, the level of the assessments were much more difficult than the level of the objectives. We were planning and executing lessons that didn't prepare students for success on the exit tickets. This is why my students were understanding the material but scoring so low.
Yesterday this problem was acknowledged officially, and we were instructed on how to increase the rigor of our objectives. I had to rewrite a couple of lesson plans (frustrating) to match the new objectives, but I did, and it felt good.
I'm not too optimistic about our Mid-term Assessment today, especially in light of yesterday's discoveries, but I can't wait to teach my awesome new lesson plans next week (vaccines! transcription! mitosis!).
Unfortunately, I learned that one of the kids involved in the fight yesterday was from the later biology class, which I subbed for, and he was expelled. He is a really smart kid and I hope he sorts out his life soon.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Chunking
In yesterday's excitement, I left out some of the particular highs and lows. First, I discovered that if you seek out information about TFA from a non-TFA-endorsed website, the picture is much different than I thought. However, upon arrival at St. John's, we were greeted with cotton candy and Sno-cones. They had scheduled events like an Inception screening, yoga class, and an "Ash's Full Body Workout" (which I can only imagine involves Pokemon fighting).
I spent the afternoon starting a new workout plan. I still can't seem to want to get running (a scraped toe doesn't help). Then, I decided to take a trip to Trader Joe's with a friend. No more dining hall packed sandwiches for me. Today I have pita and hummus, string cheese, and freeze dried banana chips (all the joy of bananas, but crunchy!).
There was a fight in the hallway this morning. I was working in the quiet room and heard a scuffle in the hallway. I walked to the doorway to see two (non-TFA) teachers pulling apart two students. One of them required tackling. The hallway was cleared quickly, which impressed me. No one was hurt. I wonder if my job description requires tackling students also.
Today I taught photosynthesis and respiration (organelles, reactants, products, and function only). I had a brilliant 2-part diagram on poster paper. One sheet showed photosynthesis, one sheet showed respiration, but if you overlay them...it's a cycle! I was so proud of it, and so sad to throw it in the trash after class. Way better than any Powerpoint or Smartboard presentation or any of those newfangled technologies that ALL OTHER CLASSROOMS HAVE.
We found an overhead projector this week. It was broken. I guess we'll stick with the poster board.
My exit slips averaged 67%; not bad, but definitely not class mastery. The student with the lowest score is frustrating to me. He knows the material, which he shows in class discussion and answering questions. He is not always paying attention completely (I know what that's about), but he has insightful comments and answers, and sometimes makes anticipatory connections that make me happy. However, he is not doing well on his exit tickets. There is some disconnect between his verbal knowledge and his ability to answer Regents multiple choice questions. I've seen this in other students, like one who scored well on the short answer part of the pre-Assessment, but got nearly all of the multiple choice questions wrong.
This one student, I suspect, is performing poorly for one of two reasons: he isn't paying attention to the questions and answer choices, or he is having trouble breaking apart the dense wording of the questions/answers. Today I addressed the idea that is possible to use context clues to interpret confusing test questions, but I think I will include more mini-lessons this summer. I think test-taking skills should be emphasized more; I saw assessments with multiple choice questions left blank!
After a one-hour review tomorrow and a brief discussion of “chunking” (breaking verboseness into smaller, more understandable chunks), they have their midterm assessment. I hope it goes well.
And now, I have some pita and hummus eagerly awaiting.
I spent the afternoon starting a new workout plan. I still can't seem to want to get running (a scraped toe doesn't help). Then, I decided to take a trip to Trader Joe's with a friend. No more dining hall packed sandwiches for me. Today I have pita and hummus, string cheese, and freeze dried banana chips (all the joy of bananas, but crunchy!).
There was a fight in the hallway this morning. I was working in the quiet room and heard a scuffle in the hallway. I walked to the doorway to see two (non-TFA) teachers pulling apart two students. One of them required tackling. The hallway was cleared quickly, which impressed me. No one was hurt. I wonder if my job description requires tackling students also.
Today I taught photosynthesis and respiration (organelles, reactants, products, and function only). I had a brilliant 2-part diagram on poster paper. One sheet showed photosynthesis, one sheet showed respiration, but if you overlay them...it's a cycle! I was so proud of it, and so sad to throw it in the trash after class. Way better than any Powerpoint or Smartboard presentation or any of those newfangled technologies that ALL OTHER CLASSROOMS HAVE.
We found an overhead projector this week. It was broken. I guess we'll stick with the poster board.
My exit slips averaged 67%; not bad, but definitely not class mastery. The student with the lowest score is frustrating to me. He knows the material, which he shows in class discussion and answering questions. He is not always paying attention completely (I know what that's about), but he has insightful comments and answers, and sometimes makes anticipatory connections that make me happy. However, he is not doing well on his exit tickets. There is some disconnect between his verbal knowledge and his ability to answer Regents multiple choice questions. I've seen this in other students, like one who scored well on the short answer part of the pre-Assessment, but got nearly all of the multiple choice questions wrong.
This one student, I suspect, is performing poorly for one of two reasons: he isn't paying attention to the questions and answer choices, or he is having trouble breaking apart the dense wording of the questions/answers. Today I addressed the idea that is possible to use context clues to interpret confusing test questions, but I think I will include more mini-lessons this summer. I think test-taking skills should be emphasized more; I saw assessments with multiple choice questions left blank!
After a one-hour review tomorrow and a brief discussion of “chunking” (breaking verboseness into smaller, more understandable chunks), they have their midterm assessment. I hope it goes well.
And now, I have some pita and hummus eagerly awaiting.
Classroom Management
Well, that was interesting.
My own class went...okay. I gave a great lesson on enzymes and my students made great cartoons describing enzyme-catalyzed reactions. But they bombed the exit ticket (average 40%). I learned that understanding the concepts and ideas is not exactly what is tested on the Regents, and my exit ticket was only Regents questions. If I want them to do well on tests, I have to practice test questions with them. But that takes time away from teaching concepts. What do I do? Teach for the test or teach for the knowledge? I'm pretty happy with their cartoons.
And then came substitute teaching. Oy gevalt. While most of the students were involved in the lesson, the classroom management was terrible. It started out with a student not taking notes. I told her she had to take notes. She said, "I don't gotta do sh*t."
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. What do I do now?
I turned around, and caught the other student teacher for that class block (i.e. the collab of the teacher we were subbing for) and asked her to take the student out of the class. Whew.
Overall, the students were generally chatty, sometimes shouting across the room at each other and saying not nice things. It was frustrating to not be aware of their established classroom management plan, and therefore not knowing what the right series of warnings and punishments would be.
I think I could do better. First, it would help to have someplace to send misbehaving students to, like a principal or dean, rather than requiring another teacher present to speak to them in the hallway. Next, I would like to have an established series of rewards and consequences. Also, I would plan my lessons for a larger class! We just used my collab's lesson that he had done with our small class earlier. Definitely possible, just more work.
Anyway, it was exhausting. I can understand what it is like to feel ineffective. However, the afternoon class, a planned three-hour session of learning, began with this Powerpoint slide: "Happy TFA Day! Go home. The bus is here."
I shall be playing games and working out and buying food until further notice.
My own class went...okay. I gave a great lesson on enzymes and my students made great cartoons describing enzyme-catalyzed reactions. But they bombed the exit ticket (average 40%). I learned that understanding the concepts and ideas is not exactly what is tested on the Regents, and my exit ticket was only Regents questions. If I want them to do well on tests, I have to practice test questions with them. But that takes time away from teaching concepts. What do I do? Teach for the test or teach for the knowledge? I'm pretty happy with their cartoons.
And then came substitute teaching. Oy gevalt. While most of the students were involved in the lesson, the classroom management was terrible. It started out with a student not taking notes. I told her she had to take notes. She said, "I don't gotta do sh*t."
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. What do I do now?
I turned around, and caught the other student teacher for that class block (i.e. the collab of the teacher we were subbing for) and asked her to take the student out of the class. Whew.
Overall, the students were generally chatty, sometimes shouting across the room at each other and saying not nice things. It was frustrating to not be aware of their established classroom management plan, and therefore not knowing what the right series of warnings and punishments would be.
I think I could do better. First, it would help to have someplace to send misbehaving students to, like a principal or dean, rather than requiring another teacher present to speak to them in the hallway. Next, I would like to have an established series of rewards and consequences. Also, I would plan my lessons for a larger class! We just used my collab's lesson that he had done with our small class earlier. Definitely possible, just more work.
Anyway, it was exhausting. I can understand what it is like to feel ineffective. However, the afternoon class, a planned three-hour session of learning, began with this Powerpoint slide: "Happy TFA Day! Go home. The bus is here."
I shall be playing games and working out and buying food until further notice.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Kindle-boyfriend-picnic Sunday
If my relationships with parents or guardians go awry, it is my responsibility to improve them. We learned this on Friday, in a class on how to interact with students' parents. I'm nervous to start contacting parents, but I plan to begin this week.
Weekends are better when the week is busy. My weekend started with a lovely evening with some new TFA friends and a Saturday brunch with an old Brown friend. What followed was a chaotic and awesome party-like thing that can only be called a county fire parade. My department won third place overall in the parade! The weekend ended in a lovely Kindle-boyfriend-picnic Sunday and a quick trip to the copy center.
And then the week began.
All the anxiety stemming from the unknown has sort of fizzled out, leaving school a little less exciting. Although I was blessed with a fourth student this morning, class went normally. I love the material, but it's a little challenging keeping the students interested. They did well on the assessment, but they just weren't excited about it. I have to work on that. They did work hard on making index cards with life process definitions (homeostasis, metabolism, etc.) in their own words. I am proud of them for that.
I'm working on a lesson plan for next week that deals with transcription and translation – my favorite! It's frustrating that I am limited to a whole lesson squished into one hour, so I can't cover everything I'd like to, but I do get to introduce them to the ubiquitous amino acid chart.
Back to lesson planning. I hope I'll finish my work early because I have my monthly fire department meeting. Today marks the end of my first year of active service.
Also, tomorrow my collab and I are substitute-teaching in the later Living Environment class, the one with 25 kids full of personalities. Let's see what happens.
Weekends are better when the week is busy. My weekend started with a lovely evening with some new TFA friends and a Saturday brunch with an old Brown friend. What followed was a chaotic and awesome party-like thing that can only be called a county fire parade. My department won third place overall in the parade! The weekend ended in a lovely Kindle-boyfriend-picnic Sunday and a quick trip to the copy center.
And then the week began.
All the anxiety stemming from the unknown has sort of fizzled out, leaving school a little less exciting. Although I was blessed with a fourth student this morning, class went normally. I love the material, but it's a little challenging keeping the students interested. They did well on the assessment, but they just weren't excited about it. I have to work on that. They did work hard on making index cards with life process definitions (homeostasis, metabolism, etc.) in their own words. I am proud of them for that.
I'm working on a lesson plan for next week that deals with transcription and translation – my favorite! It's frustrating that I am limited to a whole lesson squished into one hour, so I can't cover everything I'd like to, but I do get to introduce them to the ubiquitous amino acid chart.
Back to lesson planning. I hope I'll finish my work early because I have my monthly fire department meeting. Today marks the end of my first year of active service.
Also, tomorrow my collab and I are substitute-teaching in the later Living Environment class, the one with 25 kids full of personalities. Let's see what happens.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Giant Puddle of Doom
“This year we have learned that the aim for education should be to teach us how to think rather than what to think, to improv eour minds so as to allow us to think for ourselves.” Sasha P.S. 802
Thursday morning:
I seem to not be too bad at this lesson planning thing. I've gotten good comments overall on my plans, including that I have a good instinct for certain things, like slowly releasing the lesson onto the students over course of the lesson so that they can do the work on their own by the end of class. Assuming I execute the lesson well.
I find the best technique for planning is to think like a me. Forget about thinking like a student; students are easy. I need to think of ways to entertain myself in the lesson, which is the most challenging part. I think of ways I would study a certain topic, making sure to entertain those of short attention spans. It'll work, I hope.
Yesterday, my students averaged 79% on the exit slips. Not bad, but not perfect. I'll try to do better today.
It's also a little tough motivating my students. It's clear they understand the material, but they look so bored! I know, it's summer school. They don't need to pass a Regents or do anything special; they just need to pass the class to recover class credit. It's hard to convince them to work hard. I would like them to look excited once in a while. I hope I can show them how interesting biology is.
Though I don't have a big classroom management challenge, I failed at bathroom management yesterday. A student followed me into the faculty bathroom yesterday. At first, I didn't know what to say, because I wasn't entirely sure she was a student. When I finished washing my hands, and she was fidgeting with her phone, I said, “Where are you supposed to be?”
“Class.”
“Who's your teacher?”
“Ms. Y______.”
“You should get back to class.”
“Okay.”
“You're not even supposed to be in here.”
“Okay.”
And then she walked into a stall. Fail.
Friday morning:
Yesterday's class went great! We covered the lesson (line graphs) quickly and students showed mastery on their exit tickets (with one careless error only). We still had two students, but one of them was different. Both of my students yesterday had the same name. It makes it much easier to remember names.
We had a lesson on teaching literacy. We learned some skills for teaching students how to read and how to incorporate it into our lessons. I guess reading science textbooks isn't easy, but our class isn't very reading-intensive.
The biggest problem I'm having in my classes is timing. I've finished early in both lessons that I've taught. Students have pretty much shown mastery of the topics. I need to challenge them more by filling the class time better and with more challenging material.
And then yesterday we had the worst bus ride in the world. It took us two hours to get back to campus after school. That's a 14 mile ride. Considering I can run 13 miles in 2:44, I should consider that instead. You know what the hold up was? There was a big puddle under an overpass on the GC Parkway. Everyone had to slow down. Rush hour traffic was held up for miles. I learned that school bus ventilation is largely determined by how fast the bus is moving.
I stayed up too late last night talking to friends. It was nice and quite relaxing (much needed). Unfortunately, it doesn't feel great this morning. It took me about 10 minutes to get my contact lenses in and I forgot to bring my protein drink this morning. We don't teach, we only have professional development. All day. Almost, almost TGIF. This weekend will be much deserved.
Thursday morning:
I seem to not be too bad at this lesson planning thing. I've gotten good comments overall on my plans, including that I have a good instinct for certain things, like slowly releasing the lesson onto the students over course of the lesson so that they can do the work on their own by the end of class. Assuming I execute the lesson well.
I find the best technique for planning is to think like a me. Forget about thinking like a student; students are easy. I need to think of ways to entertain myself in the lesson, which is the most challenging part. I think of ways I would study a certain topic, making sure to entertain those of short attention spans. It'll work, I hope.
Yesterday, my students averaged 79% on the exit slips. Not bad, but not perfect. I'll try to do better today.
It's also a little tough motivating my students. It's clear they understand the material, but they look so bored! I know, it's summer school. They don't need to pass a Regents or do anything special; they just need to pass the class to recover class credit. It's hard to convince them to work hard. I would like them to look excited once in a while. I hope I can show them how interesting biology is.
Though I don't have a big classroom management challenge, I failed at bathroom management yesterday. A student followed me into the faculty bathroom yesterday. At first, I didn't know what to say, because I wasn't entirely sure she was a student. When I finished washing my hands, and she was fidgeting with her phone, I said, “Where are you supposed to be?”
“Class.”
“Who's your teacher?”
“Ms. Y______.”
“You should get back to class.”
“Okay.”
“You're not even supposed to be in here.”
“Okay.”
And then she walked into a stall. Fail.
Friday morning:
Yesterday's class went great! We covered the lesson (line graphs) quickly and students showed mastery on their exit tickets (with one careless error only). We still had two students, but one of them was different. Both of my students yesterday had the same name. It makes it much easier to remember names.
We had a lesson on teaching literacy. We learned some skills for teaching students how to read and how to incorporate it into our lessons. I guess reading science textbooks isn't easy, but our class isn't very reading-intensive.
The biggest problem I'm having in my classes is timing. I've finished early in both lessons that I've taught. Students have pretty much shown mastery of the topics. I need to challenge them more by filling the class time better and with more challenging material.
And then yesterday we had the worst bus ride in the world. It took us two hours to get back to campus after school. That's a 14 mile ride. Considering I can run 13 miles in 2:44, I should consider that instead. You know what the hold up was? There was a big puddle under an overpass on the GC Parkway. Everyone had to slow down. Rush hour traffic was held up for miles. I learned that school bus ventilation is largely determined by how fast the bus is moving.
I stayed up too late last night talking to friends. It was nice and quite relaxing (much needed). Unfortunately, it doesn't feel great this morning. It took me about 10 minutes to get my contact lenses in and I forgot to bring my protein drink this morning. We don't teach, we only have professional development. All day. Almost, almost TGIF. This weekend will be much deserved.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Day of the Living Dead
Since the excitement of Day 1 has worn off and the work has begun piling up, the Corps has been walking around like zombies.
Let me share with you my afternoon comedy of errors, all relating to printing and photocopying woes. I had finished preparing for tomorrow's lesson (making line graphs) by the time I had left school today, including drawing giant graph paper by hand on our large white teacher paper. All I had left was to print and copy a few things.
I went straight to the computer lab after changing out of my boring teacher clothes, to print out my lesson plan, guided notes (fill-in-the-blank worksheet), exit slip (mini end-of-class check for understanding), and homework. I printed out one of everything, so I could make copies at the free copy center across campus.
I went straight to the copy center and made ten copies of the homework and exit slip. Although we still had our two students today, the later Living Environment section's numbers rose to 22 and we were once again warned to expect more students tomorrow (unlikely, in my opinion). At that point, I noticed that I had failed to print my lesson plan. I had apparently opened the document on Google Docs and printed from the browser, so I was left with one page of lesson plan and eight blank pages. Great. I grumpily left the copy center.
On my way back to the dorm, I realized that I had forgotten to copy my guided notes, so I returned to the copy center to do so. I then learned that it does make a difference if you photocopy something upside down, as I walked away with 10 exit slips stapled in the bottom right corner.
After dinner, I schlepped back to the computer lab to print out my lesson plan. I only needed two hard copies of this, so I figured it would make more sense to pay to print them than to go all the way back to the copy center again. As I waited for the lesson plan to print, I realized I had only requested one copy printed. And of course, I didn't feel like logging on again to the slow-as-molasses Windows XP PCs.
So I stopped at the copy center for third time today.
Today went well. I was expecting only two students, so I wasn't terribly shocked when no one else showed up. I teach the second hour, so I had time in the morning to get some more lesson planning done for next week. I worked on one of the school computers, which was so old (how old was it?) that their version of IE didn't have tab browsing. I was shocked when I clicked on a Google Doc and another window popped up! Then I downloaded Chrome and everything was better.
My lesson flew by smoothly, with at least five minutes to spare! To my delight, the exit slips were filled out expertly, with only one area of misunderstanding (which I didn't teach very well, but it was not a major objective).
In other news, five CT CMs have already quit. They will be missed. It is stressful, but I don't find it unmanageable. There seem to be mixed opinions all around on
whether this is the most challenging experience of our lives. I think back to second-semester Organic Chemistry with a shudder.
I've come up with some (what I think) interesting lesson plans for next week.
Tomorrow I will do better. Hopefully, I'll sleep better too.
Let me share with you my afternoon comedy of errors, all relating to printing and photocopying woes. I had finished preparing for tomorrow's lesson (making line graphs) by the time I had left school today, including drawing giant graph paper by hand on our large white teacher paper. All I had left was to print and copy a few things.
I went straight to the computer lab after changing out of my boring teacher clothes, to print out my lesson plan, guided notes (fill-in-the-blank worksheet), exit slip (mini end-of-class check for understanding), and homework. I printed out one of everything, so I could make copies at the free copy center across campus.
I went straight to the copy center and made ten copies of the homework and exit slip. Although we still had our two students today, the later Living Environment section's numbers rose to 22 and we were once again warned to expect more students tomorrow (unlikely, in my opinion). At that point, I noticed that I had failed to print my lesson plan. I had apparently opened the document on Google Docs and printed from the browser, so I was left with one page of lesson plan and eight blank pages. Great. I grumpily left the copy center.
On my way back to the dorm, I realized that I had forgotten to copy my guided notes, so I returned to the copy center to do so. I then learned that it does make a difference if you photocopy something upside down, as I walked away with 10 exit slips stapled in the bottom right corner.
After dinner, I schlepped back to the computer lab to print out my lesson plan. I only needed two hard copies of this, so I figured it would make more sense to pay to print them than to go all the way back to the copy center again. As I waited for the lesson plan to print, I realized I had only requested one copy printed. And of course, I didn't feel like logging on again to the slow-as-molasses Windows XP PCs.
So I stopped at the copy center for third time today.
Today went well. I was expecting only two students, so I wasn't terribly shocked when no one else showed up. I teach the second hour, so I had time in the morning to get some more lesson planning done for next week. I worked on one of the school computers, which was so old (how old was it?) that their version of IE didn't have tab browsing. I was shocked when I clicked on a Google Doc and another window popped up! Then I downloaded Chrome and everything was better.
My lesson flew by smoothly, with at least five minutes to spare! To my delight, the exit slips were filled out expertly, with only one area of misunderstanding (which I didn't teach very well, but it was not a major objective).
In other news, five CT CMs have already quit. They will be missed. It is stressful, but I don't find it unmanageable. There seem to be mixed opinions all around on
whether this is the most challenging experience of our lives. I think back to second-semester Organic Chemistry with a shudder.
I've come up with some (what I think) interesting lesson plans for next week.
Tomorrow I will do better. Hopefully, I'll sleep better too.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Day One: Check
Today was certainly...unexpected.
We arrived at school early and set up our classroom. We met our summer mentor teacher (SMT) and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually, two students walked in. Just two. And they came in a half hour later than start time.
They were nice, though. They both passed the Regents. One is a rising senior who transferred from another school and needed an extra credit. The other one is a rising sophomore who failed the class due to lack of attendance. Cool! I get a chance to challenge two students who have already mastered the material. Right?
Not quite.
After a brief discussion of classroom policy among the four of us, we gave them their assessments. They worked hard, and then filled out our personal student surveys.
The surveys were interesting to read. They both want to get a better understanding of biology, especially with the technical vocabulary. One girl mentioned that she was shy, but even though she was afraid to raise her hand she still might know the answer.
We were told my many sources that the class roster will change several times throughout the first week, so we should be prepared for a class of 20, although it will likely end up smaller. It was surprising to find out that the second class period (taught by two other CMs) had 19 students, many of them difficult and boisterous.
So we went back to grade our assessments. And our students scored...48% and 30%. What? These students passed the Regents exam? One as recently as last month? Maybe this summer was not going to be so easy.
A history class ended up with 37 students today, so I helped them grade their assessments. Then I helped grade the assessments from the second biology section. I could always work part time as a Scantron machine. I'm awesome at it.
The afternoon was filled with analyzing our assessment (not difficult to do--most topics need review) and squeezing a year's worth of objectives into four weeks. But first, we got some advice from our School Director: we will not be teaching on Fridays. We knew it was a possibility, but were previously told it wouldn't apply to us. It's a mixed blessing. Good: fewer lessons to plan. Bad: fewer days to squeeze our lessons in. Good: time for individual academic intervention with students. Bad: more hours of sitting personal development. Good: more time to work on lesson plans. Bad: we still have to be in school on Fridays.
Part of the data analysis lesson included a Google Maps metaphor:
Satellite View: Look at the class; identify areas of strength of struggle
Map View: Look at the objectives; identify areas of strength and struggle, and consider what is foundational
Street View: Look at your kids; identify who needs enrichment and remediation
We also saw a picture of Data (Star Trek) with the subtitle "Data is sexy".
We finished our tentative summer calendar. It involved squeezing too many objectives into the summer, but in blocks by topic. It is difficult to triage the foundational objectives, because the NYS Regents Living Environment is designed for breadth rather than depth. We decided to teach more main ideas per class, but work hard to have students master the basic ideas rather than try to include all of the details. It is fortunate that we are not limited by needing to prepare our students (so far) for the Regents in August.
I'm exhausted. I can't wait to teach a real lesson tomorrow. We're learning about the Scientific Method (least interesting, most important) from my collab, and I'll be teaching about independent variables, dependent variables, control group, experimental group, and constants. I can't wait to meet my new students tomorrow.
11 lesson plans and one mid-Institute Assessment to write. Only 3-and-a-half weeks left!
We arrived at school early and set up our classroom. We met our summer mentor teacher (SMT) and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually, two students walked in. Just two. And they came in a half hour later than start time.
They were nice, though. They both passed the Regents. One is a rising senior who transferred from another school and needed an extra credit. The other one is a rising sophomore who failed the class due to lack of attendance. Cool! I get a chance to challenge two students who have already mastered the material. Right?
Not quite.
After a brief discussion of classroom policy among the four of us, we gave them their assessments. They worked hard, and then filled out our personal student surveys.
The surveys were interesting to read. They both want to get a better understanding of biology, especially with the technical vocabulary. One girl mentioned that she was shy, but even though she was afraid to raise her hand she still might know the answer.
We were told my many sources that the class roster will change several times throughout the first week, so we should be prepared for a class of 20, although it will likely end up smaller. It was surprising to find out that the second class period (taught by two other CMs) had 19 students, many of them difficult and boisterous.
So we went back to grade our assessments. And our students scored...48% and 30%. What? These students passed the Regents exam? One as recently as last month? Maybe this summer was not going to be so easy.
A history class ended up with 37 students today, so I helped them grade their assessments. Then I helped grade the assessments from the second biology section. I could always work part time as a Scantron machine. I'm awesome at it.
The afternoon was filled with analyzing our assessment (not difficult to do--most topics need review) and squeezing a year's worth of objectives into four weeks. But first, we got some advice from our School Director: we will not be teaching on Fridays. We knew it was a possibility, but were previously told it wouldn't apply to us. It's a mixed blessing. Good: fewer lessons to plan. Bad: fewer days to squeeze our lessons in. Good: time for individual academic intervention with students. Bad: more hours of sitting personal development. Good: more time to work on lesson plans. Bad: we still have to be in school on Fridays.
Part of the data analysis lesson included a Google Maps metaphor:
Satellite View: Look at the class; identify areas of strength of struggle
Map View: Look at the objectives; identify areas of strength and struggle, and consider what is foundational
Street View: Look at your kids; identify who needs enrichment and remediation
We also saw a picture of Data (Star Trek) with the subtitle "Data is sexy".
We finished our tentative summer calendar. It involved squeezing too many objectives into the summer, but in blocks by topic. It is difficult to triage the foundational objectives, because the NYS Regents Living Environment is designed for breadth rather than depth. We decided to teach more main ideas per class, but work hard to have students master the basic ideas rather than try to include all of the details. It is fortunate that we are not limited by needing to prepare our students (so far) for the Regents in August.
I'm exhausted. I can't wait to teach a real lesson tomorrow. We're learning about the Scientific Method (least interesting, most important) from my collab, and I'll be teaching about independent variables, dependent variables, control group, experimental group, and constants. I can't wait to meet my new students tomorrow.
11 lesson plans and one mid-Institute Assessment to write. Only 3-and-a-half weeks left!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Feedback Sandwich!
Last week we learned how to practice our lessons with our collab before we actually give the lesson to a class. In order to properly improve, we were introduced to the Feedback Sandwich. It is delicious. What this means: when you are giving feedback on someone's rehearsal, or lesson plan, or really anything, first give them positive feedback, followed by the meaty criticism, and lastly some more compliments. Not bad. I'd be happy with a feedback sandwich every day, although it might get time-consuming (fattening?).
I received a feedback sandwich on my first lesson plan. I really appreciated being told what was good in addition to what needed work (not much). I also like the specific comments, that tell me exactly why something is good and what exactly is missing elsewhere. It makes it much more productive for me to spend my time revising it when I know exactly what is being revised.
You know what's better than a feedback sandwich? A weekend with no homework, that involved sweaty firefighters, fireworks, a swimming pool, a vegetable sandwich, two kinds of pasta salad, a birthday present, and several good hugs.
I keep noticing, to more of a degree, that our classes exhibit the teaching techniques that we are supposed to be doing. Today it was explained to us that all of the sitting and listening we did for the first couple of weeks was part of the I Do, We Do, You Do plan. We first learned about lesson plans (investment plans, management plans), then we critiqued some examples, and finally we are beginning to craft our own. Though it was a bit long-winded, I understand the point of it. Cool!
Everyone is a little frustrated about having to work on Independence Day. Not only do I get to sit and work all morning, I get to visit the Apple store to sort out some software problems with my computer before them become crippling. Great. At least they let us wear casual dress today.
Fireworks? Nope. I plan on being asleep by 9:30 because...
...tomorrow is our first day of school! I'm so excited/nervous/anxious. I finally get to teach, but there are so many things to worry about. There's teaching the lesson, but there's also motivating students and controlling the classroom and giving assessments and updating trackers...
Tomorrow, we have the students for two hours (like we will every weekday throughout July). The middle hour will be spent on a pre-class assessment of the material, which will help us better plan the summer based on the students' gaps in knowledge. The first half hour, led by my collab, Kevin (with some help by me) involves getting the students invested in the class, sharing our system of rules/rewards/consequences, and introducing the assessments. I have the last half hour, which includes an ice-breaker/goal-setting activity. Homework is a personal survey for the students, so we can learn a little about them and their learning styles.
I think I'm developing an unhealthy relationship with the photocopier.
I think I'm becoming a teacher!
I received a feedback sandwich on my first lesson plan. I really appreciated being told what was good in addition to what needed work (not much). I also like the specific comments, that tell me exactly why something is good and what exactly is missing elsewhere. It makes it much more productive for me to spend my time revising it when I know exactly what is being revised.
You know what's better than a feedback sandwich? A weekend with no homework, that involved sweaty firefighters, fireworks, a swimming pool, a vegetable sandwich, two kinds of pasta salad, a birthday present, and several good hugs.
I keep noticing, to more of a degree, that our classes exhibit the teaching techniques that we are supposed to be doing. Today it was explained to us that all of the sitting and listening we did for the first couple of weeks was part of the I Do, We Do, You Do plan. We first learned about lesson plans (investment plans, management plans), then we critiqued some examples, and finally we are beginning to craft our own. Though it was a bit long-winded, I understand the point of it. Cool!
Everyone is a little frustrated about having to work on Independence Day. Not only do I get to sit and work all morning, I get to visit the Apple store to sort out some software problems with my computer before them become crippling. Great. At least they let us wear casual dress today.
Fireworks? Nope. I plan on being asleep by 9:30 because...
...tomorrow is our first day of school! I'm so excited/nervous/anxious. I finally get to teach, but there are so many things to worry about. There's teaching the lesson, but there's also motivating students and controlling the classroom and giving assessments and updating trackers...
Tomorrow, we have the students for two hours (like we will every weekday throughout July). The middle hour will be spent on a pre-class assessment of the material, which will help us better plan the summer based on the students' gaps in knowledge. The first half hour, led by my collab, Kevin (with some help by me) involves getting the students invested in the class, sharing our system of rules/rewards/consequences, and introducing the assessments. I have the last half hour, which includes an ice-breaker/goal-setting activity. Homework is a personal survey for the students, so we can learn a little about them and their learning styles.
I think I'm developing an unhealthy relationship with the photocopier.
I think I'm becoming a teacher!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Preconceived Notions
Today we started our early morning with a lecture called How Biases, Archetypes, and the Diversity Competencies Affect Teachers’ Actions and Students’ Achievement. We spent a lot of time talking about the biases we may have about our students and their families. We discussed the biases our minority students and their parents may have about us, and the biases we have about them. The lecturer suggested that many of the biases we assume they have about us really stem from our biases about them. Confusing, but interesting.
We were given four “diversity competencies”:
Suspending Judgement (don't jump to a negative conclusion)
Asset-Based Thinking (relationships with students and their families are valuable to students' success)
Locus of Control/Growth Mindset (focus on ways to improve)
Interpersonal Awareness (be aware how others are perceiving me)
I think the main purpose of this lecture was to have us begin thinking about how we identify ourselves and how we think of others. It reminds me of my first week in Botswana. I think I can use a lot of what I learned there. Most importantly, I learned how I feel about my own racial, cultural, and socioeconomic identity, and I learned to what degree another culture can differ from my own and to what degree it can be similar to my own. And different cultures/groups are more different and more similar to my own in more ways I can imagine. That's all I can get from this. The rest I need to see for myself, when I begin teaching on Tuesday.
What I really need practice with is receiving criticism from my advisers and mentors. That is not my strong point and I'd really like to start improving at it before we get in the thick of things.
And now it is Friday. I shall make it through the end of the day and proceed to relax for a while. Yesssssssssss.
We were given four “diversity competencies”:
Suspending Judgement (don't jump to a negative conclusion)
Asset-Based Thinking (relationships with students and their families are valuable to students' success)
Locus of Control/Growth Mindset (focus on ways to improve)
Interpersonal Awareness (be aware how others are perceiving me)
I think the main purpose of this lecture was to have us begin thinking about how we identify ourselves and how we think of others. It reminds me of my first week in Botswana. I think I can use a lot of what I learned there. Most importantly, I learned how I feel about my own racial, cultural, and socioeconomic identity, and I learned to what degree another culture can differ from my own and to what degree it can be similar to my own. And different cultures/groups are more different and more similar to my own in more ways I can imagine. That's all I can get from this. The rest I need to see for myself, when I begin teaching on Tuesday.
What I really need practice with is receiving criticism from my advisers and mentors. That is not my strong point and I'd really like to start improving at it before we get in the thick of things.
And now it is Friday. I shall make it through the end of the day and proceed to relax for a while. Yesssssssssss.
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