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.
Monday, July 11, 2011
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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