Today I was sent to West High school in order to get another perspective on classroom management and behavioral issues. I was sent to a teacher who knows Mike very well, Lou Gallo. I had heard a lot of things about how good of a teacher he was, and most of the time those commenting on his status were making fun of him. I tried to go into the observation with an open mind, but all the talk made that a little bit tough.
The class I observed was during second period, and it was a Euro History class. It was mostly lecture based, and the students were 11th and 12th grade so it was pretty high level stuff. There was nothing spectacular about the teaching style, but the lecture worked so well because Gallo seemed to be more of a master of his content than many of the other teachers that I observed. I can see why he teaches mostly AP classes, because his lecture style and series of anecdotes reminded me of my college lectures from Sacco and Glover, teachers who used minimal powerpoints and mostly just told us a story.
I can see why many of the other teachers talked the way they did about Gallo's status, because its true that he wasn't doing anything overly spectacular. On the other hand, I don't feel comfortable even with US History, my major area of certification, the way that he seemed to with all of his subjects which is a little bit scary for me.
I also observed Mrs. Stanish in her US History class. This class was largely made up of students who were from the lower SES rung, which is about half of the school. The students seemed very lively and asked many questions which was very refreshing to see. I liked to see the way that she interacted with the kids was slightly less formal than the other lecture that I was watching. I look forward to when the students I'm currently working with get out of their shells enough in order for me to have similar types of conversations with them.
- I was able to use both of these classes as a way of marking off the Low SES and Urban School Setting in my documentation handbook which was nice. It was also the original reason that Mike sent me to West.
- I know I was being exposed to a culture that was different from HVA, but honestly I expected more. The hallways at my own high school, Richwoods, were far more rowdy than what I saw today.
-What I realized while observing there was that I was far more comfortable in that environment than I expected to be. I have said for a while that I want to teach at HVA or somewhere very similar, but I loved the atmosphere at West.
- I really underestimated how much my own experience in a lower SES high school (RHS) would have on my preferences and comfort level. As challenging as I'm sure it is to plan several AP classes and meet the high standards out here, I think my heart might actually lie in working with kids that generally do not have a lot of advantages. Coaching at Richwoods after I graduated was probably the most rewarding experience that I've had thus far, because most of the girls that my mom and I worked with had little else to be proud of at the time. Though I love being challenged here, I would be perfectly content if I got a job somewhere closer to my own roots.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Climate- Full Day 8/25
Today was the first day where I was in charge of planning and creating the entire lesson.
The plan went as follows:
- Bell Ringer from yesterday
- Opener about what their favorite season is
- SN about the 8 different climates while taking notes on an organizer I gave them
- Activity where they are assigned a postcard representing a climate
- Closer saying where they would most like to live and where they would least like to live
Positives:
- I think the transition from the opener to into the SN went really well. I got three different answers for favorite seasons and then said that it would be difficult to get varying answers in other climates because we are lucky enough to live in a place that has all four seasons. We then talked about the fact that our first climate, tropical, only had one season, etc.
- I answered questions and walked around the room a lot. I still feel good about the fact that I feel very comfortable talking to the kids and building off of the things they say.
- Connecting who had gone on vacation/ past knowledge/ how could we adapt to live there all went really well so that the material was not just isolated.
- The post card activity seemed to go pretty well, they liked getting places that they had heard of. Minor hiccup when some of them wanted to switch cards, but it showed that they wanted something they could be interested in.
- I loved when Dylan said "Isn't Pakistan the terrorist nation" and I got to have a little discussion about how that isn't true. That mini discussion was probably the highlight of the class for me.
-The students listened to me when I said incorporate the characteristics of the climate type in the answers to the closer questions which was nice. Even though the used their notes, repetitive talk about weather and living conditions seemed to make the ideas about the types sink in.
Negatives:
- I did not give enough wait time for the kids to talk about their favorite season and why. I really just wanted to make a small connection and move on, but I suppose waiting a while and telling the high up kids to continue writing as much as they could about the reasons would have helped get everyone on that same page.
- The Bell Ringer stuff was a little uncomfortable because I did not know that Mike wanted me to take over that part as well as the set
- As a result, I did not have the objectives or SPIs on the board which I should have done. I need to think of a creative way of doing this and to remind myself because I usually think that this is self evident when it really isn't.
- My SN was not well designed (color/font needs to be bigger)
- Drawing the examples on the map was a form of modeling but I probably should have found a way to continue that throughout the lecture so that they would continue to have that in their notes as a reference point.
- I was worried that they would mix up degrees latitude and the degrees in terms of temperature when I was actually the one who did that. Mike caught it soon enough, and the kids hardly even noticed, but I was really embarrassed. I feel like I covered it well but there really isn't an excuse for those types of mistakes.
- I don't know how to put information up one thing at a time on the SN yet.
- I wanted the students to move before sharing their cards because they looked so passive and asleep, but I need a better game plan for that as well. Maybe the other side of the room?
***I ended 20 minutes early and had nothing else to give them. I hate that I let that happen also. Another really embarrassing point when I had to ask what to do next.
Overall:
- I got a C, and I felt horrible about how the lesson went at the time, but I'm better with it now. I wish I had not ended early, but I won't really know how long activities are going to take until I get through them. For future reference, I would like to have some game like a crossword puzzle or wordfind just so there is a back up plan. If they never use them they never use them.
- I still talk too fast
*Sidenote: three students did not bring their maps this morning which makes me upset, I don't quite know how to handle this yet. I want to hold them to a high standard, but a policy that isn't mine has already been established.
The plan went as follows:
- Bell Ringer from yesterday
- Opener about what their favorite season is
- SN about the 8 different climates while taking notes on an organizer I gave them
- Activity where they are assigned a postcard representing a climate
- Closer saying where they would most like to live and where they would least like to live
Positives:
- I think the transition from the opener to into the SN went really well. I got three different answers for favorite seasons and then said that it would be difficult to get varying answers in other climates because we are lucky enough to live in a place that has all four seasons. We then talked about the fact that our first climate, tropical, only had one season, etc.
- I answered questions and walked around the room a lot. I still feel good about the fact that I feel very comfortable talking to the kids and building off of the things they say.
- Connecting who had gone on vacation/ past knowledge/ how could we adapt to live there all went really well so that the material was not just isolated.
- The post card activity seemed to go pretty well, they liked getting places that they had heard of. Minor hiccup when some of them wanted to switch cards, but it showed that they wanted something they could be interested in.
- I loved when Dylan said "Isn't Pakistan the terrorist nation" and I got to have a little discussion about how that isn't true. That mini discussion was probably the highlight of the class for me.
-The students listened to me when I said incorporate the characteristics of the climate type in the answers to the closer questions which was nice. Even though the used their notes, repetitive talk about weather and living conditions seemed to make the ideas about the types sink in.
Negatives:
- I did not give enough wait time for the kids to talk about their favorite season and why. I really just wanted to make a small connection and move on, but I suppose waiting a while and telling the high up kids to continue writing as much as they could about the reasons would have helped get everyone on that same page.
- The Bell Ringer stuff was a little uncomfortable because I did not know that Mike wanted me to take over that part as well as the set
- As a result, I did not have the objectives or SPIs on the board which I should have done. I need to think of a creative way of doing this and to remind myself because I usually think that this is self evident when it really isn't.
- My SN was not well designed (color/font needs to be bigger)
- Drawing the examples on the map was a form of modeling but I probably should have found a way to continue that throughout the lecture so that they would continue to have that in their notes as a reference point.
- I was worried that they would mix up degrees latitude and the degrees in terms of temperature when I was actually the one who did that. Mike caught it soon enough, and the kids hardly even noticed, but I was really embarrassed. I feel like I covered it well but there really isn't an excuse for those types of mistakes.
- I don't know how to put information up one thing at a time on the SN yet.
- I wanted the students to move before sharing their cards because they looked so passive and asleep, but I need a better game plan for that as well. Maybe the other side of the room?
***I ended 20 minutes early and had nothing else to give them. I hate that I let that happen also. Another really embarrassing point when I had to ask what to do next.
Overall:
- I got a C, and I felt horrible about how the lesson went at the time, but I'm better with it now. I wish I had not ended early, but I won't really know how long activities are going to take until I get through them. For future reference, I would like to have some game like a crossword puzzle or wordfind just so there is a back up plan. If they never use them they never use them.
- I still talk too fast
*Sidenote: three students did not bring their maps this morning which makes me upset, I don't quite know how to handle this yet. I want to hold them to a high standard, but a policy that isn't mine has already been established.
Reading a Map- 8/24
Today we learned the major components of a map. They included a scale, a compass, a key, and the title. I made a short slide show that had some interactions followed by a short activity. Mike was going to tell the BLAH story that helped the students remember the spheres of influence of the Earth.
I thought that I would have about 20-25 minutes to complete my activity. After the slides the students were each given a copy of the school map and told to make me a map headed towards their next classroom. The map had to include the four components that we had talked about.
A few things went wrong here:
- First, I only had 12 minutes to do everything. Go through the slides, grasp their level of understanding, hand out the maps, model my own map, and help the students get started. I got really flustered at this point.
- Afterwards Mike said that I did not stress enough that they needed to put the four main things on their map and would probably get some maps tomorrow that did not have those things on them. I'll see what they look like tomorrow.
- I don't know if this activity would have gone better if I had had more time, but I think we could have at least made it more fun by using the classroom set of colored pencils and drawing on the presentation board a little longer so that key words would be latched onto in a better way- then maybe they would have remembered the point of the drawing activity.
I thought that I would have about 20-25 minutes to complete my activity. After the slides the students were each given a copy of the school map and told to make me a map headed towards their next classroom. The map had to include the four components that we had talked about.
A few things went wrong here:
- First, I only had 12 minutes to do everything. Go through the slides, grasp their level of understanding, hand out the maps, model my own map, and help the students get started. I got really flustered at this point.
- Afterwards Mike said that I did not stress enough that they needed to put the four main things on their map and would probably get some maps tomorrow that did not have those things on them. I'll see what they look like tomorrow.
- I don't know if this activity would have gone better if I had had more time, but I think we could have at least made it more fun by using the classroom set of colored pencils and drawing on the presentation board a little longer so that key words would be latched onto in a better way- then maybe they would have remembered the point of the drawing activity.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
5 themes game Aug 23
I really enjoyed doing this activity. I started it yesterday towards the end of class when there was only about 10 mins left and got a little bit flustered. The students had just finished learning an entire lesson and I don't think that they were too apt to do a review game.
I was glad that we got a second chance at the game today, because the students responded to it a lot better. After the bell ringer, we spent about twenty minutes on the game and the kids really woke up. Nothing bad to report today except the fact that I called Juan Jose which I think makes me a racist.
I've been working quite a bit on the upcoming full solo day and I really underestimated the amount of planning TIME that would go into this and the 45 minutes I have for the "How to read a map" class the day before Climate day. I made 5 different parts and a quiz and it took forever. I need to get better at adapting things that already exist instead of creating everything. However, I really really like creating things because then they fit perfectly for what I want. I'll spend as much time as I can now creating things then when I turn into a zombie I'll probably start stealing more things from Mike and other teachers.
Time management has been good thus far. After going to class last night it was good to hear that the other interns are more focused on the classroom than they are on their UT work. Seems like its all jumping through hoops- some of which are located at the Sarah Simpson Center that we have to visit tomorrow.
Teaching Map reading tomorrow then a full day of Climate that I created on Thursday. On Friday I'm going to West for second period so I can see how different the culture is there. I suspect it will be just like Richwoods where I went, but we'll see.
I was glad that we got a second chance at the game today, because the students responded to it a lot better. After the bell ringer, we spent about twenty minutes on the game and the kids really woke up. Nothing bad to report today except the fact that I called Juan Jose which I think makes me a racist.
I've been working quite a bit on the upcoming full solo day and I really underestimated the amount of planning TIME that would go into this and the 45 minutes I have for the "How to read a map" class the day before Climate day. I made 5 different parts and a quiz and it took forever. I need to get better at adapting things that already exist instead of creating everything. However, I really really like creating things because then they fit perfectly for what I want. I'll spend as much time as I can now creating things then when I turn into a zombie I'll probably start stealing more things from Mike and other teachers.
Time management has been good thus far. After going to class last night it was good to hear that the other interns are more focused on the classroom than they are on their UT work. Seems like its all jumping through hoops- some of which are located at the Sarah Simpson Center that we have to visit tomorrow.
Teaching Map reading tomorrow then a full day of Climate that I created on Thursday. On Friday I'm going to West for second period so I can see how different the culture is there. I suspect it will be just like Richwoods where I went, but we'll see.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Latitude and Longitude- Wed Aug 17
-Today I did a SmartNotebook presentation abut latitude and longitude. At first I thought I was just doing the activity to go along with the lesson, but Mike asked me to explain a little bit about lat and long as well. Thinking about what to say for those first few slides was actually pretty difficult. I thought I would get confused pretty easily about the East West North South nonsense. Luckily I only had one moment where that stopped.
- Apparently I still need to slow down. I really liked having the kids draw what the plain was supposed to look like and I think they liked it too. However, the class is still not talking a whole lot unless they are up and moving.
- I had six students come up to the board and draw a point where the coordinate was and Mike and the kids did actually really like that
- I think I talked a little bit too quickly about the beginning.
- I also thought I repeated the concept of the Equator and the Prime Meridian a little too much
- Again with relating it to them, I could have made the points that they found something that they already knew like the mountains, etc.
- For future hands on things I will probably give even more specific directions and probably try to model.
- A balance has to be found in between modeling and providing it on the smartboard.
- I'm starting to get the feeling that there are students who talk and students who do not talk. I wish that I knew their names better so that I could help out with the calling on non volunteers but this is something that will definitely come with time.
I need to work on talking too fast and going over concepts too quickly. I need to find a better chemistry with the kids so that they want to talk more and not simply give me the answers. Dylan (who I don't believe belongs in this class) and Kayla (who is in band) always raise their hands. I want to give them praise and bring the others up but I do not actually know how.
During the Reteach I felt like they already knew what I was talking about. Although I felt like we were being redundant, I think that this is a good habit to get into thought for the kids. I would like to do something that is very picture and discussion based at the beginning of class. I don't know if this is something that fits into the standards for a bell ringer though- does it need to be a little quiz? Ask Mike
- Apparently I still need to slow down. I really liked having the kids draw what the plain was supposed to look like and I think they liked it too. However, the class is still not talking a whole lot unless they are up and moving.
- I had six students come up to the board and draw a point where the coordinate was and Mike and the kids did actually really like that
- I think I talked a little bit too quickly about the beginning.
- I also thought I repeated the concept of the Equator and the Prime Meridian a little too much
- Again with relating it to them, I could have made the points that they found something that they already knew like the mountains, etc.
- For future hands on things I will probably give even more specific directions and probably try to model.
- A balance has to be found in between modeling and providing it on the smartboard.
- I'm starting to get the feeling that there are students who talk and students who do not talk. I wish that I knew their names better so that I could help out with the calling on non volunteers but this is something that will definitely come with time.
I need to work on talking too fast and going over concepts too quickly. I need to find a better chemistry with the kids so that they want to talk more and not simply give me the answers. Dylan (who I don't believe belongs in this class) and Kayla (who is in band) always raise their hands. I want to give them praise and bring the others up but I do not actually know how.
During the Reteach I felt like they already knew what I was talking about. Although I felt like we were being redundant, I think that this is a good habit to get into thought for the kids. I would like to do something that is very picture and discussion based at the beginning of class. I don't know if this is something that fits into the standards for a bell ringer though- does it need to be a little quiz? Ask Mike
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Def of Geography
I spent a long time planning this activity of the definition of Geography. I made a prezi with different people on it and asked the students to identify what they all had in common. They answered correctly and I tried to talk about how they have influence on people or regions. I did the same thing with pictures of places including land forms and monuments. I rushed the ending and did not really bring it together.
I handed out an activity in which they had to work with a partner and say why their activity should fit into the study of geography. Most of them initially wrote "because its a person" or "because its a place"
I had to use a lot of questions which is what I wanted to do. Ex:
Who is this? Winston Churchill
Why is he important? Because hes a leader
What do leaders do? Lead
I was looking for the fact that he has more influence than the average person, but I really didn't get that. Higher order thinking was my goal, but I guess it was too soon for that.
I could have reviewed the definition and put it in other words that simply "the study of the earth" and provided a visual representation of that.
Mike suggested that this activity would probably be better suited for a review activity
I think the structure of the room discourages the students from talking. There were only 11 of them today and most of them are used to not talking, the square structure does not help that. I would really prefer things in a circle so that the self esteem issues could be done a little better.
"Come together as a class" for a definition seems to have a different meaning. I am thinking back to the cultural studies class when we had a democratic classroom and poking and prodding until we got what the teacher wanted was something that was okay but this environment is completely different.
*Check that they know the definition
*Go over the main point that we come to over and over
*Speak slower during the directions
*Give specific time frames: "you have 5 mins"
*Make it something that are familiar with-
**To change this for another class I could make it the sunsphere, pat summit, the smoky mountains, a roller coaster at dollywood, etc. Background knowledge may be better- perhaps take a poll or questioning the day before as to what is in their own personal idea about what geography is.
I handed out an activity in which they had to work with a partner and say why their activity should fit into the study of geography. Most of them initially wrote "because its a person" or "because its a place"
I had to use a lot of questions which is what I wanted to do. Ex:
Who is this? Winston Churchill
Why is he important? Because hes a leader
What do leaders do? Lead
I was looking for the fact that he has more influence than the average person, but I really didn't get that. Higher order thinking was my goal, but I guess it was too soon for that.
I could have reviewed the definition and put it in other words that simply "the study of the earth" and provided a visual representation of that.
Mike suggested that this activity would probably be better suited for a review activity
I think the structure of the room discourages the students from talking. There were only 11 of them today and most of them are used to not talking, the square structure does not help that. I would really prefer things in a circle so that the self esteem issues could be done a little better.
"Come together as a class" for a definition seems to have a different meaning. I am thinking back to the cultural studies class when we had a democratic classroom and poking and prodding until we got what the teacher wanted was something that was okay but this environment is completely different.
*Check that they know the definition
*Go over the main point that we come to over and over
*Speak slower during the directions
*Give specific time frames: "you have 5 mins"
*Make it something that are familiar with-
**To change this for another class I could make it the sunsphere, pat summit, the smoky mountains, a roller coaster at dollywood, etc. Background knowledge may be better- perhaps take a poll or questioning the day before as to what is in their own personal idea about what geography is.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Snowball Fight- Monday Aug 15
Today was a 30 minute class. We had 13 students in the class, and since we had advisory before first period, the kids seemed awake. Mike wanted me to begin the class with the opener activity. We did a snowball fight. I tried to be enthusiastic after Mike's introduction, and I asked the students to take out a sheet of paper. Some of them didn't have paper or pens and we sorted that out. i told them to write their names in the middle of the piece of paper which I had to repeat three times. I then told the students that they had to answer one of two questions:
1. Where did your name come from?
- I followed this with a story about how my name came from my mom's favorite soap opera character and Mrs. Wash and Mrs. Ruppe said their's did as well- point of interest
2. If you don't want to answer that question or don't know the answer then tell me what your favorite movie is and why you think its better than other movies.
- I said "My favorite movie is Superman Returns, because I love Superman more than any other super hero
- The students took about 3 minutes to answer, and one or two students took longer than anticipated. I told the students to crumble up their papers and we had a small snowball fight. I think my enthusiasm for the game and Mike asking to get hit with a snowball really helped this along.
- The students each went around the room and told the story of the person whose snowball they had acquired.
- The whole activity did take about 15 mins and I thought it would take ten
Problems:
- I should have made questions that were more comparable in thought process. One was very personal and one was not- most students chose the movie question
- More specific directions about how we will go around the room and answer. Ideally the student who we are learning about will be next in line to read their snowball, but I did not stick to that like I should have.
- Give the students the right to pass and not participate int he actual snowball fight. Over stimulation for students who may be in special ed could be a very bad thing that I did not anticipate.
- I modeled a little bit how to answer the questions but I did not model how to read aloud the information on the snowball
1. Where did your name come from?
- I followed this with a story about how my name came from my mom's favorite soap opera character and Mrs. Wash and Mrs. Ruppe said their's did as well- point of interest
2. If you don't want to answer that question or don't know the answer then tell me what your favorite movie is and why you think its better than other movies.
- I said "My favorite movie is Superman Returns, because I love Superman more than any other super hero
- The students took about 3 minutes to answer, and one or two students took longer than anticipated. I told the students to crumble up their papers and we had a small snowball fight. I think my enthusiasm for the game and Mike asking to get hit with a snowball really helped this along.
- The students each went around the room and told the story of the person whose snowball they had acquired.
- The whole activity did take about 15 mins and I thought it would take ten
Problems:
- I should have made questions that were more comparable in thought process. One was very personal and one was not- most students chose the movie question
- More specific directions about how we will go around the room and answer. Ideally the student who we are learning about will be next in line to read their snowball, but I did not stick to that like I should have.
- Give the students the right to pass and not participate int he actual snowball fight. Over stimulation for students who may be in special ed could be a very bad thing that I did not anticipate.
- I modeled a little bit how to answer the questions but I did not model how to read aloud the information on the snowball
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