Central York Middle School Reflection

Last week, I began to teach in front of the classroom more. Since my co-op repeats her lessons, I would watch her the first time and then teach her later periods. For one of the days, I reviewed with the class different dialogue tags (she giggled, he blurted, etc.) and presented a powerpoint about theme. The students had a worksheet that went along with the theme powerpoint. I was a little surprised that the students were not able to write their notes down in conjunction with the powerpoint. The worksheet had fill in the blanks, but the students couldn't keep up. They were really tense about making sure that they had the exact right word and didn't think to paraphrase. "Which number are we on?! You skipped one!!" This behavior is one I'm familiar with. With note-taking in middle school, I was able to write notes quickly because I was able to distinguish what was important and not. However, I remember many of my peers in class looking up at the powerpoint or notes after every word they wrote. They were copying verbatim. This experience just makes me wonder how teachers teach their students what to copy and what they can leave out. Short-hand and using bullets come to mind.

My co-op was not in school Thursday due to illness. I worked with the substitute to run the classes for the day. Substitutes... when kids hear they have a sub, they take it as their day off. Don't they? From my experience, students were very disrespectful to substitutes because they weren't the "real teacher." So, kids acted up and got nothing done. The subs weren't sure how to handle to students and just tried to cover the material. Thursday only reinforced this notion of mine.

Mrs. D, the substitute, yelled out the instructions for an activity over the giggles and chatter of the students. The students ran around, grabbed their white boards and markers, and eventually found their way back to their seats. At this point, I felt that Mrs. D wasn't using any, or enough techniques to manage behavior. I asked Mrs. D what else we were doing in class. She showed me the objectives and activities the students would be doing. She also asked if I'd want to help teach. I was glad she asked. And I think she was glad she asked too.

I taught the following classes. The first class is known for their behavioral problems. I've seen it through my weeks in class as well. Many kids cause distractions and do not listen. Having said that, it was a little tough. Many times I had to yell. Many times I had to use proximity. I know that my co-op wouldn't have let the noise level be so high as it was. Eventually, with the help of the sub, the students got to work. But I had to stand right next to two boys, in order for them to focus and stop talking to each other. Next, was reading Marely and Me. They were more attentive, though there was still some giggling. "What's funny? Tell me, I want to know" and "I'm not reading till it's quiet" were some of the comments I had to make with a cold face in order to stop the chatter. I quickly had to remind myself that they... are middle school students... not adults. Asking them to be quiet nicely... just won't work. Like Mrs. McDowell suggested in EDSE class, I had to use the evil eye. I didn't let the class leave until they were all quiet and in their seats. Some decided to keep talking so I grabbed my notebook and started to write their names down. This seemed to work. I could tell that they were getting suspicious and worried. "What are you writing??" one said with big eyes.

The second class went much better. They loved when I read Marely and Me.

On Friday, as I was walking to class, one of the girls in my class stopped to tell me that my co-op said good things about me... but... "you didn't hear it from me." When I saw my co-op, she told me that the students really enjoyed my teaching. I guess she asked them how the sub and I were. She seemed really pleased. "I heard you took over the class." "You must feel more confident and comfortable with the class." "Isn't it a great feeling?" And at the end of Friday, she said my teaching improved. This was very encouraging to me that both my co-op and the students reacted positively to my teaching. I still have a long way to feeling comfortable with the class and managing behavior. I hope to keep getting to know the students to build some kind of teacher-student relationship.

My final note is about the substitute. Mrs. D was kind, but I felt that the students just walked over her. I felt that she hesitated to take control. Is it hard for substitutes to demand control or respect? Did Mrs. D feel as though she did not belong or have the authority? I thought that the students quickly sniffed out her uneasiness and knew she would let things slide. I heard somewhere about how much money is spent on substitutes across America. It's a lot. But is the job they are doing that one day they covering for a teacher effective? How can subs walk into a classroom of new faces, unclear assignments, and unknown expectations? And teach well?

Field Experience Thoughts

I feel very fortunate to have been assigned to Cedar Crest High School in Lebanon for my field service experience. The added bonus being that I am only about 25 minutes from my home, compared to the 1 hour and 15 minute commute I have to MillersvilleJ.

To begin with, my co-op teacher, Mr. Gates, is very enthusiastic about having me in his classroom. Not only has made me feel very welcome, but he also introduced me to a number of other teachers in the building who have welcomed me into their classrooms with the same enthusiasm as Mr. Gates. He is an amazing teacher who totally dedicates himself to his profession, and gives his “all” to his students. He is inspiring to watch. From the time I enter his classroom in the morning and until I leave at the end of the day, he includes me in his strategies and plans for the day. He teaches me and guides me as a mentor, yet at the same time he shows me great respect making me feel less a student and more of a co-teacher.

In the few weeks of my experience I have observed and participated in Honors English, Applied English, College Prep English, Humanities, Intro to Mass Media, and the CLIP program—the CLIP program is for students with behavioral issues who are unable to be mainstreamed into the school population for an amount of time affiliated with the severity of their infractions. Additionally, my co-op, who at one time worked in the newspaper business, teaches Yearbook and oversees the Talon—the school newspaper; in these two classes I not only have learned from my co-op, but also from the students who behave more as young professionals with a job to do than as high school students.

I am seeing many of the teaching methods and total participation techniques that we discussed in our classes in action. I have also witnessed a plethora of assessments, both formative and summative, noticing which seem to be the most beneficial. I’ve noticed too that in the teaching methods and assessments what is a success with one class may not necessarily be as productive with the next class.

Probably the most valuable lesson I have learned so far is that teachers have to be flexible and willing to adapt on the spot. They always have to have a “plan B.” And when “plan B” falls through they rely on that “extra bag of tricks” for a filler! Sometimes those moments can end up being even more beneficial than the original game plan!

PCTELA Conference

PCTELA  Conference

Nelly and I attended the PCTELA conference on Saturday. I must say that if anyone has the opportunity to attend one of these conferences in the future— or other conferences of similar nature—they should do so. Not quite knowing what to expect (I feel comfortable saying this for both of us) we were pleasantly surprised.

First of all, the PCTELA members who were there to check us in, and who ran “the show” throughout the day, were all very kind and welcoming. I felt that we were treated with great respect like that shown to the teachers even though we are students in training.

Secondly, the presenters for our sessions did a tremendous job. They introduced us to new information and taught us new ways of utilizing timeless “tricks” of the teaching trade. We were given sample worksheets and sample handouts for our use in our future classroom. Through the sessions we got to meet numerous teachers, one (a presenter) was kind enough to invite us to visit his classroom and observe his teaching methods in action.  To describe him, through participating in his session and interacting with his as a fellow attendee in another session, saying he is a dynamic teacher may not even do him justice. He was just one of the teachers we were fortunate to meet on Saturday. We certainly did make a number of connections.

Finally, we met some authors and purchased some new books that will be beneficial for use in our future classrooms. Almost forgot—after a wonderful lunch and another final session we left the conference with tote bags stuffed full of “freebies,” information and catalogs on teaching materials,  and more contact information!

Yes, it did seem like a drudgery getting out of bed super early on a Saturday to attend a conference. But, once we were there we had a fantastic time. We left feeling invigorated and excited to attend the next conference.

Frankenstein

Right now in class we started reading Frankenstein. I was impressed and excited to actually be there when my co-op began a new novel. We finished "The Lottery and A Worn Path," both short stories with the daily class that meets everyday. So far we did a chapter a day, and for homework they had four more chapters to read by Monday. Every chapter began in a circle discussion. Frankenstein could have been Mary Shelley's memoir in a way because of all the similar things she adds to the book such as the name "William," who is Victors youngest brother and in real life, Mary Shelleys son's name who died. Just in chapter one, the similarites and time period references of people Shelley adds is incredible. None of my teachers ever went this in depth with Frankenstein when I read it. To relat it to something current my co-op introduced "secret scoieties that have a lot of power in UVA (University of Virginia but are working with other secret societies from Yale, and Princeston. Secret societies are hand picked and some of our most powerful people in government come from these secret societies. My co-op showed pics of the markings that have their imprints all over the campus.

Here are some.

Here above is one that is fighting for power. Whose is best. The reason why these came up is because people thought they don't exist anymore, but they still do and characters from the book that are related to Mary Shelleys friends or family members. Interested topic to discuss in the class.

Teacher/Author Conference @ the Marriot

• Met amazing teachers (especially an English teacher from a local High school who spoke about poetry
• publishing doesnt only mean professionals can do it, but students too, and it can first begins in the classroom. Very few teachers read outloud good writing submited by their students.
• Reading outloud is beneficial for students on many levels, the students picture it, imagine it and remember it and its uncommon for students in the secondary level to be read to outloud in their classes. Teachers just need to choose what texts can be read outloud, making a good choice is crucial in order for students to stay alert, focused and contain active hearing.

My favorite session was how to use metaphors and teach it in the classroom.

• Metaphors vs. Similes-- too often when students are taught about metaphors and similes, they are just taught to memorize the definition. Well, okay lets think now, no matter if a student memorizes a definition, they still don't know the concept and how its use properly or even at all and why even use it. Lets start with a similie.

                      Sarah tells her brother Joe, "You eat like a pig!"
                     Joe goes out on his first date to an italian resturant.
                     Joe is terrified and can't believe his date chose a place where food is messy to eat.
                   He is scarred for life every time he eats around people because of what his sister has told him.

The simile here is a pig.
Now have students draw the simile- a pig
Then say the definition that students know of a metaphor. The comparison between the two and have students draw the metaphor combining Joe and eating like a pig.

Metaphor here is combining both things together- Joe being a pig and eating like one. This was a great exercise that the speaker had us do. He really took us step by step through the process of this mini lesson of a metaphor and simile and separating the two, yet combining both when using it as a metaphor. It was also great to see student work examples, from this activity.

Postman article vs. Co-op

As I was finishing the Postman article, I found myself being reminded of my co-op through the good examples that they gave. For example:
"His basic mode of discourse with students is questioning" (34). My co-op is all about class discussions and questioning students to see where they are at, what they are thinking regarding the topic or subject and real world issues that relate to the topic of that lesson. My co-op is very good with coming up with essential questions that will make them think. We just finished "The Lottery," and "A Worn Path," and he had them as a class fill out huge charts of paper each printed with a literary term, "symbolism, P.O.V and so on and as a class they fill them all out and talk about what they come up with. Afterwards my co-op will question their thinking and ask why they think what they think. The Lottery itself by Shirley Jackson had so much symbolism and metaphors that students read through it (after being told to read carefully), and they were able to use their devices during our discussion to look up names and dates that were in the Lottery because I told them everything has a reason for it being in the short story.

"Generally, he does not accept a single statement as an answer to a question" (34). My co-op also gives students examples of what a -c answer sounds like and what a -b answer sounds like also. He said you have to have the -c plus the -b answer and add more to give an -A answer. As I observe my co-op everyday, I notice that he is huge on quizzing and doing at least first part of major exams as part of a class assignment. I believe that he does a lot of group activities during his classes because he acknowledges that they all have different things to say about these short stories as to summarizing and taking in the main purpose of the piece and some of their thoughts  have similarities as the annotating process goes, but he wants to see unity, collaboration and sharing ideas. Instead of think-pair-share, he believes in pair-share-think.

Subversion At Its Best

I think the biggest thing I encounter with my Coop is her classroom management skills.  She allows students to misbehave in various ways and ignores it.  Several times I have noticed that she saw a kid misbehave yet annoyed it.  When I bring it to her attention she said she did not realize it.  An example was a student smashing another students hand in a textbook, the student then begin yelling that his hand hurt asking why the student did that.  The student was loud enough that it caught her attention, she looked at him, listened and shrugged it off.  I later bought it to her attention and she said she did not know what happened and she did not ask.  Now when I see a child doing something, I address them myself in front of her, to let them no that the behavior is wrong and I will not tolerate it.  This type of things occurs numerous times with behavior, bullying and other things.  I always talk to the students directly and sometimes pull them aside depending how bad the behavior is.  I also take the time to get to know the students on a personal level and I really believe this helps out with their behavior problems, and helps them listen to me.  I always ask her questions about the students and she never knows or understands whats going on in their lives.  I always tell her about different students hoping she realizes the importance.  When I talk to the students I try to be firm and not pleading with them as she sometimes can be and I hope she notices that since she agrees that they listen to me more.  Lastly, I took a stand.  When my Coop calls on students and they give not great answers she makes a face and says okay and sometimes even joins in when students laugh, I was teaching a lesson and the students began to ridicule another student, laughing because of his answer.  I immediately let them know that we respect each others answers, we are entitled to different answers and even to disagree with others answers, but laughing and making fun of others will not be tolerated this is a community and we will all learn together. My coop heard me and said nothing, I have yet to see a change in this aspect.

I'm genuinely torn on this subject. For the most part, I love my co-op's teaching style: she's great with bringing relevance into the classroom (we watched Pixar shorts for a lesson on theme) and she always has time written into the lesson for students to work in groups to better grapple with the material. With all that being said, there are some areas that I take issue with.

Probably my biggest problem is the amount of time given for each assignment. For instance, the kids are given two full class periods and two nights to finish a simple outline. Now as these are all done on google docs, I could understand the extra time if students didn't have access to technology at home; however, when polled, almost all of the students had computers they could easily access. So, I don't really see the necessity of all the time given to students. If anything, I think it hurts the students-they do not learn good time management skills, nor do they gain an understanding of working on a deadline. In addition, for some reason I have not yet discovered, almost 3/4 of these kids cannot get a single finished assignment in on time, so giving them more time for work is only giving them more time to forget about the assignment.

Another thing I have an issue with is the idea of "dumbing" things down. My co-op is not too guilty of this, though I have noticed it happening on occasion, but countrywide, I feel as though this is the most common thought. And even though, we as the new generation of teachers are expected to step up and reform the field, I found that this idea of "dumbing" down is prevalent even in among us. In my Issues in Secondary Education class, we were discussing what we would do if students complained that they had too many tests in one day. I was honestly shocked when most of the class responded that they would attempt to set up a staggered schedule so students would have less in one day. Now, the tests in question were AP tests, which I can sympathize with a bit more, but I felt like an absolute monster for my opinion that the best solution was to teach students better time management and critical thinking skills. As more and more classmates agreed that we needed to make life easier for our students, I started to doubt myself and my ability to be a good teacher. I even found myself doubting my unit plan because I was expecting far more of my students than my co-op ever would.

I finally realized, however, that it was not wrong of me to have high expectations of my students. If we go into class with low expectations, our students will never excel or experience any personal or lasting connections. If we have high expectations, perhaps we can teach our students to have high expectations of themselves and their teachers.  And though it sounds harsh, we cannot make life too easy for our students or we are failing to properly prepare them for real life, where no one cares if they have multiple things due in a day. I agree that certain situations are too much and can be modified to help the students, but I feel that if we did this every time students had more than one thing due that we are doing them a great disservice. Along with the idea of better time management, we should also work on our students' critical thinking. Before they sign up for 4 AP classes a semester, they should really sit down and think through whether or not they can handle the work.

CD

Honestly, the Postman article confused me a bit, but I think I understand what he is trying to say. That being said, a few things set my crap detector off while I was observing the classroom. First was how vocabulary was handled. From what I gathered, the students were given a vocabulary list and told to find the definitions of. They then went over the definitions in class. About a week later, they would review the words and take a quiz the next day. My teacher was annoyed when she realized most of her students were doing poorly. I wasn't surprised at all. These kids probably looked at the sheet once after finding the definitions. Why should they care what the words mean? I did like how she handled it last time. The day before the quiz, instead of just reviewing the words, she assigned each student at word to write a short personification of it. This helped them get an idea as to what the words were supposed to mean. One of the students even asked if they could do that every time for review. I liked the review, but I felt like it was still the first time in a while since the students were looking at those words. The vocabulary, in my opinion, needs to be incorporated more into the course, otherwise it's just more crap that the students need to memorize. 

There is also To Kill a Mockingbird. While I love the book, I do not really like the way she is teaching it. They either read it aloud in class, or they are assigned two chapters to read and have a "discussion" the next day. These discussions are really just summaries of the chapters. What was important? Why did this happen? Who is this character? The students aren't really engaging in the text at all. 

Meanwhile, in her acting classes, there is so much engagement. The students really get into acting their parts, even the shy ones. There are some days when the students ask "Can we do our Spoon Rivers monologues today?" or "Can we work on Grimms?" They are very active in what they are doing. I really wish she was able to get the same energy and engagement in all of her classes. 

Saw this on Pinterest and just had to share it. Pretty good summary of everything we've been talking about.

Field trip

So I was able to go on a field trip on friday with my students and they allowed me to be a chaperone!!!!!  We went to the NJ poem festival and it was a blast, besides older teachers thinking that I was a high school student ( it is getting kind of old)  But we went to listen and hear tons of poems and I think the best part in my eyes is that we were able to listen to the US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.  I think this was a really good experience.  I was with two 10th graders and two 12th graders, and I felt like I was able to understand more of the school problems.  How they feel about budget cuts, one girl just came back to the school she went to the PA cyberschool, because some of the classes she really enjoyed were cut at Manheim.  She said the cyber school was not at all challenging, and she felt like she learned nothing so she came back for her senior year and now if she did not get an A, it upset her because she was use to that for that time.  I learned how students do not feel like they are prepared for their SAT's or how to write a letter to apply to a college.  It upset me that we push for students to do well in both, yet give them no type of guidance. 

Classroom questions

I love my school entirely.  I found that when you get to know students on a personal level they tend to listen and respect you more.  I think this is where my teacher falls a little short.  She does not take the time to ask them about their lives or comment on things that have passed and she has problems with classroom management.  I was so excited, the students were upset that next week will be my last three weeks because they were going to miss me (sad face)  The longer I am in the classroom, the more I step up, I help with classroom management, teaching her lessons, test, quizzes, I keep up on the stories and I absolutely love it.  I really admire how my teacher uses technology in the classroom in such an interactive way, I think that is one thing I will definitely take from her.  Also she is a big constructivist teacher and I also admire that, the students get really involved in the lessons.  Lastly, what I have been going back and forth about is whether to have differentiated teaching and lessons for a lower level class or if I should challenge them to rise to the same level as their peers?
Lastly, my teacher has told me to work with certain students because they listen to me over her, I feel that she should be able to maintain her class without me because I am a temporary person.  What are your feelings?

Good teachers are subversive teachers who find ways to make connections to the students and motivate them as learners. The act—or perhaps I should say the art –of subversive teaching involves following required teaching standards, while at the same time subtly restructuring traditional procedures. Teachers have to comply with the standards of the education system, they must teach what is required— there isn’t a choice. But they do have a choice in how they present the material. Subversive teaching involves diverting from the ho-hum drudgery of “old fashioned” teaching techniques.  Using methods of subversion in the classroom students learn to consider possibilities; there is progress and not stalemate. Using methods of inquiry with our students causes them to delve deep. It challenges them to think and come up with answers from inside themselves through manipulation of previously acquired knowledge or by building upon newly acquired knowledge.

By implementing these techniques as a future teacher, and referring to the principles of subversive teaching along with other teaching guides, I feel I can provide relevance for my students in teaching the required standards. By teaching students how to ask questions (going beyond “the crap”) and identify deeper meaning by looking at themselves, others, and the world around them, they will develop critical thinking skills that will enable them to tackle the required material while keeping them engaged.

I have been very fortunate with my placement in many ways; one of which is witnessing more than just my co-op teaching and interacting with students in the classroom, but also a few other teachers who have kindly invited me into their classrooms. They each have their own unique styles and techniques. Reflecting upon it I truly believe I have witnessed subversive teaching in action many times. Yet, there have been a few incidents where I have detected “crap.” One incident comes to mind in particular. It involved the teacher of College Prep. She was rolling along with a lesson on effective thesis statements. Given time in groups to work on developing a thesis statement while using methods she suggested and through questioning to develop a precise yet deeply intriguing thesis topic the students were using critical thinking skills. After peer review and her final approval of developed thesis statements, she moved on to the body of the paper— a five paragraph essay. I witnessed the engagement slowly fizzle, disengagement kicked in, as she went into the redundant steps and expectations involved with creating this type of essay.  After class I asked her if her students use five paragraph essays for all their papers. Her response with a slight scowl was, “I have to use this format in order to prepare them for the Keystones.”

 

                                                                                                                          

"C.D"

I've noticed some "crap" in my placement already. Students are now beginnging to use structure strategy especially in their English classes but in all classes too.Structure strategy is a way to enhance student learning. When students are reading or learning they take structure strategy notes to enhance their learning. They think more about what they are reading and compartmentalize information. They identify main structures and then identify nested (smaller) structures. They may see something as a generalization, a problem/solution, or maybe cause/effect. Their notes are detailed enough that they help learning but yet short enough that they can be useful and easily understood. Some students struggle with this because they are not used tot aking notes so they just rewrite what they are reading. Some students feel trapped because they are being forced to take notes a certain way. One girl explained that she already knows how to take good notes and gets good grades so she feels this is a waste of her time. If students are continually forced to do this will they learn to take better notes? Sometimes I get the feeling students think teachers are only teaching something because they have to.
That sometimes worries me. I want to do everything I am supposed to but at the same time I also want students to know I am trying to make learning as interactive and exciting as possible.

"Crap Detecting" Central York Middle School

"We have in mind a new education that would set out to cultivate just such people-- experts at "crap detecting."

I learned in Postman's article, that "crap detecting" is an vital skill for today's students. As teachers, it is our responsibility to cultivate students who are able to "recognize change, to be sensitive to problems caused by change, and who have the motivation and courage to sound alarms when entropy accelerates to a dangerous degree." This is a great task.

My first reaction to all this is: How? How can I teach and model these skills and all the "behavior's of a good learner" that Postman mentions--- to a class of 30 or so students within one school year? It seems like one would have to know everything there is to know to fulfill these expectations. Isn't this what school principals, CEOs, and presidents do and are for? To make big decisions and promote change? Of course this is the kind of thinking we don't want. You can't leave it all to them. But then I think of a realistic classroom. Is it possible for a class of unmotivated, low-achieving students to acquire such skills? I know that all students have potential and that every student can grow in their capabilities. I know that it's important and necessary for everyone to form these skills, not just ones who hold power. I know that a year of school, no matter how great it is--- do not instantly produce law-changing presidents and the like. Maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Perhaps what I should ask myself is: How I can instill a "crap detector" in my students (given the time I have) in smaller, manageable measures. How will my students learn to think for their own and be the change? How will my curriculum reflect these goals I have for my students? How will I teach these bigger ideas? How can I continue to develop my own "crap detector?"

As Postman further explains, change is changing. So many of our new inventions/technological advances have only appeared relatively recently. In order for students to detect the "crap" within their society through today's countless mediums, they must be taught with a new aim in education. No longer can we teach in the traditional model of the past. I hope to implement change well.

My Co-Op teacher, as well as the district, aim to be and from what I've seen, are on the "cutting-edge" of educational theory and practice. I find that the shift in education has reached Central York Middle School. And so as of now, it's hard to come up with an instance where I've found any kind of serious "crap" in the school.

However, I learned from other classmates that there is a dissonance between how they are taught to teach at Millersville, with how teachers at their school want or expect them to teach. Some students feel as if they are the bridge between this pedagogical shift. Also, how my peers have been taught is vastly different from how they aim to teach. The kind of "crap" they are experiencing deal with their frustration with their ideas/methods of teaching clashing against their Co-Ops' ideas. One student talked of his Co-Op saying something loosely along the lines of... you have these ideas now, but once you teach for awhile... you'll see the reality... you'll revert to the old ways.

Change can be painful... but it's here... it's happening.
And we should always have the student in mind.

Why are they in this class?

In my placement, there are several students with IEPs, in emotional support classrooms, and in low level English/Communications Skills classes. Many of the students exhibit disinterest in school and often their reason for being has a lot to do with motivation.  Many of them do not want to be in school and their parents don't push them to do well.  I have encountered many students that seemingly have so much potential but very little drive.  Most recently there was a student who was frequently absent and as a result in ISS.  She would come in to school a day maybe two and then find out she had ISS because she had missed to many days.  She didnt' want to be in ISS so she would leave school.  My co-op told me that her mother was into drugs and out of the picture.  She lives with her father who gives her very little guidance or discipline.  When she was in school she did well and has a lot of potential, her problem is that she didn't come often enough.  Finally, Friday kids came in to class and told us that she had dropped out of school.  They said that her family told her she would never graduate and was wasting her time, she should just quit.

This is the part of teaching that will really bother me.  I can never imagine encouraging my child to do poorly in life. This has really stuck with me all weekend.  How do students get so far and then just give up?  How do we as teachers help our students to see more in themselves?  We are truely here for more than just teaching students about novels and sentence structure.  With the diversity of these students learning abilities and the diversity of their family lives we really have to know who they are and how to motivate them.  How do we do this?  How do we help these kids from falling through the cracks? 

Another obsticle I encountered over the last two weeks was making sense of the kids that I saw in the Emotional Support classroom. I had the priviledge of working one on one with a student on a writing assignment he had to complete for another class.  It was an essay about any topic of their choice and it was one month late.  He fortunately (but unfortunately) has an IEP and points would not be taken off for late assignments.  He plays sports - basketball, football, and track for the high school so he chose to write about being part of a team.  He had one paragraph written before we sat down together.  So he started to write more and showed me his work after writing two "rough" paragraphs.  So I started asking questions about what he was writing and helped him to correct a few sentence fragments and runon sentences.  He then began to write more.  I must say I was amazed!  What he wrote was truely from his heart and he wrote very well.    We worked on editing his assignment and he was finished by the end of class.  This student is always engaged in class and participates.  I asked my co-op why he was in this class (these students spend most of their day in the same room) and she said she is still trying to figure it out.

So while there are students falling through the cracks, there are some that are put in places like emotional support and left there.  These students are constantly being assessed but what are they being assessed for?  What makes them different from students in mainstream classrooms?  How do they go back to being mainstream?  I could probably name 5 students in the mainstream Comm. Skills class that should be in emotional support instead of the above student.  Who is making these decisions of where these students are being placed.  Atleast 50% of her Comm. Skills students have IEPs, how often are they addressed?  Or are we just assigning IEPs for students in the early part of their education and leaving them there?  What goals are set for these students? I am hoping to talk to the Special Ed. teacher to possibly get some of these answers to my questions during my next observation. 

Central Middle School Reflection

This post is a brief description of my experiences last week.

I have been enjoying observing, helping, and talking with Mrs. Smith, the part-time ESL teacher at the middle school. She has three students in the class I have been observing. Although, I learned this Monday that two male students from Puerto Rico will be joining the class Wednesday. When Mrs. Smith told the class this, Kirium's eyes lit up with interest. Kirium is a seventh-grade student in Mrs. Smith's class from Puerto Rico. She is fairly shy and doesn't like speaking up in class. Her English level could be considered beginner. With the addition of two very beginner-level students coming, Mrs. Smith shared with me her concern of how to accommodate for the needs of every student. We discussed the importance of making sure every student is challenged, but not overwhelmed.

One class period, I worked with Kirium one-on-one to go over her notes from her science class. Her notes were on the classification of nature. She had a good mnemonic device for knowing the order of the classes from broad to narrow. (Pretty sure her teacher provided it). It was King Philip (Likes?/Eats?) Good Seafood... I know I'm missing something, but it stood for kingdom, phylum, and so on. Fortunately, Kirium's teachers adjust the test for ESL students to fit their needs. So for example, she wasn't expected to give an example for each class. I just stressed Kingdom was the broadest category and that Species was the most narrow category. I also worked with her on Living vs. Non-Living. I had her raise her right hand if what I said was living, and her left hand for non-living things. This was a fun activity for both of us. I'm glad that she was being responsive and smiling, despite her shyness. Being able to describe unfamiliar words in Spanish to her seemed to help as well. I hope to try and connect with her and encourage her to speak more.

John and Janet are the other two in the ESL class. They are both from Egypt. John is quite, but very friendly. He doesn't speak much, but he has gone to an English school in Egypt where he has developed a significant background for English. And then there's Janet... Janet.... she is such a character. She makes me laugh... I've never seen a girl so energetic and hyper. Janet is a chatterbox. She speaks with a loud voice and is always shouting out things... whether "Oo! Ooo! I know!!" or "You forgot announcements!" or "Nuh-uhhh! See! I told you so!" Janet really livens the classroom. I feel that her ability to speak so much helps her speaking skills and that her classmates open up more because of her bubbly personality. But on the other hand, her constant blurting has cost her a (perhaps more than one) lunch detention. Teachers on the team are all aware of this issue with Janet.

On Friday, I was able to do a short activity with the class on organizing a paper. I was sweating a bit at the thought of already getting up in front of the class. My co-op teacher, Mrs. Allen, gave me the freedom to do what I wanted but mentioned the idea of cutting up sections of short stories, putting them in envelopes, and then have students put the story in order. And so this is what I did. It was hard for me to determine what would be too hard or too easy for the students. Fast-forward. The lesson went fairly well. I was able to do it four times by doing the activity in the next-door English class with Mrs. Stine. With each lesson/activity, I felt more comfortable with the students and gained confidence. After my first lesson, Mrs. Allen kindly told me, "Just watch out for the "OK"'s. I chuckled a bit. I must have been so nervous that I wasn't listening to what I was saying and repeating "OK?" excessively.

Below are pictures of Mrs. Allen's classroom.

Reader/Writer Notebooks! Nice! Sometimes class starts with a freewrite.

Sets of books for literature circles. 

Adult-themed books.

Wordle! A tool I learned about in my Tech class.

The Lottery

I taught my first real lesson today! It was amazing. At first I was nervous because well I was finally going to teach and not just edit papers and help students do their study guides, but actually TEACH. I also kept hearing that a lot of bloc students were already teaching and I also felt behind (to jessica). The time will come. I was starting with a game called "The lottery," just like the short story I was going to teach today "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. The winner, who was the student who received the folded brown paper with an X marked on it received 4 pride tickets which are tickets given by teachers that students could use in the school store, to vote for homecoming court etc. The winner was Brooke, she was awesome today and she even participated too. Well, just my luck, but now that I think of it, I am glad I got lucky today to have 3 observers watch me teach. The teacher across the hall had a bloc student from West Chester University who wanted to sit in on my co-ops class, but he forgot to tell him that it was me who was going to teach today. My co-op is phenomenal. I really got lucky with him. He pushes me to think beyond my limits, and experience the most I can while I can, especially now that I am still young. He works for CDT, which is a company that works for the keystone exams. He teaches faculty and other teachers how to use it, and how to read it. He teaches me and tells me that if his students are not where he thinks they should be, he is not doing his job. Anyway, the next two observers were Dr. Himilee, (misspelled) and my co-op of course. He was co-teaching with me at some points which made me feel like I was not alone up there in the front. The activity was pretty cool. After the winner was announced, they were given 25 minutes to read the short story while they anotate on the white board what they annotated on their paper. So Dr. Himilee took a picture of it with her cell phone, I should have too, it reminded me of our English class where we put all of our ideas on the board where we could see them all. Then I taught the lottery in a discussion form where I asked for a summary, and then we went through specifics, like names, subject, tone, mood, characters setting etc. It was nice. They went home with one assignment, to research who was Tessie Hutchinson (which I now know after doing so much research for this lesson plan) and Delacroix (two characters mentioned in this short story. One student came up to me while she was packing up her things and said, "great lesson." It felt good. (I think what felt great was teaching them things they did not know, because most have read this before, but questions like what the name Delacroix means...or what it even looks like, (a french word) meaning: of the cross," why would the author have it in the second paragraph, is that a hint of whats going to happen? I asked.

I have to say, for entering this semester anxious and nervous about everything, I love placement. I love the atmosphere of the school. Just entering the building helps put me at ease. And my co-op is super nice.

But even with all of this, I'm still very anxious about everything.

I keep hearing stories about everyone already teaching lessons, and I feel like I'm behind everyone. My teacher wants to finish the novel they're reading before she has me teach a lesson. She doesn't want the students to get confused (they should be finished some time next week). I understand and respect this, but I can't help but feel like I'm falling behind. And it just worries me that everything is going to go wrong.

I don't know. Everyone keeps telling me it'll be okay. I just like to stress myself out ^_^

When I think I know, I really don't. I guess being with AP classes are difficult in the sense that they are good students and some don't like to be corrected. I have just been getting to know the students name. I only have three classes that my Co-op teaches. He teaches 2 classes a day. Two of his classes are called "wrap" classes, which only meet two to three times a week for 90 minutes (its block scheduled). There is only one class he see's everyday and they are his 4th period. They are amazing and for the most part, opened to me. One girl whose locker is right next to the class, seen me this morning waiting for my Co-op to arrive and started talking to me without hesitating; that was really nice! My co-ops first wrap class, are so serious and straight forward. They are not very welcoming. The first couple of Friday's I was there, they didn't even acknowledged or said anything until I said something to them. They are all senior AP students and most will graduate in January. One student today, was one that my co-op spoke to about with an art teacher next door. This students SAT score was a 1090 and he is one that is planning on applying to Harvard. He is #3 in his senior class, so when I found out he did poorly on his SAT score, I was so confused, and couldn't put the puzzle piece together. How could that happen? He's very active in class. 

I think what's most difficult for me right now, even though I am still not teaching until next week, is that these students I feel  are hard to reach because maybe they see right through me? And maybe realize I am not from their area, or didn't ever take AP classes and their behavior shocks me! Compared to both my private Catholic high school and city high school I attended, I never seen students respect and be good in class like they are. I am bored half the time when my co-op is teaching because they just sit there, listen, some participate and get on with class. There is no diverse in two out of the three classes. It's kind of like I crave for someone to make a mistake in order for me to really help him. My co-op right now is really trying to get them to think critically, think for themselves, and trying to cut their apologetical selves after each answer they give because they think it's not what the teacher wants. I want some diverse personalities. I want them to trust me and open up more to me.