This week was a milestone for me for a couple of reasons. I administered my first exam this week and had to deal with that all too common problem--classroom management. The former went very smoothly and had no disruptions. The latter, however...well, we'll get to that in a moment.
Two weeks ago I met with my cooperating teacher and began to discuss how we should design the unit exam. He encouraged me not to reinvent the wheel, but to examine the work of other student teachers who had gone before me, to look at the exams they had used. I did so, and found one which perfectly complimented all the events and persons which had been covered in the unit. The French Revolution, Napoleon....everything was there. I decided to use this exam while adding an extra reading prompt for the honors classes. The each class, whether World History or World Civilization, had experienced the same lessons and so received the same exam.
When we were preparing to administer the exam, my cooperating teacher posed a question to me: How much should the exam be worth of the overall unit grade? I thought back to my time in college and came up with an answer of 25%. My cooperating teacher used this answer as a starting point to share some thoughts on grading. Since he has been teaching for 25 years, I took his advice very seriously. He advised me to consider making the exam worth double the points of the other assignments for the unit. I was staggered. Double the points? Then he explained his reasoning: if students have received an A so far in the class, it should not be easy for them to lose it. On the other hand, maintaining it should not be so easy either. By doubling the point value, someone who received a grade a bit lower than average would see their overall grade drop just a bit. However, to maintain an A in the class, a student would have to receive an A on the exam. This reasoning seemed logical to me, and I really liked the approach towards 'maintaining an A,' rather than 'getting an A.' Therefore, I decided to go with the suggested point value.
The second noteworthy even this week had to do with a disruptive student. My cooperating teacher had a strict no cell phone use during class time, unless directed for an activity or granted for good behavior. The students were doing a review for the exam which involved watching a short video about Paris and the architecture there. One of my students had decided to play with their phone during class instead of watching the video. I chose to grant a little latitude since the classroom was darkened and the student was not disrupting the class...then the student took a selfie with their flash on.
At that point, I felt I had to step in. In a firm tone, I instructed to the student to put the phone away. Although the student did as directed, apparently they did not appreciate being called out in front of their classmates, and continued to play on their phone for the remainder of class. I approached the class co-teacher and asked for their advice in dealing with the matter. She spoke to the student after class, and the student said they were not playing on their phone, but instead had received a text. She cautioned me about students shutting down when confronted publicly and to think about an alternative approach when in that situation.
I was understandably worried: Had I made a big mistake, did the class see me as a bully for calling out a student? The remainder of the day was spent thinking about that episode and how I could have handled it differently. I was thinking about how to salvage the situation when my cooperating teacher approached me at the end of the day with some surprising news.
I had spoken with him about this incident earlier in the day and he decided to follow up with the classroom aide who was seated right next to the student during class. Apparently, the incident hadn't lost the respect of the class: rather, the students who had been around the student in question had spoken after class with them, saying that they shouldn't have had their phone out. I felt such relief hearing this, knowing that I hadn't lost the class. I realized that I was making the situation worse in my mind than it really was and that I had made the correct decision.
Each week seems to bring with it new learning experiences and I hope it continues for the duration of my teaching experience. If I learn something new every day, then every day I will be a better teacher--and that is my goal.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Troubles Will Come-Week 2
After the success of my first week, I was looking forward to my second week student teaching. My students enjoyed the History Alive lessons (as did I), and seemed to learn quite a bit from them. I thought that this week would be the natural conclusion of the lesson plans, with a single day dedicated to the study of Napoleon. I though everything was under control...and then on Friday, I hit a snag.
I had planned a lesson for the day based on current events. I had planned to talk to my students about the inauguration of President Trump and to address any questions or concerns they might have. I had also planned to tie the events of the election into the steps of the French Revolution. My cooperating teacher modeled this method during 1st period and I believed I could successfully model what I had seen. I had forgotten that each class is unique and what is effective in one class may not be successful in another.
My 7th period class I expected to be very involved and questioning, like they usually are. Instead, they were bored and disinterested. Despite prompting and asking questions, they just had no interest in talking about the inauguration. I could see that class time would be wasted if I continued with questioning, so I had to to pivot and change my approach.
I broke the students up into groups and had them open the text book to the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. It took several minutes for everyone to get organized and to learn how exactly they were going to read the text, but after 5 minutes everyone was on task. The students broke up into groups where they each took a section of the text, read it, then taught the other members of their groups. This 'Round Robin' proved an effective means of engaging the students while also ensuring that the class time was spent in a productive way.
Although I had kept a backup plan in place, I didn't realize that to properly implement a backup in the classroom a teacher had to be prepared to implement it at a moment's notice. Additionally, I found that adjusting to circumstances required a good deal of thinking on your feet. Although students may change the plan for the day, they should never get the impression that the teacher is unprepared or uncertain about what to do next. This requires that all backups activities be prepared and ready to go at a moment's notice.
I would have to say this week proved invaluable for teaching me that lesson plans don't always go as planned, and that the good teacher needs to be ready to think on their feet and improvise as necessary to ensure that students are not deprived of an opportunity to learn.
I had planned a lesson for the day based on current events. I had planned to talk to my students about the inauguration of President Trump and to address any questions or concerns they might have. I had also planned to tie the events of the election into the steps of the French Revolution. My cooperating teacher modeled this method during 1st period and I believed I could successfully model what I had seen. I had forgotten that each class is unique and what is effective in one class may not be successful in another.
My 7th period class I expected to be very involved and questioning, like they usually are. Instead, they were bored and disinterested. Despite prompting and asking questions, they just had no interest in talking about the inauguration. I could see that class time would be wasted if I continued with questioning, so I had to to pivot and change my approach.
I broke the students up into groups and had them open the text book to the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. It took several minutes for everyone to get organized and to learn how exactly they were going to read the text, but after 5 minutes everyone was on task. The students broke up into groups where they each took a section of the text, read it, then taught the other members of their groups. This 'Round Robin' proved an effective means of engaging the students while also ensuring that the class time was spent in a productive way.
Although I had kept a backup plan in place, I didn't realize that to properly implement a backup in the classroom a teacher had to be prepared to implement it at a moment's notice. Additionally, I found that adjusting to circumstances required a good deal of thinking on your feet. Although students may change the plan for the day, they should never get the impression that the teacher is unprepared or uncertain about what to do next. This requires that all backups activities be prepared and ready to go at a moment's notice.
I would have to say this week proved invaluable for teaching me that lesson plans don't always go as planned, and that the good teacher needs to be ready to think on their feet and improvise as necessary to ensure that students are not deprived of an opportunity to learn.
Friday, January 13, 2017
The First Step Is Always the Hardest-Week 1
I thought that I would be prepared for the challenge of teaching. I thought I would be prepared with the most complex of lesson plans and the newest ideas for integrating technology within my classroom. I thought it would be a challenge but not one I couldn't accomplish. I thought I knew how to do it all, to prepare all the lesson plans and to differentiate....and then I realized, when I first began discussing my ideas for lesson plans with my cooperating teacher, that I had forgotten something. I had forgotten about my students. In all my excitement to create grand lesson plans, I had forgotten that perhaps the content might not be suited for high school students. Additionally, they were stale and boring--not the kind of lesson plans students get excited about.
Fortunately, my cooperating teacher saw this tendency in me and cautioned me against doing too much. In fact, he recommended a set of lesson plans which he had used in the past which relied almost exclusively on classroom skits. No textbook reading, no PowerPoints, no vocabulary or terms. This completely flew in the face of all I had been taught about learning history and I was incredibly skeptical. But he encouraged me to use this approach, if only to try it out. I did so...and was shocked.
My students had remembered names, dates, important events, all without opening a textbook! I had always said I wanted to make history come alive for my students, but this week I was given the opportunity to do just that--and I could have passed it by. By the end of the week, my students were ready to finish studying the French Revolution, and would walk away knowing all the key points. I began the week a skeptic and ended it a true believer. I intend to make use of these skits throughout the school year now, because I have seen them in action and know how effective they can be.
Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned this week is that a teacher should always be open to trying new techniques and ideas. You never know when you may find something which, although it may seem a bit strange at the time, could be one of the most effective tools you may have to teach your students. I can't wait to see what I will learn next week.
Fortunately, my cooperating teacher saw this tendency in me and cautioned me against doing too much. In fact, he recommended a set of lesson plans which he had used in the past which relied almost exclusively on classroom skits. No textbook reading, no PowerPoints, no vocabulary or terms. This completely flew in the face of all I had been taught about learning history and I was incredibly skeptical. But he encouraged me to use this approach, if only to try it out. I did so...and was shocked.
My students had remembered names, dates, important events, all without opening a textbook! I had always said I wanted to make history come alive for my students, but this week I was given the opportunity to do just that--and I could have passed it by. By the end of the week, my students were ready to finish studying the French Revolution, and would walk away knowing all the key points. I began the week a skeptic and ended it a true believer. I intend to make use of these skits throughout the school year now, because I have seen them in action and know how effective they can be.
Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned this week is that a teacher should always be open to trying new techniques and ideas. You never know when you may find something which, although it may seem a bit strange at the time, could be one of the most effective tools you may have to teach your students. I can't wait to see what I will learn next week.
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