Week Three of Student Teaching

Wow! What a great week. I guess the majority was not so exciting. The first two days we did an essay practice test, where they used the outlines they had already created to write an essay. They had the class period to finish it and most did very well. Wed and Thur I had one on one interviews with them about their essays. But Friday I started a poetry unit. The first two classes went really really well especially the second period. The third period was surly, after lunch friday blues maybe? But I was just on cloud nine at lunch time. I was thinking to myself, "They're gonna pay me to do this, what a blast!" The lesson was designed to give them a perspective on how varied the genre of poetry can be, in its style, subject matter, intent, etc. And then give them a chance to write with their own style.

I had a visit from my adviser during second period on Friday. She seemed genuinely pleased by my lesson and the way I presented it, I go pretty high marks on my observation sheet. She asked to borrow a couple of my handouts to show to her classes. So I think this class is one that I can recommend to my colleagues. It is my first true pedagogical success and I found it very encouraging. The lesson itself was varied, it allowed the students to break out move around the room, discuss and express their opinion whether it be a positive or negative one. It seemed to work with the first two classes but I need to get to know my third period A class a little better so that I can tune my lessons into their needs.

I think this is definitely a lesson plan I will use in the future. I might choose different poems for the students to break out and discuss, but none come to mind just yet. In my observation my adviser pointed out that at one point of the lesson I break away from my objectives, but we also brainstormed some easy ways to fix that. It was mainly a change in my questioning and instructions. We just got a projector hung from our ceiling which is easily attached to the computer. I used the document camera for this lesson, but I think it could be improved some if I use a power point or some other presentation to present the poems, I could have lines pre-highlit on a slide so as to easily point it out to them?

In other successes I noticed that this one girl doesn't have many friends, she sits very quietly and doesn't interact with her peers much at all. She also would respond to me very well. One day this week we had some extra time at the end of class, so about two minutes before the bell rang, I walked over to her and whispered that she could leave early if she wanted to. The next time she came to class she smiled at me and said hi, and actually interacted with me. It was pretty exciting for me.

Second Week of Student Teaching

This past week I was busy teaching my students how to write persuasive essays. The UBSCT is next week so I am trying to get them prepared. Luckily my cooperating teacher has done an excellent job teaching them and so my job is to review and refine. My main focuses has been on thesis statements and organization. We did a idea generating exercise where I gave them a prompt and they wrote two reasons why they supported it or were against it. Then I had them get into groups of like minded students to discuss their reasons and get more. Finally I had them pair up with a member of the opposing group to argue their side, and gather arguments against their own. It seemed to go really well. Several of the students got really into the debates and when they were all done they had plenty of material to form their thesis and paper from. One thing I had a hard time with, and think I will continue to struggle with, is pacing and making sure that I am using all of my time effectively. A few classes ended up having some time let over and I hadn't planned anything to fill that time. Awkward.

This exercise is primarily to prepare them for the UBSCT which they have to pass to get a full diploma. But the thinking and arguing they did will be applicable in almost any class they are taking. It will also help them as they are currently developing many of their world views, and they will need these analytical and debative skills to create their own paradigms.

I learned that in the future most students react well to the chance to move around the room and talk about the subject instead of just sitting and reading or doing worksheets. I will use this in the future when ever I need to generate ideas in my students. I think it is something I will encourage my colleagues to do as well. I know there is another girl in my school who is doing student teaching and her cooperating teachers are older and set in their ways. She says they aren't willing to participate in activities like this because they have been doing things their own way for so long. As for the pacing, in the future I need to prepare smaller assignments and lessons and activities that can be tacked on to the end of a lesson should there be a need.

Week One of Student Teaching January 17

This is my first week student teaching. It was the last week of the term for my students so mostly I just helped my cooperating teacher (awesome!) finish up the novel "Mississippi Trial 1955" and do some end of term testing. The most effective thing we did was Book Interviews. Mrs. Johnson has her students read a book of their choice outside of class every term. At the end of the term each student brings that book to class and we sit down with them one-on-one and interview them about the book. The first part of the interview is the teacher opening the book and reading aloud. When the student knows whats going on in the book they stop the teacher and expound on that scene. Then they give a brief overview of the plot, and then the teacher asks questions about characters, and themes.

This means that I now have a way of doing book reports that gets away from the old boring stand up and tell the class about it. I think the one-on-one interview is much more nerve racking and causes them to actually read the book. It also mean that I might get my students to engage a text a deeper level then they might otherwise since they know they will have to talk about characters and themes. And finally it may get some kids reading who dislike the activity, they may even learn to enjoy it.

Even though I think this is effective and easy to do for me and for the student, I don't think it will be what I do every term. I like book projects and may have them do those, more creative versions of a book report. I took the opportunity to ask why they chose the book they did and why they liked it. This gave me the opportunity to get to know the student better, and that information and relationship should help me as a teacher, and help the student teacher relationships I make in the future.

PDP My Beliefs

I believe that technology is neither good nor evil, and that most of the time its use is neither inherently good nor evil. But because it promotes neither it ends up being a detriment to the user because of the sheer amount of time given to doing nothing. I also feel that the use of technology in the class room for the sake of using technology will not benefit my students in any way. As an English teacher I feel very strongly about reading a book, a real paper book, and I feel that there is a powerful connection when a writer puts pen to paper. Now I also do a vast majority of my polished writing in a word processor, but I still do much of my preliminary idea gathering and poetic writing on a paper. So I feel that the use of technology should be carefully planned and executed with very clear objectives in mind.

I believe that technology in the English class room should be limited, not exclusively, to the students using the technology to further their thinking, both analytical, and creative. The presentation of material can be done with technology, but the teacher needs to be careful about how often and the mode he chooses. A poem should not be posted on a board just because its easier, each student should have the chance to hold it and read it at their own pace. They should also get the chance to hear poems be read out loud. In fine, I feel that flooding our classrooms with technology is not the best move.

PDP Lessons Learned

My first concern is that technology is taking too much precedence in our class rooms. I do believe that we need to keep up with the times, and that the language of students is increasingly becoming the language of technology. But I don't think that technology is enriching by nature. In fact I feel that technology in most of its forms deprives the user. That being said I feel that a measured and appropriate use of technology can create an optimal learning environment for the students.

I think that the video "Did you know?" brings up the excellent point about students carrying around powerful computers in their pockets is very telling. I believe it is talked about in the "Millenial Generation" as well. If I can find out discreetly how many of the students have cell phones with internet. If there is a good portion and they are willing to team up, some vocab lessons and quick research would be excellent uses of those tools. The video aps could be used for scavenger hunts and the like.

PDP Strengths and Weaknessess

One weakness is that the uni made me more aware of is that I know next to nothing about multimedia fair use guidelines. Probably my most glaring weakness is the use of spreadsheets. I have next to no experience with them. I can and have filled out an extremely simple spreadsheet, and I know how to navigate and fill in an existing spreadsheet. I have extremely limited knowledge when it comes to anything past a basic power point project. I have learned to add some sound and make them more aesthetically appealing. Video editing and transferring to a digital format is very foreign to me.

I figure that when it comes time to do grading I will force myself to learn some spreadsheet tools. I would like to take a class on spreadsheets, but I fear that it will be more comprehensive then will be worth my time. I really just need to know how to create a grading sheet that computes a grade at the end. I know that the city puts on excel classes regularly. I also want to take a power point and photo shop class. Finally any class I can take on digital video editing.

If I was able to take all of these classes I would consider myself a much more rounded teacher technology wise. The excel class would increase my ability to track data and study it efficiently, making me a more efficient grader, and a more informed instructor. The power point, photo shop, and digital editing would give me to tools to be able to differentiate my class rooms better, and put me in a better position to pass those skills on to my students.