Yesterday was my last observation by Dr. Mortimore. She observed my great 9th grade class who are a bunch of really smark, respectable kids. We were continuing pre-writing for their autobioraphies. We have been reading biographies and autobiographies and I have shown them the form of them - from introduction to main points to the lesson learned. The day before we spent on pre-writing trying to help them choose a lesson learned from their lives. So yesterday we laid out a plan for their autobiographies with catchy introductions and three main points.
Dr. Mortimore had many good things to say. She said that my student rapport is good. And she liked my examples from my life and from the texts we had read.
I felt it was a really good observation and I'm happy that my last observation was good. :)
So, as for this week, many things have happened. First, I had the chance to go to a faculty meeting about the budget where seven teachers were laid off. And in a school district with only 500 students, seven teachers is a lot. It was really depressing because I'm trying to apply for jobs and I see these really experienced and intelligent teachers getting laid off.
Also, I'm so fed up with FM's IEP process. They have IEPs just because they have to. At Gettysburg, every student with an IEP was reviewed almost every other week. We would talk about the student, make sure all of his/her goals and changes were being met. And then we talked about what we could do to help this student even more. At FM, IEPs are updated once a year and no one even uses them. I'm mostly mentioning this because I told Dr. Mortimore this and she barely believed me. (Haha.) So, some of the IEPs say that a student CAN NOT fail ANY CLASS and will graduate in a certain year. So if he/she does NOTHING, the teacher will have to raise the grade to passing (70%) for the student to pass. PLUS, the students who have this KNOW IT. And they will even say "Oh, I have my way to pass."
It's ridiculous!
Anyway, I think the biggest lesson I've learned during student teaching is where I belong. I belong in a 7-9 grade placement. I love my Juniors but I'm just a better teacher to younger students.
Have a great last 3 days!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Week 6
I can't believe our student teaching time is almost over!
I have all of my lesson plans done! WOO!
This week I have been working on being more organized for my classes. I'm very organized but sometimes I don't give my kids enough organization. I started a big three week project with the Juniors but I didn't provide structure. Now, I created a calendar and small activities to help scaffold their projects. I think the kids appreciate the structure.
I'm still fascinated at how discipline works in this school - it doesn't work. As talked about before - no one is disciplined! I just can't believe that the school doesn't fall down. Haha.
So, next week, I'm looking for a movie to show my advanced 11th graders. There are eight of them and they love watching and analyzing movies. They really liked The Great Gatsby and the symbolism. Does anyone have any good movie selections they can recommend?
ONE MORE WEEK! :)
I have all of my lesson plans done! WOO!
This week I have been working on being more organized for my classes. I'm very organized but sometimes I don't give my kids enough organization. I started a big three week project with the Juniors but I didn't provide structure. Now, I created a calendar and small activities to help scaffold their projects. I think the kids appreciate the structure.
I'm still fascinated at how discipline works in this school - it doesn't work. As talked about before - no one is disciplined! I just can't believe that the school doesn't fall down. Haha.
So, next week, I'm looking for a movie to show my advanced 11th graders. There are eight of them and they love watching and analyzing movies. They really liked The Great Gatsby and the symbolism. Does anyone have any good movie selections they can recommend?
ONE MORE WEEK! :)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Observation #1 for FM
I had my first observation at Fannett Metal on Monday. I felt like it was a regular day in the classroom. There were ups and downs but, in the end, I accomplished what I wanted and the students finished a unit.
I was teaching Juniors when Dr. Mortimore came. We were finishing "Hills Like White Elephants" and then I was introducing a Modernism story piece where they would have to tell a story in the modernist style. It was a hectic day, in a way, because it was a Monday and it was the last period of the day. Also, I hadn't seen the Juniors in 6 days because of PSSA testing. So we were picking back up in the middle of my lesson on "Hills" - which is a difficult piece to begin with. I would say the worse thing about my observation was really nobody's fault - Dr. Mortimore wasn't in my class the day before and she won't be in my class the next day. So, it's not exactly fair (if I can use that word since I repetitively tell my kids that LIFE ISN'T FAIR!) that Dr. Mortimore couldn't see me using the whole unit to scaffold up to this essay that I was introducing.
I would say that one of my problems is that in 50 minutes I find it hard to scaffold a lot. During the unit, however, I believe that I have a lot scaffolding in my lessons to build up to the final project.
I'm glad that I didn't have the best review ever because it opened my eyes to the fact that I've just been floating by for four weeks. I had almost no problems at my first placement. Only once in a while my co-op would say 'well maybe you should do this...' or Dr. Mortimore would suggest something. So, during my first four weeks at FM, I had no major slip ups so I thought that everything was great. Then I realized that it's because my co-op and I have no communication. And, please don't get me wrong, I really really like my co-op but she's either one of two things: shy and just doesn't want to tell me what I'm doing wrong or scared that I would be angry. But we never talk - we never have time to! Yesterday I took time at the end of the day to sit down with her and say "What am I doing wrong?" and "What goals should I set?" She still seemed reluctant to tell me and I feel like I was getting on her nerves but I know that she didn't give me a good rating on my mid-student teaching evaluation so I deserve to know why. Anyway, we did settle a few things and we did set some goals.
In conclusion... I feel 'ok' about the situation. I now know what to work on and how to get to where I want to be.
I was teaching Juniors when Dr. Mortimore came. We were finishing "Hills Like White Elephants" and then I was introducing a Modernism story piece where they would have to tell a story in the modernist style. It was a hectic day, in a way, because it was a Monday and it was the last period of the day. Also, I hadn't seen the Juniors in 6 days because of PSSA testing. So we were picking back up in the middle of my lesson on "Hills" - which is a difficult piece to begin with. I would say the worse thing about my observation was really nobody's fault - Dr. Mortimore wasn't in my class the day before and she won't be in my class the next day. So, it's not exactly fair (if I can use that word since I repetitively tell my kids that LIFE ISN'T FAIR!) that Dr. Mortimore couldn't see me using the whole unit to scaffold up to this essay that I was introducing.
I would say that one of my problems is that in 50 minutes I find it hard to scaffold a lot. During the unit, however, I believe that I have a lot scaffolding in my lessons to build up to the final project.
I'm glad that I didn't have the best review ever because it opened my eyes to the fact that I've just been floating by for four weeks. I had almost no problems at my first placement. Only once in a while my co-op would say 'well maybe you should do this...' or Dr. Mortimore would suggest something. So, during my first four weeks at FM, I had no major slip ups so I thought that everything was great. Then I realized that it's because my co-op and I have no communication. And, please don't get me wrong, I really really like my co-op but she's either one of two things: shy and just doesn't want to tell me what I'm doing wrong or scared that I would be angry. But we never talk - we never have time to! Yesterday I took time at the end of the day to sit down with her and say "What am I doing wrong?" and "What goals should I set?" She still seemed reluctant to tell me and I feel like I was getting on her nerves but I know that she didn't give me a good rating on my mid-student teaching evaluation so I deserve to know why. Anyway, we did settle a few things and we did set some goals.
In conclusion... I feel 'ok' about the situation. I now know what to work on and how to get to where I want to be.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Week 4
This has been an interesting week because Mrs. McAllen is away on a trip so I have all of the classes to myself. Like in my last placement when this happened, it is fun to pretend that I am the "real" teacher. Overall, I've had no problems and I've been very lucky. I absolutely love it here at FM. I love the atmosphere and I love the students. Some really great experiences that I've had so far are that the students are very accepting of me and want to know more about me and I want to know more about them. They come to visit with me outside of class to talk about things that we learned in class and about books. Another thing that I really like about the kids is that they tell the truth. Some times this truth isn't pretty like they tell me that something is boring - which I know it is but I have to teach it! But they also say great things like "I really like when you relate this piece to my life" or "I like that you want to know more about us and you care about our interests." My plan for participation and discipline has begun to work, which feels good. My plan from the beginning was to fight my battles when it came to behavioral problems. Period 2 is my "bad" period with eight boys who never shut their mouths. However, at FM, no one supports disciplining of students with detention or with extra work. For example, if a teacher was cussed at and gave a detention, the parent would just call and say that it didn't happen or that the day of detention didn't work for them, and it would be forgotten. So, I knew that I couldn't discipline through the school. The only way I could get anything accomplished would be to somehow develop a sense of respect with the students. So, my plan, as mentioned, was to not freak out and scream and throw fake threats at the students. I would just give them the "no" look when they said or did something bad. And it's funny because some of the boys who always did nothing are starting to want to participate because they see that the rest of the class is having fun. I figure even if I can teach something to 3/4 of them... then I'm still making progress. I'm really enjoying 50 minute periods, I feel like my day goes faster!
That's about all that has been going on here. My life is being bogged down by applying to teaching positions and planning for graduation! Hope all is well with all of you!
That's about all that has been going on here. My life is being bogged down by applying to teaching positions and planning for graduation! Hope all is well with all of you!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
blog #2
This short week has been amazing! I absolutely love high school – much more than I thought I would. I’m writing today because we only have a half of a week (Wednesday 1/2 day, off school Thursday and Friday). There really isn’t one thing that I want to talk about this week so I’ll just give an update. I’m teaching Modernism to my Juniors. And those of you who know me know that I live for Modernism. The students absolutely think that I am crazy because I always just ramble on and on about Modernism and Faulkner. Haha. I’m doing a Fitzgerald piece right now. And then I’m going to do Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” as a play with the class. The next few weeks are very hectic with the Juniors because they are going to have 5 days of PSSA testing scattered around. I think I’m just going to be watching The Great Gatsby movie with them during the testing week and then we will discuss how the Jazz Age is represented in the movie. With the freshmen I am finishing Antigone and will be moving on with my biography unit after the break.
Overall, I’m finding it much easier to relate to the juniors because I have much more in common with them than the freshmen. But I love them all equally… even the crazy kids. Classroom management isn’t as bad as I thought it would be because I’ve just learned to pick my own battles. The only times I really put my foot down is when students use racist language. I come from a very small town of all white people, so I know what students say. But I’m not willing to accept that in my classroom.
Two really good things happened to me at the end of last week and at the beginning of this week: I gave the Juniors a test on a Modernist piece and they totally got it!! And Mrs. McAllen told me that of all of her student teachers, I am the first that she has totally left the room for for long periods of time. She and I are keeping a journal together (I did with my first co-op too) and she wrote lots of good things about me. And, when I’m first starting out, I like to hear good things. Soon she will start giving me suggestions too.
I hope everyone has a great break!
Overall, I’m finding it much easier to relate to the juniors because I have much more in common with them than the freshmen. But I love them all equally… even the crazy kids. Classroom management isn’t as bad as I thought it would be because I’ve just learned to pick my own battles. The only times I really put my foot down is when students use racist language. I come from a very small town of all white people, so I know what students say. But I’m not willing to accept that in my classroom.
Two really good things happened to me at the end of last week and at the beginning of this week: I gave the Juniors a test on a Modernist piece and they totally got it!! And Mrs. McAllen told me that of all of her student teachers, I am the first that she has totally left the room for for long periods of time. She and I are keeping a journal together (I did with my first co-op too) and she wrote lots of good things about me. And, when I’m first starting out, I like to hear good things. Soon she will start giving me suggestions too.
I hope everyone has a great break!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Blog #2
This has been a very productive week. I've started offically teaching and I feel very comfortable in front of my classes. I'm getting to the students and I'm learning a lot about them. It's weird that I feel so different between my second week at my first placement and my second week at my second placement. I feel like my lesson plans are very solid and I think I'm better at differentiated instruction now too.
One thing that I am still worried about is classroom management because I have two classes where I have more disruptive behavior - yelling out or just not doing work. And this reminds me - what do you do with students who do nothing?
My biggest lesson has been planning and teaching for 50 minutes. I was very accustomed to having block scheduling. In the block, I had tons of time to open with a fun activity, to teach, to explore, to push farther, and to close. However, this is pretty much impossible with 50 minutes. But then I realized that the students are used to having assignments run over into the next day. I've also gotten used to working up to the bell.
The other huge difference is the level of students' knowledge. At Gettysburg I had a more "advanced" class and an IEP class, but their levels of learning weren't completely different - the IEP class just needed scaffolding and more instruction. However, I have three classes of 9th graders and I almost have to make a different lesson plan for the one class because they are at a very low level compared to the other two classes. So, I've learned a lot already about how to change lesson plans on my feet.
Overall, I'm still learning! And I'm enjoying the hunting, fourwheeling, and "twang" conversations. (Side note - "Twang" is a club where they all go to listen to country music and line dance - very cool... or so I'm told.)
One thing that I am still worried about is classroom management because I have two classes where I have more disruptive behavior - yelling out or just not doing work. And this reminds me - what do you do with students who do nothing?
My biggest lesson has been planning and teaching for 50 minutes. I was very accustomed to having block scheduling. In the block, I had tons of time to open with a fun activity, to teach, to explore, to push farther, and to close. However, this is pretty much impossible with 50 minutes. But then I realized that the students are used to having assignments run over into the next day. I've also gotten used to working up to the bell.
The other huge difference is the level of students' knowledge. At Gettysburg I had a more "advanced" class and an IEP class, but their levels of learning weren't completely different - the IEP class just needed scaffolding and more instruction. However, I have three classes of 9th graders and I almost have to make a different lesson plan for the one class because they are at a very low level compared to the other two classes. So, I've learned a lot already about how to change lesson plans on my feet.
Overall, I'm still learning! And I'm enjoying the hunting, fourwheeling, and "twang" conversations. (Side note - "Twang" is a club where they all go to listen to country music and line dance - very cool... or so I'm told.)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Blog #1... again
My second placement is Fannett Metal High School. As discussed before, it is vastly different from Gettysburg Middle School.
The students are a lot “rougher around the edges.” My co-op is very nice but much different than my last. Mrs. McAllen is much freer and a lot less strict.
Classroom management will definitely be interesting because I feel like the class is used to being very free: not handing in homework, talking out, cussing, texting in class, ect. I’m wondering how they are going to handle my management.
The school is VERY rural. Students are used to four wheeling and farming after school. They know that they won’t be using their education in their futures.
Teachers here are very dependent. They don’t have groups or teams and they really don’t “hang out” together or discuss students in a productive way that is similar to Gettysburg. I’ve never met the principal and I only met other teachers in the hallway because I went out of my way to introduce myself. Teachers seem to only teach what they have to and they admit that students will not remember the content and that the students don’t care about the content. Recently, the teachers went on a “field trip” to West York (wealthy, FLS, all-around great school). Instead of coming back pumped up to change FM, they are just depressed because they know that resources and administrative offices will never let them make huge changes to curriculum and student behavior that they would like to. I’m not an experienced teacher and I admit that I don’t know a lot… but I believe FM’s problem comes from the top down. The administration needs to change before anything else will change.
The school is not interested in PSSA scores or anything that people think. They just are who they are. Despite my obsessive organization and LFS love, I think I may enjoy this craziness! I’m glad that I got to see Gettysburg, in all of its perfection, and now to see Fannett Metal… in all of its Fannett Metal-y-ness.
The students are a lot “rougher around the edges.” My co-op is very nice but much different than my last. Mrs. McAllen is much freer and a lot less strict.
Classroom management will definitely be interesting because I feel like the class is used to being very free: not handing in homework, talking out, cussing, texting in class, ect. I’m wondering how they are going to handle my management.
The school is VERY rural. Students are used to four wheeling and farming after school. They know that they won’t be using their education in their futures.
Teachers here are very dependent. They don’t have groups or teams and they really don’t “hang out” together or discuss students in a productive way that is similar to Gettysburg. I’ve never met the principal and I only met other teachers in the hallway because I went out of my way to introduce myself. Teachers seem to only teach what they have to and they admit that students will not remember the content and that the students don’t care about the content. Recently, the teachers went on a “field trip” to West York (wealthy, FLS, all-around great school). Instead of coming back pumped up to change FM, they are just depressed because they know that resources and administrative offices will never let them make huge changes to curriculum and student behavior that they would like to. I’m not an experienced teacher and I admit that I don’t know a lot… but I believe FM’s problem comes from the top down. The administration needs to change before anything else will change.
The school is not interested in PSSA scores or anything that people think. They just are who they are. Despite my obsessive organization and LFS love, I think I may enjoy this craziness! I’m glad that I got to see Gettysburg, in all of its perfection, and now to see Fannett Metal… in all of its Fannett Metal-y-ness.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Week 8
This week’s blog is bittersweet. I have had an amazing experience at Gettysburg M.S. Seriously, there really aren’t words for how much I have grown and how much I have experienced in these eight weeks. I am so lucky to have been placed at such a fantastic school with great resources and technology… and teachers! I have learned so much from my co-op – who is everything that I could have wanted from a mentor – but also from my whole “team” of teachers. I have no doubt that I have met some of the best middle school teachers that I will ever work with.
However, despite all of these good things, I am super excited to move to a high school placement. I think Fannett Metal will be a great second placement because it is vastly different from G.M.S. – from teachers to PSSA scores to different times for periods (block to 50 minutes).
This week I haven’t taught a lot because my co-op was taking back her classes slowly. So, I haven’t taught since Monday but today she had to step out to handle some business. And it was so weird! I just got up and put on my teaching persona – which I didn’t even know I had! I became “Miss Sheaffer” again and just taught – without really thinking. For someone who came in to student teaching thinking that I probably didn’t want to be a teacher once I graduated – I’ve really come to love the students and respect this profession.
And, just as a side note, I saw my first fight this week. There was even blood. A lot of blood. Now I get to see what happens as the administrators deal with this and the teachers attend meetings with parents.
Hope all of you have had an incredible last week! See you at exhibition day!
However, despite all of these good things, I am super excited to move to a high school placement. I think Fannett Metal will be a great second placement because it is vastly different from G.M.S. – from teachers to PSSA scores to different times for periods (block to 50 minutes).
This week I haven’t taught a lot because my co-op was taking back her classes slowly. So, I haven’t taught since Monday but today she had to step out to handle some business. And it was so weird! I just got up and put on my teaching persona – which I didn’t even know I had! I became “Miss Sheaffer” again and just taught – without really thinking. For someone who came in to student teaching thinking that I probably didn’t want to be a teacher once I graduated – I’ve really come to love the students and respect this profession.
And, just as a side note, I saw my first fight this week. There was even blood. A lot of blood. Now I get to see what happens as the administrators deal with this and the teachers attend meetings with parents.
Hope all of you have had an incredible last week! See you at exhibition day!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Blog for Observation #2
Unfortunately (and fortunately) Dr. Mortimore observed one of my IEP classes for her second observation. It is unfortunate because I do still struggle with this class because they are chatty and lower-level learners. But it is fortunate because she saw my “perfect” class the last time.
Overall, the class went fairly well. My lesson was about hyperbole and alliteration. I always try to use “fun” poems when I introduce a term (see some examples below). We also used a word map (like a Frayer) for the term alliteration.
One thing that I found odd was that I thought the students were badly behaved (which is normal for them). But then Dr. Moritmore mentioned that she thought they were “normal” middle school students. So then I had a realization that 1) I’m a very strict teacher and 2) I’m insanely lucky that my two accelerated classes are amazing with class room management and behavior.
Once again Dr. Mortimore didn’t get to see me analyze poems in depth with my class. I used two different (very difficult) poems; “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. But, I promise, Dr. Mortimore, that my accelerated classes loved analyzing those poems – and they “got it.” So once again I fail at higher level thinking! However, you learn from your mistakes and Dr. Mortimore saw me first period and I taught the next three classes with higher level thinking!
Bleezer’s Icecream by Jack Prelutsky
I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
there are flavors in my freezer
you have never seen before,
twenty-eight divine creations
too delicious to resist,
why not do yourself a favor,
try the flavors on my list:
COCOA MOCHA MACARONI
TAPIOCA SMOKED BALONEY
CHECKERBERRY CHEDDAR CHEW
CHICKEN CHERRY HONEYDEW
TUTTI-FRUTTI STEWED TOMATO
TUNA TACO BAKED POTATO
LOBSTER LITCHI LIMA BEAN
MOZZARELLA MANGOSTEEN
ALMOND HAM MERINGUE SALAMI
YAM ANCHOVY PRUNE PASTRAMI
SASSAFRAS SOUVLAKI HASH
SUKIYAKI SUCCOTASH
BUTTER BRICKLE PEPPER PICKLE
POMEGRANATE PUMPERNICKEL
PEACH PIMENTO PIZZA PLUM
PEANUT PUMPKIN BUBBLEGUM
BROCCOLI BANANA BLUSTER
CHOCOLATE CHOP SUEY CLUSTER
AVOCADO BRUSSELS SPROUT
PERIWINKLE SAUERKRAUT
COTTON CANDY CARROT CUSTARD
CAULIFLOWER COLA MUSTARD
ONION DUMPLING DOUBLE DIP
TURNIP TRUFFLE TRIPLE FLIP
GARLIC GUMBO GRAVY GUAVA
LENTIL LEMON LIVER LAVA
ORANGE OLIVE BAGEL BEET
WATERMELON WAFFLE WHEAT
I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
taste a flavor from my freezer,
you will surely ask for more.
Overall, the class went fairly well. My lesson was about hyperbole and alliteration. I always try to use “fun” poems when I introduce a term (see some examples below). We also used a word map (like a Frayer) for the term alliteration.
One thing that I found odd was that I thought the students were badly behaved (which is normal for them). But then Dr. Moritmore mentioned that she thought they were “normal” middle school students. So then I had a realization that 1) I’m a very strict teacher and 2) I’m insanely lucky that my two accelerated classes are amazing with class room management and behavior.
Once again Dr. Mortimore didn’t get to see me analyze poems in depth with my class. I used two different (very difficult) poems; “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. But, I promise, Dr. Mortimore, that my accelerated classes loved analyzing those poems – and they “got it.” So once again I fail at higher level thinking! However, you learn from your mistakes and Dr. Mortimore saw me first period and I taught the next three classes with higher level thinking!
Bleezer’s Icecream by Jack Prelutsky
I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
there are flavors in my freezer
you have never seen before,
twenty-eight divine creations
too delicious to resist,
why not do yourself a favor,
try the flavors on my list:
COCOA MOCHA MACARONI
TAPIOCA SMOKED BALONEY
CHECKERBERRY CHEDDAR CHEW
CHICKEN CHERRY HONEYDEW
TUTTI-FRUTTI STEWED TOMATO
TUNA TACO BAKED POTATO
LOBSTER LITCHI LIMA BEAN
MOZZARELLA MANGOSTEEN
ALMOND HAM MERINGUE SALAMI
YAM ANCHOVY PRUNE PASTRAMI
SASSAFRAS SOUVLAKI HASH
SUKIYAKI SUCCOTASH
BUTTER BRICKLE PEPPER PICKLE
POMEGRANATE PUMPERNICKEL
PEACH PIMENTO PIZZA PLUM
PEANUT PUMPKIN BUBBLEGUM
BROCCOLI BANANA BLUSTER
CHOCOLATE CHOP SUEY CLUSTER
AVOCADO BRUSSELS SPROUT
PERIWINKLE SAUERKRAUT
COTTON CANDY CARROT CUSTARD
CAULIFLOWER COLA MUSTARD
ONION DUMPLING DOUBLE DIP
TURNIP TRUFFLE TRIPLE FLIP
GARLIC GUMBO GRAVY GUAVA
LENTIL LEMON LIVER LAVA
ORANGE OLIVE BAGEL BEET
WATERMELON WAFFLE WHEAT
I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
taste a flavor from my freezer,
you will surely ask for more.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Week 5 (a little bit late)
Hey everyone. I apologize for posting in the middle of the week – but I was confused and only wrote one blog last week when I was supposed to write two (one for observation and one for week 5).
So, since for my observation, I wrote about a lot of good things – I will talk about one bad thing that happened to me last week.
Well, finally, my one period that I’ve talked about before – the one with the huge mixture of kids – blew up. Four of the boys were failing the class for not taking their Accelerated Reader test. Also, right before they walked in to the class, they were bullying some little boy and ripping his stuff out of his hands and kicking his binder down the hall. First, this is a big deal because they are advanced students so none of them should be failing. Secondly, I had them in the computer lab and bugged them about taking the test and they said that they did. And, thirdly, they also lied to my face by saying that they took them. My co-op punished them by putting them on the “packet” which is what the kids who can’t pass the AR tests have to do – just extra work to make sure that they are reading. I was absolutely livid. If there is one thing that I can’t stand in this world – it is a liar! AHHH! So I moved their seats and gave them a big speech about cheating and lying. Overall, the class has started to become manageable. Now, I am faced with the question that has always been staring me in the face and I’ve never wanted to answer – Are advanced students treated differently than “regular” students?
I would love to hear, have any of you had a classroom management situation where you wanted to rip your hair out? Or scream? Or possibly throw yourself out a window?
So, since for my observation, I wrote about a lot of good things – I will talk about one bad thing that happened to me last week.
Well, finally, my one period that I’ve talked about before – the one with the huge mixture of kids – blew up. Four of the boys were failing the class for not taking their Accelerated Reader test. Also, right before they walked in to the class, they were bullying some little boy and ripping his stuff out of his hands and kicking his binder down the hall. First, this is a big deal because they are advanced students so none of them should be failing. Secondly, I had them in the computer lab and bugged them about taking the test and they said that they did. And, thirdly, they also lied to my face by saying that they took them. My co-op punished them by putting them on the “packet” which is what the kids who can’t pass the AR tests have to do – just extra work to make sure that they are reading. I was absolutely livid. If there is one thing that I can’t stand in this world – it is a liar! AHHH! So I moved their seats and gave them a big speech about cheating and lying. Overall, the class has started to become manageable. Now, I am faced with the question that has always been staring me in the face and I’ve never wanted to answer – Are advanced students treated differently than “regular” students?
I would love to hear, have any of you had a classroom management situation where you wanted to rip your hair out? Or scream? Or possibly throw yourself out a window?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Blog for Observation #1
For my lesson while Dr. Mortimore observed, I taught imagery and the five senses related to poetry. Overall my lesson went very well. I would like to think that 90% of it was me being a good teacher and 10% was because she just happened to observe the amazing class – with the kids who never yell out or do anything wrong.
My lesson began with a review of what we had learned the last time – this is how I begin every lesson. Then I had students begin imagery and we watched Sarah Buxton’s “Outside my Window” and students wrote examples of imagery that they heard in the song.
From there we made a foldable with the five senses and we read two poems from the text book. Students then had time to use the poems and put examples on their foldables.
When I created the lesson, I tried to accommodate many types of learning – I think this is one of my strengths. Students had a chance to listen to me, to their classmates, to poems, and to a song. They got to see lyrics on the board and drawings. They had to make a craft with scissors and markers – hands on. They had individual discussion, group discussion, and a whole class discussion.
My weakness, as pointed our by Dr. Mortimore, is not spending more time with the poems – like talking about their subjects and diving into them. I feel like this stems from two reasons. First, I’m afraid to ask students something that they won’t know then they will feel like losers and I’m afraid of asking them something that will be boring. For example, if I say “What does the tree symbolize?” and they don’t know, then they will feel dumb. And I’m afraid that if I do dive into the poems they will be bored with poetry analysis. Having said this though, today I came up with a great poetry analysis packet that we are going to do – totally ripping a poem apart and seeking themes and meanings. Also, my second reason for not going to higher level thinking is that my co-op has told me before not to push them too hard.
I would say the best part of my observation was Dr. Mortimore telling me that I had really good directions and that all of the students “got it.” Directions were my REALLY weak point during Methods and during my first two weeks. So, it feels good to have gotten something right!
My lesson began with a review of what we had learned the last time – this is how I begin every lesson. Then I had students begin imagery and we watched Sarah Buxton’s “Outside my Window” and students wrote examples of imagery that they heard in the song.
From there we made a foldable with the five senses and we read two poems from the text book. Students then had time to use the poems and put examples on their foldables.
When I created the lesson, I tried to accommodate many types of learning – I think this is one of my strengths. Students had a chance to listen to me, to their classmates, to poems, and to a song. They got to see lyrics on the board and drawings. They had to make a craft with scissors and markers – hands on. They had individual discussion, group discussion, and a whole class discussion.
My weakness, as pointed our by Dr. Mortimore, is not spending more time with the poems – like talking about their subjects and diving into them. I feel like this stems from two reasons. First, I’m afraid to ask students something that they won’t know then they will feel like losers and I’m afraid of asking them something that will be boring. For example, if I say “What does the tree symbolize?” and they don’t know, then they will feel dumb. And I’m afraid that if I do dive into the poems they will be bored with poetry analysis. Having said this though, today I came up with a great poetry analysis packet that we are going to do – totally ripping a poem apart and seeking themes and meanings. Also, my second reason for not going to higher level thinking is that my co-op has told me before not to push them too hard.
I would say the best part of my observation was Dr. Mortimore telling me that I had really good directions and that all of the students “got it.” Directions were my REALLY weak point during Methods and during my first two weeks. So, it feels good to have gotten something right!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Blog #4
I feel like I have so many things to talk about in this week’s blog. But I’m going to talk about differentiation. I will use one of my periods as an example because it is the most diverse class that I have.
So, in this class, there are 28 students, which is a lot for me. I feel very overwhelmed just by the number.
I have two boys who sit up front and center and they love attention. They raise their hands for every question and they often yell out the answer before others get to answer. They are both good kids (don’t harass or use inappropriate language)– just attention freaks. I feel like I might lead them on because I usually stand near them just because it’s the “main” spot to stand to see everyone in the class.
In the back right hand corner I have two boys who are never with me. They are spacey and usually aren’t on the same page as the rest of the class. They are sorta chatty, but not enough to bother others. In front of them are two girls who are never with the class. They seem to just do enough to get by. These are two girls who I still don’t know their names because they fly under the radar.
Then in the back left hand corner there are two girls who are loners and keep to themselves. Despite my many differentiated activities and group work and fun stuff, they still don’t participate in class. They do get good grades on all work that is handed in.
I have one student who is in this accelerated class who should definitely be in a learning support or behavioral support class. She sits by herself.
Oh, and the four smartest 7th graders are in this class. They usually look bored. And I also have two very advanced students who are very quiet.
And then there are the two class clowns who always have something to say and don’t like to take things seriously. But, again, they aren’t bad kids; they just like to goof off.
So, you might be wondering why I’m complaining because these are all great students – mostly participating, all getting A’s. I just don’t feel like I’m reaching to every one of them. Like after my other classes, I just feel like I hit every student’s learning needs because my other three classes only have maybe four largely different styles such as a group that likes to read, a group that likes to draw, ect.
My question is: do you have a class that is very diverse? And what do you do to make sure you are reaching out to every student?
So, in this class, there are 28 students, which is a lot for me. I feel very overwhelmed just by the number.
I have two boys who sit up front and center and they love attention. They raise their hands for every question and they often yell out the answer before others get to answer. They are both good kids (don’t harass or use inappropriate language)– just attention freaks. I feel like I might lead them on because I usually stand near them just because it’s the “main” spot to stand to see everyone in the class.
In the back right hand corner I have two boys who are never with me. They are spacey and usually aren’t on the same page as the rest of the class. They are sorta chatty, but not enough to bother others. In front of them are two girls who are never with the class. They seem to just do enough to get by. These are two girls who I still don’t know their names because they fly under the radar.
Then in the back left hand corner there are two girls who are loners and keep to themselves. Despite my many differentiated activities and group work and fun stuff, they still don’t participate in class. They do get good grades on all work that is handed in.
I have one student who is in this accelerated class who should definitely be in a learning support or behavioral support class. She sits by herself.
Oh, and the four smartest 7th graders are in this class. They usually look bored. And I also have two very advanced students who are very quiet.
And then there are the two class clowns who always have something to say and don’t like to take things seriously. But, again, they aren’t bad kids; they just like to goof off.
So, you might be wondering why I’m complaining because these are all great students – mostly participating, all getting A’s. I just don’t feel like I’m reaching to every one of them. Like after my other classes, I just feel like I hit every student’s learning needs because my other three classes only have maybe four largely different styles such as a group that likes to read, a group that likes to draw, ect.
My question is: do you have a class that is very diverse? And what do you do to make sure you are reaching out to every student?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Blog #3
This week has gone really well (except for the fact that I have a VERY bad cold). Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what to talk about: LFS, lesson plans, classroom management… But, I think I want to focus on how all of these things come together = aka a very good day and I had one this week!
My very good day was Tuesday, when I started a new lesson on personification. I started planning my lesson by thinking of how I could differentiate (which is one of my downfalls). I tried to incorporate movement, writing, drawing, and speaking. So, then I thought about LFS and I thought: review.
My lesson started with a poem by Shel Silverstein called “The Furniture Bash.” I chose that poem because it is fun and many of my kids love Shel Silverstein and also because the poem has tons of personification. I read the poem out loud and had students guess what we were going to learn about. Many of them guessed personification right away (which helped me gage their prior learning). Then we moved on to a Frayer. I had already used a Frayer twice and the kids really liked it and I like the routine of doing mostly the same thing. I could tell that the lower-level students really liked the Frayers because they could use examples and draw and I think they liked the routine of using the same graphic organizers again. It gave them a sense of ownership.
After the Frayers, I used different poems on the board and we went through them with the students raising one of three different colored papers to indicated simile, metaphor, or personification in the poem. I had never used that activity before but I really liked it because I could see what each individual student was thinking. Then we moved on to previewing three different poems in the text book that we were going to be working with that day. For my lower level classes, we just read the poems out loud and went over difficult vocabulary but for my academic classes we went more in-depth with the poems. From there I made a graphic organizer for students to fill out with similes, metaphors, and personification from the poems (“Students can’t learn without graphic organizers!” – LFS). I gave directions (very detailed with examples – I’m getting better at it!) then students had time to complete the graphic organizer with their partners.
Our last task was a creative representation of a time in one of the poems when the poet used personification. I made an example of a sun painting a picture of a desert because the poem said, “The Sun paints the desert…” The students had so much fun with their projects and I wish I could show all of them to you.
I didn’t have too many classroom management problems because I kept the class flowing. Which reminds me, I finally experienced flow in my class! It was great!
So, I guess the moral of my story today is that I had never realized how much “stuff” goes in to planning and performing a lesson! But I’m starting to catch on and it’s going well!
This week has gone really well (except for the fact that I have a VERY bad cold). Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what to talk about: LFS, lesson plans, classroom management… But, I think I want to focus on how all of these things come together = aka a very good day and I had one this week!
My very good day was Tuesday, when I started a new lesson on personification. I started planning my lesson by thinking of how I could differentiate (which is one of my downfalls). I tried to incorporate movement, writing, drawing, and speaking. So, then I thought about LFS and I thought: review.
My lesson started with a poem by Shel Silverstein called “The Furniture Bash.” I chose that poem because it is fun and many of my kids love Shel Silverstein and also because the poem has tons of personification. I read the poem out loud and had students guess what we were going to learn about. Many of them guessed personification right away (which helped me gage their prior learning). Then we moved on to a Frayer. I had already used a Frayer twice and the kids really liked it and I like the routine of doing mostly the same thing. I could tell that the lower-level students really liked the Frayers because they could use examples and draw and I think they liked the routine of using the same graphic organizers again. It gave them a sense of ownership.
After the Frayers, I used different poems on the board and we went through them with the students raising one of three different colored papers to indicated simile, metaphor, or personification in the poem. I had never used that activity before but I really liked it because I could see what each individual student was thinking. Then we moved on to previewing three different poems in the text book that we were going to be working with that day. For my lower level classes, we just read the poems out loud and went over difficult vocabulary but for my academic classes we went more in-depth with the poems. From there I made a graphic organizer for students to fill out with similes, metaphors, and personification from the poems (“Students can’t learn without graphic organizers!” – LFS). I gave directions (very detailed with examples – I’m getting better at it!) then students had time to complete the graphic organizer with their partners.
Our last task was a creative representation of a time in one of the poems when the poet used personification. I made an example of a sun painting a picture of a desert because the poem said, “The Sun paints the desert…” The students had so much fun with their projects and I wish I could show all of them to you.
I didn’t have too many classroom management problems because I kept the class flowing. Which reminds me, I finally experienced flow in my class! It was great!
So, I guess the moral of my story today is that I had never realized how much “stuff” goes in to planning and performing a lesson! But I’m starting to catch on and it’s going well!
My very good day was Tuesday, when I started a new lesson on personification. I started planning my lesson by thinking of how I could differentiate (which is one of my downfalls). I tried to incorporate movement, writing, drawing, and speaking. So, then I thought about LFS and I thought: review.
My lesson started with a poem by Shel Silverstein called “The Furniture Bash.” I chose that poem because it is fun and many of my kids love Shel Silverstein and also because the poem has tons of personification. I read the poem out loud and had students guess what we were going to learn about. Many of them guessed personification right away (which helped me gage their prior learning). Then we moved on to a Frayer. I had already used a Frayer twice and the kids really liked it and I like the routine of doing mostly the same thing. I could tell that the lower-level students really liked the Frayers because they could use examples and draw and I think they liked the routine of using the same graphic organizers again. It gave them a sense of ownership.
After the Frayers, I used different poems on the board and we went through them with the students raising one of three different colored papers to indicated simile, metaphor, or personification in the poem. I had never used that activity before but I really liked it because I could see what each individual student was thinking. Then we moved on to previewing three different poems in the text book that we were going to be working with that day. For my lower level classes, we just read the poems out loud and went over difficult vocabulary but for my academic classes we went more in-depth with the poems. From there I made a graphic organizer for students to fill out with similes, metaphors, and personification from the poems (“Students can’t learn without graphic organizers!” – LFS). I gave directions (very detailed with examples – I’m getting better at it!) then students had time to complete the graphic organizer with their partners.
Our last task was a creative representation of a time in one of the poems when the poet used personification. I made an example of a sun painting a picture of a desert because the poem said, “The Sun paints the desert…” The students had so much fun with their projects and I wish I could show all of them to you.
I didn’t have too many classroom management problems because I kept the class flowing. Which reminds me, I finally experienced flow in my class! It was great!
So, I guess the moral of my story today is that I had never realized how much “stuff” goes in to planning and performing a lesson! But I’m starting to catch on and it’s going well!
This week has gone really well (except for the fact that I have a VERY bad cold). Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what to talk about: LFS, lesson plans, classroom management… But, I think I want to focus on how all of these things come together = aka a very good day and I had one this week!
My very good day was Tuesday, when I started a new lesson on personification. I started planning my lesson by thinking of how I could differentiate (which is one of my downfalls). I tried to incorporate movement, writing, drawing, and speaking. So, then I thought about LFS and I thought: review.
My lesson started with a poem by Shel Silverstein called “The Furniture Bash.” I chose that poem because it is fun and many of my kids love Shel Silverstein and also because the poem has tons of personification. I read the poem out loud and had students guess what we were going to learn about. Many of them guessed personification right away (which helped me gage their prior learning). Then we moved on to a Frayer. I had already used a Frayer twice and the kids really liked it and I like the routine of doing mostly the same thing. I could tell that the lower-level students really liked the Frayers because they could use examples and draw and I think they liked the routine of using the same graphic organizers again. It gave them a sense of ownership.
After the Frayers, I used different poems on the board and we went through them with the students raising one of three different colored papers to indicated simile, metaphor, or personification in the poem. I had never used that activity before but I really liked it because I could see what each individual student was thinking. Then we moved on to previewing three different poems in the text book that we were going to be working with that day. For my lower level classes, we just read the poems out loud and went over difficult vocabulary but for my academic classes we went more in-depth with the poems. From there I made a graphic organizer for students to fill out with similes, metaphors, and personification from the poems (“Students can’t learn without graphic organizers!” – LFS). I gave directions (very detailed with examples – I’m getting better at it!) then students had time to complete the graphic organizer with their partners.
Our last task was a creative representation of a time in one of the poems when the poet used personification. I made an example of a sun painting a picture of a desert because the poem said, “The Sun paints the desert…” The students had so much fun with their projects and I wish I could show all of them to you.
I didn’t have too many classroom management problems because I kept the class flowing. Which reminds me, I finally experienced flow in my class! It was great!
So, I guess the moral of my story today is that I had never realized how much “stuff” goes in to planning and performing a lesson! But I’m starting to catch on and it’s going well!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Hello all.
Like Ellen said, I can't believe that our second week is over! The week few by and I can't believe how much I have grown as a teacher in only a week.
Some things that I learned this week were WAIT-TIME. I'm not good at it - I'm not patient! I also learned how to respond to students who answer a question wrong. It's hard for me to take an answer that is wrong and turn it into a good answer. But it's important for 7th graders to know that they were sorta-right instead of saying "no, that's a horrible answer."
I had the opportunity to experience a team meeting that involved parents and psychologists this week. In my "team" there is a student (I'll call him Bob) who has been having a lot of difficulty. He has a learning disorder and he has behavioral issues. However, last Friday, his behaviors began to escalade to childish - "Well, Jill got to go and I don't get to go but she did. It's not fair!" and to mean - he began to bully those around him. Then on Monday, my first day of teaching, he had an inch wide about five inches long cut on both sides of his wrist. And he was taking his eraser and digging it open and spreading the blood on his paper. Let me take a moment and talk about myself -ON MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING. Thank God that Mrs. Riddlemoser was in the room! Ok, back to Bob, so, my co-op called a team meeting about it where it was decided to bring in the parents. Well, the mother is a single mother who is just fed up with Bob's attitude and problems because she has two other kids at home. And the psychologist seemed to have nothing to say and the social work who comes to the house twice a week said, "Well, he just sits in the basement and plays games all night."
This child is screaming for attention - and no one wants to help him. In my last post I talked about PSSA nonsense and now I'm, again, talking about how the system isn't helping students. This is how the meeting went:
Person 1 - Well, I would like to help him but I'm not allowed to use such-and-such a paper to write him up.
Person 2 - It would be nice to help him but it's not inside my 4-walls.
Person 3 - I could see him being the kid who brings a gun to school but I don't know what his problem is.
Person 4 - I think we need to identify his problems before we begin to help him.
Person 5 - I don't care what his problems are as long as I have a plan to help him.
Person 2 - Well, Person 4 has the authority to blah-blah.
Person 4 - Not really, that would go to Person 6 (not present at the meeting).
Person 3 - Well Person 6 doesn't really care that much.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?
I was two seconds away from pulling out my hair! Right now I would much rather be talking about LFS lesson plans and what a great time I'm having being a student teacher - but this is all I hear all day! These kids need help and no one will help them!
Ok, I'm sorry for my ranting - it's just so upsetting and annoying!
Seriously though, on the teacher side of it, I have grown two billion times over as a teacher this week. On Friday, Mrs. Riddlemoser was sick so I had all of the classes solely to myself and it went really well! It was a great way to end the week.
:)
Like Ellen said, I can't believe that our second week is over! The week few by and I can't believe how much I have grown as a teacher in only a week.
Some things that I learned this week were WAIT-TIME. I'm not good at it - I'm not patient! I also learned how to respond to students who answer a question wrong. It's hard for me to take an answer that is wrong and turn it into a good answer. But it's important for 7th graders to know that they were sorta-right instead of saying "no, that's a horrible answer."
I had the opportunity to experience a team meeting that involved parents and psychologists this week. In my "team" there is a student (I'll call him Bob) who has been having a lot of difficulty. He has a learning disorder and he has behavioral issues. However, last Friday, his behaviors began to escalade to childish - "Well, Jill got to go and I don't get to go but she did. It's not fair!" and to mean - he began to bully those around him. Then on Monday, my first day of teaching, he had an inch wide about five inches long cut on both sides of his wrist. And he was taking his eraser and digging it open and spreading the blood on his paper. Let me take a moment and talk about myself -ON MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING. Thank God that Mrs. Riddlemoser was in the room! Ok, back to Bob, so, my co-op called a team meeting about it where it was decided to bring in the parents. Well, the mother is a single mother who is just fed up with Bob's attitude and problems because she has two other kids at home. And the psychologist seemed to have nothing to say and the social work who comes to the house twice a week said, "Well, he just sits in the basement and plays games all night."
This child is screaming for attention - and no one wants to help him. In my last post I talked about PSSA nonsense and now I'm, again, talking about how the system isn't helping students. This is how the meeting went:
Person 1 - Well, I would like to help him but I'm not allowed to use such-and-such a paper to write him up.
Person 2 - It would be nice to help him but it's not inside my 4-walls.
Person 3 - I could see him being the kid who brings a gun to school but I don't know what his problem is.
Person 4 - I think we need to identify his problems before we begin to help him.
Person 5 - I don't care what his problems are as long as I have a plan to help him.
Person 2 - Well, Person 4 has the authority to blah-blah.
Person 4 - Not really, that would go to Person 6 (not present at the meeting).
Person 3 - Well Person 6 doesn't really care that much.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?
I was two seconds away from pulling out my hair! Right now I would much rather be talking about LFS lesson plans and what a great time I'm having being a student teacher - but this is all I hear all day! These kids need help and no one will help them!
Ok, I'm sorry for my ranting - it's just so upsetting and annoying!
Seriously though, on the teacher side of it, I have grown two billion times over as a teacher this week. On Friday, Mrs. Riddlemoser was sick so I had all of the classes solely to myself and it went really well! It was a great way to end the week.
:)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Blog #1
Hello all.
First, I'll begin with my school and district. Gettysburg Middle School is a suburban school with about 300 students per class. The middle school is extremely LFS focused and houses sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. I’m student teaching at the 7th grade level. GMS has divided their teachers into “teams” with one teacher from each subject in each team. Teams are responsible for the students in their team. Although, this isn’t a fool-proof plan because some students get mixed into other teams. I think that the teams don’t create a sense of community with the teachers because teams do not work with other teams. There is a sense of “that’s not my problem because it’s not my team.”
My co-op is Jenn Riddlemoser. She is an effective teacher and the students respect her. Her teaching is different from mine because she uses a lot of group work and usually she has students work on their own pace to get a list of activities done. Whereas I enjoy being in front of the class and having everyone work together.
I have one “academic” class (block) and one “regular” block every day. I will be beginning a poetry unit on Monday – with a ton of PSSA prep involved. It has been very difficult trying to interpret poems and find a way to link them to PSSA preps. Anyway, more about planning later… The students in the academic class are slackers. They love to read (which is great) but they are non-responsive in class because they know they can get away with doing nothing. The “regular” classes are very well behaved and I believe they are bored with their classes (all classes). Mrs. Riddlemoser’s class is complete routine (I think routine is important but does get boring after awhile – you can only eat a turkey sandwich for lunch so many times). There are some “bad” kids = the ones who don’t care but they are well behaved!! They just like to get off topic! I find myself drawn to these kids (which doesn’t surprise me because I’ve always enjoyed working with the students labeled as “challenged” or “academically incompetent”).
The other class is a 50 minute exploratory class which is 10-12 students who didn’t score well on their pre-PSSA tests. It is a read-aloud class where Mrs. Riddlemoser reads aloud (“Chasing Redbird”) and prompts the students to predict, find synonyms, or learn new vocabulary. This class isn’t taught with an Essential Question or Unit Plan; the major point is to make it through the novel while discussing. I will be teaching the new novel when they are done with “Chasing Redbird” (hopefully in a week). I will start “The Hunger Games.” I haven’t read it yet. Has anyone heard of it?
Overall, I’m beginning to enjoy all of the students as I get to know their different learning styles. This week I’ve been mostly observing, lesson planning, grading, and spelling every word in the dictionary; “Miss Sheaffer, do you know how to spell ____?!”
Mrs. Riddlemoser recently got new literature books that she hasn’t touched yet. So, I began to plan out of the book THEN the supplies arrived. So, to make my point, I will list all of the supplies for this text book: 35 textbooks, 100 full lesson plans for teachers (done in LFS style), 35 grammar workbooks that go with the texts, grammar answer keys, 35 worksheet books (complete with graphic organizers for each text), worksheet answer key books, cds with every text read out loud, cd with all of the lesson plans, cd with text generators for each unit, and PSSA prep books that follow the unit.
Seriously. Ser-i-ous-ly.
What is the point of going to college and wanting to be a teacher? A monkey could teach these students with these books and supplies!
And, while I’m complaining about the state system of education – I spent two hours grading PSSA preps for MATH because the students just took their 4-site test (PSSA preps). Ridiculous.
Anyway, that’s my ramblings for this week. And, although I ended on a negative note, I really do love my placement and all of the teachers and staff. (And the library – it’s amazing). I can’t wait to start teaching on Monday!
P.S. I created a page for my students, it is: www.riddlemoser.wikispaces.com. Feel free to drop by sometime!
First, I'll begin with my school and district. Gettysburg Middle School is a suburban school with about 300 students per class. The middle school is extremely LFS focused and houses sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. I’m student teaching at the 7th grade level. GMS has divided their teachers into “teams” with one teacher from each subject in each team. Teams are responsible for the students in their team. Although, this isn’t a fool-proof plan because some students get mixed into other teams. I think that the teams don’t create a sense of community with the teachers because teams do not work with other teams. There is a sense of “that’s not my problem because it’s not my team.”
My co-op is Jenn Riddlemoser. She is an effective teacher and the students respect her. Her teaching is different from mine because she uses a lot of group work and usually she has students work on their own pace to get a list of activities done. Whereas I enjoy being in front of the class and having everyone work together.
I have one “academic” class (block) and one “regular” block every day. I will be beginning a poetry unit on Monday – with a ton of PSSA prep involved. It has been very difficult trying to interpret poems and find a way to link them to PSSA preps. Anyway, more about planning later… The students in the academic class are slackers. They love to read (which is great) but they are non-responsive in class because they know they can get away with doing nothing. The “regular” classes are very well behaved and I believe they are bored with their classes (all classes). Mrs. Riddlemoser’s class is complete routine (I think routine is important but does get boring after awhile – you can only eat a turkey sandwich for lunch so many times). There are some “bad” kids = the ones who don’t care but they are well behaved!! They just like to get off topic! I find myself drawn to these kids (which doesn’t surprise me because I’ve always enjoyed working with the students labeled as “challenged” or “academically incompetent”).
The other class is a 50 minute exploratory class which is 10-12 students who didn’t score well on their pre-PSSA tests. It is a read-aloud class where Mrs. Riddlemoser reads aloud (“Chasing Redbird”) and prompts the students to predict, find synonyms, or learn new vocabulary. This class isn’t taught with an Essential Question or Unit Plan; the major point is to make it through the novel while discussing. I will be teaching the new novel when they are done with “Chasing Redbird” (hopefully in a week). I will start “The Hunger Games.” I haven’t read it yet. Has anyone heard of it?
Overall, I’m beginning to enjoy all of the students as I get to know their different learning styles. This week I’ve been mostly observing, lesson planning, grading, and spelling every word in the dictionary; “Miss Sheaffer, do you know how to spell ____?!”
Mrs. Riddlemoser recently got new literature books that she hasn’t touched yet. So, I began to plan out of the book THEN the supplies arrived. So, to make my point, I will list all of the supplies for this text book: 35 textbooks, 100 full lesson plans for teachers (done in LFS style), 35 grammar workbooks that go with the texts, grammar answer keys, 35 worksheet books (complete with graphic organizers for each text), worksheet answer key books, cds with every text read out loud, cd with all of the lesson plans, cd with text generators for each unit, and PSSA prep books that follow the unit.
Seriously. Ser-i-ous-ly.
What is the point of going to college and wanting to be a teacher? A monkey could teach these students with these books and supplies!
And, while I’m complaining about the state system of education – I spent two hours grading PSSA preps for MATH because the students just took their 4-site test (PSSA preps). Ridiculous.
Anyway, that’s my ramblings for this week. And, although I ended on a negative note, I really do love my placement and all of the teachers and staff. (And the library – it’s amazing). I can’t wait to start teaching on Monday!
P.S. I created a page for my students, it is: www.riddlemoser.wikispaces.com. Feel free to drop by sometime!
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