Teaching Experience 4 by Ryan Fromoltz
I can count this experience as being ready in one area, but another area overshadowing it. I was fully prepared for my lesson, the notes were done, the worksheet was complete, the only thing I wasn’t prepared for was the kids not paying attention to me.
The period started only innocently enough as I calmed the class down, but as soon as I took attendance it may have seemed like a lost cause. I got the class settled back down for current events, but that may have been the last time I got control of it. Several students decided to speak out, and I never challenged them to keep quiet. I would stop talking as I have learned to do, but that only works for a while. By the end the kids, just felt like they controlled the room, and they were probably right.
It’s something that I have to learn to quiet kids down quicker, and to keep them quiet. As a teacher I know I have the power to throw them out of the room, but I have been confused on whether I can or not. It’s something that I should have asked a long time ago for clarification.
Besides for the problems with management, which are slowly being, addressed the class was decent. Those students who paid attention to the class seemed interested in the topic. A lot of questions were being asked, and for 99% of them I felt I had decent answers for them. The distractions by the students took away the gains I thought I made with the lesson plans so I know more work is still ahead for me.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Standardized Testing (from october)
From my mentor teacher:
I favor formative assessment for a couple of reasons. First, students tend to do poorly on summative assessments because they are nervous and they psych themselves out. Formative assessments measure student progress on a more frequent basis. This way I am able to see what areas students are struggling with and it makes it easier for me to review ideas that are difficult.
Standardized testing does not really play a role because students are not tested in Social Studies. At times too much emphasis is placed on standardized testing....is it really measuring student progress??
I favor formative assessment for a couple of reasons. First, students tend to do poorly on summative assessments because they are nervous and they psych themselves out. Formative assessments measure student progress on a more frequent basis. This way I am able to see what areas students are struggling with and it makes it easier for me to review ideas that are difficult.
Standardized testing does not really play a role because students are not tested in Social Studies. At times too much emphasis is placed on standardized testing....is it really measuring student progress??
Monday, October 12, 2009
In the blink of an eye it can all seem like things can change. Well things definitely changed from teaching experience one to two but something’s remained the same. I felt a little less prepared because I was so busy leading up to teaching the lesson. That’s something I know I will have to deal with as a teacher, but know my lesson was done.
My first period class is like my Achilles heel so to speak. I teach the lesson but they aren’t interested. This often is the same problem when my mentor teacher teaches. I tried a video from funnyordie.com as an icebreaker to get them interested. Some of them laughed, but not with as much enthusiasm as second or fourth period. I then went through my notes and was done within 55 minutes, and off to do their assignments.
Second and fourth were different changes of scenery. They were very into the lesson and my video. Second period we had a discussion for several minutes into the video. The lesson with announcements went about 75 minutes. Fourth period went about 65 minutes. It felt very different between the three periods. Fourth and second period I was having a good report with the class, I believe. We had a laid back atmosphere, they were asking questions and it was fun. First period was tough; they weren’t into it, saw many of them playing with their phone but never took responsibility and take them.
I know a couple things when I teach again on the 13th. I am going to sit down with my first period and clear the air. That I deserve the same respect as the mentor teacher, and that if I see the phones out, I will take them. I don’t want to be the bad guy, but if I have to be so they will pay attention to me so be it. The other thing I need to work on is not believing the kids are smart. My mentor teacher and facilitator both commented that I believe the students know too much, that I need to break it down even more. That is something I know I need to work on.
My first period class is like my Achilles heel so to speak. I teach the lesson but they aren’t interested. This often is the same problem when my mentor teacher teaches. I tried a video from funnyordie.com as an icebreaker to get them interested. Some of them laughed, but not with as much enthusiasm as second or fourth period. I then went through my notes and was done within 55 minutes, and off to do their assignments.
Second and fourth were different changes of scenery. They were very into the lesson and my video. Second period we had a discussion for several minutes into the video. The lesson with announcements went about 75 minutes. Fourth period went about 65 minutes. It felt very different between the three periods. Fourth and second period I was having a good report with the class, I believe. We had a laid back atmosphere, they were asking questions and it was fun. First period was tough; they weren’t into it, saw many of them playing with their phone but never took responsibility and take them.
I know a couple things when I teach again on the 13th. I am going to sit down with my first period and clear the air. That I deserve the same respect as the mentor teacher, and that if I see the phones out, I will take them. I don’t want to be the bad guy, but if I have to be so they will pay attention to me so be it. The other thing I need to work on is not believing the kids are smart. My mentor teacher and facilitator both commented that I believe the students know too much, that I need to break it down even more. That is something I know I need to work on.
Thank you Kayne....
For the first time ever on September 15th I had the opportunity to teach in front of a classroom. The class was Jennifer Hileman’s Government class at Liberty High School. The topic was the U.S. Constitution.
Originally I had planned for this class to go for the full 85 minutes but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be the case. When first period began, I was so ready to go I got right into everything. Big mistake there because I was done with my notes in about 40 minutes. Then came the group discussion, I learned the hard way of thinking on the fly. The class didn’t participate in the discussion on flag burning at all. So I switched to a topic on Kanye West and the first amendment, which worked for a little bit as well. So I was done with 40 minutes to go with class! Eepp! So my mentor teacher took over for the rest of the time.
2nd period was a little better but still ran into road blocks. The class has a significant amount of kids with learning disabilities in it. I’ve been told from a friend who’s a special Ed teacher that its way more than it should be. So there is a co-op teacher in there. Except he was out on maternity leave due to his wife being pregnant. So I was left with a substitute who was having his third or fourth class EVER, and my mentor teacher. My mentor teacher left me in charge of everything and it was interesting.
I slowed down compared to first period and it worked in terms of time management. However they led to more problems. I slowed down and allowed time for the kids with bad learning disabilities to write things down. This led to a lost of control of the class. Yikes!!! I had to stop myself several times during the class to quiet the class down.
The conversation over the debate was better because I managed to keep them into it switching from flag burning to Kayne to Joe Wilson to Obama it was an interesting conversation.
When I sat down with the mentor teacher I realized three important things. 1) Keep better control of the class. 2) For those with learning disabilities bring extra copies of your notes, so you can share 3) If a class doesn’t want to participate in a discussion give them bookwork. It will help you with your time. These are some lessons I will incorporate into my next lesson.
Originally I had planned for this class to go for the full 85 minutes but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be the case. When first period began, I was so ready to go I got right into everything. Big mistake there because I was done with my notes in about 40 minutes. Then came the group discussion, I learned the hard way of thinking on the fly. The class didn’t participate in the discussion on flag burning at all. So I switched to a topic on Kanye West and the first amendment, which worked for a little bit as well. So I was done with 40 minutes to go with class! Eepp! So my mentor teacher took over for the rest of the time.
2nd period was a little better but still ran into road blocks. The class has a significant amount of kids with learning disabilities in it. I’ve been told from a friend who’s a special Ed teacher that its way more than it should be. So there is a co-op teacher in there. Except he was out on maternity leave due to his wife being pregnant. So I was left with a substitute who was having his third or fourth class EVER, and my mentor teacher. My mentor teacher left me in charge of everything and it was interesting.
I slowed down compared to first period and it worked in terms of time management. However they led to more problems. I slowed down and allowed time for the kids with bad learning disabilities to write things down. This led to a lost of control of the class. Yikes!!! I had to stop myself several times during the class to quiet the class down.
The conversation over the debate was better because I managed to keep them into it switching from flag burning to Kayne to Joe Wilson to Obama it was an interesting conversation.
When I sat down with the mentor teacher I realized three important things. 1) Keep better control of the class. 2) For those with learning disabilities bring extra copies of your notes, so you can share 3) If a class doesn’t want to participate in a discussion give them bookwork. It will help you with your time. These are some lessons I will incorporate into my next lesson.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The beginning plus weeks one-three Part 1
Hello, and thanks for reading this blog. I am currently a practicum student at Liberty High School. I am in a government and government with a co-op classes. My pre-service mentor teacher is "Mrs. HT" while my co-op for two period is "Mr.L"
Two of the classes out of the your I attend have Mr. L as the co-op class due to a good amount of students in there with learning disabilities.
The first several weeks of the class are review. The first week in class was going over what was expected of the students though no formal syllabus has been given the day of this writing. Students also took part in a U.S. citzenship test and 50 states test. The 50 states test was an eye opener for me. The ideas I had for teaching the class had to be modified because I had dreams of debates and heated discussions, but I realized that may not happen the way I wanted. This was something that I revisit when I started teaching for the first time, which will be in another blog.
Until next time...
Two of the classes out of the your I attend have Mr. L as the co-op class due to a good amount of students in there with learning disabilities.
The first several weeks of the class are review. The first week in class was going over what was expected of the students though no formal syllabus has been given the day of this writing. Students also took part in a U.S. citzenship test and 50 states test. The 50 states test was an eye opener for me. The ideas I had for teaching the class had to be modified because I had dreams of debates and heated discussions, but I realized that may not happen the way I wanted. This was something that I revisit when I started teaching for the first time, which will be in another blog.
Until next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
