Week 11
This past week has truly been a whirlwind, and now I get to reward myself with a relaxing spring break away from all the stresses of school and edTPA! Week 4 in high school has been especially significant for two reasons: 1) I SUBMITTED MY EDTPA, and 2) It was my first real week of full time teaching! The edTPA has been haunting me since January, and months later, it's so refreshing to see all of that hard work, time, and effort come full circle. Of course, I won't find out my score until later, but it's the biggest relief to just be done and focus more on student teaching and preparing my unit plan for The Catcher in the Rye. Then, actually, one of my goals this week was to start teaching without my cooperating teacher in the classroom. On Tuesday, I felt a little bit thrown off when my cooperating teacher told me, "You know what? Why don't you take class today?" I felt unprepared and tired, but I know that it was something I needed. I ended up teaching by myself the rest of the week in both my Junior American Lit classes and my Senior Basic English class. The first day with my Juniors was rough, because we were simply going over a boring grammar packet. Classes that I expected to participate more were dead silent. I even got some attitude throughout the week from a couple of my students. But, as the week progressed, the students were more comfortable with me, and respected me as a teacher. Some students in my class still subtly disrespect me (playing on their phones, choosing their own seats, or saying things under their breath) and think that they can get away with things, but that's something that I want to challenge myself to work on the week that I come back. I think that this was a good week to transition into full time teaching; I only hope I can keep up the momentum and finish up student teaching strong! I'm very thankful that my cooperating teacher is trusting me to take control of the class and implement my own strategies. She has given me an outstanding amount of wisdom, and I'm thankful to be able to learn from her.
My other goal from this week was to handle discipline and confrontation. I ended up not talking to the one student about looking me up on Google images, because after some time and thought, I realized that students are going to be naturally curious about me. I also reflected about my own presence on social media, and realized that I haven't really posted anything that would be suggestive. But, this incident was a reminder to be aware of what I'm posting. Discipline and confrontation is more difficult for me in high school, because I want to show my students that I respect them while still acting as the authority figure. Most of the time, I'm trying to pick my battles so that I don't completely lose control of my classroom. For one period of Junior American Lit, one student keeps distracting other students and not paying attention in class. He's been a struggle to work with, and he never puts any effort it. On Tuesday, it got to a point where I called him out during class, and he immediately sat back up and stayed quiet. Since I've been teaching, I have never had to really be stern with my students. I honestly didn't think I was capable of that confidence and power in my speech, but it certainly got his attention, and I hope it spoke to my other students. While I spoke sternly, I did not lose my temper or give up my control. I thought that I kept my composure and maybe even showed my students that I'm not just the happy, nice teacher.
For this week, I mostly taught grammar lessons. Although it was boring to them, I kept reminding them that it was all in preparation for the SAT that they would be taking a couple weeks from now. While they weren't interested in the subject, the big motivator was that test. They didn't necessarily feel like lessons, though, because they were simply working on their grammar packets and we went over it. For Monday and Tuesday, this was the primary work that occurred. I realized that it was not only difficult to assess their progress with the packet, but they were completely unengaged. According to IPTS Performance Standard 3M, the competent teacher "develops plans based on student responses and provides for different pathways based on student needs." After teaching my students on Tuesday, I took my students responses into account and decided that I wanted to make learning comma rules in grammar more engaging, so I created a new activity using Google Docs. For this activity, I had the students group up with one another and create 15 original sentences that don't contain any commas. I gave them specific requirements as to what kind of sentences they should have such as
In high school, my students are having to write a number of papers, so it makes sense to figure out a way to either get them to enjoy writing or help them improve their writing. At end the week, I spent some time talking with my cooperating teacher about how to grade papers for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Throughout the past couple weeks, I have been working with my students on enhancing their arguments and writing their papers. We finally received the papers and spent most of Friday grading a couple of them so that we were on the same page in giving scores. Unfortunately, within the first 6 or so papers that we've graded, there has only been one A, one B, the rest C's, and one that has for sure been plagiarized. It's been quite the process, but I'm hoping that as I grade some of those papers this break, it will be a fair grade and a good reflection of their learning.
One of the strategies that I really want to implement is the idea of "focusing on the gold." It's such an easy thing for me to mark up every single thing that's wrong, but they need to see some positive feedback so that they know that they are on the right track. It's much easier in middle school, because the students are still finding their voices as writers. In high school, positive feedback will still be effective, but they are naturally going to be graded at a higher standard, because of their age and level. Especially when a number of students are getting lower grades, it's hard to always find the gold in their papers. That will be a challenge for me this week as I grade these papers. I can only hope that I follow through on this challenge.
My other goal from this week was to handle discipline and confrontation. I ended up not talking to the one student about looking me up on Google images, because after some time and thought, I realized that students are going to be naturally curious about me. I also reflected about my own presence on social media, and realized that I haven't really posted anything that would be suggestive. But, this incident was a reminder to be aware of what I'm posting. Discipline and confrontation is more difficult for me in high school, because I want to show my students that I respect them while still acting as the authority figure. Most of the time, I'm trying to pick my battles so that I don't completely lose control of my classroom. For one period of Junior American Lit, one student keeps distracting other students and not paying attention in class. He's been a struggle to work with, and he never puts any effort it. On Tuesday, it got to a point where I called him out during class, and he immediately sat back up and stayed quiet. Since I've been teaching, I have never had to really be stern with my students. I honestly didn't think I was capable of that confidence and power in my speech, but it certainly got his attention, and I hope it spoke to my other students. While I spoke sternly, I did not lose my temper or give up my control. I thought that I kept my composure and maybe even showed my students that I'm not just the happy, nice teacher.
For this week, I mostly taught grammar lessons. Although it was boring to them, I kept reminding them that it was all in preparation for the SAT that they would be taking a couple weeks from now. While they weren't interested in the subject, the big motivator was that test. They didn't necessarily feel like lessons, though, because they were simply working on their grammar packets and we went over it. For Monday and Tuesday, this was the primary work that occurred. I realized that it was not only difficult to assess their progress with the packet, but they were completely unengaged. According to IPTS Performance Standard 3M, the competent teacher "develops plans based on student responses and provides for different pathways based on student needs." After teaching my students on Tuesday, I took my students responses into account and decided that I wanted to make learning comma rules in grammar more engaging, so I created a new activity using Google Docs. For this activity, I had the students group up with one another and create 15 original sentences that don't contain any commas. I gave them specific requirements as to what kind of sentences they should have such as
- compound, compound-complex, and/ or complex sentences
- introductory clauses
- interrupters
- BOYSFAN conjunctions
- nonessential clauses
- at least one of the sentences must be correct.
Afterwards, I instructed my students to go down to another groups sentences below them, and fill in the commas. Finally, they would go back to their own document and highlight the sentences with which commas were placed incorrectly. Most of the time in class was spent working on creating the sentences (40 minutes) and the rest of the time was spent placing the commas and correcting sentences (10 minutes). It ended up being a perfect amount of time for this lesson, and some of the students mentioned that this was much more engaging than working with the packet. Here are the links to each class's documents:
Overall, the lesson went well, and the document showed some evidence that students understood the concept. While they were working on this activity, I would walk around the room and make sure that they were all being productive and creating unique sentences that fit the criteria. Sometimes, I would have to guide them with writing the sentences, but they seemed to have a good understanding of commas, while there is definitely still room for improvement.
On Thursday, I gave a presentation on Postmodern Literature to introduce my juniors to The Catcher in the Rye. For this presentation, I used Prezi which is appealing to the eye and easy to put together. I was able to gauge their attention for most of the class, and I could see that they were actively taking notes. One of the areas where I have been feeling my confidence building is in giving powerpoint presentations, because I am able to elaborate on each slide more efficiently. To be able to put it together, I had to do a little bit of research on my own and go through the students' textbook to gain a better understanding of the topic. It also helped that I had a past knowledge of the subject from previous college classes. I enjoyed teaching a topic like postmodernism and helping my students see those elements in a text.
It was interesting getting a chance to teach my juniors without my cooperating teacher in the room, and now I think that they're getting used to me as the authority figure. In fact, this week, it's been funny to see their personalities start to come out. One student tried to bribe me with cookies so that I could move the paper due date back by a week. I thanked him for the cookie, but already explained that I moved the paper back by a day already. It was a funny interaction. On Friday, since it was a half day, there wasn't too much teaching going on, so I let the students do what they wanted to do as long as they weren't being crazy. At one point, a couple students started singing "The Star Spangled Banner." I kind of just stared at them thinking, "What on earth are you doing?" but then the rest of the class joined in, and I couldn't stop laughing. After they finished singing, I started clapping, and another teacher came into the classroom and fake cried. These students are really funny, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to witness that right before spring break.
I haven't talked much about the Senior Basic English class on my blog, but this happened to be a good week for me as a teacher and them as students. On Tuesday, my cooperating teacher had a meeting, so it was just me, those kids, and a substitute. I was initially very worried, because most of the students in the class have behavioral problems, and one of them tries to intimidate and challenge me all the time. While working with this class, I try my best not to internalize what they say to me, because they do it to all teachers. My goal is to always give them the benefit of the doubt and to not shout or lose my control with them. Anyway, my cooperating teacher said that I should just read with them before they take their quiz later in the week. If there's one thing that I've noticed about this class, it's that they love being read to and they will willingly read along (mostly because they know they need to pass the class). During the days that I was in charge of the class (Tuesday-Thursday), I read to them and encouraged them to take notes. It would take time to reel them in, but once I started reading, they would progressively get quieter and eventually read along. There were still some students that would be on their phones or talk to one another, but to bring them back, I would pause my reading, look at the students directly, and they knew they needed to be back on task. But, I couldn't pause for too long, otherwise they would start talking to one another again and get even more off task. It was a good learning experience for me, and the fact that I didn't need to send anyone to in-school suspension or the Dean's Office was a victory.
Sometimes, it feels so helpless when I work with students that are disrespectful, distracting, and don't really care about learning, but I need to remind myself that they all need someone to believe in them, to care for them, and to show them that they have value. Even if they are completely unmotivated, I cannot give up on them, because they deserve the opportunity to have a good education--educational equity-- which is one of the education program learning outcomes. The Lord calls us to teach the unteachable and love those that are hard to love. While it can be difficult for me sometimes, I know that it is helping me grow as a teacher.
Overall, it was a good week, and now I have spring break to prepare for teaching units on The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Meyers, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
My goals for spring break:
1. Grade as many papers as possible.
2. Successfully plan my units.
Classroom Confidential
In high school, my students are having to write a number of papers, so it makes sense to figure out a way to either get them to enjoy writing or help them improve their writing. At end the week, I spent some time talking with my cooperating teacher about how to grade papers for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Throughout the past couple weeks, I have been working with my students on enhancing their arguments and writing their papers. We finally received the papers and spent most of Friday grading a couple of them so that we were on the same page in giving scores. Unfortunately, within the first 6 or so papers that we've graded, there has only been one A, one B, the rest C's, and one that has for sure been plagiarized. It's been quite the process, but I'm hoping that as I grade some of those papers this break, it will be a fair grade and a good reflection of their learning.
One of the strategies that I really want to implement is the idea of "focusing on the gold." It's such an easy thing for me to mark up every single thing that's wrong, but they need to see some positive feedback so that they know that they are on the right track. It's much easier in middle school, because the students are still finding their voices as writers. In high school, positive feedback will still be effective, but they are naturally going to be graded at a higher standard, because of their age and level. Especially when a number of students are getting lower grades, it's hard to always find the gold in their papers. That will be a challenge for me this week as I grade these papers. I can only hope that I follow through on this challenge.
Sarah, I think it's great that everything has been turned over to you. I think it might have been a little better if your CT had given you a bit more notice before springing this on you, but it should make you feel like there is a great sense of confidence in you. I'm sure it will take some time to get all the students on board with you. I'm not surprised that a few have been challenging you. Keep working to get them on your side and certainly avoid any confrontation, but you did right in letting the students know what you expect and remaining calm. They have to learn what your boundaries are and just how much you will put up with.
ReplyDeleteAs one who taught writing for many years, I know it can be difficult to "focus on the gold." I constantly had to remind myself that students didn't need to know every little thing that could be improved on everything that they wrote. I wanted them to be aware so that they could make the improvements. The balance is to not discourage them, while letting them know how to improve.