Today was a good day, and I really mean it this time. It was a successful day of teaching and I am really happy with how today went.
My 10th graders are still studying Macbeth and I decided to connect the story with a relevant text from society. It turned out to be a great activity that really sparked a lot of good conversation. I really enjoyed hearing what the students thought and seeing where they went with their ideas. I then turned the discussion towards the text and they made the connection really easily. It was a great transition and the students really stayed with me throughout the whole period. We discussed their acting company projects in class, which also went well. One thing I did want to bring up here was that yesterday a group of students told me that I was assigning a lot of daily homework. I thought this was a little crazy, especially since I plan daily with Kristin. I conferred with her and to lighten the load on both the students and on grading for myself, I have decided in this class to give them a more comprehensive project that will take them a few nights to complete. It will be due on Friday of that week, so as to reduce the amount of grading I have to do too. This was a good compromise to meet with the students on homework, while also listening to their concerns.
My seniors today were finishing up and tying together their unit on Hell and the afterlife. It was a good period that I felt a lot more prepared for than previous periods (probably because I did a lot more outlining and looking at the material than before. It just seemed like a good idea after how I felt Monday’s class went). The main point, even though I wanted to discuss these elements further, was that they start connecting the dots between the different texts. What I did find a little frustrating was that for homework I did assign three texts to read, which I will give them was a little much. Although, in college this is exactly how it is going to be, and then plus more because then they will have to read over 100 pages in just under 48 hours. Thirty pages should not be that hard in my book. Then again, these students are not freshman in college, so I may have hit my wall today with them. I pushed them a lot. I got them to the edge and probably passed it. Now I know where the limit is, so I do not have to test it. Expectations are just going to have to be redefined come next unit so that they know that 40 pages of reading for the next class is not a big deal. They can handle that, so they will have to start getting that expectation into their heads. Overall, though, their class went well and I handed out their essay writing prompts for their in-class essay on Friday. We’ll see how that goes.
My juniors today were a little rambunctious to say the least. They were complaining about the smallest things, trying to get their class in whatever way they could, and just plain being rude overall. At times it was really disappointing. These students, some of them, have had Kristin for now two years and are very attached. Having a new teacher stand up and teach the class can be an adjustment. This happens in all classes where there is a student teacher present; however, I think that this is going to be one of the hardest transitions of power. After school Kristin and I talked about setting expectations right for class on Friday and the rest of the week. Hopefully this will alleviate the stress and behavior issues related to this class.
Finally, my last period of the day I had my freshman. Today, like I wrote about yesterday, those that did not have their introduction and paragraph one had to sit in the hallway with Smith and get their work done. It looked like an interesting atmosphere out in the hall, but inside the classroom I was focused on the students that completed their assignment. I walked them through the paragraph structure and introduction structure in two separate accounts. It was a little chaotic at times in the room, but students were focused and had fun editing each other’s papers. It was a good experience for me as a teacher to have and see the students participate. Tomorrow we move on to the second body paragraph, we’ll see how this one comes out in the coming days.
Quote of the Day: 10th Grade Discussion Time
Randon: (female student), you’re giving me a weird look.
(Female student): No, I’m giving (male student) a weird look.
Take away: My desire to learn more has never been stronger. I want to absorb as much as I can, get to other classrooms and watch other teachers in other departments as well as Language Arts, which has gotten increasingly harder with more students needing individual help, but I am there for the students first, and my attitudes toward criticism and thoughts on feedback. My student teaching supervisor from Wartburg came into my sixth period, 9th graders, today. Tonight we talked about what she saw and gathered from my teaching. She had a lot of good things to say about how comfortable I was in front of the classroom, my lesson planning ability, and specifically my individualized instruction with the students. I make it a point in that class to make it around to all the students to check in with them on their Assignment-Change the World papers. On reflection on that paper, it has taken now just about all of five weeks to get through an introduction and a first body paragraph with ninth graders. That is a little long, and Anne let me know this the other day, and looking back at it I completely agreed with it. What happened to all the time? What have these students been doing lately? Have I not held my line with the schedule or do I need to revise the schedule to get everything in? Was I not pushing them hard enough? Or are they just lazy and do not want to get their work done. I said that it was most likely a combination of both things – the students and my teaching. I realize my teaching at the start particularly was a little weak, but it has come a long way and now I expect more out of myself and especially for these students. It is unacceptable that it has taken this long. So what do I need to do to finish out this paper? Is it a different instructional model, time in class to work, or more individualized instruction? Maybe what I need to do is just have more hard and fast deadlines, like the one yesterday with collecting their introductions and first paragraphs at the beginning of the period. Either way, I am learning from this experience and figuring out how to get everything in. It is a challenge, but I am growing, learning, and loving it all at the same time. My student teaching supervisor also told me that she was very impressed with my “teacher voice” and how comfortable in front of the classroom. She said, “It looks like you are having fun up there,” which I was. It is enjoyable to be in front of the classroom and to get to be there for the students. However, I know that my instruction is good and I am taking the right things into the classroom. Now I want to be hard on myself. I want Anne and Kristin to be hard on me. Specifically, I want them to be critical and to push me so that I continue to grow. I have grown a lot in these past five weeks, but there is still a lot of growth left. So let the learning continue as I watch others teach, meet with instructional coaches, get hard feedback from Anne and Kristin, learn from one-on-one interactions with students, and finally, teaching my heart out every fifty-nine minutes in front of the classroom. Let the learning and growing continue!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Reflections on Grading: Part One
As you may already know, Anne is finishing up her graduate school work and I am part of the project. She is looking at the “No D Policy” that I have written about before, but in her last cycle, the one we are in now, she is adding onto that with the idea of feedback to students. She had this idea of giving students two sets of feedback, one from her and one from me. I thought that sounded like a good idea, and together we even modified that to include a portion where she gives feedback and then I give feedback on the same paper, then we graduate to two copies and we both give feedback on our own copy and bring them together to discuss, and finally that I would give feedback and she would add on her own comments. This graduate school stuff, as much work as it is for her, is proving really beneficial to me and my learning as a student teacher. In what other way would I be able to form an agreement with her around mentoring or even learn, in this situation, what good, productive, and helpful feedback looks like? In other situations activities like this may happen, but I feel very fortunate as to have these activities happening to me during student teaching. Plus it gives Anne a little lab rat to test out her ideas on too.
Today we started the first part of this third cycle of learning. A few days ago I collected the introduction paragraphs from the students. She spent a night offering feedback on the introductions and then handed them off to me. I looked at the feedback and offered my own feedback at the bottom of the page. When we sat down to compare our notes and feedback I noticed a few different things. One, we both had similar markings, which is what I would like to see (at least that I am catching the main errors in student writing). Secondly, Anne likes to mark things on the side of the page with a little note beside it. I, however, tend to want to write a paragraph to students at the bottom of their paper. In fact, I frame my paragraph with a good comment at the top and some sort of suggestion to keep students’ learning increasing throughout the drafting and writing process. I really enjoyed seeing the different ways that we give feedback. Third, Anne tends to be very critical in her feedback, which is really good and I believe helpful in this situation. However, I had a hard time finding a positive comment. I really feel that students today need some sort of positive feedback to continue learning and know that they did something right at least. I do see Anne’s point in being very restrictive with the positive comments, because it takes more weight when a teacher writes “Good Job” on a paper every once in a while, as opposed to every time they receive a paper back.
To conclude, today’s exercise of walking through the papers and learning what Anne wrote, what I wrote the same, and then talking about that was really helpful. It has started to give me a much better idea of proper assessment and what that looks like in today’s world of education. I look forward to our next challenge and learning opportunity – the double blind experiment.
Today we started the first part of this third cycle of learning. A few days ago I collected the introduction paragraphs from the students. She spent a night offering feedback on the introductions and then handed them off to me. I looked at the feedback and offered my own feedback at the bottom of the page. When we sat down to compare our notes and feedback I noticed a few different things. One, we both had similar markings, which is what I would like to see (at least that I am catching the main errors in student writing). Secondly, Anne likes to mark things on the side of the page with a little note beside it. I, however, tend to want to write a paragraph to students at the bottom of their paper. In fact, I frame my paragraph with a good comment at the top and some sort of suggestion to keep students’ learning increasing throughout the drafting and writing process. I really enjoyed seeing the different ways that we give feedback. Third, Anne tends to be very critical in her feedback, which is really good and I believe helpful in this situation. However, I had a hard time finding a positive comment. I really feel that students today need some sort of positive feedback to continue learning and know that they did something right at least. I do see Anne’s point in being very restrictive with the positive comments, because it takes more weight when a teacher writes “Good Job” on a paper every once in a while, as opposed to every time they receive a paper back.
To conclude, today’s exercise of walking through the papers and learning what Anne wrote, what I wrote the same, and then talking about that was really helpful. It has started to give me a much better idea of proper assessment and what that looks like in today’s world of education. I look forward to our next challenge and learning opportunity – the double blind experiment.
Day Twenty-One!
Today the name of the game is collaboration. It’s a Tuesday, which means that I have a few free periods that were spent meeting with my cooperating teachers and helping other students succeed.
In tenth grade we had a good class. The students were motivated and teaching just felt natural and a good progression today. I still have one student that is having a little problem of paying attention all the time. That is a conversation that I need to have with him and lay out some boundaries and expectations.
In ninth grade, I handed back the feedback that Anne and I completed earlier in the day (look for another blog post titled “Grading Reflection: Part One.” It was really nice to read the students’ blog entries from last night and get some of their questions answered today in class. It was a high order at times keeping them on task, but I managed and am looking forward to tomorrow. See I set forth this ultimatum that if they did not have their introduction and first paragraphs done then they would have to sit in the hallway with Anne while I move forward with peer editing and the rest of the class. I am a little nervous about how that will all turn out, because a lot of them only have one or two sentences complete. However, they asked for time to work and I gave it to them today. They should have no excuses what so ever. We will see though.
Quote of the Day: In English 10 we were discussing effective group work in relation to communication (they are preparing for acting companies and acting out Act Two of Macbeth).
Randon: So what do you do in a group situation if you don’t like someone’s idea?
Male 10th grade student: Tell them straight up, “I hate your idea.”
Take Away: Education is all about learning, collaborating, and learning some more. It never stops. As educators we continue to try new things, or at least we should be, and we continually want to make our practice better, which we should also be striving to do too. It was really enjoyable to collaborate with Anne and in the future Kristin will be pulled into those conversations, but that is what education is all about learning. Today I did a lot of learning on a lot of different levels, and it was a great experience. I look to build on my learning in future days, weeks, and months.
In tenth grade we had a good class. The students were motivated and teaching just felt natural and a good progression today. I still have one student that is having a little problem of paying attention all the time. That is a conversation that I need to have with him and lay out some boundaries and expectations.
In ninth grade, I handed back the feedback that Anne and I completed earlier in the day (look for another blog post titled “Grading Reflection: Part One.” It was really nice to read the students’ blog entries from last night and get some of their questions answered today in class. It was a high order at times keeping them on task, but I managed and am looking forward to tomorrow. See I set forth this ultimatum that if they did not have their introduction and first paragraphs done then they would have to sit in the hallway with Anne while I move forward with peer editing and the rest of the class. I am a little nervous about how that will all turn out, because a lot of them only have one or two sentences complete. However, they asked for time to work and I gave it to them today. They should have no excuses what so ever. We will see though.
Quote of the Day: In English 10 we were discussing effective group work in relation to communication (they are preparing for acting companies and acting out Act Two of Macbeth).
Randon: So what do you do in a group situation if you don’t like someone’s idea?
Male 10th grade student: Tell them straight up, “I hate your idea.”
Take Away: Education is all about learning, collaborating, and learning some more. It never stops. As educators we continue to try new things, or at least we should be, and we continually want to make our practice better, which we should also be striving to do too. It was really enjoyable to collaborate with Anne and in the future Kristin will be pulled into those conversations, but that is what education is all about learning. Today I did a lot of learning on a lot of different levels, and it was a great experience. I look to build on my learning in future days, weeks, and months.
Day Twenty!
Today was an ok day of teaching and working with students. It just seems some days that there is always more you can do to make the experience better. There’s more support you can find, more assistance with the material, more lesson planning, more personal learning, a different method to make everything make sense for the students – just something else as a teacher I can do to make my experience better for the students. Overall, I was happy with how things went, but disappointed that I did not do more. The problem is, though, at what cost does that doing more mean? Do I cut more into my sleep, prep time for other classes, or life here in Denver? Where is the balance? I thought that I put out ok material for my students, but it was not my best work. That frustrates me, so I will use this feeling as a point of comparison and encouragement to make other days more successful and so that I can have a little bit better feeling inside that it was truly a successful day.
The 10th graders were a lot of fun today. For some reason because it is Monday students have a hard time waking up by the time third hour rolls around – I don’t criticize because sometimes I feel like I would like to be in bed sleeping too. However, today was one of those days where they were a little sluggish on the uptake. The first half of the lesson they were really slow with answers and completely unengaged in the conversation. But then I did an engaging activity that required them to get up and move around the room. They were so much more awake and they worked hard for the rest of the period. It was also a great activity because the students were able to use their imagination on how to portray a film version of Macbeth, which led directly into one of the film versions and provided a great transition.
I went from there off to my seniors. I really enjoy this class, but at times feel like I am not challenging them enough. For instance, today one of the things we covered was a few more cantos from Dante’s Inferno. We put the whole class together and at points Anne would jump into the question to add a comment or ask another question. It was a little weird because I was leading the discussion and then she would ask a question from outside of the circle and the students, at least in my perception, were a little confused as to who was leading the discussion. Was I or was Anne? I know she did this with the best intentions, and it was helpful in the long run because I was struggling with some of their questions; however, is it better to let me learn from the mistake of not asking that question or ask the question in front of the rest of the seniors? I feel like I might have lost a little credibility as their teacher, and I mean that in the nicest way because it is not like I really have a lot of credibility with them anyway. Would it have been more effective to pull me aside after class and just go over those questions she asked and see why I did not ask them? Or at least, this is my fault, talk about her decision of jumping in. Anne wants the best educational experience for her students, which I really value, but how far does that go? I think I just need to go over the big questions I have for class with her, or I can look at her notes, ask questions, and understand the main ideas of the text before I move on. I will work harder on planning and asking higher order thinking questions to really engage my seniors in the discussion. That is my goal coming out of today. Life I may have reflected before, everything in a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class seems really rushed. We covered most of what I wanted to cover today, but still left a little behind, which resulted in a little more homework for the students over two days. What I perceive to be a college level amount of homework since this is a college prep class it is only fitting.
My eleventh graders, and this is now my second time ever teaching them, were really quiet in class today. That was really odd, considering how talkative they have been in the past. It was really funny that I was up in front of the class teaching and getting class started and they were genuinely worried about where Kristin was. The entire time she was sitting in the back taking notes. She had to stand up and introduce herself to the students. Kind of funny on a student teacher level the students were at a loss without their normal leader in front of the class. Kristin reminded me that these students are the ones that will cling to her until I gain a little more trust and respect from them. They were quiet until I go them up and responding to a question I put onto the PowerPoint. They had to physically move to represent where they were on the continuum of choice between strongly agree and disagree. I asked for volunteers to share their answers, and I got a few takers, which included a boy that apparently does not talk a lot in class. That was really exciting and a great way to end the class period.
My ninth graders were really confused today. They are supposed to be figuring out and writing their main body paragraphs today. Well, it turns out that a lot of them do not have the main outline done, much less the paragraph written. So today, because of them and a lot of other things related to the paper (like not having flash drives in class or assignments done) mandated that they must come to class prepared. There is no ifs, ands, or buts in this class. Too bad, the game is over. This paper has taken so long already, it is time we finish it up. So get moving and start writing. Part of their homework for tonight was to respond to a blog post about how they thought the class was going. It will be really interesting to see what they think. If you want to see the post the link is here.
I figured that in addition to my take away of the day I can now add in a little more humorous element to my posts. At least I find them humorous and I hope you do too. They are called my quotes of the day, as written by Kristin as students say them in my classes. So here goes:
In English 10 we were looking up information on Roman Polanski, a famous film director who had a very interesting life. Anyway, one of my students today after looking up information on him said: “What a creeper!”
In American Literature we were writing short responses to a writing prompt about a time when someone did something unfair to you. For example, how men have higher car insurance payments than women. Anyway, a female student said this, “Is this like an essay that we’re writing? Because mine is really not special.” I responded, “I’m sure yours is very special.”
Take Away of the day: There is always room for improvement, but I need to be happy with the good things that happened and allow the rest to be encouragement and inspiration to do a better job in the future.
The 10th graders were a lot of fun today. For some reason because it is Monday students have a hard time waking up by the time third hour rolls around – I don’t criticize because sometimes I feel like I would like to be in bed sleeping too. However, today was one of those days where they were a little sluggish on the uptake. The first half of the lesson they were really slow with answers and completely unengaged in the conversation. But then I did an engaging activity that required them to get up and move around the room. They were so much more awake and they worked hard for the rest of the period. It was also a great activity because the students were able to use their imagination on how to portray a film version of Macbeth, which led directly into one of the film versions and provided a great transition.
I went from there off to my seniors. I really enjoy this class, but at times feel like I am not challenging them enough. For instance, today one of the things we covered was a few more cantos from Dante’s Inferno. We put the whole class together and at points Anne would jump into the question to add a comment or ask another question. It was a little weird because I was leading the discussion and then she would ask a question from outside of the circle and the students, at least in my perception, were a little confused as to who was leading the discussion. Was I or was Anne? I know she did this with the best intentions, and it was helpful in the long run because I was struggling with some of their questions; however, is it better to let me learn from the mistake of not asking that question or ask the question in front of the rest of the seniors? I feel like I might have lost a little credibility as their teacher, and I mean that in the nicest way because it is not like I really have a lot of credibility with them anyway. Would it have been more effective to pull me aside after class and just go over those questions she asked and see why I did not ask them? Or at least, this is my fault, talk about her decision of jumping in. Anne wants the best educational experience for her students, which I really value, but how far does that go? I think I just need to go over the big questions I have for class with her, or I can look at her notes, ask questions, and understand the main ideas of the text before I move on. I will work harder on planning and asking higher order thinking questions to really engage my seniors in the discussion. That is my goal coming out of today. Life I may have reflected before, everything in a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class seems really rushed. We covered most of what I wanted to cover today, but still left a little behind, which resulted in a little more homework for the students over two days. What I perceive to be a college level amount of homework since this is a college prep class it is only fitting.
My eleventh graders, and this is now my second time ever teaching them, were really quiet in class today. That was really odd, considering how talkative they have been in the past. It was really funny that I was up in front of the class teaching and getting class started and they were genuinely worried about where Kristin was. The entire time she was sitting in the back taking notes. She had to stand up and introduce herself to the students. Kind of funny on a student teacher level the students were at a loss without their normal leader in front of the class. Kristin reminded me that these students are the ones that will cling to her until I gain a little more trust and respect from them. They were quiet until I go them up and responding to a question I put onto the PowerPoint. They had to physically move to represent where they were on the continuum of choice between strongly agree and disagree. I asked for volunteers to share their answers, and I got a few takers, which included a boy that apparently does not talk a lot in class. That was really exciting and a great way to end the class period.
My ninth graders were really confused today. They are supposed to be figuring out and writing their main body paragraphs today. Well, it turns out that a lot of them do not have the main outline done, much less the paragraph written. So today, because of them and a lot of other things related to the paper (like not having flash drives in class or assignments done) mandated that they must come to class prepared. There is no ifs, ands, or buts in this class. Too bad, the game is over. This paper has taken so long already, it is time we finish it up. So get moving and start writing. Part of their homework for tonight was to respond to a blog post about how they thought the class was going. It will be really interesting to see what they think. If you want to see the post the link is here.
I figured that in addition to my take away of the day I can now add in a little more humorous element to my posts. At least I find them humorous and I hope you do too. They are called my quotes of the day, as written by Kristin as students say them in my classes. So here goes:
In English 10 we were looking up information on Roman Polanski, a famous film director who had a very interesting life. Anyway, one of my students today after looking up information on him said: “What a creeper!”
In American Literature we were writing short responses to a writing prompt about a time when someone did something unfair to you. For example, how men have higher car insurance payments than women. Anyway, a female student said this, “Is this like an essay that we’re writing? Because mine is really not special.” I responded, “I’m sure yours is very special.”
Take Away of the day: There is always room for improvement, but I need to be happy with the good things that happened and allow the rest to be encouragement and inspiration to do a better job in the future.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Reflections on Living in Denver
On Saturday for my Denver Living class I had to visit the Colorado History Museum and see the Denver 150 exhibit. It was quite an experience riding the bus downtown and then getting off and going to the museum. At the museum I learned all about Denver’s last 150 years, as this year is now their 151st year as a city. I learned all about Denver – everything from Molly Brown, who was a Titanic survivor, to the past mayors of the town, to the advanced city transportation system Denver had with the horse railway system, then street cars, and now the light rail, and I learned about how at one point there were more horses in the city of Denver then there were people. It was really interesting to learn about people that came out here looking for gold and managed to strike it rich in another industry, like Charles Gates and his tire company, but it made me wonder what happened to the rest of the people who did not find gold and left broke. I learned about the KKK influence here in Denver around in the mid-1920s and the airport where Frontier Airlines started and the Red Rocks concert venue. I also learned that Denver is the only city to have been given an Olympic games, but then to reject the gift from the IOC, as they did with the Winter Games in 1976. I also learned two fun facts about how Colorado is home to five of the top fifty breweries world wide and that the Winter Park ski resort is actually owned by the city of Denver. I was really interested in the Western Stock Show and it started here in Denver in 1906, and it was great to go see it a few weeks ago. Downstairs in the museum I visited exhibit about female cowboys, Native Americans, and mining in Colorado. When I was reading through the 5280 magazine about Denver I read an article about the history of Denver. It said, “Years the Ute Indians have lived in Colorado: approximately 850. Number of years since the first U.S. citizen set foot in Colorado: 194.” It just reminded me that we were not the first ones here in Denver by a long shot and it really made me proud of the relationship that AHS has with the Arapahoe Nation. It just amazed me how much history is present in this city of Denver and how each of the 79 neighborhoods has its own little unique features that make it special. It is really fun each morning to drive through each neighborhood on my way to AHS. I pass through like twelve different neighborhoods on the way to school, and as much as people that live in small towns comment on their love for the small, close knit atmosphere I think people in a big city find that in their neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a special little feature about it, whether it is the style of homes, the price, or the fact that it is situated around a park each one is special and exciting in its own way. You share the property with your neighbors and you get to know those people in your neighborhood, which is one thing I look forward to doing in the future – where ever it is I am working and living come the end of this year. This experience has given me a really good look at what the city of Denver is really about, what it was build upon, and how it has such a great history. I will continually appreciate the neighborhoods I am in as I pass them on the way to work and the ones I get to live in now and in the future.
Saturday night I also got the pleasure of going to a Colorado Mammoth game, which if you do not know is the professional lacrosse team here in Denver. Another student teacher and I were picked up and taken out to dinner and the game by two Wartburg alumni. We went to the Pepsi Center, which is the hub for all professional sports here in the city of Denver except for soccer and football, because the professional hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and arena football teams all play there. The atmosphere inside the arena was awesome and they had a rock star DJ as the announcer of the entire event. The players on the Mammoth were good and it was really fun to be entertained with a sport I had not watched a lot of before, thankfully I understood the basic premise and a majority of the rules. It was a lot like watching a combination of basketball and hockey, because these players really beat up on each other – like literally hitting each other with their sticks. It was really fun to watch and the crowd was a lot bigger than I expected it to be too. Going to this game reminded me that sometimes the most fun events are the cheaper events. Yes, it is fun to go to the professional ballet at the Denver Center for the performing arts, but at the same time I could spend a fraction of the money and go to a play at a small local theater. The same idea goes for athletics. I could pay an arm and a leg to go see the Nuggets or the Avs, or I could go to a Mammoth game or a Rapids game, the soccer team here in town. They both have their advantages, but I think the last two options are a lot more fun and cost a lot less. In the future I was inspired and I am going to look at getting tickets to the soccer team here in town and go see them instead of footing the bill for the Nuggets – plus soccer is a lot better than basketball anyway. The Mammoth game was a lot of fun and it was a pleasure to get to know two awesome alums living in Denver.
Saturday night I also got the pleasure of going to a Colorado Mammoth game, which if you do not know is the professional lacrosse team here in Denver. Another student teacher and I were picked up and taken out to dinner and the game by two Wartburg alumni. We went to the Pepsi Center, which is the hub for all professional sports here in the city of Denver except for soccer and football, because the professional hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and arena football teams all play there. The atmosphere inside the arena was awesome and they had a rock star DJ as the announcer of the entire event. The players on the Mammoth were good and it was really fun to be entertained with a sport I had not watched a lot of before, thankfully I understood the basic premise and a majority of the rules. It was a lot like watching a combination of basketball and hockey, because these players really beat up on each other – like literally hitting each other with their sticks. It was really fun to watch and the crowd was a lot bigger than I expected it to be too. Going to this game reminded me that sometimes the most fun events are the cheaper events. Yes, it is fun to go to the professional ballet at the Denver Center for the performing arts, but at the same time I could spend a fraction of the money and go to a play at a small local theater. The same idea goes for athletics. I could pay an arm and a leg to go see the Nuggets or the Avs, or I could go to a Mammoth game or a Rapids game, the soccer team here in town. They both have their advantages, but I think the last two options are a lot more fun and cost a lot less. In the future I was inspired and I am going to look at getting tickets to the soccer team here in town and go see them instead of footing the bill for the Nuggets – plus soccer is a lot better than basketball anyway. The Mammoth game was a lot of fun and it was a pleasure to get to know two awesome alums living in Denver.
Day Nineteen!
Today was the first day of taking over everything, four classes complete. Before I started teaching I spent the first period planning with Anne and getting to see other parts of AHS. I finally visited the art department and found the butcher paper, which was essential to my activities with my juniors.
Second period I went to another English Literature class that was studying similar things to what I am teaching to my English Literature class with the afterlife. The teacher started off class reflecting on what happened in class the previous night, which I then incorporated into my classes later that day. It is really fun going into other classrooms because that allows me to actually see what other people are doing and then incorporate that into my own lessons. The students were a little over enthusiastic today, for some reason, and the teacher handled it really well. She went over the homework for the day right at the start of the lesson, which then set the tone for the entire lesson. She answered individual questions about the homework while going around the room, but she also addressed major concerns with the whole class in relation to the homework. It was really good for me to see how she transitioned in both body position and voice from the whole class to individual students while giving these instructions. After that she went through effective summary-response paper thesis statements with the students in multiple formats. She also gave an example of each format too, but she did not ask the students for an example. Then again, this is a college prep class and the students are all seniors so if they have questions they should probably ask. Her next activity was to use the Dante reading they had been doing in class and write a summary-response paper thesis. The neat part was that this is not a laptop classroom; instead, it is a normal classroom with desks in rows. The teacher handed out note cards and then had the students write their thesis statements on the note cards. After they did, and then they did a peer review and edit by passing the note cards around or getting up and finding a friend, a gallery walk is what she called it. One thing at really caught my eye was that one student asked a question while the teacher was giving whole class instruction, she answered it, and then after the discussion broke into small group time the teacher made it a point to go over to that student and make sure that he understood her answer. Some times I feel that students agree with my answer to a question just so they do not have to look unintelligent in front of the classroom. This may have been the case here, but I really think this was just an example of good teaching. After the gallery walk activity the teacher transitioned into Dante and reading aloud another canto. She had the students physically move their desks into a circle, which I thought was a great idea to have discussion. She then asked for volunteers to read and she got a few takers, which was great, and then after they finished she told the readers, “Thank you for reading for me.” It really made me consider how am I thanking those that read? Am I? I reflected and realized that I am thanking people for reading, but I need to more of an intentional job of doing that, including using student names in the response. During the reading she usually stayed outside of the circle, which I thought was a little odd; because I thought she should really strive to be part of the circle as that would give off more the idea of an equal with the students. Instead, she sat outside the circle on the teacher desk. This is not something wrong; it is just a different style than I am used to. It seemed to work for her though, so that is the important part. Then she would jump from outside the circle to walking around right in the middle of the circle to expound on a point or ask a question. At the end of the period she had a really interesting wrap-up activity. I got the idea that every day she did some sort of wrap up idea of her teaching for that day, today she had the students read their favorite passage of Dante thus far. To do this, though, she had the students stand up when they had their passage and then she called on students to read their passage. When they were done reading, if two people had the same passage, then they would both sit down and so on until the last person read. Two things I noticed about this activity. One, it was great to hear all the students read their passages, but I did not really understand how this was a wrap-up activity. What I mean is that having students reflect on and read their favorite passage was a good idea and it made them think critically, but how did it wrap up the learning? In my classes, if there is time left, I usually teach right to the bell and ask the students to write a summary of what they have read so far and then we share and discuss it as the bell is ringing. The activity could have been improved if she would have had the students read the passage and then reflect on why it is their favorite or how it connects to major motifs and themes. Two, the other big thing about this activity was that the teacher wrapped up her ideas and the class while neglecting one student that was slightly out of her line of vision. Instead of looking all throughout the room to make sure that everyone was done, she assumed that everyone was done on one side of the room and then finished up the other side. When in all reality she forgot to call on one student. That student was a little disappointed that he did not get called on, and his friends made sure to rub it in too as the teacher gave the final instructions of the period. It was a great period to watch and I learned a lot about excitement, energy, and how to teach reading in a class. I look forward to applying some of those ideas to my own English Literature class in the future.
After this class my busy Friday finally started. I first taught my 10th graders who are coving Macbeth. They had to take a vocabulary quiz and then do some independent reading time. During independent reading time I went around and checked off a simple assignment, what I pictured as a simple assignment at least. Well it turns out that a handful of students thought that they did not have to do that assignment, which is just crazy. One student in particular thought that since she is memorizing the words right on the page she does not have to create flash cards or do exercises in the packet to remember them. In addition, she brought up the fact that she is acing all the quizzes so why should she go through some extra work just to help her re-remember the words that she learned another way. I struggled with this concept. I know it is important for her to do some sort of activity with these words to understand and get them, but she is doing well on the quizzes. She found out the most effective way for her to study and just because it is not like everyone else do I have to punish her for that? It will be a discussion I will have to have with Kristin when she returns. Class went a lot faster then I thought it would, but then two twenty minute activities and that is already forty minutes of class taken up. That does not leave a lot of time for other instruction. It was really good to see how that class went today and I am excited to begin covering Act II this week and get the students up front and acting. It will be great fun.
Right after the 10th graders I switch classrooms and moved into a room filled with seniors. This is the class that Anne and I had a little discussion over last week and that I have had to catch up. If you want to read her side of the Tuesday story click here. Anyway, I have been in the process of catching them up, which at times has been a challenge as I have pointed out here. I want to push them through content, but at times I feel that I am rushing through the conversation part. These students are so good at the conversation aspect and I do not want to rob them of that part of the class and I feel like they learn a lot from that type of a classroom. However, when there is so much material to get through I struggle with wrapping up the discussion and moving on with the other activities. Such was the problem with class today. The first activity was to wrap up their career projects that they turned in via their Wikispaces. It was really good to get constructive feedback from the students about what we should do with the class and the project next time, but overall I think it took a little longer then I planned or hoped it would. This pushed right into our next activity and then into Dante. We got through the background material and then just the first few lines of Canto One. Anne keeps telling me to treat this class like a college prep class, which at times is really scary because these students are not in college yet, nor would I want to be some of the college professors that I have had in the past. Therefore, I always imagine making it a college prep class that I would like to go to every day, and that is the image that I try to picture and motivate myself to when planning and covering the material. It was a good period, overall, because I was able to get through most of the material that I was hoping to get through. I was able to connect with the students and challenge them with the content. Like the teacher I watched second period, I was able to get the students into a big circle and then discuss Dante, which was really helpful. I made sure that I was part of the circle, but at times I got up and walked around the middle of the circle to make a point. I hope this was effective, but at the same time that it was not over bearing. I will have to find out on Monday. It was a good period though.
Fifth period I went to Kristin’s American Literature class for the second time in over two weeks. Due to a day off and Anne being gone and me teaching all her classes it has been really hard to make it to their class. That being said, I was there on Wednesday and then took over the class for Friday. That is the fourth class I have picked up and it is also the last one that I will handle too. So it was really nice from that standpoint to finally take over and get a sense of teaching my last prep class. The students are covering The Narrative of Frederick Douglass so today we talked about dehumanization and what that looks like with slavery and with the text. After that we did a partner sharing activity related to the text and then they broke up into groups and looked at the key elements from the first chapters of the text. They worked really hard in groups and I let them pick their groups, which was a compromise because I gave them fifteen seconds to find a group and sit down, otherwise I was going to choose the groups for them. It worked out ok, but I did have to split one group up to make the right amount of groups. They worked really hard on this activity, and they were synthesizing information really well. How I teach this class will continue to grow and evolve over the next few weeks. At one point in their partner sharing activity I asked if they were done and no one responded so I move on. Well I heard this, “Mr. Ruggles, you are moving too quickly please slow down.” The transition from seniors to juniors will be one that I will have to continually be cognisant of and make sure that I am being fair to each group equally.
I ended the day with my ninth graders, which as always was entertaining and fun at the same time. We started the period going over structure of their first paragraphs, I cut apart a first paragraph and handed out parts and required the students to put the correct parts back together in order. I thought this activity would help them understand what is going on within their first paragraphs. It did help, but at the end of the day they are maybe two sentences further on their first paragraphs. Plus, the other frustrating part is that only about half of the students actually turned in a paragraph start at all. Where are their first paragraphs? I struggle because I feel like I have covered so much material in class that they just need time to work on their first paragraphs and for Anne and me to assist them with their work. I am excited to give them that time on Monday, because after looking through their first paragraphs they need the time.
My take away for the day is just that I made it. One day down of teaching four different classes, for different age groups, all in a row. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting overall. I got through it and that is an accomplishment. I look forward to next week and getting in the groove of the classes, figuring out how they are all different, and then tailoring my grading and instruction to those new ideals. Next week will be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to learning more and continuing to change the world one fifty-nine minute period at a time.
Second period I went to another English Literature class that was studying similar things to what I am teaching to my English Literature class with the afterlife. The teacher started off class reflecting on what happened in class the previous night, which I then incorporated into my classes later that day. It is really fun going into other classrooms because that allows me to actually see what other people are doing and then incorporate that into my own lessons. The students were a little over enthusiastic today, for some reason, and the teacher handled it really well. She went over the homework for the day right at the start of the lesson, which then set the tone for the entire lesson. She answered individual questions about the homework while going around the room, but she also addressed major concerns with the whole class in relation to the homework. It was really good for me to see how she transitioned in both body position and voice from the whole class to individual students while giving these instructions. After that she went through effective summary-response paper thesis statements with the students in multiple formats. She also gave an example of each format too, but she did not ask the students for an example. Then again, this is a college prep class and the students are all seniors so if they have questions they should probably ask. Her next activity was to use the Dante reading they had been doing in class and write a summary-response paper thesis. The neat part was that this is not a laptop classroom; instead, it is a normal classroom with desks in rows. The teacher handed out note cards and then had the students write their thesis statements on the note cards. After they did, and then they did a peer review and edit by passing the note cards around or getting up and finding a friend, a gallery walk is what she called it. One thing at really caught my eye was that one student asked a question while the teacher was giving whole class instruction, she answered it, and then after the discussion broke into small group time the teacher made it a point to go over to that student and make sure that he understood her answer. Some times I feel that students agree with my answer to a question just so they do not have to look unintelligent in front of the classroom. This may have been the case here, but I really think this was just an example of good teaching. After the gallery walk activity the teacher transitioned into Dante and reading aloud another canto. She had the students physically move their desks into a circle, which I thought was a great idea to have discussion. She then asked for volunteers to read and she got a few takers, which was great, and then after they finished she told the readers, “Thank you for reading for me.” It really made me consider how am I thanking those that read? Am I? I reflected and realized that I am thanking people for reading, but I need to more of an intentional job of doing that, including using student names in the response. During the reading she usually stayed outside of the circle, which I thought was a little odd; because I thought she should really strive to be part of the circle as that would give off more the idea of an equal with the students. Instead, she sat outside the circle on the teacher desk. This is not something wrong; it is just a different style than I am used to. It seemed to work for her though, so that is the important part. Then she would jump from outside the circle to walking around right in the middle of the circle to expound on a point or ask a question. At the end of the period she had a really interesting wrap-up activity. I got the idea that every day she did some sort of wrap up idea of her teaching for that day, today she had the students read their favorite passage of Dante thus far. To do this, though, she had the students stand up when they had their passage and then she called on students to read their passage. When they were done reading, if two people had the same passage, then they would both sit down and so on until the last person read. Two things I noticed about this activity. One, it was great to hear all the students read their passages, but I did not really understand how this was a wrap-up activity. What I mean is that having students reflect on and read their favorite passage was a good idea and it made them think critically, but how did it wrap up the learning? In my classes, if there is time left, I usually teach right to the bell and ask the students to write a summary of what they have read so far and then we share and discuss it as the bell is ringing. The activity could have been improved if she would have had the students read the passage and then reflect on why it is their favorite or how it connects to major motifs and themes. Two, the other big thing about this activity was that the teacher wrapped up her ideas and the class while neglecting one student that was slightly out of her line of vision. Instead of looking all throughout the room to make sure that everyone was done, she assumed that everyone was done on one side of the room and then finished up the other side. When in all reality she forgot to call on one student. That student was a little disappointed that he did not get called on, and his friends made sure to rub it in too as the teacher gave the final instructions of the period. It was a great period to watch and I learned a lot about excitement, energy, and how to teach reading in a class. I look forward to applying some of those ideas to my own English Literature class in the future.
After this class my busy Friday finally started. I first taught my 10th graders who are coving Macbeth. They had to take a vocabulary quiz and then do some independent reading time. During independent reading time I went around and checked off a simple assignment, what I pictured as a simple assignment at least. Well it turns out that a handful of students thought that they did not have to do that assignment, which is just crazy. One student in particular thought that since she is memorizing the words right on the page she does not have to create flash cards or do exercises in the packet to remember them. In addition, she brought up the fact that she is acing all the quizzes so why should she go through some extra work just to help her re-remember the words that she learned another way. I struggled with this concept. I know it is important for her to do some sort of activity with these words to understand and get them, but she is doing well on the quizzes. She found out the most effective way for her to study and just because it is not like everyone else do I have to punish her for that? It will be a discussion I will have to have with Kristin when she returns. Class went a lot faster then I thought it would, but then two twenty minute activities and that is already forty minutes of class taken up. That does not leave a lot of time for other instruction. It was really good to see how that class went today and I am excited to begin covering Act II this week and get the students up front and acting. It will be great fun.
Right after the 10th graders I switch classrooms and moved into a room filled with seniors. This is the class that Anne and I had a little discussion over last week and that I have had to catch up. If you want to read her side of the Tuesday story click here. Anyway, I have been in the process of catching them up, which at times has been a challenge as I have pointed out here. I want to push them through content, but at times I feel that I am rushing through the conversation part. These students are so good at the conversation aspect and I do not want to rob them of that part of the class and I feel like they learn a lot from that type of a classroom. However, when there is so much material to get through I struggle with wrapping up the discussion and moving on with the other activities. Such was the problem with class today. The first activity was to wrap up their career projects that they turned in via their Wikispaces. It was really good to get constructive feedback from the students about what we should do with the class and the project next time, but overall I think it took a little longer then I planned or hoped it would. This pushed right into our next activity and then into Dante. We got through the background material and then just the first few lines of Canto One. Anne keeps telling me to treat this class like a college prep class, which at times is really scary because these students are not in college yet, nor would I want to be some of the college professors that I have had in the past. Therefore, I always imagine making it a college prep class that I would like to go to every day, and that is the image that I try to picture and motivate myself to when planning and covering the material. It was a good period, overall, because I was able to get through most of the material that I was hoping to get through. I was able to connect with the students and challenge them with the content. Like the teacher I watched second period, I was able to get the students into a big circle and then discuss Dante, which was really helpful. I made sure that I was part of the circle, but at times I got up and walked around the middle of the circle to make a point. I hope this was effective, but at the same time that it was not over bearing. I will have to find out on Monday. It was a good period though.
Fifth period I went to Kristin’s American Literature class for the second time in over two weeks. Due to a day off and Anne being gone and me teaching all her classes it has been really hard to make it to their class. That being said, I was there on Wednesday and then took over the class for Friday. That is the fourth class I have picked up and it is also the last one that I will handle too. So it was really nice from that standpoint to finally take over and get a sense of teaching my last prep class. The students are covering The Narrative of Frederick Douglass so today we talked about dehumanization and what that looks like with slavery and with the text. After that we did a partner sharing activity related to the text and then they broke up into groups and looked at the key elements from the first chapters of the text. They worked really hard in groups and I let them pick their groups, which was a compromise because I gave them fifteen seconds to find a group and sit down, otherwise I was going to choose the groups for them. It worked out ok, but I did have to split one group up to make the right amount of groups. They worked really hard on this activity, and they were synthesizing information really well. How I teach this class will continue to grow and evolve over the next few weeks. At one point in their partner sharing activity I asked if they were done and no one responded so I move on. Well I heard this, “Mr. Ruggles, you are moving too quickly please slow down.” The transition from seniors to juniors will be one that I will have to continually be cognisant of and make sure that I am being fair to each group equally.
I ended the day with my ninth graders, which as always was entertaining and fun at the same time. We started the period going over structure of their first paragraphs, I cut apart a first paragraph and handed out parts and required the students to put the correct parts back together in order. I thought this activity would help them understand what is going on within their first paragraphs. It did help, but at the end of the day they are maybe two sentences further on their first paragraphs. Plus, the other frustrating part is that only about half of the students actually turned in a paragraph start at all. Where are their first paragraphs? I struggle because I feel like I have covered so much material in class that they just need time to work on their first paragraphs and for Anne and me to assist them with their work. I am excited to give them that time on Monday, because after looking through their first paragraphs they need the time.
My take away for the day is just that I made it. One day down of teaching four different classes, for different age groups, all in a row. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting overall. I got through it and that is an accomplishment. I look forward to next week and getting in the groove of the classes, figuring out how they are all different, and then tailoring my grading and instruction to those new ideals. Next week will be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to learning more and continuing to change the world one fifty-nine minute period at a time.
Day Eighteen!
Today was Thursday and that made it a little different day because of all the preparation time in the day, which was needed. It seemed like ever since I got back from Arizona I have been catching up with work, because of the time not spent planning, teaching, and grading while seeing family. It was a great trip and I’m glad that I went, but I do not think teachers do that very often. In fact, Anne told me specifically that as teachers we do not go to skiing on the weekends, we don’t go out on the weekends; instead, we get up really early just to grade papers and give back to our students. Our lives are spent getting ready for the next day and recovering from the two days before. In fact, it finally clicked why it is the teachers more so than the students that look forward to the weekend, the breaks, and the summers off. This job is a lot of work, good work, but just a lot of work.
Today in English 10 one of the main activities for the day was administering a quiz over Act One of Macbeth. What I perceived as an “easy” quiz turned into something that some of the students struggled through. There was one question in particular that many of them had to ask for clarification on, one I thought they should know. It just reminded me that I need to be extra mindful when creating quizzes the directions are clear and that the questions are easy to understand and straightforward. Even though I know all the questions and it seems easy to me, it is not always easy for the students. Making a key to the exam right before giving it will also be something that I want to do in the future. It will help for the grading process and also help to tailor the discussion in class. Hopefully then I do not have any of those “trick questions” either this way, or at least I can point them out to the whole class at the beginning of the exam and not in the middle of it. As time continues on and as I teach more I am continually learning and changing my practice.
In English 9 today we had to take a step back. Yesterday I reflected on how I felt like I covered too much information with the students and after meeting with a few of them I found that my reflection rang true with them also. So today in class we went through the structure of the first paragraph one more time. I had a really good example that displayed all the parts of the first paragraph, the one yesterday was lacking in a few areas, which made me a lot more confident in the classroom because I knew that everything was in that paragraph. It was a great feeling being a confident educator. I am one of those people, like both Anne and Kristin, that way over plan. When I was gone I did not really get a chance to plan a lot, which like I mentioned earlier did not give me time to prepare for the week. This led to scrambling the night before in planning for classes and getting things ready. Preparing quality examples was at times really hard, hence the confidence in a good example today. My take away for the day was that it is a lot better to over plan and get ready for class then it is to not be confident. I was excited about the progress today made by the 9th graders, but I am excited to challenge them in the future. Over planning and getting ready for class is going to be my goal for this next week.
Overall, it was a great day of planning and recovering. It just seems like a constant struggle between planning and grading…and the struggle, battle, life of a teacher continues.
Today in English 10 one of the main activities for the day was administering a quiz over Act One of Macbeth. What I perceived as an “easy” quiz turned into something that some of the students struggled through. There was one question in particular that many of them had to ask for clarification on, one I thought they should know. It just reminded me that I need to be extra mindful when creating quizzes the directions are clear and that the questions are easy to understand and straightforward. Even though I know all the questions and it seems easy to me, it is not always easy for the students. Making a key to the exam right before giving it will also be something that I want to do in the future. It will help for the grading process and also help to tailor the discussion in class. Hopefully then I do not have any of those “trick questions” either this way, or at least I can point them out to the whole class at the beginning of the exam and not in the middle of it. As time continues on and as I teach more I am continually learning and changing my practice.
In English 9 today we had to take a step back. Yesterday I reflected on how I felt like I covered too much information with the students and after meeting with a few of them I found that my reflection rang true with them also. So today in class we went through the structure of the first paragraph one more time. I had a really good example that displayed all the parts of the first paragraph, the one yesterday was lacking in a few areas, which made me a lot more confident in the classroom because I knew that everything was in that paragraph. It was a great feeling being a confident educator. I am one of those people, like both Anne and Kristin, that way over plan. When I was gone I did not really get a chance to plan a lot, which like I mentioned earlier did not give me time to prepare for the week. This led to scrambling the night before in planning for classes and getting things ready. Preparing quality examples was at times really hard, hence the confidence in a good example today. My take away for the day was that it is a lot better to over plan and get ready for class then it is to not be confident. I was excited about the progress today made by the 9th graders, but I am excited to challenge them in the future. Over planning and getting ready for class is going to be my goal for this next week.
Overall, it was a great day of planning and recovering. It just seems like a constant struggle between planning and grading…and the struggle, battle, life of a teacher continues.
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