Coming off a busy, exciting, exhausting summer, this sure would have been nice on the first day as I started to adjust to the routine again!
The first day of school was an excellent experience as a student teacher. Fresh in my mind as I entered the building that day was Wong’s The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher. Was this going to be a good model of Wong’s ideal classroom? As it turns out, several of Wong’s ideas were evident in the classroom. Three aspects of classroom management in first few minutes were incredibly important for setting the stage for the entire year. First, each student had a seating assignment as soon as they walked in the room. We were able to meet some of the students the day before the first day of school at Back to School night. We used this opportunity to take notes on some first impressions on the students who may be talkative in class, attentive in class, and students who may need assistance staying on task. We took these observations into consideration when we made the seating chart. Additionally, we assigned seats to students with IEPs on the outside columns and front row in class, to allow for accessibility by both aides and teachers. Second, my collaborative teacher and I made a point to greet each student as they walked through the door. We tried to speak to each student, pointing them to find their assigned seat, and look at the sideboard. Third, as the students walked in, they were directed to start their bellwork. This was just the beginning of setting the routine for every class for the school year. Students were made aware of the expectation from the first day that they were to come into the classroom and begin their bellwork. Overall, it was a great first day for an exciting school year!
Call: Do you have ideas for excellent authentic assignments and assessments? What are your favorite ways to assess student learning that go beyond traditional multiple choice? Why are they great methods of assessment and how do they reach ensure students have met your objectives? We are looking for blog posts, articles, etc. that discuss different types and examples of authentic assignments and assessments. Please include description of assignment/assessment, how it was graded, and how it ensured objectives were met by the students.
Rationale: In the world of multiple choice testing it is important to keep in mind the benefits of authentic assessments. Authentic assessments engage students in a way that requires them to demonstrate the skills they have learned by applying their knowledge to problem solve. Often, the assessment involves some type of real world application of their knowledge. Assessment is an important part of what we teach. But how important is the content we teach students, unless we allow them to demonstrate the practical application of that knowledge? As we work to build our collection of creative teaching resources, authentic assessment ideas, resources, and samples are imperative to our success.
Teaching with Authentic Assessments:
What is Authentic Assessment? This site explores the use of Authentic Assessment in a case study of the School of the Future in NYC. It includes a great video of an introduction to how authentic assessments are used in the classroom. This is an excellent example of an educational program and its teachers seeing the benefits of authentic assessment in the classrooms. What else could be better from the School of the Future?
The Authentic Assessment Toolbox is a one stop shop for getting started with authentic assessments. It includes current research on the importance of authentic assessments, the differences between selected response and constructed responses, and the different types of assessments considered authentic. The lists of product and performance tasks linked to specific instructions on how to execute these assessments is only the beginning of the wealth of information on this site. Dr. Mueller, creator of the site, includes information on creating rubrics, portfolios, how-to online workshops, and even a glossary of terms.
Minds in Bloom is another great blog that discusses the benefits of authentic assessment within the classroom. With a few tricks of the trade, essential steps to remember, and ideas for all ages, this site is another valuable resource. This post also addresses the connection of authentic assessment to the Bloom’s Taxonomy higher levels of understanding.
Social Studies Authentic Assessment Ideas
This post by a graduate student, “How Authentic is my Assessment?” is just one of the many ideas for ways authentic assessment can be used in the classroom. In this post, she explains her lesson where the students created an advertisement for the colony they created. I chose this post because it included her rubric–you have to be able to assess the authentic assessment! This blog also led me to a great link she posted where anyone can use the free rubric creator.
A Revolutions unit plan reflection blog where the teacher talks about how he believed their authentic assessments enabled the teachers to continuously assess student learning progress. The best part about this blog is it includes links to the lesson plans and activities (resources are always a plus!).
This post on WebQuests explains how teachers can use technology to create authentic assessments. WebQuests are very popular in history classes and are a fun way to scaffold students through an introduction to research for problem solving. There are several sites that have ready-made history Webquests.
I chose to teach a lesson on analyzing primary sources to determine significance. Booker T. Washington’s controversial dinner in the White House with President Theodore Roosevelt is often left out of history textbooks. I felt the event and surrounding controversy is an excellent subject to use for a lesson on primary source analysis. Additionally, as the month of February is Black History Month, a lesson of this kind fits well in the time of year as well as within the timeline of curriculum taught in most US History classes. This reflection will give a general overview of the lesson, my initial reactions to its implementation, my reaction to watching the video of myself teaching, the tuning protocol comments of my peers, and ideas for future implementation of the lesson and my teaching.
Overview of the Lesson and Design
I began the lesson by introducing the guiding question and objectives for the lesson. The guiding question for this lesson plan is, “How do historians use primary sources to reconstruct the past, analyze cause and effect, and determine significance?” I chose to use this as the main question because it addressed all aspects of analyzing primary sources needed by the Virginia Standards of Learning, and the skills the students would develop and refine throughout the lesson. I followed by outlining the objectives of the lesson:
#1 Construct a chronology of black history in America including significant events, people, organizations, etc.
#2 Evaluate primary sources of an event in history using the SCIM-C method.
#3 Reconstruct the event both visually and orally to demonstrate understanding of the political scene, social culture, and historical significance.
These objectives were met throughout the lesson by the different activities the students participated in. All three of these objectives were designed to have students develop and refine their skills for working with primary sources. To accompany my verbal introduction of the guiding question and my objectives for the lesson, I created a power point to guide me through teaching the lesson. My assessment method directly related to the lesson. I made informal assessments of student participation in the opener, Historical Scene Investigation activity, discussion at various points during the lesson, and the closer. Students produced work during the opener, the SCIM-C activity, and the closer that could be later used for formal assessment.
The design of the lesson is meant to reach my desired outcome of the students being able and comfortable analyzing primary sources as historians. Wiggins and McTighe outline six Facets of Understanding that I kept in mind while planning the lesson. When creating this lesson I wanted the student to reach four of the levels: explanation, interpretation, application, and perspective. Using the SCIM-C method, students were required to analyze the sources using these four levels of understanding. With my endpoint in mind, I began to design the lesson.
This is a student example of the opener I used for the lesson.
The lesson began with a Think Pair Share opener activity that required students to construct a timeline of black history in America from years 1850 to 2010 including significant events, people, organizations, etc. I gave the students about two and half minutes initially to work on their own to fill in the timeline. Next, students worked with a partner to fill in more significant events, people, and organizations important to the history of African Americans. Finally, I had students share their answers and fill in more parts of the timeline based on the discussion and input from the entire class. This opener met the first objective and served as a trigger for prior knowledge leading into the lesson.
The transition to the next section of the lesson involved acknowledging the many aspects of African American history students were able to recall. I pointed out their inclusion of Booker T. Washington in their timelines, but told them the event we were to study that day is often left out of the history books. I distributed the previously prepared case files with numerous primary documents relating to the dinner with Washington event. I reviewed the Historical Scene Investigation process and the SCIM-C analysis by modeling the first primary source to ensure students were given the right tools to reach the second objective of the lesson. I felt it was important to review the process because it had been several months since the students last did primary source analysis using this method. I chose to model the first document because it provided the opportunity to give the students both auditory, visual, and a model example of the instructions for the assignment. It is important to provide several modes of instruction in diverse learner groups to best assist all levels of ability. I allowed students to work together during this activity to make it a beneficial collaborative learning activity. By doing so, students could learn from each other, consider others’ ideas, and work as a team to rebuild the story of the dinner with Washington using primary sources. The meaningful objective of the lesson was not that they could correctly rebuild the story, but that they developed and honed their skills of analyzing primary sources.
A student example of primary source analysis using the SCIM-C method.
After working through the documents and using the SCIM-C method to analyze the sources, I instructed the students to start to group the documents based on a timeline of events, perspectives of the north and south, and type of sources. In this way, the students were able to begin to organize the documents based on their findings. I developed two other handouts to help with source analysis and synthesis. The first was a worksheet called SCIM Process for Analyzing Sources. This required students to group the sources by listing the similarities, differences, accumulated conclusions, and gaps in information. The second worksheet was called the Significance Storyline. I had students write a paragraph or create a storyboard that told the story they “detected” during the Historical Scene Investigation. This helped students synthesize their findings to reconstruct the story. I brought the group together to discuss the event, their experience working with the sources, and their findings. The written outcomes of these activities were meant to help the students correctly analyze the primary sources and think critically about the event and the response to it. All together, these activities served to meet the third and final objective, to reconstruct the event both visually and orally to demonstrate understanding of the political scene, social culture, and historical significance.
Example of the Significance Storyline worksheet completed by a student.
Finally, I closed the lesson with a closer entitled “One More Headline.” It showed the headline of the Washington Post the day that President Barrack Obama won the election. The closer instructed students to create a significance sentence based on what they just saw. The goal was to have students come up with the significance of the controversial presidential dinner with a black man and almost one hundred years later, a black man was elected to the oval office. My intent behind the closer was to make the lesson meaningful, connect to their lives, and illuminate the event within its historical context and perspective.
A student example of the closer I used to bring the lesson full circle.
Initial Reactions to Teaching
My initial reactions to teaching the lesson are both positive and negative. I felt I had control of the class, promoted class participation and discussion well, and moved around the classroom during collaborative learning activities to keep students on task and answer questions. The design of the lesson was to be student activity oriented with little instruction from me. Most of the time was spent collaboratively working towards common goals. There were a few instances where students got off topic or dwelled on a particular activity for too long and I was able to redirect them within a reasonable amount of time to keep the lesson flowing. When I initially allowed the students to share their findings for the timeline opener, I opened the discussion with the broad concept of “share some of the things you and your classmates found.” I quickly realized that the students were all over the timeline with their input and they needed more structure to keep the discussion organized. I think I was quickly able to adapt and provide scaffolding by giving the students limited parameters and decades to share their significant events for the timeline. I also felt I did a great job providing scaffolding for the students beyond this initial verbal scaffolding for the opener.
I gave them multiple modes of instruction. I provided the power point which created the visual instructions for the activities. I also included the instructions for the various worksheets I handed out at the top of the papers. Finally, I verbally explained the instructions in the transitions from activities to the next part of the lesson. Also, I felt I modeled the SCIM-C process well, with step by step instructions on how they should evaluate the sources while allowing students to give me analysis of the model primary source. I was able to meet my objectives, although I would have liked to spend more time on the activities to better reach the objectives. I believe the guiding question worked well with the lesson. I was able to keep the focus of the lesson on the skills of primary source analysis rather than just content retention. By doing so, I was able to adequately meet the NCSS themes and SOLs. I was well prepared with the materials needed and handouts required to meet the objectives. My informal assessments on class and student participation proved fruitful as well as formal assessments using the worksheets. Finally, I believe the lesson was well planned with organizational structure with a connecting opener and closer.
I have several initial critiques of my own teaching style and format of the lesson. First, although the lesson was organized and prepared, I had way too much for my time restraints. While it is better to have more than less, I gave too much to the students and I am sure it was overwhelming. I needed to cut down both the content and extent of the literary sources and decrease the number of sources I expected them to work with. I also did not account in my initial planning for the amount of time that I would need to adequately address the opener. While it was successful, it greatly reduced the amount of time available for the main activities of the lesson. Second, I feel as though the time spent going over the objectives and the guiding question was time the students could have been working on the opener. If I were to do it over, I would have allowed students to do the opener individually, in pairs, and shared with the class and then quickly addressed the objectives for the day. The first objective was met by the opener so I believe my thought process led me to the order I taught, but I feel as though it would have flowed more smoothly if I switched the order. Finally, I caught myself several times during my teaching talking with my hands excessively which can be a huge distracter for some students. Initially, last semester I was not aware that I did this while I taught a lesson and only realized this while viewing the video of my teaching. I have grown in my self awareness of this bad habit. During this lesson, I caught myself a couple times talking with my hands excessively and was able to stop. Hopefully this awareness will continue as I teach more and more until I no longer talk with my hands excessively. My initial reactions to my lesson are generally positive, with a few critiques of the lesson and teaching style.
Watching Myself be the Teacher
Below is the video reflection of me watching myself be the teacher. Additionally, I have answered some questions while watching the video of my lesson.
Peer Tuning Protocol
The tuning protocol offered by my peers directly after the lesson is incredibly useful when judging my overall teaching, the student participation and understanding, and ideas and suggestions for improvement. One of the most poignant comments made in the tuning protocol involves the clarification of the big picture objective at the onset of the SCIM-C evaluation of sources activity. I modeled the primary source analysis process, but did not give them a clear end goal for the analysis of the sources. I only said reconstruct the story. They suggested that I should clarify what I wanted and put it in a larger context. One suggestion for the bigger picture was to say something like, “This is one event in the history of African American race relations. I want you to use the sources to retell the story and the reactions to the event. Think about how this fits in the context of race relations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.” The students felt as though they did not have a clear direction and endpoint for analyzing the sources.
Another major critique from my colleagues involved the time constraints and overwhelming task of analyzing the sources. The general consensus was that I had way too many sources to analyze within the time constraints and that I should have cut down some of the sources to a more manageable length. I had seventeen sources to analyze and realized right away that I had way too many. They suggested that I not only identify their origination, the date, and location found to assist in source analysis, but also cut some of the longer articles down to allow students ample time to address all of the sources. Many students felt as though they were easily sidetracked and just wanted to continue reading the interesting sources. Cutting the documents down would have eliminated some of the distractions and kept the students on track. Another suggestion was to create a series of sources that tell the story to give to one group of students and another series to give to another. From there, the groups can present their findings and compare and contrast their reconstructions of the same event based on the sources. This provides another more in-depth level of analysis.
The students greatly appreciated the connected concept of the lesson brought together by the opener and closer. One student even said that it “took us full circle.” They really liked the timeline concept for the opener and how it triggered prior knowledge. Some even felt this was a great activity to use for other lessons in other contexts. The closer brought the significance of the lesson in its historical context and made it meaningful to the students’ everyday lives. The concept of time was consistent throughout both the opener and the closer. In this way, it was a well conceived connection from beginning to the end of the lesson. The students also liked the variety and intrigue of the sources. Although there were way too many sources for the time constraints, they did span a variety of levels, types, and content perspectives. Some students found the primary sources were very interesting and did not want to put them down. This positive feedback is great because it reinforces an objective of the lesson to be student centered and engaging.
I certainly agree with all of the constructive feedback I received. The clarification of the big picture objective for the SCIM-C activity was not initially apparent to me, but after reviewing the video, I see the need to clarify the end goal of this activity. In the future, I certainly will be more clear and have students thinking of the event in the broader context of race relations. I also think that this might be something I should have written in front of them as they review the primary sources. Teaching this lesson next time or in another context, I will print off the big picture objective for the activity and paste it to the front of the case file in addition to verbally explaining the objective. The comments regarding the time constraints were expected as I realized early on during my teaching of the lesson plan that I had d have cut the sources to more manageable chunks as well as cut down the number of soway too many sources and expectations for source analysis. I completely agree that I shoulurces. I really liked the suggestion for different series of sources. In the future, I think I could divide the reactions to the event between the different groups and have the students evaluate the similarities and differences between their recreated versions of the story based on the perspectives they received. This could initiate great and thoughtful discussion among students on bias and perspective. Overall, the tuning protocol of my peers was very beneficial to my evaluation of my teaching and lesson.
Concluding Thoughts
In general, I felt that this was a successful lesson that met all of my objectives. I am excited for future adaptations of this lesson or parts of this lesson into my teaching. As a class, we talked about the potential for the timeline activity as the structure for a lesson within itself on many different aspects of history. One potential topic in World History is the development of technology through time. Comparative government teachers could use this to compare democratic models of government, specifically when certain groups were granted suffrage or established specific democratic ideals. The structure of the SCIM-C can be used as an analysis of one source as an opener or within a lesson, or I could develop another (smaller!) set of sources for another event to work on primary source skills. I am definitely going to work on clarifying my overall objective for activities and conveying the bigger picture and significance idea in all of my lessons. Additionally, I will work on judging my time better when I prepare for certain lessons. Finally, I will continue to work on my bad habit of teaching and public speaking, talking with my hands. I am excited for the possibilities of this lesson and for the future of my teaching.
So Megan Dixon, an English Secondary Education student, shared with me an activity she used with her 6th grade students. Although she used it an English class, I think it is a great resource to use in history classes.
It is called a biocube- probably not new to the world of teaching, but with a new technological twist! The website allows students to enter information on each of the six sides of a cube. The prompts for information include name, time period, place, significance, obstacle, etc. Through the website, the students input the information, print, and put together to make a cube.
This could be a great resource to use when reading historically significant biographies or even just for a review of a historical figure. Try it out!
Being a teacher means more than just teaching. They have many roles, but it is certainly a rewarding profession.
As a student intern, I have witnessed firsthand many of the hats teachers must wear to be part of a learning community. Being a teacher also includes being a creative artist. Teachers have to constantly create lessons, activities, experiential that are creative and imaginative. Without being an artist with the information, students do not effectively construct meaning and build their knowledge. A teacher must also be a secretary in that they must be completely organized and take care of routine record keeping business as part of their job. They need to record student absences, issue lockers, distribute general school information, make copies, etc. These are all essential tasks that need to be completed in order to maintain a well working learning community. Teachers more and more have to be the technology expert in order to keep up with the students and teach them in a way that connects with their world. They need to know technology in order to effectively use all of the resources available to them, but also to stay connected to the information they need to effectively create a learning environment. A teacher sometimes needs to be a babysitter. This is unfortunate, but true. They are given tasks like lunch duty, bathroom duty, hall duty or bus duty, to ensure students behave even when they are not in the classroom. In class teachers need to regulate student behavior as well. This means they need to keep them from misbehaving and issue the punishment for not behaving whether it is sending a referral or verbally correcting their actions. A teacher needs to be a mother as well. Students may need band-aids or told to sanitize their desks, but more importantly, teachers need to be the listening ear or shoulder to cry on when students come to them with their problems. Teachers need to be social workers because they are responsible for reporting child abuse or other issues that need professional attention. Teachers need to be guidance counselors when it comes to giving advice for small problems with friends or other problems. They also write letters of recommendation for college and scholarship applications as well as talk to students about their future plans. The role of coach or club leader is also expected of teachers. Without teachers playing these roles, students would not have the multitude of diverse extracurricular activities that the students get to participate in for little to no additional cost to them. Also teachers are sometimes found to be politicians. They have a responsibility to have their voice heard when it comes to the political decisions involving the school, its students, and teachers. I am sure the list goes on and on.
The balls teachers are expected to juggle include more than just the responsibilities required by all the roles of a teacher, but also their own lives. Teachers need to take care of their own families and children as well as reserve some time for themselves to enjoy life and relax. These things are more important than grading worksheets or getting too caught up in the politics of teaching. If a teacher fails to reserve time for these things in their lives outside of their work, it is likely teachers will burn out quickly and that only hurts the very students they devote so much time to helping learn.
I believe the one role that was not apparent at all to me at the beginning of my field experience was the teacher as a politician. My field experience was at a school recently affected by poor building structure that displaced the entire school body as well as the students and staff of a neighboring school to facilitate my school’s learning. The political battle that has ensued between the county school board and the town council is astonishing. I never imagined how much politics goes into making decision regarding schools. Students, parents, administrators, and teachers were all involved in the debate over funding and plans for rebuilding. Teachers signed petitions, spoke as meetings, wrote letters, expressed concerns to elected officials, and attended meetings. While this is an extenuating circumstance due to the nature of the crisis and the ensuing debate, teachers are still very much involved in other decisions that affect their jobs and schools. The role of babysitter was more pronounced that I thought it would by. My collaborating teacher is on lunch duty for one period of the day. It is our responsibility to sign students in and out of the bathroom during lunch. Some of these students are old enough to vote, yet they need to be signed in and out of the bathroom according to school wide policy. It is unfortunate, but a necessary requirement so that order and cleanliness of the school facilities is maintained. The other role I did not believe would be as prominent as it really was in my field experience was that of guidance counselor. Even though my collaborating teacher teaches 9th and 10th grade, she still wrote about fifteen letters of recommendation this semester for college and scholarship applications. I also witnessed about three former students come to talk to her about difficulties in other teachers’ classes or problems with friends.
I have countless ideas from my field experience that I will take into my student teaching. First and foremost is my collaborating teacher’s style of lecture. Her lectures are like story time for the students because she so eloquently recreates history for them. Very little information goes on her slides with lots of visuals to help the students. This ensures students are listening to her lecture and not just copying the information from the presentation. Second, I will take her classroom management style. The students know from the first day of class that she is a no nonsense teacher who is also able to have fun. The students know when she is serious and when she is trying to get their attention in a comedic way and have them enjoy history. Finally, I like the style of projects that she has the students do. The students enjoy a lot of creative freedom and have their choice of what visual or presentation they want to create. This is an excellent way to have differentiated instruction, but also have students showcase their talents or interests through their presentation.
My most fruitful experience that I will take away from is my teacher-student relationships I have developed with the students. The students certainly are the reason why teachers continue to love teaching because everyday has its own reward. Whether it is the light bulb moment in the students’ minds as you teach a concept, or the knowledge that a student trusts you enough to confide in me, or the smile from a student passing in the hallway showing they enjoy seeing you, or the quick conversation before class with a student about their weekend. All of these small interactions reinforce the impact a teacher has in so many students’ lives. I will also say my relationship with my collaborating teacher both as a mentor and a friend has been so exciting. She is always willing to answer my questions and talk to me about my life outside of grad school. Her excitement about teaching and love of the students practically shines in her classroom and is infectious to all of those around her. I have learned so much in this experience as well; everything from the tricks to working the copier to how to effectively manage a class. The lessons I have learned are endless and invaluable. The negative aspects of my field experience probably has to be frustration working the copy machine, getting sick from being around so many students all day long, and probably having to write a student a referral for inappropriate behavior. While these things were probably my least favorite parts of this experience, they are all necessary learning experiences.
There are several things I will need to do to be successful in my student teaching. First, I will have to be organized and prepared. To do this I have to be diligent to prepare all of my lessons ahead of time, not procrastinate, and have several back up plans. Second, I need to ask questions and ask for help when I need it. I need to establish a good relationship with my collaborating teacher and other teaching mentors in order to be successful and be comfortable asking questions and asking for help. Finally, I need to establish a classroom environment where students feel comfortable to ask questions and participate but also listen to directions and actively participate. To do this I need to be enthusiastic about my teaching, be open to student comments and assist them when they need help. Overall, This has been an amazing experience and I hope my student teaching is just as exciting and rewarding.
A personal reflection on my lesson titled, “Assembly Line and Mass Production” is important for awareness of my teaching style and mishaps. My review of the feedback and video recording of my execution of the lesson also serves to highlight areas for future improvement. The purpose of this lesson was to teach students the concept of the assembly line and learn the advantages and disadvantages to both assembly line mass production and pre-assembly line production. I began with an opener to connect my lesson to students’ everyday lives. The experiential followed to teach students the differences in efficiency during assembly line production and skilled small scale production. The lesson followed to teach students the content specific to the Virginia SOL standards and I finished the lesson with a closer to reiterate the main points of the lesson. In this reflection of my own teaching, I intend to address my reactions to the lesson and observing myself on video, discuss the tuning protocol of my colleagues, speak of my observations of student learning, and set forth future goals and objectives for my teaching.
Initial Reactions
I have several positive and negative reactions to my lesson and to watching the video of me teaching my lesson. First, the positive reactions to my lesson include its organization. The Just Do It, the experiential activity, the lecture on the content, and the closer, flowed well and in an organized manner. I also was well prepared for time restrictions; predetermining which aspects of the lecture I would leave out if time was short, and a plan on how to extend discussion and the closer to fill more time. I believe the student involvement in the activity and participation in answering questions was excellent. Finally, I felt that the opener, or Just Do It, and the closer served their purposes well and helped set the tone for the lesson and highlight the main ideas from the lesson. My first negative reaction to my lesson is simple to fix for the future. I neglected to include clearly outlined student objectives containing the Virginia SOLs Standards and the NCSS standards. When my experiential activity failed to produce the desired outcome, I should have used it as a teaching point. This is clearly the benefit of reflection, because I can learn from it and know what I would do next time. Also, if I were to do the activity again, I would not start the time until all of the students were working at their stations, to capture a picture of two minutes’ work time on a real assembly line. This would have yielded more production. I cut out the video for time reasons, but as it turns out, I measured my time wrong. If I were to do the lesson again, I certainly would have made sure that I clearly understood my time constraints. Additionally, I needed notes for the students so they were doing something while listening to my lecture. In the seventh grade class, I would need some type of structured notes for the students, so slot notes would have worked perfectly for the students.
I had the standards in my lesson plan, but not clearly stated for the students to know my expectations.
I also have both positive and negative reactions to watching myself teach on the video. I liked some of the questioning strategies I used to get students to arrive at the answers I desired. For example, if they could not answer a question, instead of answering it for them, I asked another simpler question that would assist them in answering the second question. On the other hand, there were a few instances where if they did not answer I would give them two choices for the answer. This does not lead to the critical thinking skills I should have been cultivating in my lesson. I did see the need for slot notes, not only to force me to give the content in an organized manner, but to show them how to follow along and pull out the main points of my lecture. Watching me teach on video also showcased my bad habits of public speaking, things that will only improve with practice. I constantly talk with my hands and cross my arms, two habits that I need to be more aware of in my teaching. I also say “um,” “so,” and click my tongue too much when I am talking. Another thing I need to work on with my public speaking is my construction of coherent sentences. Some of my sentences could have been misconstrued in the way I worded them. It is very important when teaching to speak in the most understandable way and reiterate the main points I want the students to remember.
The Critique of the Tuning Protocol
The tuning protocol provided me with excellent feedback that is useful in my own reflection and future lessons I teach. Some of the clarifying questions I received included questions on the context of the lesson, including what grade level, what lessons I would do before and after, and what would I have done with a larger class? I was also asked how comfortable I was with the economic terms and concepts, and if I would have had the students use notes during the lecture. Some of the warm feedback I received included great opener and closer, an interactive exciting activity, and the lesson made a dull period in history interesting with economic simplistic concepts.
The Just Do It that required students to reflect on everyday use items that are most likely made in a factory.
This was the closer that required students to synthesize the content in the lesson in a logical manner.
The pushing feedback I received is probably the most valuable on my reflection as other’s critiques often point out aspects of my lesson that I may not have noticed. I also received input on my transitions, in that they could flow a little more smoothly and better connect the different parts of the lesson. An easily fixable comment I received involved the visibility of the words on my power point slides. Some of the other comments I received included suggestions to make my lesson better. One was to make the students speed up on the production line to demonstrate the difficult monotonous work. When the production line did not produce the desired results, I should have used it as an example to work on the efficiency of the production line.
Evidence of Student Learning
There were several ways that I assessed student learning during my lesson. First I used the informal assessment of questioning to judge student understanding. In this method, I asked pointed questions and waited for students to answer and then reinforced the answers through further explanation. I also judged student learning through participation in the activity.
This is an example of student work where they had to trace the car to represent the efficency of small scale production.
If the students seemed to be actively engaged in the activity and seemingly understanding the differences between individual skilled labor and collective unskilled labor. The written assessments built into the lesson are also great measures of student learning. The opener that asked students to list or draw six to ten items that they use every day that are most likely to be made in a factory. The closer was a page of T-notes that compared both forms of production. If I were to do this lesson again, I would add slot notes for the students to fill out during my lecture, this is another written assessment of student learning. I believe the one aspect that facilitates student learning is the cultivation of an open environment where students feel comfortable to ask for clarification or reveal their misunderstandings.
Whats Next
This reflection has revealed some of the things I need to work on to make my lessons and teaching better. First, I need to work on the public speaking ticks that I discussed in the section on reflections on watching myself on video. I need to work on my transitions from one part of my lesson to the next part in a manner that cohesively connects the ideas and learning. I need these transitions to reveal my expectations for the students and be evidentiary of what I want from the students. Finally, I need to practice my wait time and questioning technique so that it becomes automatic and more focused in my teaching.
Just as this smartboard is not being used, so is the one in our classroom.
I believe all of the classrooms in the school I am in have smart boards; if they are utilized to their highest potential, I doubt it. When I followed a special needs student around last week, I saw his math teacher using its many features including drawing circles and lines, zooming in, free hand writing with the markers, etc. However, I do not think all teachers use it to the same extent as he did. This is most likely the product of the fact that smart boards are new to these teachers because the building they were in last year only had one smart board in the technical education drawing class. My teacher uses the smart board as a glorified projector screen, tapping the board to make it switch sides. We have also used the DVD player and the projector, but that is all that I have seen it used. In one class, she did use the markers on the smart board to show a sample essay paragraph to show editing potential. I am not sure what other technologies are available to teachers to use. I believe the SOL technology standards are being met, but I do not believe that the technology in the school is being utilized to its highest potential for learning. Students are expected to know how to use the computer and the internet through miniature research projects. She has assigned fact sheets on various religious where students are to find the different aspects of each, prominent locations, holidays, etc. I would definitely want to incorporate the abilities of the smart board into my instruction. For example, the polling through cell phones or iclickers is a great tool to use in the classroom. While my teacher still uses the overhead projector to show maps, I want to use the abilities of the smart board to enlarge, color regions, draw lines and much more.
I believe this week’s theme was on the spot. My teacher got a call on Monday that her child was sick and she needed to pick him up from school. I had a five minute warning before the next class was coming in and I was expected to teach. A fellow social studies teacher was supposed to be “covering” until the office found a substitute, but that came to a “I’m across the way if you need me” and I never saw her again. This class was different from the previous classes, so the material was completely different and it has been a long time since I studied ancient India. My goal was to not let this show and I structured the class sort of like a set of communal learning activities. She had a blank map copied so I had the students work together to label the map. When it was time to go over it, I asked for volunteers to show us one label at a time and as a class, we agreed if it was accurate or if it needed tweaking a bit. Next, we did a read aloud of the next section of the book, stopping to sum up and ask questions of what we just read. Finally, there was a worksheet that was meant for homework that the students were given to work on for the rest of class. BY the time the substitute came three periods later, I was an expert at my lesson plan for the day and became more and more comfortable with each class I taught.
Students bring very different backgrounds to the classroom. This week, I followed a student very different from myself.
This week, I had the opportunity to follow a student around that was very different from myself. I chose to follow *Chris* a student that has an IEP for Asperger’s syndrome and bipolar disease. He is in Mrs. *Thomas’* second period class, so I have had ample time to observe him as a student in her classroom. It was valuable to see him interact with other students and other teachers throughout his day.
If *Chris* was given the opportunity, He would spend his time drawing and sketching all day. One of the most constant comments he receives from teachers and special education aides is that he needs to put away his drawing tablet. His aide takes notes for him and tries to keep him listening and paying attention. I saw that some of the teachers did allow him to doodle in class because sometimes he seems to be still paying attention. For example, although his eyes were down on his drawing tablet during the entire lecture he did ask what “kick the bucket” meant when a teacher used the phrase in her lecture. So one can imagine he was listening for at least some of the class period. He receives most of the normal accommodations for special education students with his type of IEP (taken out of class for tests, aide to take notes, special circumstances for behavioral problems). He gets intensely irritated if he doesn’t want to follow directions but is told to and does not get his way. Another thing that upsets him is a variation on routine. He recognized me in his other classes and demanded to know “Why is she here?” I told him I was observing other teachers and he seemed ok with that. I spoke with his case manager before I followed him and I was warned not to let him know I was there to watch him as it would really upset his routine. Finally, in his IEP is a warning not to call the Resource Officer and instead contact his case manager. My teacher to;d me it is because of an incident last year where he was taken to the ground and put in handcuffs. This event really affected him to the point where even being near the Resource Officer sets him off even more. He has a great relationship with his case manager in that any problems that happen, *Chris* goes straight to him to talk. This is because his case manager worked with him in elementary school and therefore they have developed a very trusting relationship. I have witnessed days where he goes into spells of believing he is a chipmunk or pharaoh. He constantly is fidgeting and playing with his hands or small knick-knacks he brings to class.
Although he has many characteristics that seem very disadvantageous to his learning, I have seen him on task, asking questions, and attentive. It is important for teachers to recognize what stimulates his attention and interest and use those tools to teach him. I have noticed he is incredibly visual. Any video clip that is played in class he is glued to the screen. He looks at pictures that teachers put in their presentations and even tries to replicate them in his drawings. Also if he develops a good relationship with the teacher, he is more apt to pay attention and listen to their directions. For example, his math teacher had a great relationship with him where he did a fist pound after completing a quiz and felt more comfortable asking the teacher questions than asking his aide for help. Overall, I think this was a very valuable activity that allowed me to really get to know one of the students that may cause problems when I am trying to lead the class.
You hear all about bullies in today's classrooms, but when I saw bullying for the first time this week, I was still very surprised.
This week in eighth period Honors World History, I witnessed bullying in the classroom. Mrs. *Thomas* was doing a short twenty minute lecture on Sumer that was set to run up to the bell. I was standing on the side of the classroom observing the lecture when I noticed a boy, about 7 feet in front of where I was standing, swinging his pen in his fingers and every once in a while hit the kid in front of him with the pen on the shoulder. He was not looking at the kid’s shoulder, so I assumed he didn’t realize what he was doing and accidently hit him. A little while later, I saw him kick the bottom of the kid’s chair in front of him. The second time he did it, i knew it was intentional, so I gave him a stern look. Once he saw me looking at him, he stopped. By this time, I could tell the kid in front was pretty annoyed with the whole thing. He did not react though, knowing that a reaction was exactly what the bully wanted. I watched the two of them like a hawk for the rest of the period. Right as the bell rang, the bully reached forward clocked the other kid on the cheek and ran out of the classroom. I went to chase after him to get him to come talk to the teacher and I, but he was lost in the mass of students. When I got back to the classroom, the kid who received the brunt of the bullying was already gone. I told Mrs. *Thomas* right away and she said that she would talk to him first thing in the morning, maybe get a counselor involved, and definitely move his seat to the other end of the classroom.
As much as we are warned of bullying in the classroom, I still found myself thinking, “this is unbelievable…he is doing this right in front of me.” I guess I was under the impression that things like this happen in the hallways when students are covered by the masses or when the teacher steps out of the room briefly. The fact that the kid knew I was in there, not just observing, but helping with discussion, grading papers, talking to the students, was what surprised me the most. I am interested to hear what unfolded when Mrs. *Thomas* had a word with him. Hopefully this is the last time I will see this kid do something like this, but I know I will keep a close eye on him from now on.
On a lighter note, This week was pretty exciting because I got to lead two classes for the first time. The students read a section from the book aloud while I moderated the jumping from one reader to the next and pronouncing words that they were unable to say correctly. Then I handed out the worksheet and walked around while they worked on it and answered any questions they had. Finally, we went over the worksheet where I called on various students to read the question and give me the answer. I also elaborated on some of the answers. For example, one question asked if the King of Sumer had absolute power or shared power. The answer was absolute, but I followed with my own question of “who did the King answer to?” The students were able to answer with Asher, the only deity the Sumerians worshiped. The first class I was a little nervous and did not do more than get the correct answers. The second period that I led the class I was much more comfortable and was able to ask more clarifying questions.
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