This week has been so much better than last week. The behavior issues I was having in my 6th period class have been decreased immensely because one student moved into my 5th period class. I have resolved many of my other stress issues, so I am not as overwhelmed as last week. This one student has been having a lot of trouble in class (he has an IEP and many behavior issues). I do not think that he has done any work for the last month (two of the weeks he was out of school for medical reasons) and he has been slow in making it up. I know the counselors and his special ed teacher are trying to help him get in all of his make-up work. This change I had hoped would help him concentrate better in class because he is genuinely interested in the material (he paid attention and participated in class fairly well before he left school). It has been an immense change for him. He is back to the behviors I saw before he left school. I made sure to positively reinforce his behavior on Monday, and again before class on Tuesday. I am hoping that this change will stick for him so I can help him succeed in my class. However, he needs to be the one to choose to succeed, and I am trying to help him make that choice.
Tag Archive: Praise
I think my biggest success last week was learning to juggle both my chemistry classes and biology classes. I finally learned all my chemistry students’ names and I am comfortable in front of both classes. In chemistry, I got to the point where I was familiar enough with what I was doing that I can now walk around and call on people, rather than being stuck to my lesson plan and seating chart. Having already accomplished this in my biology classes, I am now getting to know them better, trying to figure out what they are interested in and how I can relate it to class.
I think the biggest issues I am having in both classes are with specific students. In chemistry, I have a student, who was suspended for three days last week. During the first week, it was apparent that he was a very privileged child who was used to having things handed to him. When he returned from his suspension, he kept asking about past work in class, and tried to get my co-teacher (mentor) and me to teach the previous material again. He would not come after school, and he would continuously disrupt class. We would play team teacher here by having one of us take care of the student on the side while the other kept teaching. We suggested several times he come after school, but he never showed up. We had a quiz today, so we will see how he did. Maybe if he does poorly it will show him that he does need help. I have another student in biology who also does not like to do work. He is a special needs child and has a IEP. We have been working together to figure how to help him do his work. The problem is that he has anxiety issues so he has a hard time taking responsibility for his actions, such as forgetting to do his homework. He makes up excuses for every inappropriate behavior and is constantly asking to leave class. I am working with both my mentor teacher and the student’s special needs teacher to help him do what he needs to do to pass my class. At this point, I am initialing his planner with the night’s homework and taking points off for tardiness (tardy three times = help clean up after school). I am trying to praise both students for things I see them do well, such as the first student’s performance in the football game and the second student coming to class on time on Friday.
Upon review of several STLP fact sheets, as well as my own, I learned that there is no single correct way to answer a question. People have different opinions, and many of these opinions can be valid. In looking at the best way to answer one question, one must look to many different sources and make an informed decision about what works for the person asking the question. In my own research, I found that many sources had different ideas about how best to deal with gang violence. Many of their ideas seemed valid. One source outlined a plan for peer involvement in trying to convince students not to be involved in gangs. Another described security measures around the school, such as smart cards and metal detectors. Another suggested a few strategies for teachers in their classrooms, such as not humiliating students in front of their peers, and knowing which students are involved in which gangs and making sure they are separated as much as possible. Even though there were many different opinions, they all seem to center around keeping the students safe. The other fact sheets I read seemed to follow this theme. For example, Mike’s fact sheet, discussing student motivation has many different ideas. A teacher can allow students to choose their own topics to study. A teacher can also relate the material to their students’ lives. Self-confidence of the students is also very important to their success. Each of the ideas centers on raising the student’s self-confidence in the subject, and helping students to realize that they can do well in science class. I will use many of these tactics in my daily teaching. I will never humiliate my students, therefore alienating them from the other students. I will praise my student for their achievements, hopefully increasing their self-confidence in the subject. I hope that I can use what I have learned to create a safe and encouraging environment to help my students succeed in my classes.
This reading really hit home how small things we do and say as teachers can affect our students. It is important to really think about how we talk to students, because if we, even unintentionally, make them feel like they are worthless in our classroom, it will be detrimental to their learning and their well-being. As a teacher, I hope to strengthen my students’ self worth, so it was helpful to read about small things we can do to help students feel good about themselves.
Especially in high school science (and math) classes, it is important for teachers to focus on increasing student self worth, because a student often comes in to a classroom with preconceived notions about him or herself as a student. If he or she has already decided, either because of past experiences or because of what people have told that child, that he or she is not “a science person,” they will not be able to learn as well, because they do not expect it of themselves. This reading actually went along very nicely with an article we discussed in our methods class today, which included student conceptions of a “smart” student, and how their conceptions of themselves can be detrimental to their own learning. If we, as teachers, can help students increase their own self worth, we can help them be the best learners they can be. We will be able to help prevent students not learning because they do not believe that they can.
Yay for RTOP!! It was a good reminder to go through this again, and it reminded me how diverse lessons need to be, and how it is not possible to apply every concept we are learning about teaching to every lesson. It also reminded me that I need to work on developing lessons that are student directed, or based on student questions. I never think about this idea when developing lessons, and I should have a small portion of the lessons be bassed on student ideas and questions.
In addition, we watched a video of a teacher teaching a lesson. It made me think about how flexible teachers have to be. We need to be able to incorporate student ideas at times, and make sure to answer any questions they might have, in a reasonable amount of time. We also need to be flexible enough to deviate from the lesson we planned fro the day in order to address student questions, misconceptions or students not understanding or misunderstanding concepts. And finally, the video reminded me how much praise is valued in the classroom. If students are not encouraged or praised for their answers, contributions and/or work, they are going to be less inclined to voice their own ideas. I will remember to praise students as much as I can, so they do not feel discouraged in their educational career.
