Phase 5 of EDU 6120 project

Group project: Presentation to give new teachers

What worked well?

I thought that this project would have worked better if we had figured out a way for all members to attend our group discussion sessions. I liked the group discussion times, and they were helpful in keeping me on track to finish my individual portion, and then help with the group collaborative portion.

What were the challenges?

The challenges were our entirely different schedules. We have one member on the East coast, one member who is coaching two sports, I believe, at her school and one member who is just finishing up the year for student teaching and taking a full load of classes. We are on very different time schedules as well. Some people go to bed early, while others get home late. It was difficult to work out times when we could all “meet” online.

Are you satisfied with the quality of the charter, essay or presentation (whichever is appropriate for the phase you are on)?

Yes, somewhat. One group member did not include enough citations, nor did they include notes on their slides. I tried to alert her to the oversight, but she did not respond.

Are you satisfied with the individual and collaborative work of your team?

Yes, somewhat. Pretty much the same reason as the last question, because it is hard when group members do not follow given instructions and then are not around to fix the issue. I gave her about 8 or so hours to fix it, and it was hard to not get any response, even the next day.

Describe how you personally did, in terms of following the charter?

I thought I did well. I kep ton top of everyone for the power point, and made sure that everyone had all the parts they needed. I added my information to the outline before the deadline and I looked over the final essay to make sure it was high quality.

How did the team do?

As a team, I thought we did well. We completed every part of the whole project and I liked all the final products. I learned a lot from my group members and I hope they learned a lot from me.

Were there technical challenges?

none. I figured out how to post everything to google docs, which allowed us to post everything on the blackboard site easily.

Learning centers modified for High School Classrooms

In the reading this week, I was very intrigued by the idea of learning centers. When reading the story about Ms Matthews and Antonio, I envisioned my fourth grade class, which had a reading corner, and thought about one corner of the classroom being dedicated to resources. I could not imagine what it would be like in a junior high or high school classroom. Especially with the classrooms I’m in this year, it would be hard to set something like that up. I am in three classrooms (only because I have two mentors, each of them is in two rooms) and in each of those classrooms, there are at least two teachers.  Sharing rooms make things much more complicated than they would be in an elementary school, especially because the classrooms are crowded enough as it is. The reading suggests that these centers contain references that apply to the lessons so that students can go back and help themselves if they are confused and extra practice or independent research to help the student understand the material (Curtin, 2009, p. 109). My mentor puts up extra practice on his website, but it might be good to start an extra spot on the site for those who need extra help. Maybe have an alternate explanation, from the book or another resource. I could also include some sort of discussion board, so that the students could ask questions, and even help each other at night, or when I am not available to help. Because it is the website, I could add links to good resource websites that have extra practice, or games to help the students when they do not understand. I could use this in chemistry right now because my students are having a lot of trouble with limiting reactants, and my explanations are not reaching all of the students. I could add some alternate explanations and resources onto the website, which may help the students understand the material much better than they are in class.

Reference:

Curtin, E. M. (2009). Practical strategies for teaching English language learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Planning for enhanced student learning

As I am planning the next concept the chemistry students must master (stoichiometry/ dimensional analysis), I am trying to determine the best type of activities to help the students understand and master the material. In the beginning of the year, my mentor taught the students basic stoichiometry, with simple metric conversions and other conversions the students should already have been familiar with (1 dozen = 12 pieces, etc). Now that the students have learned about the mole, we can incorporate the mole conversions into stoichiometry. The student had a hard time with dimensional analysis the first go around, and the mole is a hard concept for students to wrap their heads around because they cannot see it. I am trying to use small group work to help the students teach each other how to solve the problems. Sometimes, however, I find that the students are not motivated to learn the material unless I give them a quiz, or somthing similar. I am trying to think up ways that I can intrinsicly motivate the students without threatening them.

Ideas so far:

Showing students a map of paths to get between different units and having them use it to guide them to the correct conversion factors.

Using a demo (combustion of methane) and working through problems as a class- choosing students to give answers by drawing popsicle sticks- each students’ name on a popsicle stick.

Having students work in small groups to help each other learn how to solve one problem (each group with a different problem), then mixing the groups to have small groups of one student teaching the other three or four students how to complete their problem.

Motivators:

Telling the students that one of the problems they are solving will be on a single question quiz the next day.

Splitting students into groups and turning a worksheet  in to a competition- whoever completes the problem the fastest, and gets it right, wins.

Having students work as a team through a set of problems. If they get all of them right on the first time they get checked off, they get full points. If they get one wrong, they go back, fix the issue and they can get most of the points, etc.

Making Accomodations

I have two ELL students in my classes. I am working closely with the ELL teacher so that I know the students are getting help outside of my class as well. One of the students misunderstood many of the questions in the first homework activity, so I had him redo the assignment with his ELL teacher to make he understood what the questions were asking. I had another student who left half of his written exam blank, and I had him complete the blank question in his ELL class.

I have several students in my classes that have 504 plans. All of the students have the accommodation that they must have preferential seating. I arranged the seating chart to make sure that each of these students was seated near the front. I also arranged the seating so that each of these students will be working with someone who will help them to do better, rather than hinder them. I have one student that has an accommodation for taking tests in a quiet place. My mentor supervised his test in the office pod.

STLP Fact Sheet Reflection

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.

The Enhancement of Self-Concept Reflection

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.

Reflection on class 8/10

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.