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.

Meta-Reflection: Standard P- Understanding teaching as a profession

This is the standard I feel I have only just scratched the surface on. In my internship, I am quickly learning everything I must do, by law, for my students, especially my IEP and 504 students. I am finding ways to easily use all of the students’ accommodations with a lot of help from my mentors, even if it is as easy as making a copy of the notes I use in lectures, or letting them take an exam in their Learning Strategies class. I feel that these also create a professional setting between me and other faculty members and parents. The students benefit from this as well because they can see that the people around them, including their teachers, want them to succeed.

Different ethical issues have come up this quarter, and I feel that I have done a pretty good job of dealing with them. One incident involved a student drawing something inappropriate on a student’s poster from a previous period. I had to have a conversation about respect in that period, which was really hard because I could not believe I had a student that could be so rude. I have since been able to control myself a lot better, and not gotten so angry when things like this happen, which is good because I feel like I can deal with them better when I am in control of my emotions. Unfortunately, I have had to talk about respect towards others multiple times in this same class. Another incident was between one student and a group of students. The group was bullying the one student, making fun of him because he is different and because he reacts a lot, which is exactly what the group wants to see. It is very disruptive, which means we get through less material in class as well. I had to bring up this issue with the entire class because most of the class was involved. We again had to discuss what it means to respect others and their property and talk about how we can respect other classmates. Another day, I was absent and they had my mentor as a sub. I have been teaching this class since the beginning, so the students are not used to having my mentor as a teacher. They were very disrespectful towards her, and were not treating her how they would normally treat me. I had to have words with them again, and this time made them write her an apology letter. The next time she subbed for me, the class was better behaved.

I feel that it would be extremely difficult to be a teacher and not be reflective about your teaching. Every time I give a lesson, I always think about how I could have done it better, or what needs to be changed, or how I could have prepared the students better for the lesson. I think my whole blog is an artifact for this component, because it shows how much I think about my students and how to make learning easier or more fun for them. It is very easy to get ideas when you collaborate with your peers. I try to ask everyone in my department for ideas, so I can get different ideas and put together something that works for me.

Our biology department works collaboratively in our entire curriculum. We all have the same materials, same activities, even the same exams. We collaboratively go over what we are doing at least bi-weekly, if not weekly, to make sure that we are all on the same page. We go over exams, and compare ideas for changes to the exams, and then send around the final copy. We have even had meetings discussing specific questions on the exam, and how we grade them to ensure that we are making every students have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Our whole faculty at Skyline is participating in a study of the brain and how it affects learning by doing a book study of Teaching with the Brain in Mind. We began with a introduction to the book during the week before school started and did a dissection of a sheep brain, to introduce the faculty to the parts of the brain and to show them what an actual brain looks like. This prompted the biology department to do a short presentation on the brain on the first day of classes, which showed the students how the brain is affected by learning. We have had a few more presentations on the how the brain is affected by learning, the teenage brain, how the teenage brain is affected by learning, and other related topics. I am looking forward to the continuation of this series in following faculty meetings.

Although I do not have much concrete evidence for this standard, I still feel like I am learning a lot through my experience at Skyline. I hope to keep increasing my knowledge as the year continues.

Week of 10/19-23

My biggest struggle this week was an escalating situation in my 6^th period class between one student and a group of students. One student was being harassed by others, but then was reacting violently towards those students. The situation got worse each day. I ended up writing up 6 students on Tuesday. I had asked the students harassing the one student to stay after class and none of them did. The one student was gesturing threateningly towards the other students. The assistant principal spoke to all students involved. I also changed seats around so the group of students was split up. The next day in class, there was another incident between the one student and one of the group. I split up the two students and spoke with them both individually. The next day in class there was not any apparent issues, but they might have just kept their reactions out of my class. The situation was difficult to deal with because I felt like I was running around after school talking to many different people. I had no time to do anything I needed to do because I was trying to resolve this situation.

My biggest success this week was successfully managing five different classes of students I had never taught before. Both of my mentors were out this week. One was out both Monday and Tuesday, and the other was out in the afternoon on Wednesday. I took all of their classes on both days. I was able to manage both classes as well as teach them material. Even though they had never had me before, they respected me.

Tools used by Mentors

One of my mentors relies almost entirely on direct instruction. His role in the class is a transmitter of information, a resource person and a source of intellectual stimulation. He is very knowledgable and it shows in his lectures. He also can draw from his background and use real-life examples that catch the students attention. He also assumes the role of a task manager, making sure students are paying attention and taking notes, or completing a lab. Students are expected to be listeners, receivers of information, questioners and users of information. Students are expected to absorb the material and participate in discussion and labs to show their understanding of the material. I feel that these roles are in line with my philosophy of teaching, but I do feel that there are some roles missing. I try to be a supporter for the students as well. I like to get involved by watching their sporting events, or going to performances. I want to be able to relate the material to their lives, using not only my own knowledge, but also their experiences. I think as an intern, I am seeing how many roles a teacher can be to the students. I knew that there were lots of things that teachers should do for their students, but I had never compartmentalized them into roles before. There are a lot, and it will be diffcult to incorporate them all, but I think a good teacher can be successful.