Teaching Freely

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Summer Planning

I’ve passed my edTPA and have received my teaching license along with two endorsements. I’m relieved, to say the least, to have been freed from the worry and anxiety of anticipation. Now the new challenge is getting the job. 

I am certified to teach middle school, as well as the traditional K-8 spectrum of students. I can teach science in middle school due to my endorsement, and technically I can teach ELA too because ELA was my focus for the edTPA (and the foundation of my Master’s program). However, I can’t help feel somewhat inadequate and unqualified to teach either. 

Science was my focus during my undergrad, but since graduating (undergrad), with the exception of the occasional science article, I haven’t wet my whiskers in the subject. I haven’t pursued any real curiosity in looking into a particular topic, followed particular shows, or relevant individuals (like Neil DeGrasse Tyson). I barely know what NGSS really entails and I am extremely grateful to my Science Method’s course for talking about it, because if not for that, I’d still be clueless. 

Reading and literacy is definitely the focus and big issue in most articles and mainstream news about teaching. There are a lot of resources out there about it, but that’s not what my focus has been throughout my education. I’ve actually disliked ELA for a long time. More so afraid, because I am not a good verbal communicator and for the longest time, I’ve been confused about a lot of English grammar and stylistic concepts. I’m also really bad with terms and titles (which doesn’t help me in the science field either) and as time has gone by, I feel I’ve become worse at communicating with others. 

I’m also not an English major or minor in anyway, so I feel like I lack the formal education needed to teach this subject. 

I’m lacking in both subject areas and the only thing that I can truly say about myself is that I like working with kids. That’s all I’m confident in. But that’s not enough. To teach requires the ability to observe behavior and assess learning and teach life skills; overall, it takes a lot of guiding. During my student teaching, I feel I only barely touched to surface of these things, and I had my cooperating teacher helping me out. To think I will soon be doing this on my own, makes me worry that I will fail a lot of students due to my inexperience, lack of observation and knowledge. 

I wish there was a central site or intensive training workshops, or camps, for teachers (especially new teachers. or teachers-to-be) to develop their weaknesses, whether its in math, science, child psychology, teaching strategy, etc. I’m trying to improve myself independently, but I really work best in a group setting. It’s hard to focus without sufficient guidance. Sure I’ve received my Master’s, but a lot of my education has been in isolation, away from the students I hope to lead.

But I’m still hopeful. If I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge this summer, I can teach my future students ways to do the same. So I’m going to try my best to stay motivated and learn what I need to be a true educational professional.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching Over

I know I was supposed to continuously write about my teaching experiences, but everything happened so fast. It wasn't long until started I sliding on a very slippery slope. Like riding a rollercoaster on a very steep and buttery track, everything has gone by in a flash and graduation has come and gone. Now I am waiting for the results from the edtpa just because that’s all that’s left to do. I’m trying to create a plan for my potential classroom, but I’m unsure where to start. Hopefully my results are good; my colleagues have gotten theirs and they’re in the clear. However the drum is still rolling for me (got to wait until June). My fingers are crossed.

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Student Teaching: Day 17

I’m noticing one of my students is just a well of complaints. Constantly complaining about one teacher and her poor grades in the class. I’m starting to get a little peeved by this, because she’s usually a sassy, Debbie Downer with everything, but becomes especially boisterous when there is a concern about that teacher and class. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a bright, outspoken, hard-working, goal-oriented, realistic, and caring person, but developmentally she embodies the egotism of young adolescence. The idea that they are the center of the universe; problems stem from other people and they don’t do anything wrong and are never at fault. It’s one thing to complain about someone who’s slighted you, but it’s another to do so every day, every other class period.

When a point is brought up to have her think a little about the circumstances of the situation, she just responds in a dismissive and sarcastic way. I really don’t want that attitude in the classroom and don’t want to reprimand her for voicing her concerns. However I know that like attracts like and misery loves company, so if this goes on everyday, it just brings in more negative energy and other students gravitate towards that and respond in that way. I’ll need to have to give her an ultimatum next time. To either move to action to confront the conflict, or save her rants for the hallway or outside of school.

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Student Teaching: Day 16

So today my c.t. was up and running at the speed of light. I think the lost time from being sick kicked her into gear and helped her decide to turn a new leaf for how she handles the class. There’s so much she wanted to get done and she decided that her old way of repeating to certain students about the right and wrong way to act during presentations, etc. was outdated. She had time limits in place and stuck to them. Anyone who was talking, was immediately called out and the second time, they received negative points on their classroom dojo , and the third time, they were out of the class. For actions that resulted in disrupting the whole class, the perpetrators were asked to write an email to their parents (which she reviewed and added her own tidbit) and leave the classroom to do work elsewhere.

She’s tired of slowing down for them and dragging the units and using half of class time to correct behavior. She really put her foot down. I, on the other hand, am still trying to decide what level of rowdy discussion (that’s right, it’s not noise to me -it’s always related to what we’re talking about) is too rowdy and loud. I guess because I don’t want them to feel like they don’t have a voice in class, or feel overwhelmed by the environment. But in exchange, it does take a while before the lesson progresses. I guess I need a system in place so I can give them breaks and ensure the lesson moves on as planned.

Side note: Something I learned today was there is some serious drama and tension between some students in the school and the teachers. In one case, it’s gotten so bad that they are transferring schools at the end of the year just so they don’t run into the chance of engaging with each other. That’s crazy! I know that some days that certain students or teachers are just cranky or in a bad mood or have serious issues, but man, that is ridiculous. I’m not saying I haven’t heard instances of fractured or bad relationships between teachers and students, but just that given what I know about both parties, at least in this one case, I would never have thought they would have even had the opportunity to butt heads. But I guess that’s what’s interesting about human beings, or just things in general - things may not always be what they appear.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching: Day 15

So today my c.t. was sick and so I was the head teacher. I was ready to go but a little frazzled because there was a lot of traffic on the way to school and didn’t get the lesson plan until about 15 minutes before class - now I know how my c.t.’s felt whenever I turned in lessons the day of.

The other teachers on my floor - the other seventh grade teachers - jumped right in to reassure me that things would go smoothly and to let me know I could reach out to them if needed. They were really sweet and checked up on me throughout the day.

The lessons in all three classes went well - in that I managed to go over everything on the lesson plan in a timely fashion. The students were a bit chaotic, but about halfway through, things settled down and they had clear expectations of what I needed from them. I was definitely worn out from the whole thing because I not only had to manage the classes, but also had to fill in the substitute teacher about processes I myself do not fully understand.

The substitute was great, but there were points where the he was distracting more students than keeping them on task - something I think I might have been doing my first days of student teaching. He did help me out greatly with the last class, breaking up a fight and talking to the two boys who were involved. The came back feeling well and ready to move on.

From my observations, I still see that I haven’t been able to find decent ways to occupy dead-time - moments when certain students aren’t working on anything (I.e. while presentations are happening, when I am stretching out a topic, or when the rest of the class are still working on a task). I want to keep student interest and don’t want to give them busy work. How best can I help them?

[halfagony-halfhope]

#mood

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What I felt like on the inside today.

Versus how I tried to act.

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Student Teaching: Day 14

This past weekend was supposed to be my opportunity to catch up and get my head above water, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I mostly used the weekend to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a while, which was important to me because at this stage, I might as well. Any other time may not be possible. I was able to finish assignments that were dangerously close to the deadline, but other than that not much got done. 

Which is what brings me today. I didn’t really have anything planned today, Monday, except to finish up foreshadowing with the classes. I know my c.t. wanted to move on to another unit shortly after, but having no idea about that, I couldn’t really prepare. So I just got the resources I needed to wrap up foreshadowing and that was that. 

Today was a pretty hectic day for my c.t.. There was so much grading to be done and input before the end of the day, and of course students were coming out of the woodworks to tell her to add late assignments and tell her she hadn’t updated certain grades. She started the new unit she wanted - which is about power, so I didn’t have much to do in terms of instruction - I helped check on student discussions and gave some clarifying statements. 

I did get to work with my last class. However, I didn’t follow the notes I had about keeping lessons fast paced to keep students up and moving. Students were pretty distracted and talked but didn't write. It didn’t help that almost half of them didn’t bring their copy of the short story we were reading in class. Though they were asked to share copies with other students, once that student starts looking for text evidence, the other is left in limbo. 

I tried going around and asking students about their answers and to explain themselves, but even then they were distracted and went off on tangents. I see that maybe it’s best to group them rather than let them choose their groups and give them all time deadlines. I did see certain students working hard to complete the tasks and I’m really grateful they put in so much effort to learn. I hope to provide them with further clarification so they can do well on their assessment tomorrow.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching: Day 13

So today I was observed by my graduate professor to see whether I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I was nervous, but that’s to be expected when you’re being evaluated. The evaluation went well and I got good feedback about what I was doing well during the class - answer questions with questions, having my materials ready to go, checking in with the small groups, refocusing the class at the end for discussion. I would have liked to know what I could have improved on. 

A talk with a friend of mine, also a student teacher, revealed to me that I should be mindful of how I speak to them. I use “you guys” a lot, which is very much a local thing to do, but it’s unprofessional and doesn’t exactly presents me as a teacher, but more like someone’s nice friend who came over to teach a lesson. I know I want to have the students’ respect, but I also am very familiar with the issue of power and control in the classroom. I don’t want to try to present myself as the alpha anything in the room, except in the sense of someone who can guide them and direct them to the appropriate resources.

I did watch out for how I spoke to them during the evaluation, but I’m sure I’ll slip back without conscious efforts to change. I’ll need to try to keep my head above water and get myself organized: another way to be professional and respected - have my things ready to go.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching: Day 12

My first class went very well. We started off by going over foreshadowing (a very difficult concept to start out with) and utilized excerpts to get them thinking about it. Students were asked to look at the samples and determine whether it was foreshadowing or not. 

Students engaged in a good amount of discussion about it and there was a class debate about whether or not certain excerpts did illustrate the concept - which was awesome. However, a lot of them didn’t turn their words into letters, meaning they didn’t transcribe their thoughts, which is necessary to do in education, not just for students to be able to go back and review their notes, but for teachers to have concrete evidence of learning (or the absence of it). With that, I guess saying that it went well is not the right way to describe this period. 

It’s hard to get them to understand why it’s so important. I’m not sure how else to communicate that. It’s a great way to help them stay on task too, but only a third of them will actually complete a task to completion, without having to extend the timer or have them turn in rushed work. 

I also realize that I need to teach more visually and include more handouts, however, I can only do so much with the limited printing I have and I also don’t want to bog them down with even more papers than they already have to carry and lose. 

My last class period reinforced the need to have more visuals. They understood the lesson, but things could have been better if I had better examples for them - examples with pictures. They are a rowdy bunch, so half of what they do just perplexes me. I’m never really sure if it’s really me or just them.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching: Day 11

Unfortunately, I was unable to teach my lesson because I needed to judge the lower elementary science fair. It was pretty amazing. It’s fun to see what ideas young people come up with it, especially because when I was that young, my ideas were pretty lame. I focused on that for most of the day and that was pretty much it. 

However, I was able to see my cooperating teacher teach her lesson with a lot more speed and efficiency than I have seen in the past. This was because she sped up the pace of her classroom and kept to her deadlines. I believe students were much more on task because the increased speed which delivered a sense of urgency and adrenaline in them. I used to believe that maybe it was because students prioritize socialization over academics – which at this stage in their development, they do prioritize developing their personal identities and spending time with their peers. However, I see now that it may have been because there was not a clear goal at hand and the tasks were not complex. 

Students tended to stray most when given a broad goal such as read for 15 minutes. When they did have a more defined task, such as each person will read one paragraph, the rest will listen intently until their turn, and you will read all three pages together, students were more on task. Also because during this stage in their development, the gray matter has almost thickened in their brains, with the logic, organization and judgment skills still poorly developed, it is important to continuously model what students are supposed to do and how to organize information. 

Today, the goal was direct and clear and the pace fast, keeping them engaged and focused. Moving forward with teaching this class, I will ensure to keep pace since I know that by slowing down, students will only move at the pace of the slowest individual. If it is paced too fast, students will feel overwhelmed and shut down from the activity; if it is too slow, students will be bored and will lose interest and become easily distracted.  

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Student Teaching: Day 10

Today I noticed that I had mistaken a few of my student’s active participation in the classroom as understanding. These students always have something to contribute during classroom discussions, answer questions involving simple recall eagerly, and comment on other students’ contributions to classroom discussion. I had mistakenly mislabeled high volume (not in a negative way) for engagement and learning. After listening carefully to these students, I realized that they tend to drift off in their conversations to other topics, then come back to talking about the lesson – but more-so in that they’re trying to understand the question.

Having changed the pace of the lesson from fast-paced to slow -involving digging through the text to obtaining information, by asking thoughtful questions have allowed me to check these students (and everyone else’s) understanding of the text, as well as for the rest of the class. The more of these questions I can add, the more schema I can activate. 

[freeteach-blog]

There is no recipe to be a great teacher, that's what is unique about them.

Robert Sternberg

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What I tell myself every morning.

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Student Teaching: Day 9

I showed a PowerPoint presentation about foreshadowing and noticed that despite students saying that they understood the concept after the presentation and the introduction to the lesson (from the other day) they showed they understood it by showing examples and pointing it out during the activity. However, when it came time to defining it in their own words and then creating new examples, they blanked. I know from middle school development, students go through moments when they really understand and believe and can recreate a scenario in one moment but the next, completely forget and seem clueless. They understand it in short bursts, but if they don’t connect it to something concrete, they won’t be able to truly understand or even recall information. But they know it internally.

Initially I thought that they know it, that maybe I just wasn’t being clear or that they just didn’t want to participate anymore. However, knowing learning theory, I know that it is important to engage pre-existing schemas and to generate as many connections as possible that is relevant to their lives. This will help them recall information clearer and embed it into their long-term memory.  

I just hope that the terrible picture I accidently included in the PowerPoint doesn’t stay in their long-term memory too. Note to self: double-check Google images to make sure they don’t have offensive images in the background.

I hope this doesn’t bite me in the butt later.

[freeteach-blog]

Student Teaching: Day 8

Today I gave my first lesson to the class. I had been watching my cooperating teacher give lessons and I noticed that some students always engaged in side conversations while she was teaching. Though eventually, some of them refocused and participated in the lesson, they always eventually returned to talking rather than focusing on what she was saying. I know from research, that young adolescents have a shorter attention span and that students are much more attentive to lessons that involve them more directly. So, I incorporated students’ names into my activity in hopes that they would perk up and want to listen eagerly to how the lesson would play out. I didn’t pick anyone specifically, just randomly. To my surprise, they were very interested in the lesson. I had originally believed that they would have gone through the lesson rapidly just to complete it or would not feel motivated to go through it and become very distracted. However, I see that they didn’t. They stuck to the task and accomplished the goal because the task was clear and the goal was tangible. Middle school students think more concretely and having clear guidelines gives them a sense of direction and motivates them intrinsically.  Ensuring lessons are clear and direct moving forward will help keep them engaged. I can help myself create these lessons by going through it with people outside the classroom to make directions and instruction as clear-cut as possible.

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Student Teaching: Day 7

One of my students was sent into the classroom for playing games in his social studies classroom. He had been told at the beginning of the lesson and during, not to play games. He’s known in my classroom, by my cooperating teacher, and with the other teachers, for playing games once he’s given access to a computer. The issue seems to be that he disengages during certain segments of the lesson not because he’s finished (because he didn’t), he’s already mastered the material. I think that maybe he’s bored by the topics.

There’s something about the lesson that does not motivate him to finish the task until the end.  Perhaps he doesn’t see the benefit of the lesson to his daily life. From this, I know I need to think more closely about how to tie lessons to how it can be applied in students’ day-to-day. I can try to figure out why he is compelled to play games during the class period by asking him directly, as well as his teachers. I can do more research on young adolescent psychological and behavioral development. From speaking to him directly, it appears that he gravitates towards gaming because it is finite and more conclusive. He said it’s easy to get to a goal and move to the next level and that classwork just seems to go on forever. Talking to my cooperating teacher about him, I learned that he transferred into the school at the start of the school year and has had a somewhat bumpy transition, as he tried to adapt to the peer and school culture.

He started off as a student who was focused on pleasing teachers (he’s still very polite and kind), but now seems to aim to subtly push buttons (students and teachers alike). It seems he’s still trying to find his way around and adapt. I can understand from adolescent development, that during this age, in middle school, students struggle with their identity, very interested in peer relations, and more interested in the present than the future. So his feelings and experiences are very validated by theorists like Erikson.

I think as I develop lessons, what I can do to help him and other students will be to have clear timelines about the direction the lesson is headed and clear goals, with checkpoints along the way. This may help create a sense of accomplishment. The next time it feels like he’s disengaging, I think I will try to use his strengths and love of games and have him work on making games – preferably board games – that we can use in class. He can work on its creation once he’s completed his in-class work, which will give him something to look forward to.  

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Student Teaching: Day 6

So I was able to work with a small group today and just monitor their reading. We were sitting out in the hall, each student with a book in hand and a sticky note (to write a summary about the chapter). It took a moment to get them to concentrate on reading. Many of them have a good relationship with each other so they often called to each other across the hall. I noticed more clearly which student's presence propelled their neighbor(s) to get off task or become distracted. And so, after applying some distance between them, they focused themselves. I also noticed, because it's a strategy that works for me, that if a student is struggling to concentrate on the text, making them read aloud to me refocuses them. Many of them are fluent in their recital and can recall and summarize it just fine. I'm assuming, though I don't want to, that they are comprehending the text well. I don't know if any are reading a book they've read before though which would definitely be a game changer. I don't exactly want to do a reading record, on them, but I kinda do too. I'm not exactly sure what else to look for with these students because I'm only getting excerpts and summaries from them and am not familiar with the stories. I'll try to tie in what they're learning (literary devices) into my assessment when running it next time when I get a chance. I've been a but sleep deprived these last few days, which might be accentuating my feelings of directionlessness. I'm just starting to get the handle again of organizing myself and understanding what I should be focusing on. I'm eagerly awaiting the weekend so I can recenter myself. This however will probably have to come in the form of waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to crank through things so I can do this and fulfill my obligations to my family and friends (who are always at the back of my mind).