First day of my Unit lesson

Today was rough.
I had several things planned for today but when those fell through I didn't have a lot to back up myself because I didn't have the material for the next day to fall back on. The few internet clips I saved to my Powerpoint were blocked and we couldn't find them on Youtube.com. We did a quick search for satire examples and used modern day clips but the quality was poor and they weren't edited for school lessons.
I learned a valuable lesson to be EXTRA prepared, especially since it was the first day. Happy Monday...
Tomorrow should go much smoother as we will have much more material ready and articles for them to work together. Today I just needed to test the waters and get a feel for everything before my formal observation on Thursday morning.

Online Reflection #2 - Asking the Right Questions

These past two weeks having been moving pretty slowly for me as a student teacher. I'm hoping when I get on the other side of things and start following a pacing guide that I can see progress and movement. They wrote a rough draft of their personal narratives last week and this Friday they will start typing them formally for a grade. They also watched a short film called "The Crush" (I highly recommend it to anyone of multiple age groups) and a little Disney clip as well. We used these short films to introduce plot diagrams and development throughout the story. They did the same plot development diagram for lyrics of songs they have probably heard of before.

This led into their short story unit and analyzing the text for conflict, themes, ideas, and more. This is right along the lines of Grade 9 Common Core standard: "CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2" which states, "Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text." (Reading: Literature)

These break downs of plot and themes help understand the central idea of the story and how the conflict rises to a climax then resolves itself through the falling action and denouement. To make things a little more interesting and hands on, I put the 20ish students into 5 groups and bought poster board, cut out strips of paper with key events on them, glue sticks, and markers so that they could create a detailed plot diagram, understand key terms, and work together as a team to figure out the parts of the story. The short story is titled "The Necklace" and has some debate what the climax of the story is. My CT and I both agreed on the placement of events and let the students work.

 The only thing I would do different than my CT is that I would let them work completely independently, and if they had questions, I would question them until they figured it out on their own. My CT pushed them in the right direction but I think gave too much away and told them when they were right and wrong instead of asking questions/free thinking. I don't want the students to think we won't help them but I refuse to just give away the answer.

If I student raises their hand and asks, "Is this right?" or "Does this go here?" What would you say? I feel like the right answer is answering their question with a question like, "Is there evidence to support it?" or a statement like "Tell me why that is or isn't correct." This makes them depend on their peers and themselves rather than a authority figure to tell them what to do.

I'm excited to see them complete their diagrams tomorrow, move on to their typed narratives, and hopefully start their novel soon. (Which I will introduce in a week and a half as my 5 day unit)

Here's an example of a plot diagram: http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=14ade8f2-d8bd-4ef2-a565-5dac41f63f02


Works Cited:


"Reading: Literature Grade 9-10." English Language Arts Standards. Common Core State Standards

Initiative, 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

Supplemental Post - In the Hallway

Today's experience was much different and unique to the student teaching classroom. One student who has a hard time getting to class and having his supplies was early and ready for class today. He came in and had his notebook and the make-up workbook with him. I was happily surprised and my CT asked me to accompany him to the hallway to work one on one the rest of the hour to catch up on absences and tardy days worth of notes. I'm glad as a student teacher that we have two teachers to give this one on one attention but I know it isn't realistic for a regular classroom in public schools. We were working on plot diagramming and plot development with lyrics and short films.
Tomorrow my CT and I are acting out the story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant. We aren't acting out the whole story but just a teaser so the students get a little interesting in the story and might be more intrigued to read it. Then Monday I am teaching the lesson all class to read the story then we are creating a descriptive plot development diagram in groups on poster board. I want to appeal to different type of learners so they can work on different ways of learning, from verbal to hands-on.
On top of that I have been grading more essays from my co-op and comparing them to the rubric/teacher's grading and hoping we are in agreement with the 6-Trait writing rubric. We practiced this in my last literacy class in the previous semester. I feel really confident in this with style of grading because it is well rounded and even the best essays lose points for grammar and conventions while the grammatically poor essays get well deserved points for ideas and content with voice. I am looking forward to working with the students in my co-op to complete a revision for their essays in the future and excited for the first short story lesson.

Classroom Management Overview - Online #1

            Last week was a continuation of their personal narratives and how they are learning more about themselves and the writing process. We really haven't been moving as fast as I would like because so far they have only written a few paragraphs and will be typing this week. I know you cannot judge your classroom by another classroom pace but it worries me that we are reading our first short story this week and other classrooms are on their 2nd or 3rd and have written essays. Another issue we have come across is that one student has been removed from our classroom while three new students have been placed within the last week. We are working together to get them caught up while still moving the students along in the lesson.  We are co-teaching together at the moment but we will work on my 5-7 day unit after this lesson of narratives and short stories.

            The pressing issue I decided to research and look into for this week was classroom management and student accountability. Instead of rowdy students, we have tired 8:00am "quietitis." Other than that, right now there's two students who do not take notes or bring supplies to class. Lined paper and writing utensils are provided in the back of the room so there is no excuse of not taking some notes down if they forget their notebook for one day; however, these students are consistent on not having supplies. My CT asked whether or not they had access at home or needed to be supplied with a notebook for their classes. Each student said they had their own notebooks and pencils but simply forget them on a daily basis. She offered leaving them in the classroom if needed but students said they would remember them next time. One student is also tardy each class and has racked up detentions and write-ups already. We had a private conference with him after class today and kept a positive attitude. What else can we do to promote positivity and responsibility to him? I think we should make contact to his guardians and see how he is doing in other classes with notes and tardiness.  According to the National Education Association, this is definitely a step in the right direction because keeping a encouraging  atmosphere and parent involvement helps the student not make excuses for why they are late or not showing up with their tools. One thing I keep in mind is that students do better when they feel they are in charge. "Students seem to respond productively when teachers give them the opportunity to take charge of their academic success." This gives them some power over their own lives and helps them take responsibility when they might not have any at home or in other classrooms. I'm worried that tomorrow he will be late again and it will turn into a behavioral issue instead of an academic issue. The other student who did not have her supplies is always on time to class and usually works with other students so she might be easier to influence to turn in her assignments and get her work done. How do other teachers deal with this type of situation or how would others do this differently? Let me know!


Citation:

Graham, Edward. "Keeping Students Accountable." NEA. National Education Association, n.d. Web.