Supplemental Post #3 - KATE

Teachers annotating, taking notes, and being students. That is what I experienced at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English conference a few weeks ago. I wanted to reflect on the KATE conference because it made a huge difference in my life goals and teaching style.
The one thing I really loved was the Keynote in the beginning with pop up commentary on poetry and how we relate things we don't always know about but connecting it to what we do know! Kathleen Blake-Yancey did a great job expressing how this would work with our students and why it helps retention with English students. I remember discussing it with classmates and new teachers on what they wrote and something teachers could do with their students.
Then Socratic Circles was the second thing I enjoyed.
Here is the facebook group and ideas:  https://www.facebook.com/SocraticCircles
We discussed the theory and method behind the madness. I hope I can buy his book so I can enjoy and implement it in my classroom! We sat in a group for the first session and discussed theory behind it. Then for the second session, which was my favorite, was two circles. The inside circle was the discussion group while the outside group took notes on the way people spoke rather than the content. This was fun because I got to bond and discuss with teachers of all ages and styles. I was the youngest in the group and was able to help lead the discussion by asking questions and looking up vocabulary between sessions. I hope to buy the Socratic Circle book for my own classroom.
I was also able to attend and enjoyed:
Dr. Mason's: Cracking down on the ‘that’s so gay’ crowd: New Teachers as LGBTQ Allies
Waters: Step away from the grading pen: Using formative assessments to lighten your load and increase student understanding.
Dawson: The Anatomy of Influence: What Gastby, Video Games, and Research Have in Common (Core)
then finished up with Copeland's: Socratic Circle I and II

This KATE conference helped me revert back to my roots of how I've always wanted to be a teacher, "when I grow up" type of thing. I know I want to do meteorology in a way but teaching seems much more meaningful and I'm the type of person who wants to impact others' lives. I know that most of these teachers care about what their students are learning but also how they learn.

Genre Reflection #1 - Letter to myself

Subject: What to expect, What you'll see, and How to feel. 

Hey Selfie,

                I know what you're feeling and don't be discouraged. Times are tough, teachers are tough, and students are even tougher.  No one has the right to judge you nor are you superior to others, but others have the right to expect more of you than the regular college student.  There are no more excuses, no more "sick days," no more late days. These students depend on you like a infant at the age of 16. They don't admit it but they expect you there every single day. They notice when you are gone and notice when you show up early to help them (especially for their five page essay due the next day). They might not say "Thank you" verbally but when you walk in the room and they are chunking poems, making Cornell notes, and buying Post-it notes on their own means a thanks in itself.  The success rate isn't measured by a number or a product but by the human mind. Much like a priest, a teacher's results aren't tangible. 

                You come in the morning, and the "if you're not 10 minutes early, you're late" applies every morning. So you get there 20 minutes to the bell, or earlier, and set up everything you need for the next 7 hours. They trickle in, most begrudgingly, but they also woke up early to be there. Whether forced or not, they are there. This is a job, you are working like coworkers rather than one supervisor over minions. Never get into a power trip. Avoid the teacher's lounge but never forget others are there to uplift you. Lend an ear, too. By lunch, you might need to recharge but don't check out. The next few hours need your humor and enthusiasm , too. Last hour is hard, from English I to Senior Honors, it's rough. Don't give up. You'll tell them to have a great night and see them tomorrow but really you'll see them in their writing you grade every night. You learn so much from them every time you read a short story or a definition on a worksheet. Remember, they need to know you, too. Let them in but at the appropriate level. You got this! Tomorrow is Monday. Set your alarm 10 minutes early, it's time.

Best,

Ms. Vaughn

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.

Sensitive Topics

The first days of teaching are always the hardest yet simplest days of the career. Learning the names of my students are the hardest part of my first days because I'm terrible at memorizing in such a short amount of time. I have to keep track of two classes worth of names at school of employment then run to my pre-student teaching classroom and memorize their names in 45 minutes. 

For an opening "get to know you" exercise, we made name folders, introduced each other in front of the class and had the students ask at least two questions were group about the student being interviewed. Sometimes the teachers chimed in to ask questions which rather helped move the interviews along or we were just genuinely interested in the topic and couldn't help but ask a few questions.

Today was rough because we are working on first-person narratives with freshman who are new to the building and to each other. My CT began explaining the assignment and a few topics the students could relate to such as: first day of school, pets, and parents. It was brought up that the CT's parents are divorced and a student blurted out something along the lines of, "Why would you talk about that?" The student continued saying things like they couldn't understand that people in that room could have parents who were not together and that it was a unspeakable topic. I sat in the back, hiding behind the stack of papers I was grading, unsure what to say or do in my CT's position. My parents are, too, divorced and I let my emotions get the best of me. I did not say or do anything until I asked my CT how they felt after the class was over. My CT mentioned that the student and my CT had a discuss afterwards to be more aware of other people's lives and some experiences may be different than theirs. My CT has been teaching for years and had experience with much worse situations but I could not help but feel like I would not have handled the situation the same, and a much more professional, way. I definitely learned something I can use in the future.