Reflection:

This is the time in the semester that the pressure is at its highest. The fact that almost all my assignment are due at the same time and all will make or break my semester. When I sat down to write this blog there was many options; writing about cooperative groups, the summative, the raft. The problem was I did not know where to begin with any of them. I understand cooperative groups and the role they play in the classroom. The fact that just grouping students together does not make it a cooperative group. I could even write about how much fun the making squares activity was. The problem I found was the blog was going nowhere. It did not push me to really think about something I was unsure. The raft on the other hand was a scary assignment until I came up with the idea. Now I feel so much better about it because I know the topic and where I want to go. So that topic would not produce a blog with much meaning. Now the summative assignment has me on edge because I hate self-evaluation. There I have said it, I Hate to evaluate myself. This create an issue with the summative assessment but more of an issue with my future career. If I cannot self-evaluate comfortably how can I improve my practices. How am I going to make sure that my lessons are being fixed because I looked back and realized things did not work? I know that this is the biggest part of the class, the self-reflection on my work and how I can improve. This has always been hard for me because in some places I feel that I did everything I could. However, someone else comes in and tells me that I could have done better. Now I always feel that there is always something I could do better and are over critical to the point that I sometimes feel inadequate about my work. I am not sure if I am alone with this feeling or not. Whether others start to feel that nothing could be good enough and so in some ways you give up or revert to your comfort zone. Overall, I guess my blog this week is about how can a person self-evaluate with enough confidence that they did not do everything wrong?

Rubrics:


I would like to start off saying sorry that the blog is being put up so late this week.


Now for rubrics and the sugar high from all the cookies. I have always found it hard to come up with a rubric. The problem is ever mind is different as well as everyone's taste. The cookies were a great example of how different a rubric could turn out about one subject. Some people in the class like hard cookies, others liked them soft. When it comes to writing rubrics some people have different things they are looking for. As a history teacher the most important thing in my mind with writing is the content of the paper. If the information in the paper is incorrect than there is something wrong with the research. I have never been the best writer, so to me being grammatically correct is not the most important thing as long as it is easy to read. One the other hand the English major in the class would say that grammar and style is more important content. In my mind it is hard to make a general rubric that can be used by other teachers because each teacher has certain things they are particular with.

This event happened in my special education class a few weeks ago. We were in groups trying to write one part of rubric but could not get anywhere. Each person in the group had a different idea of what sentence structure required to be considered a 4 on the rubric. It was not that any one of us was right or wrong but that we have a different background and different beliefs.

Chapter 11 and 12:

I live with two teenagers that refuse to read a book even if it is for school. Creating a lifelong reader is not an easy job when they have it set that they hate to read. This is the challenge that I am going to face in the schools because by the time the students enter high school their mind is made up. Chapter twelve brought up get ideas to help create lifelong readers. The idea that students have to read certain material will always be there but they also need choice. There are many dry and boring books about history that to be honest I do not even want to read. However, there are also books about history written as a narrative that conveys the same information. This goes back to Nukirk’s talk about narrative and how life is a narrative so we understand material better in a narrative form. The material needs to be level appropriate and the students need choice, making this harder for me as a teacher to find the best books. However, a little extra effort to create a reading community is worth it if the students are actually excited to learn and read. Chapter eleven talks about the difficulty some students have with reading which makes them not like to read at all. The change over in the third grade from learning to read to reading to learn is critical. Once the students learn to read it does not mean they know how to read to learn. These strategies need to be taught and expanded on with every reading assignment. The use of an organizer, think out loud, and self-monitoring are things I have been doing so long it is an unconscious response. The hard part is making sure to stop myself and make that I do not just assume the students know how to do it because I do.

Another reading strategy and what researchers say about it:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105027/chapters/Creating-Lifelong-Readers.aspx

Observation Blog:

During my observations there was one thing that really stuck out to me. The students were doing a ten minute read during the class because they cannot take the book home. It was well structured and placed in the class given the situation with book shortages. The reading was not the problem it happened when there was not enough books. One student in the class did not have a book during the ten minute read. The teacher did tell him to look on with someone but he just sat there in silence while everyone else read. Then the teacher discussed the reading and had them finish the section for another five minutes. At this point there were three other students done with the section and not using the book. However, the teacher did not take the book from one of them and give it to the student without a book. The entire time the reading was occurring this student did nothing and the teacher did not do anything to change that. I am not sure exactly why this happened during this class and if it has happened before but it made me think. If the reading was so important to take class time to read then why was it not important for this one student to read. If it is not important for him to get the information is it important for the rest of the class. I am not against the ten minute read in this school setting because the students do need time with their books but if one student can miss the reading why are they doing it. The essential question is whether the reading was important enough to take up the entire class period. If the answer is yes than one student missed a very important part of the class that day. If the answer is no than the students could have been doing something else for the hour. Overall, this makes me think of lessons in the future because there is a lot of information to cover and I need to make sure the students get the important parts. The question I will ask myself for this point on is “is this so important that no student can miss the information?” If the answer is yes than more time should be spent on that lesson or topic. If it is no than there is in many ways no reason to be teaching it. One student can get by without knowing that information so the whole class should be able to skip that section and be fine too.

Lectures:

Lectures have a time and place in every classroom. The hard part for the teacher is making sure the lecture is effective. Anyone can get up in front of a room and throw information at the students. It is harder to give a great lecture than just spilling out all the facts. In many situations it is hard cover all the information in a class without quite a bit of lecturing. So the challenge to myself as a teacher is making sure the lectures I give have an impact. The best lecture occurs in small increments of no more than 10- 18 minutes and then the students need a break. One of the best classes I have had as a college student was set up very similar to this. The professor would lecture and go through the information and give the students a guide to take notes on. These pieces of lecture would only last for a short period of time. Then it would be time to break up in groups and use or expand on the lecture. This classes is three hours long on a Friday morning but the class never seems that long because the professor splits or chunks up the time so effectively. I feel I have learned the most from this class than I have any other classes in my college career. When I get out in my field this is what I need to remember. Look back on the days I was a student and figure out what I found most effective. Now I know my students will not react the same as I did to certain activities so something will need to be adapted but overall it is a matter of helping the students. If they respond better to lecture, group work, individual assignment, etc. than that is what I will do.

I do not want to be this teacher:

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

Caroline Kennedy

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/stand_for_something.html#yzVLF8r3SHCyeDWZ.99

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

Caroline Kennedy

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/stand_for_something.html#yzVLF8r3SHCyeDWZ.99

The Union:

                I understand that the teacher’s union is supposed to be there to protect my job in the future but I am not sure I like it. The idea that the union will stand up and fight for my position is great. However, the union is also fighting for the jobs of some teachers that should just be fired. When we were talking about the teacher that drank with her students, let them drive her car, and then invited them back to her place it made me sick. As a teacher we are in a very powerful position because the students in many cases spend more time with us than their parents. The influence we have over our students should not be abused. No teacher should ever do what that teacher did with her students. The problem was that the union fought for her and against the administration that had every right to fire her. This is where my problem with the union is starting. I do not feel comfortable with being part of a group that would defend such horrible actions. In many ways the union connects with the way the teachers act in school because they know it would be really hard to be fired with the union in their corner. I do not want to be one of the teachers that does whatever I want whether it is good for the students or not. The most important thing to me as a teacher is my students and doing what is best for them. Even if I have to sit alone as Kim spoke about; I will not change the way I feel about teaching. I am sure that I am not alone in this thinking but the test will be when we finally enter the situation. Who will speak up, who will just sit by, and who will join the other side?

"It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career."

Caroline Kennedy

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/stand_for_something.html#yzVLF8r3SHCyeDWZ.99

 

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

Caroline Kennedy

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/stand_for_something.html#yzVLF8r3SHCyeDWZ.99

Chapter 9:

Book clubs in a classroom as part of the curriculum is a great idea. This book has stated over and over to add outside reading for the students. The hard part with this idea is that there is never enough time in a school year. The use of the book club gives students the opportunity to read a narrative about what you are teaching and it does not take too much time away from class. The only thing as a teacher is that in order to pull this off successful you have to be extremely prepared. During the course of the book club the teacher’s job is to just facilitate but this only works if the teach comes to the club prepared. That means knowing the each book option, having read the books and then know what the desired outcome from reading is. The major idea that the students should take from the book. This is the one thing that if I did a book club as a teacher I would have trouble with. I want to be truly honest here and say that I don’t know if this is something I would do. I believe it is a great idea and excellent for the students but I cannot say for sure I would prepare enough for it. As a teacher I want to give the students the best opportunities but I am scared that I will drop the ball more than once for assignments. The idea that there will be classes I enter without any prep and completely fail the lesson and the students. I can say over and over that it will not happen but the truth is it most likely will.

Chapter 5 and 7:

In the past chapters the book talked about textbooks and the importance of outside readings. Chapter five expanded on this by giving us different strategies to help the students read the material. It is one thing to find outside reading that is relevant and another to know the students really understand it. While reading the chapter I realized that I do many of these strategies in college but I taught myself in many ways. I cannot remember a teaching showing me how to take notes on a reading. It is such a helpful tool that takes minimal effort that it confuses me that it was not taught. Our job as teachers is not just to teach our content but to show the students how to get the most out of the material in front of them. I know that I am going to keep this book close as I teach to make sure that I don’t forget to teach these strategies.

Chapter seven in many ways tries everything we do in the classroom into a bundle. The idea of using the right textbooks, bringing in outside readings, and even teaching reading strategies do not mean anything if the students do not trust you. A teacher can have the best lesson plans and the most interesting material but if the students do not trust that teacher they will not learn. The idea of listening to students seems so simple but is not done often enough. The best way to teach your students is to know them.  

This would be a great poster for the classroom as a reminder for the students and the teacher.

Chapter 6:

Last week we read a chapter that stated textbooks were not enough and that different types of readings were helpful. The chapter did not say to eliminate textbooks completely and in many cases the book a teacher has to use is out of their control. Therefore, it is important to make the textbook reading easier for the students to understand. It is important for the students not only to read the information but to understand what information is important to remember. I know many times that I have no direction for reading assignment I tend to skim the text. When I do this there is a lot of information that I ended up missing. The techniques that are presented in Chapter 6 are great to help students pick thru the reading and reach a deeper understanding. The jigsaw method had each student concentrate on a certain topic in the reading. This allows for a lighter reading and a deeper understanding of the information. This method also allows the students to work with their peers because the class is working as a team to cover all the information in the class. If a teacher must use a text that is require and a tough read for students it is very important to help the students through it. Even something as simple as a premade outline for the students will give them a guide to make it thru the reading. In high school I had such a hard time with all the reading it would have been nice to have some more direction from my teachers.

Here is a link to a website with more information about the jigsaw teaching:

http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-jigsaw-cooperative-learning-30599.html

Chapter 4:

Textbooks are the major source of reading in any student’s life and can make doing their reading very hard. I know as a student it is not the easiest thing in the world for me to sit down and doing the readings for class. However, I will sit for hours and read for pleasure. The chapter talks about the needing for balance between the dry textbook reading and the sources that students don’t want to put down. As a history major it is important to use many different types of source and many different types; from long selections in textbooks to short clips for a newspaper. One thing that really stuck out in the reading was the fact that students will sit for six hours trying to read a textbook and not really understanding the material in front of them. As a teacher, I would rather a student read a few small articles or even journals, spending only one hour and really understanding the information. One of my favorite things to do as a history major is research. The idea of finding many different sources on one subject and fishing through for information is fun. It allows me to explore the topic and draw my own conclusions because there are multiple points of view at my fingertips. Therefore, why should high school students only be exposed to one type of resource? The idea is to create a lifelong learner and if we put blinders on the students reading how will they learn to explore. How will they learn to take three different accounts of one event and draw their own conclusion?