Today went much better than yesterday. The 2nd half of my classes began work on making atomic models out of play dough and construction paper and the first half are ready to start the project tomorrow.
A funny thing happened during 7th period. Many of you know that it's one of my more difficult periods. I had just finished explaining what we would be doing when a new student entered. I welcomed him to the class, he sat down, and I got back to the introduction of the lesson. Then, all of a sudden, the students who are quite disruptive announced, "we want to learn today." They then moved to empty desks in the front of the room and sat attentively for most of the lesson. Sure, there was some joking and yelling out, but for the most part it was almost a perfect class. The class got much farther than my 1st, 3rd, or 4th period classes. I don't know if it was because we had a new student or because we were going to a do a project with play dough or what but for some reason the students had a motive to learn. I did have one of the students at tutoring and asked him about it and he said that part of it was that he liked my class. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but I hope I can keep this going in 7th period.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Post Thanksgiving Break Edition
Thanksgiving break was restful, but too short. I'm happy that I was able to see everyone from family to high school friends to college friends all in 3 days. My last week and a half before break ended a bit average. We were reviewing natural selection and the scientific method and I don't think I was on the top of my game teaching-wise. Part of it was going over material that we had (supposedly) learned once. The other part was probably not having a clear enough plan. I can tell that things did not go as well as I had hoped due to the data from the test scores; they were low on a test consisting of mainly multiple choice (I had many low level Bloom's objectives and I'll admit it made the grading easier on the plane).
Luckily, I found a great website that has a set of presentations and handouts from conferences put on by the Department of Education. While the presentations aren't recorded, the powerpoint used along with the handouts are there and they are a wealth of good information that is content specific. I found presentations on using writing, differentiation, and dealing with misconceptions in science! The information is all given by experienced teachers who back it up with research. One thing I'll be implementing by the start of 2nd semester is science journals. Students will do more writing in class and they'll have a portfolio of work that can be graded (and shown to parents). It will also help in keeping information organized so that the students can see what we are doing as a whole rather than disjunct parts.
These weeks up until Christmas should go much better as I have two units that I know I can teach during this time period: atoms and space. The atom unit is quite basic in that we have to cover the parts of an atom and how to find the number of electrons, protons, and neutrons in an atom. We also have to discuss how atomic theory is a scientific theory and conduct investigations about the history of science as it relates to atomic theory (scientists, discoveries, etc). The space unit deals with the shape of galaxies and how planets and other objects exert gravitational forces. I like the idea of ending with this unit as next semester we get to do earth science where we'll definitely talk about waves.
Tomorrow I have a lesson planned where we will create models of atoms out of construction paper and play dough. The play dough will be used to create the electrons, protons, and electrons on the atoms. Of course, the students will be calculating the number of each and planning their atom out instead of just playing with play dough. Today's students had a great deal of energy; I don't think they were ready to be back in school. The behavior was a bit crazy across all of my classes (even the relatively good ones). I don't see this as necessarily bad as it wasn't just one class plotting against me; instead, it was a mood across all of the classes and it should be better tomorrow. The behavior of my students will go in streaks with bad behavior never lasting more than 2 days.
I'm also excited to start a new book I just ordered called, "The World Without Us." Its author asks, "What would the world look like environmentally if humans weren't in it?" It appeared on Scientific American's recommended list for holiday gifts and it will touch on a great deal of the earth science we'll be dealing with 2nd semester. I also just found the topic interesting, and I may learn more about earth science this way than through a dry textbook. It'll also be helpful to have during AR Reading Time, which is the program the students do during homeroom. They read designated books on their reading level and then take tests on what they've read. It seems to be a much better use for homeroom than a study hall. In order to get students to do most behaviors in middle school (and other levels, too) it's important for the teacher to model the behavior. As a result, I too get to read during homeroom. It's actually quite nice as I am awake enough to read and not completely exhausted like at the end of the day. I have been reading the economist and scientific american, but by having a book my reading should appear more meaningful. Luckily, I do have students that like to read and many have asked me about what I'm reading (which is quite cool).
Luckily, I found a great website that has a set of presentations and handouts from conferences put on by the Department of Education. While the presentations aren't recorded, the powerpoint used along with the handouts are there and they are a wealth of good information that is content specific. I found presentations on using writing, differentiation, and dealing with misconceptions in science! The information is all given by experienced teachers who back it up with research. One thing I'll be implementing by the start of 2nd semester is science journals. Students will do more writing in class and they'll have a portfolio of work that can be graded (and shown to parents). It will also help in keeping information organized so that the students can see what we are doing as a whole rather than disjunct parts.
These weeks up until Christmas should go much better as I have two units that I know I can teach during this time period: atoms and space. The atom unit is quite basic in that we have to cover the parts of an atom and how to find the number of electrons, protons, and neutrons in an atom. We also have to discuss how atomic theory is a scientific theory and conduct investigations about the history of science as it relates to atomic theory (scientists, discoveries, etc). The space unit deals with the shape of galaxies and how planets and other objects exert gravitational forces. I like the idea of ending with this unit as next semester we get to do earth science where we'll definitely talk about waves.
Tomorrow I have a lesson planned where we will create models of atoms out of construction paper and play dough. The play dough will be used to create the electrons, protons, and electrons on the atoms. Of course, the students will be calculating the number of each and planning their atom out instead of just playing with play dough. Today's students had a great deal of energy; I don't think they were ready to be back in school. The behavior was a bit crazy across all of my classes (even the relatively good ones). I don't see this as necessarily bad as it wasn't just one class plotting against me; instead, it was a mood across all of the classes and it should be better tomorrow. The behavior of my students will go in streaks with bad behavior never lasting more than 2 days.
I'm also excited to start a new book I just ordered called, "The World Without Us." Its author asks, "What would the world look like environmentally if humans weren't in it?" It appeared on Scientific American's recommended list for holiday gifts and it will touch on a great deal of the earth science we'll be dealing with 2nd semester. I also just found the topic interesting, and I may learn more about earth science this way than through a dry textbook. It'll also be helpful to have during AR Reading Time, which is the program the students do during homeroom. They read designated books on their reading level and then take tests on what they've read. It seems to be a much better use for homeroom than a study hall. In order to get students to do most behaviors in middle school (and other levels, too) it's important for the teacher to model the behavior. As a result, I too get to read during homeroom. It's actually quite nice as I am awake enough to read and not completely exhausted like at the end of the day. I have been reading the economist and scientific american, but by having a book my reading should appear more meaningful. Luckily, I do have students that like to read and many have asked me about what I'm reading (which is quite cool).
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
tutoring
Tutoring has been going really well. It's something that I look forward to each week especially today. The day went alright for most of my periods. We did an activity based around natural selection. We are revisiting the unit because the averages for the unit were quite low in each class compared to what they had done previously. This is partly due to the unit being rushed when the 9 weeks were drawing to a close.
I felt I could not move on due not just to certain objectives not being mastered but also because of how important the theory of evolution/natural selection is for many. These students will see the topic again in high school biology and it's mentioned quite frequently in the news (whether from the typical debate or in the recent case of staph infections). The infections are due to strains of bacteria (staph) that have evolved to the point where common antibacterial products cannot kill them. As a result, these more serious infections require more powerful antibiotics and many times hospital care. What had happened is that in a population of bacteria there were some that could be killed by antibacterial soap and others that could not be. Soap was used and killed the ones without any defense. The ones with the defense persisted and reproduced. As a result, we have staph bacteria resistant to common antibacterial products.
Back to the activity...it went well for most of the classes except 4th and 7th periods. Those periods may the day pretty stressful. Going to tutoring, though, made a lot of the stress go away as I had a small group that was quite attentive. We went over topics we had discussed recently and even went back to topics that had been missed in the past (one of the benefits of tracking objective performance on each test). I just like how I can come home tired and stressed from school, but after tutoring I am refreshed and energized.
As for the turnout, it's been pretty solid. In town, I have a small yet dedicated group each week. In the other town farther away, I get the equivalent of one of my classes or sometimes larger (20-25 students). While I love the turnout, it's a bit more difficult to give individual attention to each student. What I've started to do is to give a small quiz at the beginning and then go around from group to group aiding students with whichever answers are giving them problems. This makes targeting the weaknesses much easier.
I felt I could not move on due not just to certain objectives not being mastered but also because of how important the theory of evolution/natural selection is for many. These students will see the topic again in high school biology and it's mentioned quite frequently in the news (whether from the typical debate or in the recent case of staph infections). The infections are due to strains of bacteria (staph) that have evolved to the point where common antibacterial products cannot kill them. As a result, these more serious infections require more powerful antibiotics and many times hospital care. What had happened is that in a population of bacteria there were some that could be killed by antibacterial soap and others that could not be. Soap was used and killed the ones without any defense. The ones with the defense persisted and reproduced. As a result, we have staph bacteria resistant to common antibacterial products.
Back to the activity...it went well for most of the classes except 4th and 7th periods. Those periods may the day pretty stressful. Going to tutoring, though, made a lot of the stress go away as I had a small group that was quite attentive. We went over topics we had discussed recently and even went back to topics that had been missed in the past (one of the benefits of tracking objective performance on each test). I just like how I can come home tired and stressed from school, but after tutoring I am refreshed and energized.
As for the turnout, it's been pretty solid. In town, I have a small yet dedicated group each week. In the other town farther away, I get the equivalent of one of my classes or sometimes larger (20-25 students). While I love the turnout, it's a bit more difficult to give individual attention to each student. What I've started to do is to give a small quiz at the beginning and then go around from group to group aiding students with whichever answers are giving them problems. This makes targeting the weaknesses much easier.
Friday, November 2, 2007
A longer update
My last unit was a bit weird because it really didn't have that much of a theme to it unlike genetics or natural selection. It dealt mostly with microscopic organisms and classification. For the first part, I was at least able to talk about bacteria and protists--both unicellular organisms. Classification worked well in the 2nd part as we could organize the similarities and differences between the two types. Unfortunately, I didn't know my content as well for this one as I did for the units at the start of the year. Luckily, I was able to find some good articles and we were able to practice reading strategies and foldables (as mentioned in another post). I haven't graded the tests yet, but many students seemed to be quite confident for the test so I'm hoping for some solid grades.
We had a three day teaching week with yesterday and today taken up by staff development. The sessions yesterday were led by our consulting group and our sessions today were led by the principal and the math and literacy coaches. Yesterday was about assessing rigor in released test items and reaching struggling learners.
Assessing rigor turned out to be a useful session even though I thought it was going to be completely useless. We looked at how states have similar standards/objectives yet they test those standards on different levels of rigor (ie how complex of a thought process a student must use to solve the problem). In math, a question with a low level of rigor might ask a student to find a simple pattern (1, 2, 3, or 2, 4, 6) to solve the problem. A higher level of rigor would ask for a more complicated pattern (add 1, add 2, add 3) and have more steps in finding the right answer. In English, it would be the difference between identifying a device used and making inferences from a passage.
For some reason, rigor had not made much sense to me up until this point (especially with multiple choice questions). Something just "clicked" and I saw that the more steps required to get an answer the more rigorous the question. This fault might have been due to being trained mainly with Bloom's Taxonomy rather than Webb's Depth of Knowledge. While I could see the different levels with Bloom, the idea of "steps of thinking" were made clear with Webb.
The afternoon session on struggling learners interested me greatly, but it didn't tell me much that was new. It seems as though that if my training is not stressing "released test items" then it's emphasizing differentiated instruction. While the latter is a good thing, those that have presented workshops on the topic give the same vague and general advice. Usually we get discussions on different learning styles, advice to use all three modalities when teaching, and then advice to tier assignments and pair weak learners with strong learners. This is all good advice, but it's the same each time without regard for the nature of middle school and specific subjects. We get very little application and specific directions during our workshops. While I am not making excuses for middle school behavior, it can be difficult to implement some methods of differentiated teaching in the classroom. Paired learning can easily erupt into talking or not happen at all when the two hate each other. I have classes where no students are "strong learners." I'm not trying to insult them, but the way my schedule is set up is that almost all (except for 4 or 5 students) of my GT (gifted and talented) students are in one honors science class. The others are spread around my other classes. While I realize I'm on a tangent about the ineffectiveness of one strategy, it just frustrates me when we get advice from consultants that doesn't match our particular situation.
I think I was spoiled by TFA at Institute. It seemed that efficiency was their main concern--not how to take something that could be explained in 30 minutes and turn that into 3 hours. Almost every session was focused on giving us methods we could put to use immediately. Each presenter also made sure to discuss the problems we might run into and back up strategies to use. I remember our literacy coach holding subject specific sessions for literacy use in the classroom. The reasons for this are varied but come down to the nature of an education consultancy group and TFA. TFA knew it had only a small amount of time to get us the best information possible to make us better teachers; the organization had to be efficient if it wanted to achieve its mission of one day all children having the opportunity to receive an excellent education. The consultants on the other hand were either already paid or had to spend a certain amount of hours to justify their cost. A high cost might feel "worth it" if you are talked to for 3 hours versus thirty minutes. Also, our instructors at Institute were recent teachers with experience in the classrooms we were going to enter once we left. Our consultants are former or retired teachers who have been giving workshops for the past few years and not teaching students like the ones we have.
I don't mean for this post to hammer education consulting--I do get some good ideas and resources from our workshops. However, it just seems that there's lots of stuff to sit through in order to get the small amount of useful information.
While not completely related to teaching, we had trick or treating on Wednesday. While most people did not go out of their way to decorate their houses and stores didn't stock many costumes, I still had kids coming to my house dressed up. Of course there were my middle schoolers and high school students I knew that came without a costume. They just wanted the free candy. It was pretty fun and I was able to meet more members of the families of my students.
As a first year teacher, I am just consumed by this job (in a good way). It's what I think about each night and even on the weekends. My other fellow teachers can't stop talking about it either. Our conversations revolve almost entirely around what our students are doing in our classrooms. While this isn't a bad thing (I usually get enough sleep each night), we sometimes have to stop ourselves from discussing school. These bans seem to last only 10 minutes, but at least we are trying. It's a job that demands that we do an excellent job every day we are teaching. In school, you are there mostly for yourself. You get to decide how much you want to pay attention, to study, and to work. However, with teaching you go to school and each class period you have students staring at you expecting you to teach them.
We had a three day teaching week with yesterday and today taken up by staff development. The sessions yesterday were led by our consulting group and our sessions today were led by the principal and the math and literacy coaches. Yesterday was about assessing rigor in released test items and reaching struggling learners.
Assessing rigor turned out to be a useful session even though I thought it was going to be completely useless. We looked at how states have similar standards/objectives yet they test those standards on different levels of rigor (ie how complex of a thought process a student must use to solve the problem). In math, a question with a low level of rigor might ask a student to find a simple pattern (1, 2, 3, or 2, 4, 6) to solve the problem. A higher level of rigor would ask for a more complicated pattern (add 1, add 2, add 3) and have more steps in finding the right answer. In English, it would be the difference between identifying a device used and making inferences from a passage.
For some reason, rigor had not made much sense to me up until this point (especially with multiple choice questions). Something just "clicked" and I saw that the more steps required to get an answer the more rigorous the question. This fault might have been due to being trained mainly with Bloom's Taxonomy rather than Webb's Depth of Knowledge. While I could see the different levels with Bloom, the idea of "steps of thinking" were made clear with Webb.
The afternoon session on struggling learners interested me greatly, but it didn't tell me much that was new. It seems as though that if my training is not stressing "released test items" then it's emphasizing differentiated instruction. While the latter is a good thing, those that have presented workshops on the topic give the same vague and general advice. Usually we get discussions on different learning styles, advice to use all three modalities when teaching, and then advice to tier assignments and pair weak learners with strong learners. This is all good advice, but it's the same each time without regard for the nature of middle school and specific subjects. We get very little application and specific directions during our workshops. While I am not making excuses for middle school behavior, it can be difficult to implement some methods of differentiated teaching in the classroom. Paired learning can easily erupt into talking or not happen at all when the two hate each other. I have classes where no students are "strong learners." I'm not trying to insult them, but the way my schedule is set up is that almost all (except for 4 or 5 students) of my GT (gifted and talented) students are in one honors science class. The others are spread around my other classes. While I realize I'm on a tangent about the ineffectiveness of one strategy, it just frustrates me when we get advice from consultants that doesn't match our particular situation.
I think I was spoiled by TFA at Institute. It seemed that efficiency was their main concern--not how to take something that could be explained in 30 minutes and turn that into 3 hours. Almost every session was focused on giving us methods we could put to use immediately. Each presenter also made sure to discuss the problems we might run into and back up strategies to use. I remember our literacy coach holding subject specific sessions for literacy use in the classroom. The reasons for this are varied but come down to the nature of an education consultancy group and TFA. TFA knew it had only a small amount of time to get us the best information possible to make us better teachers; the organization had to be efficient if it wanted to achieve its mission of one day all children having the opportunity to receive an excellent education. The consultants on the other hand were either already paid or had to spend a certain amount of hours to justify their cost. A high cost might feel "worth it" if you are talked to for 3 hours versus thirty minutes. Also, our instructors at Institute were recent teachers with experience in the classrooms we were going to enter once we left. Our consultants are former or retired teachers who have been giving workshops for the past few years and not teaching students like the ones we have.
I don't mean for this post to hammer education consulting--I do get some good ideas and resources from our workshops. However, it just seems that there's lots of stuff to sit through in order to get the small amount of useful information.
While not completely related to teaching, we had trick or treating on Wednesday. While most people did not go out of their way to decorate their houses and stores didn't stock many costumes, I still had kids coming to my house dressed up. Of course there were my middle schoolers and high school students I knew that came without a costume. They just wanted the free candy. It was pretty fun and I was able to meet more members of the families of my students.
As a first year teacher, I am just consumed by this job (in a good way). It's what I think about each night and even on the weekends. My other fellow teachers can't stop talking about it either. Our conversations revolve almost entirely around what our students are doing in our classrooms. While this isn't a bad thing (I usually get enough sleep each night), we sometimes have to stop ourselves from discussing school. These bans seem to last only 10 minutes, but at least we are trying. It's a job that demands that we do an excellent job every day we are teaching. In school, you are there mostly for yourself. You get to decide how much you want to pay attention, to study, and to work. However, with teaching you go to school and each class period you have students staring at you expecting you to teach them.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The internet is back
I know it's been a while since the last post. Our internet went out and now it's back. I'm sure I'll post a longer update with good stories in the next few days, but I just wanted to at least post to say all is going well right now.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Opposite Days
Yesterday and today were completely opposite days. On Monday, the students received their 9 weeks tests along with their grades. Many were not happy. I had As in almost all of the classes and Bs in each one. Students got a study guide a week ahead of the test and we reviewed before the test; however, some did not do that well. This caused many to want to discuss the past 9 weeks and my teaching. This turned into class meetings for each class as I realized by 4th period that we weren't going to get anything done in terms of learning. I had students put their desks in a circle and we discussed the past 9 weeks along with their grades. This seemed to go quite well and my 4th-7th period classes seemed to take the news better than 1st and 3rd. Of course, I did my own reflection and I realized that I need to give them more tools to study and to comprehend the information in class.
One of those tools that I used today were vocabulary cue cards. They are a type of "foldables." Foldables are when you take pieces of paper and fold them or cut them in different ways to create study aids. Generally, foldables can have layers, flaps that open, and other crafty mechanisms that hide and reveal information. Middle schoolers are still at the age where something like this isn't seem as "dumb" or elementary. For this one, students folded a piece of paper into fourths and then read a small amount of text on unicellular organisms and protists. Students then selected sentences from the text that used the vocabulary words, created their own definition, and then created their own picture of what the word looks like. Each step goes on one of the flaps with the vocabulary word on the outside. The end result is a step-wise tool that students use to quiz themselves on various representations of the vocabulary words. Surprisingly, this worked quite well. Reading is not an 8th grade strength for my students especially with the technical vocabulary of science. However, because the amount of text was small and we were doing something with it, almost all had no problem. We had a tough time at first with the first foldable, but right after it, they were able to get the 2nd vocabulary word foldable with little help from me. The idea is for them to have these on them at all times during class so they can review them at the beginning when they finish their "do-now" (or bellringer) or when we have time left at the end of class. Using literacy and having them write also gets them used to "open-response" problems, which is our major weakness across all subjects.
This worked really well because of some good teaching advice that I had received but never fully realized until today: The students should be doing the work not the teacher. They should be tired at the end of the day; you should not be. This was actually true today as there was very little stress and the students were kept busy in class working on their foldables. I polled the classes and almost all of the students found this method better than writing down definitions off the overhead.
Not much else is going on except teaching each day. It feels good to be in a groove. It still feels weird to have a full time profession as a teacher. Of course it's completely different from college, but it's also different than internships/summer jobs I've had. Work can't stay at school--I have to worry about each and every student I teach. School is the top priority each day (as it should be).
Tutoring has been going well too with an amazing turn out. I tutor in one of the nearby towns that we took over last year and I must have had 15 or 20 of my students in the restaurant where I tutored. I had to circulate around to multiple tables and help only with very specific problems. The other teachers and I are looking into the nearby community center as a better place due to space and noise concerns as the place we used was quite small.
That's about all for now. This job never gets boring.
One of those tools that I used today were vocabulary cue cards. They are a type of "foldables." Foldables are when you take pieces of paper and fold them or cut them in different ways to create study aids. Generally, foldables can have layers, flaps that open, and other crafty mechanisms that hide and reveal information. Middle schoolers are still at the age where something like this isn't seem as "dumb" or elementary. For this one, students folded a piece of paper into fourths and then read a small amount of text on unicellular organisms and protists. Students then selected sentences from the text that used the vocabulary words, created their own definition, and then created their own picture of what the word looks like. Each step goes on one of the flaps with the vocabulary word on the outside. The end result is a step-wise tool that students use to quiz themselves on various representations of the vocabulary words. Surprisingly, this worked quite well. Reading is not an 8th grade strength for my students especially with the technical vocabulary of science. However, because the amount of text was small and we were doing something with it, almost all had no problem. We had a tough time at first with the first foldable, but right after it, they were able to get the 2nd vocabulary word foldable with little help from me. The idea is for them to have these on them at all times during class so they can review them at the beginning when they finish their "do-now" (or bellringer) or when we have time left at the end of class. Using literacy and having them write also gets them used to "open-response" problems, which is our major weakness across all subjects.
This worked really well because of some good teaching advice that I had received but never fully realized until today: The students should be doing the work not the teacher. They should be tired at the end of the day; you should not be. This was actually true today as there was very little stress and the students were kept busy in class working on their foldables. I polled the classes and almost all of the students found this method better than writing down definitions off the overhead.
Not much else is going on except teaching each day. It feels good to be in a groove. It still feels weird to have a full time profession as a teacher. Of course it's completely different from college, but it's also different than internships/summer jobs I've had. Work can't stay at school--I have to worry about each and every student I teach. School is the top priority each day (as it should be).
Tutoring has been going well too with an amazing turn out. I tutor in one of the nearby towns that we took over last year and I must have had 15 or 20 of my students in the restaurant where I tutored. I had to circulate around to multiple tables and help only with very specific problems. The other teachers and I are looking into the nearby community center as a better place due to space and noise concerns as the place we used was quite small.
That's about all for now. This job never gets boring.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Update
So the first nine weeks are drawing to a close? I didn't realize this until the staff started discussing the unit test schedule for each class. It doesn't even feel like I've completed 1/4 of the year, but looking back on my objectives that will be tested I can tell that I've taught a great deal of material. Some things are getting easier, but my last period class is still quite difficult. 3rd period has settled down, but that's mainly due to many of the students being suspended or in ISS (in school suspension).
Tutoring has been a huge success so far. I've had a solid group of students at each session and many are there because they really want the help. My new policy on buying food for them is that I only do it for the first 3 that get the mini-quiz right at the end of the session. The students usually come in a group of friends around the same time and then leave at the same time, too. Besides being able to help the students with the material, tutoring also helps with getting to know the students outside of school. Many were just impressed that I wanted to help them outside of school.
I've also been getting observed recently by the principal, our education consultant, our math and literacy coaches, and my mentor. While they haven't been in there all at once, I did have one day where there were 3-4 observers in the room at once. I was a bit nervous, but luckily everything was clicking during the lesson. It's a toss up most days if the lesson will succeed. While sometimes it's due to how I deliver it, some classes are more excited/interested than others. My first and third periods could love something and my 5th and 6th periods hate it.
The same goes with behavior. I've had students act completely rude and disrespectful one day and then the next act like the most well mannered student imaginable. I have to remind myself and each class that each day is a blank slate. It seems to help because grudges don't develop as the students know that I am not holding their previous day's behavior against them. As I discovered at the Quest program, many of these students have gone through or are going through difficult phases in their life. They bring this into the school each day along with the difficulties of going through puberty/growing up. The result is that each day is unpredictable.
On an unrelated note, the new car is working well. I love how it drives and the fact that it will accelerate without having to floor the accelerator (as I had to do on the Toyota). This makes passing and getting on the highway much easier (and safer).
This week shouldn't be too bad in terms of work. I am giving our unit test on Wednesday and part of Thursday. The days before will be spent reteaching one lesson that didn't go over well along with a review of the major concepts in the first unit (genetics and evolution). Friday may be spent with a movie introducing our next unit as the students will have tested most of the week along with Friday being Homecoming (the middle school gets to participate in the activities, too). While I know that I should have high expectations of my students, something tells me that the motivation to learn or start a new unit on Friday will be quite low.
Tutoring has been a huge success so far. I've had a solid group of students at each session and many are there because they really want the help. My new policy on buying food for them is that I only do it for the first 3 that get the mini-quiz right at the end of the session. The students usually come in a group of friends around the same time and then leave at the same time, too. Besides being able to help the students with the material, tutoring also helps with getting to know the students outside of school. Many were just impressed that I wanted to help them outside of school.
I've also been getting observed recently by the principal, our education consultant, our math and literacy coaches, and my mentor. While they haven't been in there all at once, I did have one day where there were 3-4 observers in the room at once. I was a bit nervous, but luckily everything was clicking during the lesson. It's a toss up most days if the lesson will succeed. While sometimes it's due to how I deliver it, some classes are more excited/interested than others. My first and third periods could love something and my 5th and 6th periods hate it.
The same goes with behavior. I've had students act completely rude and disrespectful one day and then the next act like the most well mannered student imaginable. I have to remind myself and each class that each day is a blank slate. It seems to help because grudges don't develop as the students know that I am not holding their previous day's behavior against them. As I discovered at the Quest program, many of these students have gone through or are going through difficult phases in their life. They bring this into the school each day along with the difficulties of going through puberty/growing up. The result is that each day is unpredictable.
On an unrelated note, the new car is working well. I love how it drives and the fact that it will accelerate without having to floor the accelerator (as I had to do on the Toyota). This makes passing and getting on the highway much easier (and safer).
This week shouldn't be too bad in terms of work. I am giving our unit test on Wednesday and part of Thursday. The days before will be spent reteaching one lesson that didn't go over well along with a review of the major concepts in the first unit (genetics and evolution). Friday may be spent with a movie introducing our next unit as the students will have tested most of the week along with Friday being Homecoming (the middle school gets to participate in the activities, too). While I know that I should have high expectations of my students, something tells me that the motivation to learn or start a new unit on Friday will be quite low.
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