Differentiating means doing it differently?

So this week was a very fun one for me. I got to teach two classes back to back, third and fourth block,which was an experience. Anyone who knows anything about middle schoolers know that the lesson never goes the exact same way twice, but it went well both times. The classes are very different and third block didn't want to talk much but then again, they never really do. They require more leading to get to a conclusion or answer while fourth block gets to the conclusion or answer before I can even start the question. This made me think about differentiation and what  that word actually means because the meaning changes dramatically when you teach the same lesson twice. I had planned just to teach third and she asked me the day before if I wanted to teach fourth as well and of course I agreed. So, I went home and thought of ways I could change the lesson so that when I taught it to fourth it would better suit the personality of the class and the skill level of the students. I did some things differently with them to better fit with their work speed and our discussion was deeper because of the questions from the students. What I realized though, after I taught the lesson to both classes is that while I anticipated the discussion fourth would have and how much they would get into what we did, I forgot that third would not respond in the same manner. I watch my CE teach the two classes at least twice a week and I knew that there were significant differences in their skill level and personality and I differentiated in my lesson but not quite enough. I had never experienced teaching two totally different classes back to back and it really made me think about future lessons and what I will differently with third to get them into the same depth of conversation that fourth was able to get into.

This is where I find myself as I go forward with my preparation to be a teacher. Classes will be different and they won't enjoy the same things and that is okay. It is just important to remember that there are things that can be done to engage the classes on the same level, even though those things may be completely different. I just want third block to have the same enthusiasm as fourth and while they may never have it, I think there are things I can do differently for them that will at least raise the excitement level a little bit. Is that not the goal of differentiation after all? To get each class and each student engaged in the material in a way that requires them to make connections and learn in a way that is meaningful to them.

End of the semester crunch.

This week has been soon busy! I have had so much to do, for school and not for school. This week, my time in my classroom has been minimal I hate to say. I am hoping to go for a full day on Friday and for most of the day tomorrow.

This week I taught a lesson to my second block, with both professors observing. The class I taught is one of the classes I have not been able to see much because of my school schedule, so I didn't know really know them all that well. This made me EXTREMELY nervous, not to mention our professors are enough to make anybody nervous (just kidding but really). I also found out, the day before, that there was a new student in the class, which really added to my stress. I thought the lesson went well, until I read the comments. They were not bad but really gave me some things to think about. I also received some great feedback from my CE. She was very complimentary but gave me some constructive feedback, which I really appreciated. I also realized that children get nervous when there are guests in the room as well. The students are well behaved anyway but you could tell they were trying to make a good impression on me and my professors. I do hope though, that they warm up to me as the semester goes along. There is not much else to report this week but next week I will be going a lot to make up for this slow week!!

Always Be Prepared.

For those of you that do not know, "Always be prepared" is the motto for the Boy Scouts.  This is the quote that came to mind when I was in my classroom this week. My CE was up at the front of the room teaching and then these two boys began to talk, not quietly either. She stopped what she was doing, which was rare because she usually reprimanded and continued on with whatever she was talking about. She then said "What's the conversation about?" They both stared at her for a second and one of them said "he doesn't have a pencil." She shook her head and said "so you're not prepared and you're disrupting my class? You can have silent lunch tomorrow." She then walked over and got him a pencil out of the pencil box she keeps in the back of the room. Also, the same day, the phone rang probably ten times and someone knocked on the door and came in 6. She said that her room was like Grand Central Station. She told me later that sometimes you answer the phone and the door more than you actually teach. 

This made me think about, what type of things will I need to be prepared for?  Murphy's Law says that "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" and that's what I need to prepare for, anything. I have to be prepared when students don't have pencils and when they are talking while i'm trying to teach. Any time there are 25 twelve year olds in one room, something you are not prepared for will happen. I decided that I need to keep an open mind and just roll with whatever punches I am thrown. My CE seems to handle her punches very well and I hope that I can do the same. 

Atychiphobia or Gelotophobia?

It is always a question between these two in the classroom. The first, fear of failure and the second, fear of being made fun of. It is always a battle of these two phobias when it comes to answering questions. This week, I saw probably 15 students put their hands up with confidence, only to say "never mind" because they second guessed themselves or were afraid their answer was wrong and didn't want people in the classroom to laugh at them (not that anyone would have). With all of the standardized testing, we have created an environment in the classroom to where students are scared to say the wrong answer because we put such an emphasis on being correct and having a high score. 

I guess it might just be the age that the students are that discourage them from answering questions but it is still a problem. My CE has never been mean to a child who answered a question wrong and would send anyone who was mean out of the room. I think students just don't want to be humiliated if they answer a question wrong, and why should they be? If you are never wrong you can never learn, because if you are never wrong you already know everything. We have bred fear into the students and it keeps learning from taking place. We are supposed to teach the students and answer their questions but it is socially unacceptable for students to ask questions because it makes them look "dumb." 

Sorry for the rant, but it all seriousness, this is a serious problem. As a future teacher of my own classroom, I have to ask myself what will I do to fix this problem? I could have a question box for students to ask me any questions they have in private but that only partially eliminates the problem. Sometimes, students need questions answered right then in order to understand the rest of the lesson or concept. I am just wondering what I can to so that students know that it is okay for them to ask any question that relates to the content. Has anyone else come across this problem with their students or is it just middle schoolers?

Also, I had a quite humorous exchange with a student this week. A boy, who I go to church with, asked if he could call me by my first name. My response was obviously no but he persisted. I explained to him that I was going to be the teacher and that he didn't call my CE by her first name. He still said he was going to call me by my first name when I hear "I have something that might change your mind." My CE had an office referral in her hand and was smiling at him. He laughed it off and said "I will still do it." She then told him she could start filling it out if she needed to and he shut up real quickly. I am worried that I may have to deal with this problem later in the year and will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Silence is not always golden.

This week was the best one so far! Since we didn't have school because of fall break I was able to go see first and second block. It was the first time I had ever met them and it was great! Although it was great to finally meet them I found myself thinking back to the proverb "silence is golden," but silence is not golden. Especially when you have a room full of seventh graders and you just asked them a question. It was like pulling teeth to get anyone to answer a question or respond in any way. There were about 3 students who wanted to answer everything and the rest of the class just sat there, silently. It was obvious my CE was becoming frustrated. She would let the students who wanted to answer, answer one or two but then she would have to encourage everyone else to talk and even call on some of them specifically. This was strange to me because all of the other classes are all so eager to answer questions and to talk and ask questions that she doesn't hardly have time for all of them. I made me think about how I am going to have to differentiate for them next semester. I will have to  make my lessons VERY engaging and interesting, otherwise, I will just be standing up there like Dora the Explorer waiting on an answer that is never coming.

I think I have some neat activities planned out for my unit next semester but after seeing fist block I wondered if they may not be exciting enough. My job is to teach them and to facilitate their learning, but to be able to do that I have to make them want to learn. The other three classes will not be this difficult because they are already more engaged from the get go. When I am planning my lessons, I need to focus on motivating these students and coming up with creative ways for them to learn, that everyone will want to do. I know this is the goal for every lesson we teach, right? We all want every lesson to be phenomenal and that send our students home telling their parents how great of a teacher we are but that doesn't always happen. I fear that if I do not find a way to effectively motivate the students in first block, they will never go home and talk about how much fun or how much they learned in social studies today.

This is a meme that I found that reminds me of this situation:

On the other hand, second block was the complete opposite. They needed to be focused and reigned in because all they wanted to do was ask and answer questions. There class was much more energetic and my CE was much more at ease with this group. This is not to say that she doesn't like first block. I think she just becomes exasperated with their enthusiasm for participation. I actually found myself more energetic and more excited to listen to what they had to say. I think it is only because they had the same enthusiasm to answer questions as Katniss did when she volunteered for her sister in The Hunger Games (I couldn't help myself).

Either way, I need to find a way to give first block, second block's enthusiasm and inquiry. I have not yet thought of a good way to motivate them yet so I will take any suggestions anyone has. Also, I know the least about them so it's hard to think of things that would get someone motivated when you don't really know what they like and dislike. It would probably be a good idea to spend a little more time getting to know what they like and what they dislike so that I can get a better sense of who they are as individuals and as a class. 

Chaos can be organized?

I will start out talking about what caused me to choose this title. Today was a big day for the school. It was the day they played their county rival in football. Now, we all know that high school football is a big deal but apparently so is middle school. They had a pep rally to prepare for the game and it was a mess! Don't get me wrong, it was very fun and the students had a great time but it was a nightmare for teachers. They released each grade one at a time but in the halls it was still very hectic. There were kids everywhere and very excited kids at that. Me, being the size that I am, became very overwhelmed walking in the halls because most of the students are taller than I am. It was overall a good time. The students were very excited but became tired and chatty after being in the gym for almost an hour. Leaving the gym was a little less chaotic only because my CE and I ran up the stairs and to the room to head off the children. It was very exhilarating, which sounds silly but it's true. The students were amazed at how quickly we made it up to the classroom. As I was leaving the school I got to thinking about the pep rally and realized that it wasn't as crazy as I thought but more like organized chaos. I realized than anytime you gather 1,000 middle schoolers in one place, there will be chaos but it's worth it. The students really had a great time and got really pumped up for the game and it apparently worked because THEY WON!! My fiancé works at the rival school so we went to watch the game. At the time it seemed like a huge mess but in the end it was a break for the students and a great way to give them pride in their school.

The rest of the week was not as exciting as the pep rally but interesting non the less. I was able to see my CE link two units together in a way I thought was extremely clever. When the students came in, she had them take out a sheet of paper and write the alphabet down the paper in the right hand margin. They were then to title the paper "Geography to Middle Ages." The assignment was that they were supposed to write something they learned about for each letter. For example, for the letter C they could write Catholic Church, Constantinople, or  Crusades. They could write multiple for each but had to write as many as they could in about 15 minutes. I found myself trying to think of words for each letter and found it rather challenging, especially for some letters (e.g. X or Z). After they were finished they had to count how many letters they had words for. Most students got at least ten and a couple even got over twenty. They then went through the alphabet and everyone who got a word for that letter would raise their hand and she would call on them and tell them whether they were right or wrong and why the answer was right or wrong. Some of the words would spark conversation and discussion so going over this took about 20-30 minutes. When they had finished going over it they had to count again to see how many correct answers they had before they changed or added any answers. The student who claimed to have the most correct turned in their paper for to check and to be eligible for a prize (a piece of candy probably). She then wrote the words "Old Roman Empire" on the board and they created a "timeline" from there to the Renaissance, which is where they would start the next day. The students had to use words from the ABC Review to help her make the timeline. The timeline ended up looking like waves because if times were good the timeline went up and if they were bad it went down. They were not taking notes so they were helping her make the timeline and making some great connections with the events leading up to the Renaissance. She also talked about what Renaissance means and with the timeline and the words they had written on their paper why the Renaissance occurred. I found this extremely interesting and the students were 100% engaged. They all wanted to share their answers from their paper to be included on the timeline. It was a simple activity but very beneficial in my opinion.

Momma does't know everything.

This week I got a little taste of "my momma said what you taught us was wrong." I was under the impression that this type of thing only happened in movies (naive I know) but apparently it happens in real life much more than I thought, especially in middle school. This was said not just once but three times by the same student to my CE. She was very polite and said things like "we'll look it up" or "maybe she was talking about something different." I thought it was handled well but I began to think about what I would do. Because in this instance Momma was wrong and I mean DEAD wrong. I think this is a tricky thing to handle because  you do not want to embarrass the student but you also want to make sure they know and the class knows that what they said their mother said was incorrect. I am sure this will happen to be when I am a teacher and I need to be prepared to handle the situation in a diplomatic way, no matter if Momma is right or wrong.

They also went over their study guide this week. I saw MAJOR differentiation with this. They were supposed to play a game with the questions on their study guide but they didn't finish them the day before when they were in partners so instead, they had to go over them. 3rd block, which is the lowest, went over theirs slowly and there was lots of discussion and writing on the board. 4th block, which is the highest, moved through theirs quickly and even go to play a small game. She had them finish their questions with girls completing the odd numbers and boys completing the even. When they went over them she kept a tally of how many questions each group got correct. The group that won got some Halloween candy (the girls won). It was a simple way to spice up the review when there wasn't time for an actual game. The students still enjoyed it because there was some friendly boy-girl competition. This was also a way to simply differentiate since 4th block didn't need as much instruction as 3rd block required. This is probably the way I will have to differentiate. 3rd block will probably always require more instruction and assistance while 4th block will be a little more independent and can move quicker through the material. This also will allow me to do some more "difficult" or in-depth things with them.

When time drags on...and on...and on.

This may seem like an odd title but I assure you that is it accurate. This week they are reviewing the main concepts and events that they were supposed to learn last year. They are making a "timeline" in their notes of the main events and they are discussing and writing some details of these events. I was bored to tears. This is not to say that my CE was being a bore. She was teaching in a very interactive way (allowing students to come up to the bored to write, find countries on the huge map in the front of the room, and discuss with each other) but I still felt like time was dragging on. I was not the only one, some of the students kept looking back at the clock and were becoming wiggly as well. It might have just been the rainy weather but the clock seemed to be crawling. This being said, I realized how important it is to review things that students should have learned before moving into new material. As they were moving through these major things that they should have previously learned, there were some events or people or concepts that the students did not remember learning. Everything they were reviewing are things that are essential that they know so that they can understand the history that they will be learning this year. I think that sometimes teacher take for granted that their students remember something that they have learned in a previous year and forget to take the time to review important things and that is when students get behind. It made me think about the lesson plan template that we will be using, particularly about the part that talks about misconceptions that our students may have going into the lessons. I also think that we need to take into considerations the misconceptions we have about how much background knowledge students have about a certain concept or topic. For example, 7th grade social students starts in the year 1492 and as a teacher I would assume that they had learned about the world and about what is going on in the years leading up to columbus's exploration (which was in 1492). I now understand how important it is to build a background for what I teach, even if I think the students should already know the material. I am responsible for teaching them the material in my curriculum but how can I expect them to understand the concepts and topics I am teaching if they don't understand the background to what I am talking about? I have also been thinking about ways that I can review and provide background without wasting too much time. After all, I still have to teach the curriculum for my grade.

Last week, my CE did a mini lesson on culture (which once again is an example of providing background knowledge to be able to understand the material). The students learned about what culture is and it's different elements. They expanded on the element of culture which is religion by making a "Religion Handbook." This is a book made out of four folded pieces of paper. They had to pick 4 or 5 religions and designate a page for each and tell about the religion (with the guidelines she gave them) and also draw a picture that represented the religion. They also had a show and tell day, which all the students were really excited about. They had to bring in something that represented their culture. They had to tell what they brought, what element of culture it was (music, art, food, clothes, etc.), and how it represented that element. The students surprised me and brought in some really neat things. This one girl brought in some pureed pumpkin with cinnamon and nutmeg. She said that it represented the food and tradition element of culture because this is something that her family always eats at Thanksgiving. I thought this was a neat activity to get the students to understand how what they use and do everyday is an example of their culture that they were born and raised in. This "project" also showed me how rude some students can be. The pumpkin that the girl brought in was not popular among the students. I thought it was really good but one of the boys acted like he was going to throw up and it hurt her feelings. She had worked really hard and he was ugly. He got in trouble, but her feelings were still hurt. Middle schoolers, and all age children, can be so mean sometimes and as the teacher we have to step in and try to fix it the best we can. My CE told them to be respectful because she worked hard but some children are just not nice.

Tests and More Tests.

This week I got to witness my first test. It was incredibly BORING!!! My CE said that giving tests wear her out, she would much rather teach. I can understand. I got so sleepy. When they first got in the room she had them review for the tests quietly at their desks. It was so funny because all of the students were silent. I guess they were worried about their test because the usual chattiness was gone. The test was multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill in the blank, and free response. I thought it was good how there were a variety of questions options but I absolutely DETEST true/false questions. I think they serve no purpose other than to trick the person trying to answer the question. I can see the benefit in having to correct false statements but I hate when you just have to answer true or false.

I noticed that she went around and answered any questions they had during the test. She would read the questions to them or explain what it was asking but would not give them the answers. There were very few questions but some of the students who usually struggle, or need affirmation, asked a question or two. It made me think about when it is my turn to teach. How much "explaining" a question is too much. I tend to over explain and I am afraid I might give away an answer by accident. I will just have to be very careful about what I say I guess. There was a student who finished in fifteen minutes when they had about 45 to complete the test. There were about 25 questions and some of them required some effort so I was worried about how he did. She encouraged them to take their time but there are always a few who do not take advantage of the time they are given.  She also gave them extra credit questions about things they had been talking about outside of the curriculum (current events, etc.). Each class had their own set of extra credit questions. I mean, they were the same questions but they were worded differently or in a different form. For third block, she gave them a question and then gave them two options for the answers but for fourth block, the same question was worded differently there were no options for them to choose from. This was a unique way to differentiate that I would have never thought about. I suppose this is also a way to keep them from sharing answers, which is also smart.

After the test she let them make up any missing work they had on their progress report. She said that this was the only time they would be able to do that because they were supposed to have it in on time but since it was the beginning of the year she would give them one chance to redeem themselves. I thought this was a good way to show them some mercy and teach them responsibility as well. They have a notebook check every 3 weeks so they have to keep up with each piece of paper they are given and keep it in the correct section of their binder.

Watching the test got me thinking about next semester when I will be giving those tests on my own. It made me think about how I will handle students who have multiple questions and students who finish too quickly. I have also been thinking about extra credit and how I will handle differentiating with that between the classes.

You live and you learn.

This week I learned a valuable lesson about classroom disruptions. You just can't avoid them! This week, I probably witnesses around 20 classroom interruptions. The phone rang, someone knocked on the door, the phone rang again, the video played at the inappropriate time, someone was bleeding, etc. If it could interrupt class, it happened. It is hard to teach in a classroom where you are being interrupted every five minutes but somehow, my CE managed with only getting moderately annoyed. It made me think about how I would handle disruptions to my own classroom and to the classroom next semester. I realized you just have to roll with the punches and continue on the best that you can. I also realized that it's important to keep the students on task even if you're having to talk to 8,000 people while you're trying to teach.

I also learned that not everything turns out the way that you hoped. I had high hopes of getting to go to first and second block. I have never been to first and I have only been to second two or three times. Instead, I found myself in the courthouse waiting to be called about a traffic ticket. I got there at 8:00 and did not leave until 1:00. Needless to say I was highly agitated and annoyed (even though it was dismissed) that I missed first block. I found this lesson to be true in the classroom as well. My CE had put her students in third block in groups and had them work on an activity. They had been learning about different government types and on the paper they were to read about different types of government (some they had learned and some they have not) and then decide what type of government certain countries had based on a short description about the country's government.  The groups struggled. They couldn't understand what to do. It ended up that she had to go over a few of the questions with them and go back over the different government types. It took up a lot of time that should have been used to do other activities. It really made me understand how a lesson plan is more of a guide than a plan set in stone. Sometimes we will have to divert from our plan to make sure our students understand a topic or concept, even if it puts us behind in the curriculum or behind another class. Fourth block was able to do the same activity with ease and they were able to do the other activity she had planned.

Sometimes the distractions and diversions are not school related. This week I saw more students trying to get out of doing work than I ever have before. I saw one student pick their ear until it bled just so they could leave the classroom. There was another student who couldn't participate or talk because he got hurt at the football game. Along with these two, there were probably four or five more students who tried to get out of participating and doing their work. It just surprised me what students are willing to do and say to get out of doing what they are supposed to do.

It's the little things.

This week I learned something about being a teacher. Sometimes it's not the big things that matter, it's the little things. The other day the students were finishing up some work from the day before and some were making up quizzes. She told the students to pull out their notes and to create 4 questions, with the answers, that might end up on the test. They could be any format as long as they had the answers with them. She told them she had some questions but needed just a few more and she wanted their help in thinking of them. This might seem dumb, but the kids worked  with intense concentration to make sure their questions were good enough to get picked. She then used their questions to play review "basketball." She divided the class up into 2 teams and she would ask someone on the team a question and you have 10 seconds to answer or have help from your team before you get a "lane violation" and the question goes to the other team. If the students answers the question correctly they can either shoot from the three point line or the two point line. At the end of the game the team with the most points wins. There was no prize. Whoever won just won, but it was so funny to see how competitive they all got.  They took the game so seriously and in turn, took the questions seriously. I found it interesting and amusing how a simple game could be such great review. I remember playing games like that in school but not really understanding how the competition and desire to win made me focus on answering the questions.

The idea of letting students come up with their own test questions or playing a review game isn't a big deal, but it was to the students. They worked hard because they wanted their questions chosen to be put on the test. The also concentrated a little more because they wanted to win a silly game that meant absolutely nothing in the end. When I say "it's the little things" I mean that I learned that it doesn't take much for us to motivate students or make them feel like they have a role in their own learning. It was a big deal to them that their questions make it onto the test or that they won the game but it required little effort on the part of the teacher. It was a "little thing" but it yielded a big outcome.

Week of September 2

So I had to create this blog becuase some creep kept commenting on my stuff. Because of this I am going to give a short recap of what my last blog said.


When I was at my school on Friday I fell up the stairs in front of the entire block while walking back to the classroom after lunch. It was super embarrassing but I think it kind of broke the ice with them early on. I was also observing last week how strictly she enforces the "raise your hand before speaking" rule. I found out that it is pretty well enforced. She actually reprimanded six students because they did not follow that rule while I was in there. This rule is important to me because I am not a huge fan of always raising your hand before you speak so I wanted to see how strict I was going to have to be on this rule. I also talked about how my CE gave me binders full of things I can use when planning my unit. She also told me that once I got started we would sit down together and see if anything needed to be changed or see if there was anything she could help me with. I have been very grateful of how willing she is to sit down and help me out. Starting to work on my unit just makes this whole experience all the more real.