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.