Anticipation

I'm anxiously anticipating the first days of school. My classroom is set and I have two days left to put on the finishing details. The classroom management plan has been carefully planed and drawn up and I feel ready. Then, why can't I sleep!? I feel like I'm back in elementary school and its my first day. Except that instead of waiting one summer, I've been preparing for this moment my entire career. Everything has led me to this point in my life.

I am one of the lucky (blessed) ones. Getting the job came much quicker than I expected, but just when I needed it. While my classmates and friends continue to send out resumes, here I am preparing for my first day, in my first teaching assignment. Everyone seems nervous for me... Does that make me delusional? Am I dreaming, thinking  that everything will go perfectly well and the students won't know that I'm "fresh meat"?  I feel that I have been adequately prepared for this moment and that I am flexible enough to adjust. This will be a year of great growth and maturity.

The Minority, Majority (Week 9)

The school that I am teaching at has a predominately Latino student population. As a Social Science teacher I struggle with the reality that this population of students is not equally represented in history books. World History in the United States is heavily euro-centric and omits history in Latin America except during the imperialism unit. That's all the history that students get about Latinos... Latin America was colonized and then fought for independence. 

How can I better connect the content to my students if they are learning about the impact that Europeans have had on the world, but not what influence their cultural groups have had? The reality of American is that the minority is quickly becoming the majority. Our course materials must begin to reflect this reality. Asians, Latinos, Blacks and even Women as a whole are omitted from our history books in a significant way. I'm sure that part of it has to do with the fact that these same groups have faced discrimination and maltreatment, but ignoring that issue does our students a disservice. 

To fill the gap, I have allowed students to teach each other about these omitted populations through the use of student presentations. Students research and present the content to the class and in essence they teach their peers about topics that are not in the standards or in their texts.

Diversification: in the real classroom (week 8)

I ended the school year by having my students research, prepare and present about a historically significant person or event taking place between 1800-1900. The projects were heavily weighted, but the results were incredible. Students that had in other situations performed poorly were able to excel. Why? First off, they got to choose the topic that they wanted to research. Second, they were able to choose an assessment from a list of five choices. The assessment list included, creating a video, a song, comic book, PowerPoint, timeline poster and presenting their final product to the class. 

This experience proves to me that differentiation is critical in the classroom and all students cannot excel if the content was being taught the same way all of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my students present to their peers and believe that it was an invaluable experience. For many of them it was their first time ever taking part in a formal presentation. They dressed up and sincerely cared to impress me and their classmates. I will definitely be using this assessment in my own classroom. It was worth the time that it took to put together!

One student in particular surprised me. (I'll call him Oscar for the sake of anonymity) Oscar, is a C/D student because he performs poorly on exams, and turns in incomplete assignments. On this particular project he shined and earned a perfect score. Oscar wrote a song about the Opium Wars and described the background, and signifigance of the event in a song that he wrote and recorded. The followed all of the instructions like creating a PowerPoint slide with his lyrics and explaining about his topic to the class. I was so impressed with his ability to learn about this subject and translate his knowledge into a very informative song. I wish that there was an alternative to letter grades and that there could be more opportunities for our artistic/creative students to shine.

The Last Days of School (Week 7)

As we are approaching the last days of school I am reflecting on my experience. I was blessed to have an excellent master teacher to work with. She was honored by her peers and students as the teacher of the year. And that says a lot! She does a lot for her school and her students, but she also knows how to separate her job from her home life. 

 

This brings me to another topic. How do you manage the large amount of work with your personal life? The other day I was working on grading student presentations and entering their grades in the gradebook. My master teacher was returning from administering an AP exam and was shocked to see me still at school. She encouraged me to go home and told me, "the work will still be here tomorrow." And she's right. I didn't have to stay and finish the work, but with it being a Thursday I wanted to give students their score sheets the next day. I felt an obligation to get them their scores, so they know their grade before leaving for the weekend. Next week we only have a review session and then head into finals... knowing that score was important. But, just as important is my own life. As a new teacher I fear that I will struggle to balance the amount of time that I invest to my job. I am a perfectionist and I hope that I don't overdo my duties at work at the cost of neglecting myself and my family. I need to give myself a deadline by which to go home and leave my work, at work if necessary.

A Successful Lesson (wk 6)

A successful lesson is one where my students are fully engaged, and interacting with me, each other, and the content. At the end of the lesson I ask, "Did we achieve the desired outcome?" Teaching a successful lesson is not about activities, but about outcomes. For example I planned an elaborate lesson to teach my students about the Boxer Rebellion in China, but due to time constraints I had to change the activities that I had planned, but the outcome was the same. My students were able to interpret primary sources, work in collaborative groups and discuss about imperialism and take a position on the issue. Even when the lesson that we imagine doesn't pan out, we can still have the results that we hoped for with a few adjustments. The key is to be flexible. You must be willing to make changes, to think on the whim, adjust things throughout the day/lesson as needed. 

 

Even more importantly a successful lesson can relate to something students are doing in other areas of school. I try to connect the content with students lives and experiences. If teachers can connect student learning throughout the school day, students are more likely to retain information. Students are more motivated to learn when they see how the knowledge they learn can be applied outside of the school building.

Efficient and Effective Cooperative Groups (wk 5)

Motivating students to work effectively in cooperative groups begins with relationships. Our students must feel comfortable, confident and care enough about one another to work effectively and efficiently in a group. This kind of relationship is developed by creating an environment that promotes safe exploration in a positive and safe atmosphere. When students participate in group building activities at the beginning of the school year they will be more willing to work with one another and more likely to be disciplined with their work.

Helping our students succeed requires is to prepare them for the "real world." Teaching them to be responsible means that they understand how to use appropriate procedures and how to succeed in self-directed work teams.  It all starts with procedures and routines. Giving the students clear instructions and specific goals within a group will help them stay on task and hold them accountable to the success of the group.

Using Group Work to Support Diverse Abilities (Wk 4)

Differentiated instruction is critical in supporting students that have a variety of abilities. That means changing things up on a daily and weekly basis. First and foremost it means that you must know your students. A teacher should know who needs additional support? What are the students' different reading levels? Special needs, handicaps, etc.?  Upon knowing the answers to the aforementioned questions one can plan instruction that is inclusive. It is beneficial to scaffold learning while also using a variety of strategies that can be beneficial for multiple learners. For example when introducing vocabulary I show students images on the PowerPoint of with the use of a video. This approach is especially beneficial for ELL students or those that have a strong visual learning modality. I also include a worksheet that has students first find the definition, then draw an illustration/picture that describes the word and furthermore have them write a sentence or description of the word. In this approach the students have multiple opportunities to master the words as well as an ability to do so by using their strengths.

Another way to support students in a diverse classroom is to use cooperative group. Groups that are diverse in their abilities, sex, ethnicity, and personal characteristics make for a great environment for low and high students. Cooperative groups encourage everyone to work to their maximum capacity. 

  

In order to use groups effectively it is important to be explicit in your instructions. For example tell students the number of people in each group, length of time in a group. You can count students off or give them the opportunity to choose their own groupings. The directions whether verbal or written need to state what is to be done and what is to be accomplished.The number of  people in a group depends of the nature of the activity. And the number of people must be equal to the number of jobs in a group. Be specific about assignments for each member in a group.In working together student can support each other and work to their highest potential.