The Final Countdown

As I am getting closer to my final day of teaching at North Marion, many thoughts have crossed my mind. I wonder, "Did I teach everything I had hoped to? Were my lessons well-done? Should I have done anything differently? What did I do well?" As my host teacher and I finished the rubric and I received my final grade for the semester, she and I discussed areas of strength and methods for improvement.

I am confident that I have developed a good rapport with my students. I am genuinely interested in their lives and I believe that I show that to them on a regular basis. I talk with them throughout the day and we share stories with each other in class discussions. Several of the students (especially seniors) have mentioned that they will be disappointed when I leave and I must say, the feeling is mutual. I have grown close with the students and my host teacher and I will forever be impacted by this experience. I could not have asked for a better placement or group of kids.

My host teacher and I agree that I behave professionally at all times and have a good understanding of the English/Language content area. I have a passion for teaching and the English language and it is evident in the way I carry myself in the classroom and through the discussions I have held with my teacher.

Since the beginning of the program, I have worked diligently to improve my classroom management. I believe that this is one of the most difficult areas of teaching to master. Classroom management strategies vary from class to class, so it is important to make adjustments based on the personalities of the students. Sometimes I find myself talking over students as opposed to making them quiet down and pay attention. In the future, I will clearly establish rules and expectations from day one and show consistency in implementing those policies. My host teacher ensured me that I will improve in this area over time, but not to worry because I am better at this than for what I give myself credit.

These last two weeks are bittersweet. I will admit, I feel a sense of relief in knowing that I am almost finished with my student teaching. Action research, full-time planning, going to class, and working has been, at times, overwhelming. However, as I mentioned before, I have grown to truly care for my students and the school. I will miss coming in every day to the "Good morning, Miss Kelly!" and high-fives in the halls. I will miss the company and conversations with my host teacher. I will miss the staff, the school spirit, and the 50-minute drive at 6:00 in the morning (okay, maybe I won't miss the last part), but I plan to visit often and hopefully to keep in-touch with my students and fellow teachers.

Time Management

One of the issues I have come across during my intern experience at North Marion is creating lessons that last the entire class period. On some days, I will plan time for students to ask questions and discuss and it turns out they are not as talkative as I had initially hoped. In this case, I refer to my backup plans. When lesson planning, I always try to think of something to take up time in case the material being covered does not take long enough. In one instance, my lesson ended about 15 minutes sooner than I had anticipated, so I quickly looked through my Grammar Textbook Teacher's Manual and found three pages for the students to review. They were preparing to give speeches and the book had some very helpful tips for improving their presentations and oratory skills. The students did not seem to notice the improvisation and I was much more prepared for the following two classes.

Grading subjectively

One of the most challenging issues in teaching English/Language Arts is the requirement of grading subjectively. In other words, there is not always a right or wrong answer, and often times final evaluations are based on the teacher's idea of what is acceptable/unacceptable. Subjectivity in grading was one reason I chose to focus my action research on modeling as a teaching technique. As English educators we do not always have a rubric to follow word-for-word, so in order for students to understand expectations we must provide them with explicit instruction.
This week the seniors are giving speeches on their author papers which they wrote in October. I was a bit nervous about grading the speeches because I was not sure what to expect. The last time I saw students of that age present to the class I was a peer, not a teacher. However, I was extremely pleased with the students presentations. They were very well-spoken and well-prepared. My host teacher developed a rubric for grading purposes. This was a great way of developing a score for the speech, but she and I both agreed that if we felt a student deserved a different grade we would make the necessary changes.

Addressing Different Learning Styles

These next two weeks will be all about addressing various learning styles. The seniors are finishing up their exam on Pygmalion and the juniors will be turning in their rough drafts of their research paper on Tuesday. This leaves me some time to work on revising and editing strategies with the eleventh graders and also presents an opportunity for creative review activities for test preparation in the twelfth grade classes.

In order to ensure the test review will be creative and empowering for the students, I will ask that they separate into two teams. Each team will create 10 study guide questions for the opposing team. After completion, I will read the questions to the opponent and if they answer correctly, I will allow them to either put an X or O on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. The students will hopefully generate challenging questions in order to keep the other team from winning.

For the juniors, I will use a variety of methods to facilitate their understanding of effective editing and revising. I will use visuals, provide audio, and allow the students to work independently. However, the most exciting activity I have planned for the week is for teaching active versus passive voice. The students will be the parts of the sentence (i.e. subject, verb, adjective). Up to eight students will stand in the front of the class while their classmates rearrange them so that the passive sentence become active. For example, "The ball was caught by her" will be changed to "She caught the ball." I'm excited to see the students up and moving around, while also studying important concepts for improving their papers.

Teaching Literature

The entirety of my week was spent teaching seniors the famous play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. I was extremely excited to teach this play to my students because it was one of my favorite texts I read in undergrad. One reason, in particular, that I chose this piece of literature was because language variation and dialect prejudices are major themes throughout the play. The students at North Marion High School demonstrate a wide variety of dialects, so I thought it would be interesting for them to read about social class distinctions based on linguistic differences.

Upon completing the introductory language unit, the students were asked to choose a role to play. They were, for the most part, eager to read and showed enthusiasm on the first day. However, as the play continued the students became less eager and more monotonous. At this point, I began to reevaluate my teaching methods in order to provide the most beneficial learning experience for all of my seniors. I decided that by modeling the way to read the script the students would be more likely to regain confidence and enthusiasm. I read the words of several main characters in the play in an authentic manner so that the students would clearly understand my expectations for their performances. I noticed a slight difference in the students' tones afterwards, but they began to drift off again towards the end.

Teaching a play as a piece of literature has produced some challenges, especially when it comes to visualizing the performance while reading. This particular play also has a very anticlimactic ending, so the students were a bit disappointed. In the future, I would like to have my students practice their parts prior to reading with the class. I think this would make the play more interesting and entertaining for both the readers and audience/listeners. I would also like to make the unit more student-centered by allowing some Socratic discussion among the students so that they evaluate the text on their own.

Research While I Research

This week, I was extremely busy with grading research papers. The seniors finished their micro-research on Wednesday and the juniors are just beginning their junior paper. It has been a bit chaotic to say the least. Teaching the research was not too much trouble, considering I have spent three years with action research. However, two obstacles I have faced are keeping up with all the components (note cards, bib cards, rough draft, final copy) and grading.
My host teacher developed a rubric and checklist for the senior paper, so initially I felt comfortable with grading. I went through the paper, made my check-marks, and offered suggestions for improvement. However, this sense of confidence only lasted about two hours. After seeing the same mistakes over and over, I became frustrated with my students, which is something that I try to avoid. With each paper I became more selective and picky than with the previous submission. I was getting overwhelmed, so I decided to stop what I was doing and focus on something else. After taking a break for food and a nap, I sat down to begin grading. This time I had a clearer head. I was not caught up with the mistakes of every other person in the class, but I was able to grade the individual student.
Grading, especially in the English/Language Arts class, can sometimes be overwhelming. In reading essays and papers, often times words and ideas can seem repetitive, but it is important to grade every piece of work with a clear head. Hopefully, as I work on grading junior research over Thanksgiving I will feel better prepared, less weighed down, and more enthused in reading my students' work.

Dealing with Ambiguity

I read online this week that "a good teacher knows how to live with ambiguity". The first thought that came to mind was, "Well what does that mean?" Sometimes I will plan what I believe is a really exciting and engaging lesson and my students will leave the classroom more confused than when they arrived. Initially, I thought this meant I had not done my job. I was a terrible teacher and had missed my calling in life. Then I began to wonder, "Does confusion imply lack of learning?" My answer? No!
If my students are confused, they are at least thinking about the material. They are questioning concepts and playing with ideas in their head. My solution to confusion? Revisiting material. As my seniors have worked on their research papers, I have noticed that their idea of paraphrasing is simply selecting a few synonyms for words and restating the same information. When I explained to them that this was not paraphrasing, but plagiarism, they looked lost. I decided to set aside a day of class time to discuss paraphrasing in-depth. I showed my students specific examples of acceptable paraphrasing versus plagiarizing a passage. Then, each member of the class created their own paraphrased version of an article passage. Once we reviewed the material together, I could see the light-bulbs start to come on.
Part of accepting ambiguity is also understanding that some lessons, novels, poems, etc. may not affect the student today, but one day they might look back and truly appreciate the things they learned in a classroom. They might remember the words of one teacher who cared.

Classroom Management... (sigh)

Another week commences at North Marion, and what a week it has been! Monday was unlike anything I had experienced thus far. Not only was it a club day, which alters the regular schedule, but also there was a freshman assembly and memorial service for 9/11 in the gymnasium. We were informed of all of this last week; however, between Thursday and Monday the office sent out two revised schedules for the day. Initially, first period was planned to last an hour and fifty-minutes. My host teacher and I planned accordingly, providing a variety of assignments and even allowing for some free time and bathroom breaks. Unfortunately, we ended up staying in first period for over two hours and surprisingly, sitting in a classroom for two and a half hours with a group of anxious 11th graders isn't as exciting as it sounds. All joking aside, the students did work well for the time they were in there. All of the assignments given were completed and most of the students volunteered to share answers and responses for the activities. The remainder of the day was pretty crazy, too. Each class period was shortened to last 20-25 minutes, so not much could be done in regards to introducing new material. This wasn't too bad though, because the short block served as an introduction to Tuesdays lesson.
The rest of the week has gone pretty smoothly. My host teacher and I have begun to discuss different ways of managing the classroom. My two afternoon classes are extremely talkative and she has been helpful in giving me suggestions for bringing them back to the lesson and keeping them on task. For example, as opposed to saying, "Okay, I'll wait until you all finish talking to start" she suggested I directly state my expectations by saying something like, "When I begin speaking, you all stop!" This leaves no room for interpretation or misunderstanding.
Next week we will begin Senior Research. Wish me luck!

Making Connections

After a long and rainy four-day weekend it was back to school. This was my first week of full-time instruction for all five classes: three senior, two junior. On Tuesday morning I was nervous, excited, exhausted, and energized, all at the same time. I felt comfortable with my students from day one, mostly because I have already worked with them during either tutor or participant year. However, the pressure of establishing a stance of authority, while also developing a connection with them began to sink in quickly.

The first thing I did was filled the students in on my rules for the semester and told them I would be taking over full-time instruction until December 9th. I typed and distributed a parent letter which introduced myself, included my email, and established some communication methods for the students' parents and me. I had already worked diligently each day to memorize my students' names, so I was able to call on each person individually without looking at a class roster or seating chart. I could tell my students were more comfortable with me because I had taken the time to do this.

Since the beginning of the school year, I have taken the time to stand outside the door between classes to greet my students and speak to them in the hall. Initially, a few students were not very open and responded quietly, but now they have come to expect my welcome and they will often talk to me before and after class. This has helped me become more comfortable working with them and I am sure that it has done the same for my students.

Although I have been busy this week with grading papers, creating PowerPoints, catching students up on makeup work, organizing lesson plans, collecting consent forms, etc., I have really tried to make it a point to develop a positive rapport with each of my classes. In addition to the points previously discussed (greeting students, learning names) I have also tried to emphasize active learning as opposed to discussion, smile a lot, and incorporate jokes every now and then. I verbally praise my students when they have done a nice job and always compliment them on days that they work hard and quietly. During our daily warm-ups, I respond to the writing prompts and quote interpretations with my students, which is something that will connect directly with my action research.

As for the rest of the weekend, I will try and prepare myself for the crazy week ahead! We have club day on Monday, along with an activity in the auditorium to remember the events of 9/11. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be packed full of activities so that we can stay on track and Friday is an early dismissal. Let's hope I can keep everything together!

This week in my PDS, I learned about making changes. I had planned on teaching grammar to my juniors at the beginning of the week, then moving on to the introductory section of the literature book. We would talk about the foundations of America, while focusing on Puritan and Native American Literature. I had planned for this introduction to take about two weeks, after which we would move on to discussing the Crucible by Arthur Miller.
Everything was going according to plan until my host teacher received word from the office that the juniors would have to complete their research paper by the end of first semester. My host teacher informed me that I had seventeen days to finish The Crucible. This changed my plans drastically. Instead of spending up to a month on the text, I would only have a few short weeks to fit in all of the activities I had planned to do.
Thank goodness my host teacher was so helpful. She gave me all sorts of unit materials she had used in the past, mapped out a day-by-day schedule, and helped me rearrange my lesson plans so that I could time everything to work out. Although I will have to condense much of the information, I have confidence that I will be able to fit in everything that is necessary. On to another week!

And so it begins...

The end of the first full-week of school is here and I must say, it is welcomed. Although I have very much enjoyed my students, all I'm thinking is, "I need a nap!"

The week started out well with my students and host teacher. The 11th and 12th graders worked on an introductory essay which helped my host teacher and I get to know a little bit about them. It was also nice to get an early look at their writing skills. After hours (Yikes) of grading we were able to come up with a starting point for teaching editing and grammar.

I was nervous about working with seniors, but I must say that I am really enjoying it. They're a fun group of kids, but they're also very respectful and hard-working.

I have one 11th grade student whom I am concerned about. He puts his head down as soon as he enters the classroom and he refuses to do any work. I've been warned not to address him about this in class because he will retaliate. I decided to write a note and place it in his grammar book for him to find. That might be a challenge considering he never opens it, but hopefully it will help out a bit.

I already took over full-time instruction for the juniors, but I will be waiting a week or so to take on the senior classes. I just want to make sure that I am 100% in the swing of things before I begin, that way I don't become too overwhelmed.

So far I really am enjoying myself. My host teacher is wonderful and the staff has been very helpful. I'm looking forward to another week of grading papers and learning names, (hopefully without the earthquake)!

Practicum Plan

The practicum plan was a helpful tool at the beginning of the semester. It was nice to sit down and organize all of my assignments into one large list. I usually do something like this on my own by writing all of my assignments in a planner, but the practicum plan was different because it was something that my teacher and I could look at together. In theory, the practicum plan was a nice idea for the participants. That being said, once I completed the practicum plan I did not use it. I used my checklist and syllabi to keep track of assignments. There is a lot of paperwork required to fill out and the practicum plan was just overlooked.

Characteristic 3 - We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching.

This particular characteristic, one of ethical and moral enterprise, was initially difficult for me reflect on. However, I had not realized how regularly teachers, including myself, implement this into their classroom. Throughout the semester I have been teaching the young adult fiction novel, Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This story focuses on an African-American family during the 1930s. The children are treated poorly by their community, teachers, and peers. While teaching this piece of literature I have made it a point to remind the students that everyone is equal. We should treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, culture, religion, gender, etc. The students have participated in class discussions in which they discuss the issues of segregation and racism in the United States. For an artifact for my portfolio, I would include a lesson plan from this novel in which the students discussed the moral and ethical issues and completed an activity related to the discussion and the issues in the novel.

Characteristic 2 - We believe that the novice teacher should be an effective communicator.
I truly believe that communication plays one of the most major roles in the education system. In order to manage a classroom successfully and effectively, it is important the parents, students, and teachers are in constant communication with each other. Often times, parents only hear from teachers (and vice versa) when there is a problem. There is rarely communication for any positive reason. In my classroom I plan to set up a journal for the students which they fill out each week. They can reflect on what they've learned, pick out what they liked/did not like, or ask any questions about something they were unsure of. It would also be nice to set up a student-centered blog for similar purposes. As a pre-service teacher I have already sent out a welcome letter to the parents of my students to introduce myself and provide them with a way of communicating with me. I communicate with my host teacher regularly and discuss lesson ideas and teaching strategies with fellow Benedum participants on a weekly basis. For my portfolio I could include excerpts from the student journals (with their permission). This would include both the student comments and my responses and/or questions to them.

Practicum Plans & Progress

First of all, this semester has been wonderful. I really enjoy working with my students and my host teacher has been extremely helpful. She allows me to work with the students every single day; it has truly been a learning experience!

One of my learning goals is to initiate activities more effectively and efficiently in the classroom. I have implemented this learning goal by introducing and completing the daily grammar warm-ups and writing into the day with the students since my second day in the school. Initially, I struggled to get the students settled in as they entered the classroom, but gradually (with the help of my teacher) I've learned ways to keep the class on task and ensure that they begin working as soon as class begins.

Another learning goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to utilize various instruction methods in the classroom. In addition to regularly practicing co-teaching strategies like one-teach, one assist and supportive co-teaching, I also planned and completed a lesson using stations. The students practiced revising and editing in one station, using transitions in the next, and finally completed silent reading in their third station. The lesson went really well and it was really interesting to practice a different style of teaching, especially with the help of another teacher in the classroom. I've certainly grown more comfortable in my ability to use different methods/strategies for instruction.

I have made great progress in completing the activities on my practicum plan. My host teacher and I regularly review the required assignments, and because I get to work with the students every day that I am there, it seems that most of the assignments/requirements just fall into place. Although there are some assignments I still have to complete, (for example, the video assignment), I feel confident in my development thus far as a participant at Suncrest Middle School.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

Characteristic number eight is the belief that the novice teacher should be a reflective practitioner. Throughout my experience in the Benedum Collaborative program at West Virginia University, I have used several modes of reflection. Although I regularly reflect on my lesson plans, my most helpful and perhaps most connected to 21st century learning would be the use of our online blogs. Although these postings are not made very often, as a whole they show great improvements I have made as a teacher. As I look back now, I am able to answer some of the questions I once had and keep track of my growth as a pre-service teacher.

Characteristic number ten is the belief that the novice teacher should be liberally educated. In one of my curriculum and instruction courses we were required to write a philosophy of literature instruction. There were certain criteria to be met, but mostly we discussed various strategies that we would use and ways in which we feel literature should be taught. In this particular piece, I discuss my ideas for promoting diversity and encouraging technology use with literature. I also mention that each class should be personalized to fit the students' interests, as opposed to what the teacher is most comfortable with.