Reflection - week of 2/14/05-2/18/05

Right on schedule, we hit the third week of the semester and I took over the class. I am the primary teacher for the 12th grade Creative Writing class. My first lesson was on Tuesday and I focused on characterization. I gave them a handout listing 34 traits that a student could think about when developing their character sketch, which I also assigned. The lesson was okay - not bad for a first lesson, but there was a lot I could improve on. First, I need to develop a structure that works for me - one that I can use often and that the students will learn to expect. My main problems and with the beginning and end because neither are clear enough.

Wednesday was a significant improvement. I tinkered with the structure a little and the lesson felt better. I still feel awkward about the beginning of class, mainly because we rarely have more than four students at that point. The rest come in late, making an obvious beginning hard to manage. The middle of the lesson was fun - the class completed sentences describing age through actions or various traits. They were reluctant to share however. I finally got a few to share a sentence that they wrote and I was happy about that - gotta start small.

On Thursday, Michael joined us. My main issues were the same as the day before - beginning was weak and because of timing, there was no closing. Michael and I discussed what to do about the introduction to the lesson and I suggested the idea I got from a colleague. Each day, the "do now" is a journal entry. Each student is required to write five pages a week. If they show up only two times, they can write 2 and a half pages a day. This way, the time isn't wasted, the students are writing, and I have something to help begin my lesson. I just have to clear this with Monica.

Friday was independent reading day, so not a lot happened. The students are required to read at least one book each marking period and do a project which Ms. Summers had assigned. Overall, I think the week went fairly well. It wasn't perfect, but if it had been, I wouldn't need to do student teaching. I've been able to narrow down a few things to work on - beginnings, endings, and overall lesson structure - so now I have a direction for my future lesson planning.

Reflections - Week of Feb. 7-11

There is a big difference this week compared to last week in terms of student behavior and responsiveness. Last week, it was as if Ms. Summers was a new teacher meeting her students for the first time. Since she was absent for much of the fall semester due to complications after surgery, her students had a number of substitute teachers who took over her classes. When she returned last Tuesday, she had to start from scratch. In many of her classes, the students adapted to the change well and there were few problems when Ms. Summers returned. Yet one class, the 9th grade ramp-up class, had a harder time. Several students in the class have discipline issues already and the inconsistency of teachers led to a lack of focus in the class. Last week was rough - the students seemed to be testing Ms. Summers and pushing the limits as much as they could. After seeing issues the first afternoon, Ms. Summers took a step back and reviewed the rules and procedures on the second day. The students did focus and little more, but still spoke out and came quite late.

On Friday, I wasn't around for the 7th period class (the second half of the ramp-up curriculum is split due to scheduling issues) but Ms. Summers went off on the students. While not a method she or I would normally encourage, the students seemed to respond to the verbal lashing and Monday was amazingly different. A large chunk of 5th period is spent on Independent Reading. On Monday, the students came in, and with only a little encouragement, got their notebooks and read quietly for almost the whole period. Tuesday was the same thing, and it has been ever since.

I'm not sure I would have gone about it the same way, but obviously something worked. Ms. Summers has much more control over all of her classes this week and it's been much more productive because of it. I know one of the problems I had last semester was that I had a hard time being tough on the students, but I have a feeling that part of that was the age of the students (they were 4th and 5th graders.) While I usually believe that if you have to yell at a class, you've already lost control, it can show that you are serious and lead to significant change. Another former supervisor yelled at her unruly class the day she returned from an absence and heard that they had behaved badly for the substitute. Consequently, the class was much better behaved when she was again absent. I think it depends on the class and how well the teacher knows that class. Ms. Summers knew that it was what her class needed, so it worked.

Student Teaching, Part II

Here we go again - student teaching time. I spent last semester in a fourth and fifth grade classroom, but I feel that this is the placement that will count, since I want to teach high school.

It's been a hectic process, though, to get my placement. I was originally assigned to Legacy School on 14th Street. I met with the AP and two teachers who were both excellent. I was excited about working at that school, but felt that I wasn't wanted. It turned out that they only wanted someone with a subbing license because the one teacher was pregnant and they wanted someone to take over for them. Therefore, Jerry got the placement and I was moved to Humanities High School.

Humanities is very interesting - it's undergoing some major transitions, so it's a little unorganized. Basically, the larger school is breaking down into four smaller schools - International School of Business for ESL and ELL, Math and Biomedical Sciences, Media and Writing, and the Arts and Music Academy. I was assigned to an English teacher in the AMA and I love it there. My cooperating teacher, Monica Summers, is in only her second year of teaching, but she seems to have an innate understanding of her students and how to make the classroom work best. I've learned a lot already from her, plus we get a long well, which is nice. We actually talk, which is more than at my placement this fall. Here's to a good semester!