floydas’ blog

I was pleasantly surprised with the interns' presentations today! They were well thought out and very interesting.  To be honest, I was not looking forward to watching two hours of presentations during what I thought would essentially be an "off day" (minus our classroom management presentations).  But I think that today was a day well spent.  Most of the interns had some REALLY good topics that really got me thinking.

Individual Comments:
Phillip/Media in Education: Phillip is an amazing speaker!

Amanda/Innocent convicts: Great presentation!

Cathrine/Lost Boys: Very unique and intriguing topic!

Christine/Language: Very informative presentation!

Matt/MTC Moto: Funny video!

Tish/Early Childhood Education: Addressed an important and often times overlooked topic!

Ashton/The American Dream: Good video!

One of the main things that I wanted to improve was pausing during the lesson to think of how to explain/phrase things.  I think that I accomplished that over this past month.  I was pleasantly surprised in how much I improved over this past month.  Last month I gave myself an 88%. This month I gave myself a 92%.

Things I did well:
*The student was really into my set.  In comparsion to June's lesson, my set even more engaging.  My lesson was over globalization and we took an in depth look at Starbucks and McDonalds around the world.  He loved it!!
*Even balance of lecture and independent work.  I have defiantly gotten better at not talking as much and letting the student do most of the work. In June, I was doing too much talking and not enough "teaching." I tended to guide the student too much. I think that I have fixed that problem.  In July, I did not talk that much and let the student discover most of the information. I only came back and clarified things for him.

Improvements:
*I am still having a time management problem.  I tend to over plan my lessons, but everyone keeps telling me that it's better to do that than to under-plan a lesson.  I think I had the same problem in June; but I am getting better at making adjustments throughout my lessons.

I was really pleased with my lesson and improvement since June. It is amazing how much you can improve as a teacher on such a short amount of time.  I hope to only continue to grow.

The first thing that I need to improve on is efficient lesson planning.  It takes me about 5 hours to plan one lesson!!  I stay up all night trying to create a "perfect lesson" -- if there is such a thing.  Although my extensive planning helps me prepare for class, it's taking its toll on me physically.  I am utterly exhausted and the school year will be 10x worse!! I'm not going to make it if I don't get better at planning lesson in less time.

Another thing that I need to work on is making concrete connections between the material I cover.  While I do this 95% of the time, this needs to be done ALL THE TIME!!

I think that I am improving with every lesson that I teach.  I am feeling more and more confident as the summer goes on.  My only apprehension is that I only have one student and I am VERY nervous about having a full class in the Fall.

The one major thing that I learned from Matt Alred is how to make the students do most of the work!!  This is a major challenge for me and I could still use some work on this, but I have gotten a lot better with sitting back and letting the students do all the work for me.  I still like to talk/discuss things with my student, but Matt has been challenging my fellow social studies teachers and I to create a classroom where the student is hard at work and not the teacher. Although I feel that this is not the best way to teach everything, it does help build the skills and confidence of the students and makes my job a lot easier!!

I really enjoyed watching myself teach!! I got to see myself from a different perspective.  Overall, I think that my lesson was well done--but there is always room for improvement.

Overall Impression of the Lesson:
Engaging Lesson: student read, constantly shared his opinion, found the answers to his own questions, used maps, analyzed primary source documents, and completed a creative activity at the end

Things I Did Well:
1. Constantly asked questions
2. Took advantage of teachable moments
3. Related lesson back to set throughout of the lesson
4. Taught behavior as well as academic material; i.e. "thank you" & "you're welcome"
5. Conversational tone

Suggestions for Improvement:
1. Make sure that I do not confuse Presidents!!
2. Could have gotten more out of the Venn Diagram activity comparing FRD to Eisenhower
3. I still talk too much
4. Need to pass out script and instructions for defense activity

I think that the best part of my lesson was the creative activity at the end where my student had to act as a lawyer in a blacklisting case.  In his client's defense he had to use concepts that we had previously discussed in class.  He did an excellent job and showed that he had really retained most of the material we had been teaching him!

The one thing that I will definitely work on is my pausing during the lesson as I think.  If I recall correctly, Mr. Amutah mentioned this to me before, but it was not until I watched myself on video that I noticed how awkward it is.  I tend to pause when I am thinking of how to phrase something or when I am thinking of an example.  Hopefully this month I can eradicate that habit!!
 

One of my greatest concerns about my 1st year of teaching is how effective will I be at classroom management.  I'm not sure how effective I will be because I only have one student in summer school.  I really think that I will have issues with asserting myself as an "authority figure" in the school.  That is not to say that I will not be a great teacher, too nice, a softy, or incite behavior problems.  I just think that I will come off as a young black female who really isn't all that different than my students.  I think that they will consider me more of a friend than a teacher and that can turn into a serious problem!!  Just think about it...we listen to the same music, watch the same movies, etc. I feel as though I was one of them not too long ago--sitting in HS, running my mouth and getting into trouble.  The only real difference between my students and myself is that I have already gone through what they are going through right now and that I have matured a lot over the last couple of years. But after reading Reluctant Disciplinarian, I have come to the conclusion that I HAVE to come up with a way to clearly differentiate myself from my students!!

In Reluctant Disciplinarian I learned several important things.  I learned that I have to follow the "real" teacher rules.  I have to: (1) dress professionally--I think I have this one down; (2) give a "rules" speech--I need to work on this one; (3) be decisive--I could use some more work on this; (4) use the textbook; and (5) be direct and to the point.  Of all these rules, I think that the 5th rule will be the most difficult for me to achieve.  I tend to get distracted easily.  I go off on tangents that are not explicitly related to the objectives for the day.  I need to get this under control because I am sure that my students will pickup on this and use it to their advantage.

An interesting thing that I picked up on while reading Reluctant Disciplinarian is that Rubinstein disagrees with some of the things that we have been learning in class.  For instance, he says that a teacher should not begin a parent phone call with something positive about the student.  He says that parents don't appreciate you wasting their time with "indirect euphemisms."  He also says that incremental consequences do not really work and that writing names on the board can become a visual joke for the students.  I thought that these points were particularly interesting because they directly contradict what we have been learning in class!

Overall, I thought that the book was very good.  It was both comical and informative.  It shed some light on the things that people assume teachers know.  I would recommend this book to even the best of teachers.

I have had the honor of learning from and teaching with three of the most phenomenal 2nd-year teachers in MTC.  These fabulous educators are: Mr. Robert Bland, Mr. Chimaobi Amutah, and Ms. Molly Goldwasser.  They have taught me so much over the past few weeks that words can only begin to describe my gratitude.  They have inspired me to be the best teacher I can possibly be and have gone far and beyond their duties in assisting me with my "ineffective" lesson planning. I sincerely appreciate all that they have done for me and my fellow 1st-year social studies teachers.  They have created an environment where I feel comfortable teaching and where I am not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. They have truly inspired me to bring, in the words of Ms. G, "my A game!"

With that said, this week's assignment is to list three teaching related strategies and/or tips that I have learned from the second-years.  So here it is:

Ms. Goldwasser has taught me what to wear and what not to wear--hence the shoes! She also has taught me that enthusiasm is key!

Mr. Bland has taught me how to come up with engaging/interactive activities; in addition to how to be a grand story-teller!

Mr. Amutah has taught me how to get a student to really think and how to constantly smile/laugh!:)

These are just a few of the things that I have learned from my 2nd-years.  As I tell them nearly everyday..."I'm just trying to be like you!"

    We were supposed to experiment with different questioning strategies for this week's blog.  We could either: (1) pass out notecards for the students to write down any questions that they may have and answer them the next class, (2) cold-call on students using sticks/name-cards, (3) ask students to discuss their answers to complex questions with a classmates, (4) ask a lower-level question and follow that question up with two higher-level thinking questions, or (5)  use one of the Four S's as alternatives to asking questions.
    I decided to use the Four S: SIGNALS; which is using gestures or brief utterances to refrain from taking control of the discourse.  Since I only have one student and we tend to discuss things a lot in my classroom, I thought that allowing my student to just talk and not taking over the discussion would be interesting.  In our discussion on the 1929 Stock Market crash, I asked him how he would feel if he lost everything in an instant.  He responded by saying that he would be angry and devastated.  I then explained to him all the lead up to that event.  We talked about people buying stock or margin and be speculators.  We talked about the banks giving out loans to people and not having enough money to give people after the stock market crashed.  In our discussion afterword, I asked my student how he would fell if he went to the bank to withdraw some money and the bank told him that they did not have any of his money.  He started telling me how he would basically lose his mind.  After he said this, I just stood there and said "mmm..."  He looked at me for a few seconds, waiting for me to talk but I didn't.  He responded by just continuing to talk and basically explain why he would feel this why in the context of the day's lesson.  He basically reviewed all the material we had learned that lesson without me saying a single word.  I was sooooo happy!!
    I think that this alternative questioning technique is great, but it may will only work for really engaging material.  Additionally, the class has to be genuinely interested in what you are discussing.  If they are not, this could potentially be a disaster.  It could also be discouraging if you say "mmm" in a negative/quizzical tone.  For instance, if you respond to a students comments with a questioning "mmm," they could interpret this as you saying that they are wrong; and they may shutdown.  But if you use the right tone and encourage your students to get involved in the conversation,  Signals can be a great way for you to assess your lesson and get your students thinking.
     I really liked this technique and I plan on using it more often to see if my student understands what's going on  in the class without my assistance.