Parent Involvement

What part do parents pay in their children’s education? How can you enlist their help?

How would you handle making a difficult phone call to a parent?

 I think that it's so very important for parents to be involved in a student's education. When students see that parents take it seriously they are more motivated and encouraged to take it seriously too. And, on the flip side, when parents don't get  involved, students don't think it's valuable to their lives. I think it's important for parents to know their students' grades. It is important for parents to keep their students accountable to do homework at home and check in on their behavior and academic progress in class.

I have a great set of parents that always ask for their students grade (via e-mail) and ask what he can and cannot make up. It's helped the student see how important the work is and its provided accountability at home.

I have also experience the horrible version of the "call home." I called a parent when I saw that her student had cheated on a project. They had copied it word for word from each other (whoever copied whoever). I told her that I was letting her know so that when he came home with a 0 on his grade report she would know why he had this. She proceeded to yell at me and tell me that I hadn't actually caught them cheating because I didn't see them copied it from each other. And I must be out to get him and I don't teach well enough for her student to have understood the material if he has to copy it. She said she was going to call the school counselor (whom she had just talked to the previous week because her student had continuously been sent to the dean's office by my master teacher.) In this case I told the mother, "ok. Feel free to contact the counselor and talk to (student's name). Bye." I just tried my hardest not to get emotion about it while I was still on the phone. Staying stable and showing her that she wasn't able to "get me" helped calm her down enough to say bye.

Sometime parent involvement is easy and sometimes it's hard (for teachers) but I think it's always worth trying.

Creativity and Individuality

How do the assignments you give offer students the opportunity to express their creativity and individuality?

 As an English teacher, one of my major PURPOSES is to cultivate individuality and creativity! I express this to my students very clearly. "You need to know how to read and write so that you can express your own opinions about those topics that have created global, timeless conversation!" Without knowing how the express themselves, students (humans!) can get themselves into deep trouble and live very mundane, shallow live. We can go on believing falsehood in religion that have been told to us by corrupt leaders, we can live under a government without ever having the credibility to write change into our system, we can "tend our flock" without any deeper thought! It is vital that students move on from my class knowing how to write their opinions with respect and credibility or not move on at all. I want my students to know that they are not taking this English class because we want to keep them busy for this hour, but because we are aiming to equip them with skills that may defend their rights, give them credibility, allow them to enjoy the conversations that span geography and time! In all of my writing and reading assignment I challenge my students to develop their own opinions and learn how to support them.

Just Too Much

I feel so overwhelmed. I feel like I should be excited for the end of the school year, but in reality I'm afraid of it. I can't believe that all of this stuff has to be done in the next month. I need to:

1. finish my TPA 4 (so much work!),
2. keep up with two classes' discussion boards each week, 
3. blog (which isn't too bad) for TEP588, 
4. do 2 more 3-4 page reading reflections for Ed. Psych., 
5. complete the CIM 6 for TEP588, 
6. do the motivation project for Ed. Psych., 
7. write lesson plans for TEP588 and mentor visits, 
8. answer case study questions for TEP588,
9. read Palmer and Wong books, 
10. do a law presentation for TEP588, 
11. do a Faith Integration Project for TEP588,
12. do a "teacher action plan" for Ed. Psych.,

All while continuously:

1. planning lessons and curriculum for the classroom
2. teaching in the classroom
3. grading student work
4. communicating with parents (which I've been doing a lot of)
5. babysitting about 4 hours Mon. & Wed. nights
6. attending class on Thurs. nights
7. being a wife
8. volunteering in the youth group at church

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

All while knowing that I don't have a teaching job for the fall, and I have to go back to working at Barnes and Noble for the summer (I was even laid off of the babysitting job because the mother quit her job).

I don't quite know how I'm going to get through this. I am trying really hard but I feel like there are literally not enough hours in the day and I am feeling depressed and hopeless without any time for myself.

Team Work and Varied Abilities

Are there any strategies that you use to encourage teamwork among your students?

 Currently, the students are seated in groups of four. They have been assigned this group as their team for a large board game we are playing as we read Lord of the Flies. Each student takes a reading quiz for each chapter and then their scores are averaged to make a team score. If a team scores 80% or higher, they receive a FATE card. The fate card tells them how/when they can move around the game board (which is a large poster on the back wall). Fate cards say things like, "There was a discussion on the island about what makes a good leader. If your team can list 5 qualities of a good leader, move forward one." Together teams have to discuss their fate task or make decisions together to determine how they move around the board. Some of the other assignments that we have worked on throughout the book have allowed the teams to work cooperatively to create an overview of the plot, act out a scene from the book, and talk more deeply about human nature. Simply having the seats arranged in this way has encouraged students to work together (sometime a good thing, and sometime a slight distraction). 

What ways are you adopting to instruct students who have varying abilities?

 I think differentiation is an area I really struggle with. I think I do really simple things, like walking around and asking students with special needs if they are understanding or how I can help them, but I don't have any major strategies for helping each and every one of the varied abilities in my classroom. I just try to interact with each individual as much as possible and check for understanding whenever I can.

Tardy Policy & Recognition

If a student is consistently late to your class, how would you handle the situation?

I've had one student that is consistently late to class. Thankfully the school I am student teaching at has a policy for tardies. When students are tardy too many times they are required to serve “hours” in after-school or Saturday sessions. I mentioned to this student that I've noticed he's late to class almost everyday. I gave him the opportunity to share with me why he is always late. He said he's usually talking with another teacher or trying to finish work. I explained to him that he's missing out of opening instructions when he is late. Lately he has tried harder to be on time. Whenever he gets their on time, he announces it to me and whenever he's late he apologizes and gets right to work. I think after that conversation he realized that I noticed and was disappointed. Now, I think, he is trying not to disappoint me by making effort to be on time. I think conversations like this really impact students.

When I have my own class, I want to implement a routine for tardies. When students walk in late I want them to “sign in” on the tardy log. (includes their name, date, minutes late) If they have a pass I want them to put it into the sleeve of the binder that holds the tardy log. If they have more than one tardy in a week I will notify their parents. This sounds strict, but I want my students to know that I value the time that they spend in our classroom. I want them to take the time seriously (because I do, and I respect the time they invest here).

How do you give your students recognition? Do you think a student can have too much recognition?

I like the idea of posting “good work” all around the classroom walls. Even the work of the student that has recently improved, I staple to the walls. Students pay attentions to what is on the walls and often ask, “Who did this one?” I also make conscious effort to compliment students who answer questions correctly during class discussions. I've even told a few of my students who are failing in class, “Lately I've been really impressed by your answers! You've really helped the class out by participating!”

I'm not sure if any student can have too much recognition. I think that when a teach focuses on a few students and allows the “good students” to always answer, the other students are not benefiting from the student-teacher interaction as much as they ought. But I also believe that most students are told that they are “too young,” “bad,” and “irresponsible” more than they are complimented. Most of our students need to learn from us that we believe they CAN be responsible, well behaved, young adults.

Student Responder

Some schools pay lots of money for student responder gadgets. Here's a different angle!
http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps

Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps

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Socratic Seminar... Test 1 2 3... Test 1 2 3...

Today I tired a socratic seminar in my English class.

Context: We are currently reading Lord of the Flies as a class.

I printed a 1 page article that discusses Golding's allegorical response to Rousseau's philosophy about human nature. The article begins: "Rousseau views people as originally pure, but ultimately corrupted by society. On the other hand, Golding sees man as naturally evil. People, therefore, corrupt society." Yesterday I had the students prepare for today's socratic seminar by providing them with their own printed copy of the article and instructing them to:
1) writing 3 questions that they had about the reading or questions they began to think about when they read this article,
2) underline the things that Rousseau and Golding disagree about, and
3) circle the things that they (the individual reading the article) agree with.

We also laid down some ground rules for our conversation:

1. Speak one at a time - the student who holds the ball has permission to speak. All other students need to listen quietly and attentively.
2. No put downs EVER!
3. Be inclusive - throw the ball to students who have not yet had an opportunity to speak.
4. Refer to the text when you need it! This is not a test of your memory.
5. Do not participate if you are not prepared.
   
6. Do not stay confused! Ask for clarification!
7. Speak loudly for everyone to hear you.
8. Speak to your classmates, not just Mrs. U. This is a discussion between you and all of your classmates.
   

The opening question for today's seminar was: Are people pure and corrupted by society OR evil ad corrupt society?

Period 4's socratic seminar was slightly painful. I felt like students had a hard time keeping up a conversation. They had hard time expanding past "I think people are born evil." They continued to look to me to keep the conversation going and it was really hard for me to sit back and NOT keep it going. They wanted to talk to ME, rather than engage others. They also had a hard time saying, "I believe..." instead they would say, "so you said.... but what about..." in a fairly harsh tone. I wasn't exactly sure how to correct that or how many times to correct it. We had previously spoke about ground rule #2 and how to disagree politely, but the students may have let their emotions take them into the defensive mode. It made me think that when I do seminars in the future, I want to be better prepare to keep the conversation going with open ended questions that the students can continue to expand upon. 

Period 6 was better because my master teacher helped the conversation move. He chose students at random to share their opinion. Perhaps next time I will have each student (going around the circle) share and then leave some time for students to respond voluntarily.

After 4th period, one student spoke with me about another student's response. She said "____ said that making fun of people is not compassionate, but last year she made fun of me all the time." (we were discussing where compassion fits into these two views of human nature) During her comment, I could tell that some of the student were really thinking deeply about this whole topic and thinking about the context of their lives and how it relates. That was interesting to watch.

Classroom Rules

Do you have a set of rules in your classroom? How do you put them across to your class? How do you establish authority/ discipline? What do you do when a discipline problem arises?

This is an area that I'm excited to improve upon as I begin a school year in my own classroom. When I first came to my student teaching assignment I didn't establish rules and routines with students the way I really wanted to. The transition into the student teaching position was a little bit abrupt. I began teaching the second day of the second week and then never stopped. I took over the class without any type of team teaching or trading off or whatever. Because of this awkward transition I've continued to use most of my master-teacher's rules (some of which I like and some of which I hate).For example, it's been established that students shouldn't talk while I'm talking. Obviously this is good. Students are allowed to get up, grab a tissue, and walk outside to blow their nose without permission (as many times as they would like or "need to"). This does not work so well for me.

When I have my own classroom I'd like to begin the year by introducing each class period to "Mrs. U'Ren's Daily Routines." These "routines" would include:

• Everyday students will come prepared to learn. Each students should bring their own paper, pencil/pen, and other necessary tools.
• Everyday students will come into the class quietly and respectfully.
• Everyday students will be in their seats when the bell rings.
• On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays students will begin silent reading as soon as the bell rings for class to start. Each student will fill in their reading log before and after reading. Silent reading will last for 20 minutes.
• On Tuesdays and Thursday students will begin responding to the writing prompt as soon as the bell rings for class to start. Each writing prompt should be written in the student's notebook with a 2-4 paragraph response following. Students who are absent will be responsible for checking www.mrsuren.com for missing writing prompts. 
• Everyday students will write the homework assignments listed on the board into their weekly agendas.
• Everyday students will show respect to others (classmates and teacher) by listening quietly when others speak.
• Everyday students will be dismissed by the teacher. Everyone will stay seated throughout the class unless given permission to leave their seat.
• Whenever someone needs to use the restroom, they may request to use one of their 3 restroom passes. Each student will get 3 restroom passes for each 6 week grading period. If students do not use the restroom passes, they may turn them in for 2 points extra credit each at the time of the 6 week grading period.
• Whenever someone needs to sharpen their pencil or get up for materials they may ask the teacher. Permission will depend on how the class will be affected by this movement and noise. 

I thought of the idea of using the term "routine" because I find that in my student teaching experience there has been this "If Mrs. U'Ren doesn't mention it today, it must be okay!" philosophy floating around. I want to let the students know that I am not here to babysit them and their decisions, but I do have expectations and reasons behind those expectations. 

Forming a Forum

I’ve been really excited to run a online forum in my class. I’ve wanted to do it far longer than I’ve even been student teaching. Finally, the day came!

I first sent home a permission slip enlightening parents in the way of the online forum. I included information about the purpose of the forum, the rules that students must abide by (zero-tolerance), and the privacy that each student will be guaranteed. Each student was to take the permission slip home, have their parent sign that they are allowed to participate, and then sign it themselves, stating that they understood the terms of use and the zero-tolerance stance against misconduct. Most students brought them back the next day (as asked)!

The following day (gave students two days to complete the permission slip – enough time to get it done without providing enough time for them to forget about it), the class visited the library computer lab together. In the computer area each student was provided a step-by-step guide for setting up their account on MrsURen.com and beginning their blog. The majority walked through this step-by-step guide easily. When they came to the blogging portion of the forum, the students were given the following instructions:

Tell us about a the best book you have ever read!
Before you write about your book, think about these questions: What did you like about the book? What were the characters like? Where did you first hear about this book? What were the main events? When did you read it? (do not answer these questions as list, please write a paragraph about your book)

Some of their responses are great (and some are not really great). Some of them wrote really great reviews about their books and gained interest from other students. Because I get an email every time someone posts something and then need to approve it, I noticed that students were even getting online during Spring Break to write in the forum!

I felt successful when I saw that students we actually having fun writing and actually engaging in conversation with one another… about BOOKS!