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!