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.

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