Tonight is the penultimate class and I hope that we can produce some awesome ethnographies by the end of the class period. As usual, there is some small glitch in our schedule for next week (click here and press play). I received emails from both Blake and Byron notifying me of the credentialing meeting next week from 4:30-5:30. I have emailed to see if they can come to our class this evening, but I haven't heard back yet. I hope to have a plan by the time class starts this evening. . .or we will have to "Improvise and Overcome!"
Anyway, I noticed that a few of you have already posted some responses to the classroom management/discipline survey. I have put a link to the results page on the blog. Ensure you can get in a couple of observations by the end of the week.
I have also been looking at your blogs. Most of you are caught up with the reading reflections; however, there are still a few who need to complete some more.
Tonight we will watch some of the video we didn't make it to last week, and then we will work on the ethnographies. We will also discuss our plans for next week and beyond. You should re-familiarize yourself with the chapter on classroom management from the Teaching in Secondary Schools text (ch 9)
Reading Reflection 5: I didn't give you the assignment last week as I knew everyone was probably working on their ethnographies. For this reflection, I want to to choose an article from this Rethinking School link (it is also tagged ed530 on my delicious page). There are some interesting articles revolving around educational issues that you might now find pertinent.
For the reflection: Put the article name in the Title (Example: RR5: Creating Democratic Schools). Tell which article you chose and why. Give a brief analysis of the article and explain how you could use this information in your present or your future! Also, read at least three other peers' reflections and leave them a thoughtful comment.
This week's Question: Discuss one thing that has stood out to you in the classes you have been observing. . .this could be about the teacher, students, or the class in general.
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What stood out to me in the class I observed yesterday was how 50% of the class was totally focused and attentive, and the other 50% was completely out of control. The kids who were paying attention were so patient, and sat quietly 5 minutes into lunch.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I noticed that my teacher likes to just put a sample problem up the on the board and asks the students to do a long worksheet on their own. She doesn't understand why the students do not get the material.
ReplyDeleteThere is always one student in each one of the classes that has to ask the obvious question that we just said an the whole class will yell back "He/She just said that!" I think it's interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have done my observations I have noticed that there is a teacher who goes by his first name with the students. It seems so odd, but the students really seem to like it. I am not sure how admin. feels about it.
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out to me when observing last week was how many students were listening to their ipods in class. Not sure if the teacher allows them to do that, or he was just oblivious.
ReplyDeleteDon't want to name schools, even though we all know where each other is, but I am surprised that this school is lecture only. they try to do "group" stuff, but the teacher is the focus all the time. I haven't seen one student go to the board and work a problem out so everyone can see how they attacked the problem. Even when a homework question is asked the teacher just starts going through the "correct" procedure rather than inviting this to be a time of discussion with peers. I don't get it and I hope they don't get mad at me when I start doing it in two weeks.
ReplyDeleteChris just reminded me of an interesting thing I noticed with one of my cooperating teachers. When I first started doing observations in his room, I noticed a routine: he gave the students warm-ups, had them go write them on the board, he'd explain the problems and the solutions, and then he'd start lecturing about topic of the day. While most of what he does follows the same routine, he no longer has students go up to the board to put up their solutions. It made me sad to see this happen.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has stood out to me is the challenge of implementing projects while monitoring the students learning. Many of the projects take two weeks and cover a topic that can be covered in two days. However, the students will remember the topic, tough debate.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has stood out to me is the cooperation and control my cooperative teacher has with the students. The classes that I have observed have been on task and engaged with no student doing their own thing. I have observed each of his classes at least six time and each time has been the same.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has stood out to me has been the School Success class teacher aides. They are like the teachers, they walk around and keep the kids on task and make sure they are doing their work. They seem to have a great peer system going on in there
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has stood out to me is the student work that is in their journals. The illustrations the students do and activities they complete are well done and better than any text. The expectations are high and the students answer the call. Incredible work....
ReplyDeleteIn one class that I was observing, the students were out of control. They do everything but their work: scribble on their classwork, listen to their iPods, talk, cell phone, etc. The teacher proceeds to talk over them. Also, there are no rules or class expectations posted anywhere. These kids are in the middle grades, and I think that they need more guidance than that.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really stands out to me are the use of cell phones in class. Students are constantly texting or listening to music. The funny thing is they think that they are the only ones who can hear their phones vibrating and that no one will notice what they are doing with both hands in their backpack which is sitting on their desk. I have even seen a student talking on her cell phone during class time!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stands out in my math class is the teacher doesn't allow students to talk to each other in class. There is no such thing as group work or helping your neighbor. You either wait for the teacher to get around to you and 20 other students, or sit there lost.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stands out to me is that the students I have are really happy that they have a student teacher. Most of the students that I had last semester were kind of resentful that they had a student teacher.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that has stood out to me is that amount of teachers who let their students use ipods during class, especially when the teach is giving instructions or lecturing. It seems to me that ipods really distract the students and they are not completely "present" with their learning!
ReplyDeleteThe chaos in some of the classes. There are teachers out there that just don't give a shit. Not to be vulgar, but its true. I am thinking of one guy in particular. There is no reason for him to be a teacher. Its insane, and I'm sure he's making a pretty fair amount of $$ since he is older than dirt itself and has been teaching for 20 odd years. Tenure...I don't know about that...
ReplyDeleteI just think it's crazy how teachers can lead their lives in such chaos. As a teacher, you have a lot of stuff on your plate, yes, but to make your job easier, get organized! From what I see, most teachers are cluttered messes. I mean I understand if you haven't had time to organize for a few days, but I am talking about a whole semester's worth of 'stuff' just piling up all over the place. If you took half of the time you spend complaining on cleaning up and organizing your live you would have twice as much time to complain. (Think about it)
ReplyDeleteHow easily it is for students to become distracted and to forget to leave comments to their teacher's questions. There is so much going on in today's world that people miss steps all the time. Sometimes I think I'm actually flying.
ReplyDeleteI am consistently wondering how to really get my students to engage when the culture at the school is definitely a shuffle. Even when activities planned by teachers seem really cool and well thought out, it amazes me that it remains to be social hour for many of the students. I do not mean to sound so down on the kids but I wonder where this comes from and is to be accepted.
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