Blog #5 Webinar 6

 Prompt #5: "Reflect on your use of assessment in the classroom. On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest, how would you rate yourself. What are your plans for becoming a "10" if you are not there already? How are you using assessment in the classroom to guide your instruction? Describe how assessment results are used to differentiate instruction within your class."

I would rate myself at about an 8 on my use of assessment. I regularly check my students understanding via walking around and checking the "you do" portion of the lecture. I also regularly ask questions to check for students understanding. I walk around and listen to conversations when asking them to reflect on what they know. I also give a lot of quizzes (3 per unit) in preparation for the unit exams. So, I think I do a lot for assessment. I have a slight problem figuring out how to use the assessments though lol. Problem is, how do you know when you need to go back and do more or when you can go forward? I mean its tempting to say "no student left behind!", but that seems kind of unrealistic given the amount of curriculum that you need to cover. So, do you move on when 50% get it? 70%? 80%? This is what I struggle with. Sure, when I see even my A students not getting something, its easy to say yeah they need more, but what if most of the kids are like "OK we get it", but some are like "HUH?" I am hoping to refine my use of assessment in the future. Getting to know the students needs individually, being able to anticipate the problem areas before hand (which comes from teaching more than one year), and tailoring instruction toward the problem areas before hand. It is difficult as a first year teacher to anticipate where the students are going to need the most help. Sometimes, I am basically wasting time going over stuff that is too basic, other times I fly through stuff that seems easy to me, but the students don't get.

Obviously, if the majority of students are lost, I will go over the material again. I will also use assessment on an individual basis by targeting the students that I know might me struggling during my 'walking around time'. I do need to develop a better understanding of when and where the students might need more help, but that I feel comes with time and practice. I taught a Computer Aided Design course when I got my Master's Degree. The first year, I struggled with figuring out what the students would need from me. By the third year however, I knew every question the students were going to ask, before they asked it. I could therefore, pre-attack those questions during instruction and focus on the topics the students most needed help on.

Blog #4 Webinar 5

Prompt #4:  “Reflect on your time in the classroom to this point.  How are you feeling emotionally, physically?  Do you feel that you are getting through to your most difficult students? What strategies are working?  What strategies are not?   What are your next steps with student engagement within your classroom?”

Emotionally, I am feeling pretty drained to tell the truth. I didn’t realize how little of being a teacher is actually teaching lol. I don’t really want to be a baby sitter to tell the truth. It really depresses me how little some of these kids care. Not when they don’t understand, but when they just honestly do not care that they are failing. It sucks. I am here to help and hopefully inspire. I really want to be able to engender a love of science and math, but I am finding that very difficult. I guess there are those few kids that you may be able to reach and that might make all the difference. It saddening that there are so many though that have no desire to be reached. I guess I am feeling sad mostly about my block class. These are the kids who need me the most, but their attitude in that class is abysmal. Hopefully, I can get some of them to pass at least. I can’t help but feel that it is my fault. Maybe with a more experienced teacher more of them might get the help they need. Physically I am doing well. I feel much better honestly. It is good for me to be moving around a lot. I spent a lot of time sitting at a desk in front of a computer J

No, I don’t feel that I am getting through to the most difficult students. These would be in my 5-6 block. They are quite frankly more than I am equipped to deal with right now. I have had a teacher’s aide that knows these kids tell me that I have been dealt a really tough hand. That these are the worst of the worst. I don’t feel that it is that bad honestly, but I still can’t get them to do or care about anything. It’s really hard. Nothing has worked long term. The only time I have gotten them to actually work was when I really come down hard on them. Like NO talking whatsoever. This seems to only last a day or two though, and then they are right back to not doing anything. I have tried and will keep trying various methods to keep them accountable for the time they spend in my class. It is hard though when they just don’t care if they are failing. They expect it. Hopefully, I can turn it around and get some of them to pass at least. I have tried to get them engaged, but they seem totally incapable of doing independent work or group work. I am going to be implementing a hopefully much more consistent discipline strategy this week. We will see how it goes.

Blog #3 Webinar 4

Prompt #3:  Regular Education - “What are you doing to meet the needs of your special education students?   If you do not have special education students, how are you meeting the needs of your low students?  Have you met with your school’s pre-referral group about these students?”

In my block class, where I have the most SPED students, I have various accommodations in place. They get extra time, not only on quizzes and tests, but with instruction and practice. I basically give them twice as much practice than my regular students. They also have extra time to take quizzes and tests. I essentially give them as much time as they need. I give them substantial review for all quizzes and tests as well. I try to give example problems that basically mirror the problems they will see on the assessments. I also give them open notes and open study guides for the assessments. One thing I do not do however, is modify the assessments. As far as I know, they will be responsible for the same EOCAs as all the other students. Therefore, I want to expose them to the same level of questions that my regular students get.

I have not met with any specific group about my SPED students. I have had a few IEP meetings and in general have been working with a couple colleagues concerning how to approach SPED instruction. There are a couple of math teachers who deal with a lot of SPED students. I try to reach out to them for advice as much as I can.

Blog #2 Webinar 3

Prompt #2:  In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key. That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what hasn't in the classroom…”  This year, what has worked and what hasn’t in your classroom.  What will you do differently?

 

I think the main thing that did not work for me this year, especially in my block class, was just being too inconsistent with classroom management. I am too nice at heart honestly. I don’t really want to be a strict disciplinarian. I would rather let stuff slide and hope it correct itself than make an example of the behavior right then and there. In retrospect, this is the main thing I need to focus on in the future. In my opinion, you must first establish a respectful environment that is conducive to learning before you can teach anything. I am planning on implementing a no nonsense three strike policy. Any infraction results in a strike. Two strikes and you my get your seat moved if it is possible. Three strikes and you are out of class. Also, I plan on keeping records of these infractions, so that I have ammunition if in the future I need to justify writing a referral or whatever.

 

What has worked for me a bit has been some of the engagement strategies I have tried. I did a stations exercise that I thought went very well, at least in my integrated classes. The students took to the group activities and seemed to work well together. Many of them were engaged in good conversations and were helping each other out, which was nice to see. I think in the future, I really want to plan out more of these types of activities. Hopefully, in the coming years, I might actually get more time to do so J