Use this space to reflect on classroom strengths/weakness; successes/failures; expected behaviors/shocking behaviors; etc. Also, if you have noticed a repetitive "something" existent in your teaching behavior...i.e. saying "like" excessively; wild hand movements...mention it here. What you are doing to fix these behavior "ticks" and/or how do the students react to them(did they notice it or did you?)?
My mentor teacher has given me several compliments regarding my ability to plan efficiently and create an organized outline for the class. His feedback also states that I have a positive personality and a strong sense of what fits my style. His suggestions are that I tighten up my classroom managment and become more strict so that I do not allow talkative students to distract students who wish to stay on task. He also suggested that I try to incooperate an intentional wrap-up activity to give closure to my lessons.
ReplyDeleteI have found that I feel very at ease with the students and I have easily transitioned into a very conversational tone in my instuction. At times I worry that my tone it too informal. I really enjoy interacting with the students, and they have surprised me in the way that they make me actually want to come to school in the morning. The students work really hard for me and I have had very few problems. I have about 2-3 students per class that will forget their homework, and they always bring it to me eventually for partial credit.
That being said, I have noticed that my tone with students is very similar to the tone that I would use with a friend. I find myself using several verbalized pauses such as "um" or "like" and I constantly use the phrase "you guys" which is something that Professor Knoeller has always advised us to avoid. I am partly okay with my lax tone because it makes me feel more genuine and less fake. On the other hand, I have started to struggle with some issues of students pushing me to see when I will push back. I have always been a border-line-push-over. I need to make more of an effort to keep my "teacher costume" on in the presence of my students. It is really tempting for me to be very friendly and lax since that is how I act outside of the classroom, but I am learning that it can be benificial for me to toughen up so that I do not become and enabler for students.
Another thing that I have had to adjust to is the "culture shock" of my new environment. There is unique culture of success, competition, and entitlement here that is hard for me to get used to. These kids seem very sheltered and unaware of whatelse is out there in the world. It is a very homogenous setting. I am currently trying to ween my students off of jolly ranchers since they feel entitled to a piece of candy for doing any small feet such as completing their assigned homework. I don't believe in giving out candy often, because it devalues intrinsic motivation and contributes to childhood obsesity and greed. The students are currently going through jolly rancher withdrawal.
I don’t see a problem talking conversationally with your students, as long as you still receive respectable feedback and reactions from the students. I talk to so many of the students and my classes like we are all friends but when need be I am very serious and make it a point to put my teacher face on. The kids have seen both enough to recognize when everything is cool and when they are not and I am not joking around anymore. I actually would have a hard time being completely formal with my students all the time. My students seem to respond better to the less informal tone I speak in and thus respond to my formal serous tone. It is a balance and I think it would be weird if a teacher never spoke in a lax tone, it would get monotonous and I would hate it, as I’m sure the students would also. You’ve got to show the kids your super serious side one time and stick with it and then the next time it gets to that level, the students will hopefully get the point. It’s a mutual respect kind of thing, I think.
DeleteAlex,
DeleteI am not surprised to hear that you are doing well and very comfortable with your students! You were always very natural when speaking in class and didn't seem to get nervous. I am now feeling comfortable speaking in class, but in the beginning I was nervous to speak to everyone. I agree with you that it is hard to stay so "formal" when speaking to your students and that it can sound fake. This is something that I struggle with as well. I am experiencing the same thing as you with the sense of entitlement here. We are currently working on papers, and since there are around 40 kids per class my mentor teacher and I both have been in the classroom so we can get to more students and help them with their papers. The other day we were walking around checking thesis' and after helping one student with her thesis I saw her in the question line and asked if she had a question, and she said that she just wanted to get the okay from Ms. Clark with her thesis lol! I totally get where you are coming from, and it has definitely taken some time to get used to, and in some cases has only made me more nervous because I am afraid that the students are going to freak out on me since they are extremely concerned about their grade. Thus far, they have been excellent and very respectful so we shall see!
Alex,
DeleteI noticed in your blog entry that your teacher suggested classroom management as something to work on, and after looking at some other entries I realized that it is something that is suggested for many of us. I think that because we are just starting out, we have not quite figured out what works and what doesn't work when it comes to classroom management and I was also given the same advice by my mentor teacher. I think that as we go through this experience, and the experience of teaching on our own over the next few years, we will be able to figure out our own classroom management styles. Being as inexperienced as we are, I think that it just doesn't come as naturally to us yet.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
DeleteI am slowing starting to take on more classes, and doing so have helped me realize a few of my strengths and weaknesses. I have found that I surprisingly don't have any trouble with being strict in the classroom and controlling classroom management. I am not saying I am perfect at it, but I am doing better than I thought. Classroom management was one of my big fears prior to going into student teaching. There are a few factors that have made classroom management easy. One is the school and the classes that I am teaching. I am at Zionsville High School right now, which a considered a wealthier area. Thus the students at my high school are a lot different than students I would have if I were actually teaching at a public school in Indianapolis. Another factor is that six of the seven classes are honors or AP. These kids want to learn and do well, and please their teacher. I have one 9th grade regular English class that I am teaching, and they too have been wonderful for me. They aren't as motivated as the honors students, but they still are very respectful.
ReplyDeleteOne of my problem areas is going through lesson plans too fast and feeling that I don't know enough. I get nervous when a class is dedicated as a discussion day, because I feel that I am going to run out of things to say, and don't know the material well enough to teach it as all of the novels I am teaching I have never read before. I make discussion notes, and am getting better at not flying through them, but it is still a challenge. The honors students are better at discussion, and making it a teacher/student discussion, whereas the regular 9th grade English class expects me to just talk the whole time while they either take notes or space out. They are slowly getting better as we had two days of discussion this week, and the second day they were better about actively participating in discussion.
I still need to become comfortable and confident in the classroom. My teacher is now leaving the classroom when I teach, which is helping me to become more comfortable in the classroom and not so uptight. I know that there is still room for me to become more comfortable in the classroom and let my personality show a little bit more, because right now I still feel like I am uptight and not really showing my personality. As to becoming confident in the classroom, I think that this will only happen as I teach more this semester and take on more classes, even though that is very scary to me.
I can really relate to Alex's last paragraph about students living in a little bubble and feeling entitlement. I was trying to explain satire the other day to a student and trying to give her modern examples. I said, "You know, Saturday Night Live, Family Guy, The Simpsons, etc." and she said that she hadn't seen any of those shows, because she isn't allowed to watch them. I realize that she is only a freshman, but that was very shocking to me. I have found that students here are psycho about their grades, mostly due to pressure from their parents and their high expectations. It is sad for me to see this at such a young age, but I realize that this comes with working at an "elite" school. Dealing with parents EVERY day is also part of working here. It is a double edge sword because it is good that the parents care about their child's grades, but it is to the point where they care too much. M goal is to also help the students relax in the classroom, and realize that there isn't always just "one" answer, and that the teacher is the source of all knowledge.
I have a thing with rushing also! Ha, when I go over it in my head and stuff I take my time and everything, but then I feel like when I get up and start talking I just speed up. I do this in normal conversation also, mostly when I am excited about something so that probably is why it has kind of sifted into my teaching. For your 9th grade class, do you do any small discussion? Or just whole class? Also, remind students that discussion is informal so not to be nervous about talking, if that’s the case.
DeleteAlso, it’s wild, after reading your and Alex’s blog, to think about how sheltered and ‘homogenous’ your guys’ classes are! Every class I have is a wild assortment of any and every kind of kid. I like that you are interested in showing your students what is beyond just their normal ‘bubble’. I think all students need to learn this just as much as the English curriculum! :~)
Sometimes I have trouble with rushing too. I get done with my lesson and there is still time left in the period and there are things that I want to go back and explain certain aspects of the project
Deletemore slowly.
I am glad that someone else can relate to the culture shock of the homogenous culture and sense of entitlement. It can be tricky to navigate. The good news is that each day I continue to be pleasantly surprised by how much fun I am able to have with the students. I love teaching way more than I thought I would going in to this semester.
So far my student teaching has been going well. I really like the school that I'm at and my students are AWESOME! I've been teaching for a few weeks now as my teacher just kind of threw me in from the get go. So far I can tell that I need to be more stern with the kids so that they take me serious and understand that I am an authority figure. They respect me a lot, which is good, but they talk all the time and I need them to know that they can't talk when I am instructing. I definitely have been working on this the past few lessons, with just telling them that they WILL NOT talk when I'm giving instruction. They also think that when I give them time to work on their poems that it is social talk time. I have made it clear that they need to be quietly working on their poems until it is time to share what they have written. A lot of the problem right now is just figuring out my classroom management methods and what kinds of things work for me and my personality, as well as with the students.
ReplyDeleteI have also noticed, or my mentor teacher has noticed, is that I say GOOD a lot. Either after a student answers a question or when I read one of my students poems I say good. WHich isn't a bad thing as I am giving good encouragement, but my teacher pointed it out to me and said to which it up a bit which awesome, or great, or nice. That is something that I am starting to become more aware of because I don't what to get stuck in a monotonous teaching strategy. Also I have noticed that when I teach I am so concerned about making sure the students get all the information that they need to for the lesson that it sounds like I am reading off a script. I say the same thing in the same order each class. I know it will change as i get more comfortable being up in front of the class all day everyday, but that is something that I have noticed and I've been trying to relax and just talk with the students instead of talking at the students.
My kids are awesome too! :~) I think it is good that you tell them they will not talk. Sometimes if I'm feeling feisty, I will be sarcastic and say something like "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know I was done talking?" or like "Oh, is that what we're doing now? Talking whenever we want?" It just kind of throws them off guard and gets them to quiet down quite quickly actually!
DeleteBre,
DeleteIt is so funny reading this, because I was thinking about what words I say for encouragement, and realized that I too only say good! I hadn't thought of it before, but I definitely need t try and switch it up with other encouraging words. I hope that your poetry unit has been going well for you! I am going to start a poetry unit after spring break and I am a little bit nervous about that. Just because I was never super into poems personally so I am going to be doing some major planning over spring break.
Mallory,
I like the suggestion of trying to catch them off guard if they are talking! I have one class in particular that are quite the talkers so I might have to try some of those lines:)
Bre,
DeleteI also have been having a few issues with some of my classes talking while I'm talking. Actually, when the principal came in to observe me that was the advice that he gave to me. He told me to be more captivating of their attention. I believe I do a good job of getting their attention, the problem is when I have to keep their attention. Honestly, one thing that works really well for me is just to stop talking and once they realize that you've stopped talking they generally bring their focus back to you. You could say something like, "If you waste my time, I will waste your time." We can stay here all day if you would like." There are so many different ways of dealing with these sorts of situations, it is just a matter of what works best for you and for the situation you are in. I find that classroom management and commanding attention has been the most difficult thing in my student teaching thus far.
When I have people talking when I am talking, I try to think of a funny way to remind them that it is an inappropriate time to be talking. This sometimes backfires though because once the entire class gets laughing they want to derail my lesson and keep laughing. This makes me feel more authentic, but I have to balance that with productivity to stay on track. My mentor teacher has a system where he puts a student's name on the board for talking when they aren't supposed to be talking. If they get two check marks next to their name, they get a detention. I do not really like this policy, but it is effective once a student has one check mark. However, some students just like to talk and talk and I do not feel that this warrants a detention. Talking doesn't bother me very much if it isn't distracting.
DeleteRICHA SAID: (part 1)
ReplyDeleteI think that my biggest strength is having confidence in front of the class. I believe I do a pretty good job of commanding the attention of the class without nervousness. I think that my confidence in the classroom is the reason that the students listen and do what I ask them to do. I spoke to my teacher once about the only other student teach that she has ever had and she told me that the biggest downfall for that person was that she couldn't command the attention of the class or deal with any classroom management problems because she was too timid. I am the complete opposite of timid. A weakness that I have is the lack of background knowledge I have. Even though I went through 4 years of college, I still feel like I don't know everything I need to know. Right now we are working on a black history month unit, and my teacher has 2 GIANT binders full of information and background information about African-American hero's and having to teach during this unit kind of terrifies me because I don't have the same background knowledge that she does. I have to rely on what she has given me and my own background knowledge and sometimes when a student asks me a question about something we are working on, I don't have the answer. I really hate not having all the answers and I know that I won't ever have all the answers but being put in a vulnerable place is not something I deal well with. I think my biggest problem with not having all of the answers is because it makes me seem less credible. The students already know I am not a real teacher, so that already takes away from my credibility, so when I don't have all the answers, I feel that it hurts my credibility more. I hate that.
I have had some pretty cool things happen with students that I never thought would warm up to me. I have a remedial class, which has students with many disabilities and behavioral problems. There are a certain few students in the class that were not very fond of me in the beginning. I was told that they don't do well with change but hearing them out in the hall talking about me confirmed that they didn't like me coming into their classroom.
I think that it’s important to be aware of the fact that we “don’t know everything [we] need to know”, and also keep in mind that neither does our mentor teacher or my students, for that matter. It is important for all student teachers and teachers to keep this in mind because it affects us inside and outside the classroom and it should not get us down. I have been presented with a handful of questions that I don’t know the response to and I just tell the student, “You know, I really don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll find out for you!” And I make it a point to find out the answer either right then or sometime that day and let the student know. I think showing students that you don’t know everything can almost be reassuring for them and kind of remind them “even Miss So-n-So doesn’t know everytthinngg”. I wouldn’t look at it as a negative vulnerability. If you can find the right answer for them that is close enough to perfect and having all the answers. All of my students have been totally okay with me not knowing and very gracious that I would take the time to find the answer for them, instead of, I guess, making them look it up themselves. Don’t hate it girl, you know more than you probably give yourself credit for! Plus, that’s why we’re in teaching to consistently and continually learn something new or something we forgot! (at least that’s how I look at it!)
DeleteRICHA SAID (part 2)
ReplyDelete...The first day that I taught that class on my own, Mrs. Streetman had a meeting to go to and left me alone to teach the rest of the classes. All of the students were to take the essay portion of a test that class period and I was walking around helping to answer questions that they had when I noticed one of my students sitting in front of a blank computer screen. I asked him why he wasn't answering any of the questions and he simply told me he didn't remember anything that had happened in the book (which I knew was not true). So finally, I sit down and try to help him recall what happened leading up to that point in the story. He again, says that he doesn't remember anything that happened in the book. He was obviously getting frustrated. He then blurted out, "I wish Mrs. Streetman was here!" The next thing that happened surprised me to my core. One of the girls that had been rather cold to me in the beginning of my time there, turned around and said, "If she was here, we would still be doing the same thing." Of all the people in the class, I was so surprised to see that she was defending me. In that moment I realized that the walls were slowly coming down and she was starting to trust me in their classroom. I realized that something was going on that day with Keegan, and that I should just let him be because pushing him would only make the situation worse. After talking to some other teachers who have him as a student, I find out that he had been that way in all of his classes that day. After talking to my teacher, she is surprised that some of the students are opening up to me the way that they are. There are many students she explains as "quiet" and "reserved" which have been very open and forthcoming with me. I am glad that I am able to make the students comfortable with me, and hopefully as time goes on I can break down even more of the walls.
Honestly, after hearing all the horror stories between teachers and their student teachers, I am surprised to be saying that I am working very well with my teacher. She is very intuitive about where I should be taking the reins and where she should still be leading the way. There are certain things that she knows I wouldn't be able to do because of the lack of background I have but slowly she is giving me more responsibility and more classroom time. I think that she is gauging my comfortableness very well and we have sat down and made a plan of exactly what I will be doing and what my responsibilities will be. I have very little to complain about when it comes to my teacher. The only thing that I have started to notice is that she told me she would make herself scarce when I am teaching my classes or portions of classes so that they would have to come to me and see me as their primary teacher, but lately she has been in the back of the class or at her desk so that when they have a question, they generally gravitate towards her. I understand that sometimes she needs to be there, but as long as she is there, they will always go to her with their questions, and that, again, takes away from my credibility. I am hoping that this doesn't become a problem, but only time will tell.
As far as the students still asking your mentor teacher questions, I would somehow start integrating that into your teaching. Like after you teach, make it a point to say something like "If you have any questions, please come as me and I'll be happy to answer or blah blah blah". I don't know if you already do this, but totally start emphasizing yourself when it comes to things, and just inconspicuously leave your teacher out of anything you mention. (just a thought)
DeleteOne of the main issues that I have noticed while in the classroom is the students who tend not to ask for help. In every class, there are going to be the students who understand the material and don’t need to ask questions and receive extra help, but then there are the students who DO actually need extra help but refrain from asking for whatever reason. In a bigger class size I can understand maybe being a little intimidated and/or embarrassed to ask a question about something that most other students understand, but all of our classes are small and surprisingly (for the most part :~] ) open and comfortable with each other. One of the aspects of my teaching that I try to remain completely aware, because of having more available individual time with kids, is double checking that students understand the material that I have taught and/or explained. A lot of times the way I explain things makes perfect sense in my head but when I put it into words or try to re-explain something, it doesn’t come out as planned. Because my classes have a handful of wary-question-asking students, I continue to confirm with students whether the material makes sense. I make a conscious effort to ask students on a regular basis “Does that make sense?” “Are you sure?” “Don’t lie” Normally, one of these questions will pull out a response from the students who do actually have a question.
ReplyDeleteOne of the luxuries of being in my school setting is the small class sizes. This allows PLENTY of opportunities to question student’s understanding and provide individual help. Incidentally, last week I had an unexpected behavior and response to the individual at least hour of help that I spent with a student. One of the students had not kept up with any work on his research project so when I was trying to probe his brain for ideas I received, what one may call, “negative feedback”. So, after an hour of remaining persistent and being told that he “hates people” and likes “sitting in his room with this lights off”, among many other odd things, he became distraught with me and left the room. The next day, we received an email from his mother apologizing for her son’s behavior and lack of participation and completion on school work; she also told us that she would be in the next day and the following to ensure that her son got back on track. It was very relieving and reassuring to see that email expressing the mother’s concern and involvement in her student’s school work.
Classroom management has also been an aspect that I feel comes pretty naturally for me. My mentor teacher and I get along SO well and have the same views and philosophies on nearly everything. Sometimes I think I may want to be more harsh on student's work and their grades than she, but I remind myself that she is more accustomed to the students and their abilities. I guess that is one thing that I need to be more aware of is differentiated instruction. At the same time, I am still having a hard time adjusting to that idea. I understand that all students have different ways of learning and everything, but should I not hold all students to the same standard?
ReplyDeleteI think that my presence in the classroom is respected and I have been very welcome since day one. It is so rewarding to have students stop in during passing period and ask me questions about an assignment and not immediately assume that only my mentor teacher can answer questions.
I really am having an AWESOME experience so far. :~)
That's really cool that classroom managment comes naturally for you, I can see you being good at that. :) For me, I can be very lenient to the point where I become an enabler and let students get away with too much
Delete