Today is 3 way interviews at our high school so we have a day to prep and get ready for upcoming lessons. I've been working on a unit on databases for IP 30, which is actually going to be a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how databases would be as I've hardly worked in Access before, but it's been fun figuring the software out.
I wanted to note that having a textbook to guide me in learning it myself and also in creating lesson plans has been paramount to feeling prepared and successful in teching. I experienced the same in teaching accounting. A good textbook provides a loose framework with which to get things going and also to note what needs to be taught. Of course, the Ministry's outcomes and indicators need to be checked to make sure the text that's being used meets the needs of the curriculum, but stepping into Rhonda's classroom with her having done that already makes it much easier for us!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Accounting 10 Final Day
Monday Reflection
Today I finished in Accounting 10. The students continued to work on their Reinforcement Activity and I walked around the classroom helping students who needed it. I noticed a few things about today. For one, my name was shortened from Ms. Heywood to just "Heywood". I take this as a sign of respect from the kids as I'm now in the ranking with "Haus", among others. I think I feel okay with this. I know this is a generational thing; my grandma, also a teacher, would have been appalled. If I, even in jest, call my dad by his first name, I get the eyebrow raise. But this generation wants to be respected and is less formal in its interactions with adults. I guess I feel like I was accepted, in just a few short days, but the students.
The other thing that was fun was that at the end of the class I showed them a few slides with pictures of my time overseas and tried to get them to guess the place the picture was taken. I think the kids liked that. I also thanked them for the fun 3 days getting to teach them. To that there were "awww"s and "you're leaving?". They were sad! It warmed my heart! So I reassured them I'd be here for the next week and a half.
Another observation I have from teaching is the pace. I am so surprised at how SLOW it is. In university it always seemed that the pace of teaching is so quick, so intense and it's so hard to keep up with what's happening, but I have observed something different. I think that might be because the students are given time to work on their assignments in class. While I knew this in my head, I'd forgotten about it since I've been in university, as my formal education, for 7 years. We do all our work independently on our own at home. But students in high school need to be allowed the time to work on assignments in class. I know there will be days when I have to plan and teach a lot; but there will be other days when students just need time to work and to catch up on things. I think this is a good thing for a teacher, too, because it allows him or her to have a bit of a "break" from the intensity of teaching as well. During those work periods there is still important relationship building, management and discipline things that happen.
Today I finished in Accounting 10. The students continued to work on their Reinforcement Activity and I walked around the classroom helping students who needed it. I noticed a few things about today. For one, my name was shortened from Ms. Heywood to just "Heywood". I take this as a sign of respect from the kids as I'm now in the ranking with "Haus", among others. I think I feel okay with this. I know this is a generational thing; my grandma, also a teacher, would have been appalled. If I, even in jest, call my dad by his first name, I get the eyebrow raise. But this generation wants to be respected and is less formal in its interactions with adults. I guess I feel like I was accepted, in just a few short days, but the students.
The other thing that was fun was that at the end of the class I showed them a few slides with pictures of my time overseas and tried to get them to guess the place the picture was taken. I think the kids liked that. I also thanked them for the fun 3 days getting to teach them. To that there were "awww"s and "you're leaving?". They were sad! It warmed my heart! So I reassured them I'd be here for the next week and a half.
Another observation I have from teaching is the pace. I am so surprised at how SLOW it is. In university it always seemed that the pace of teaching is so quick, so intense and it's so hard to keep up with what's happening, but I have observed something different. I think that might be because the students are given time to work on their assignments in class. While I knew this in my head, I'd forgotten about it since I've been in university, as my formal education, for 7 years. We do all our work independently on our own at home. But students in high school need to be allowed the time to work on assignments in class. I know there will be days when I have to plan and teach a lot; but there will be other days when students just need time to work and to catch up on things. I think this is a good thing for a teacher, too, because it allows him or her to have a bit of a "break" from the intensity of teaching as well. During those work periods there is still important relationship building, management and discipline things that happen.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday Reflection
i started today's lesson with another current events question, and then showed the students two videos about the potential careers of a CMA and CGA. there were some good questions from the students... and then next thing i knew, i was being interrogated about myself! it was great! they were asking what i was studying, how long, what i wanted to do, what being a business teacher meant. it was fun interaction with them. rhonda afterwards said that was great - they seemed to be really interested in finding out more about me.
i have to say at this point, rhonda has such awesome relationships with her students; walking into her classroom is great because it's a safe place where everyone is at ease. her students clearly respect her, they learn and though there can be talking at times, rhonda allows it because the students are still learning. what i am learning in this is that you have to pick your battles. rhonda is modelling that really well for us!
after the videos there were a few questions and then we returned to the reinforcement activity. there were more questions about posting and what expense accounts to put things into. it was fun to walk around the room and interact with some of the students as well.
there was a group at the back of the class that were pretty chatty. i let it go, but checked in on them periodically. they were getting work done, so i decided to just leave them. afterwards, talking to rhonda, she said she'd do the same. it's just a really chatty group (and there are 32 of them!) so again, you pick your battles - especially if they're getting work done!
i closed with reminding students that they only have one more class period to work on their assignment before it's due. monday is my last class teaching them!
i have to say at this point, rhonda has such awesome relationships with her students; walking into her classroom is great because it's a safe place where everyone is at ease. her students clearly respect her, they learn and though there can be talking at times, rhonda allows it because the students are still learning. what i am learning in this is that you have to pick your battles. rhonda is modelling that really well for us!
after the videos there were a few questions and then we returned to the reinforcement activity. there were more questions about posting and what expense accounts to put things into. it was fun to walk around the room and interact with some of the students as well.
there was a group at the back of the class that were pretty chatty. i let it go, but checked in on them periodically. they were getting work done, so i decided to just leave them. afterwards, talking to rhonda, she said she'd do the same. it's just a really chatty group (and there are 32 of them!) so again, you pick your battles - especially if they're getting work done!
i closed with reminding students that they only have one more class period to work on their assignment before it's due. monday is my last class teaching them!
Thursday Reflection
today began my official foray into teaching. i'm taking on the grade 10 accounting class for 3-4 periods. the content is chapters 1-6 of the century 21 accounting text book, so i taught a reinforcement activity summarizing all the student learning so far. although accounting has been out of my comfort zone, i realized the reason for that is that i haven't felt very comfortable with the material. knowing i was going to be instructing on it, i had to learn it well! and once i did that i discovered something: i REALLY like accounting! fancy that, eh?? so i began the lesson excited about the material and also about finally getting to teach.
i introduced myself, wrote the tasks on the board that we'd be doing and asked the students a current event question. we also had a competition, boys verses girls, to quiz them on the content they'd learned so far. looking back, i think the game could have been structured a bit better. maybe have less teams (we only had two - boys vs girls, which the students loved) and then more could participate.
rhonda had warned me, and we had seen for ourselves, that this is a very chatty group. i was surprised, as i think rhonda was too, how well the class listened for me! it was awesome! the transition from the game to the activity went well. i told them basically just that - "okay, now we're going to transition into an activity where you can use what you already know". we read through the question, me reading aloud, and then i modelled the first question for them. i then gave them time to do the question on their own. we continued like that until we'd made it to about the 3rd instruction. i went around and answered questions and helped students. some had to be prompted to get back on task but others were working away.
this class has a handful of students that are working ahead. rhonda worked with these students, so in this sense i had less on my plate to think about; otherwise i'd have to be differentiating for those students.
today was a great experience! i am excited about accounting - i really want to teach it in the future - and i truly enjoyed interacting with the students. i felt relaxed and while i was mindful of what i was doing so that i'd do what i was supposed to do, i still felt freedom to be myself.
i introduced myself, wrote the tasks on the board that we'd be doing and asked the students a current event question. we also had a competition, boys verses girls, to quiz them on the content they'd learned so far. looking back, i think the game could have been structured a bit better. maybe have less teams (we only had two - boys vs girls, which the students loved) and then more could participate.
rhonda had warned me, and we had seen for ourselves, that this is a very chatty group. i was surprised, as i think rhonda was too, how well the class listened for me! it was awesome! the transition from the game to the activity went well. i told them basically just that - "okay, now we're going to transition into an activity where you can use what you already know". we read through the question, me reading aloud, and then i modelled the first question for them. i then gave them time to do the question on their own. we continued like that until we'd made it to about the 3rd instruction. i went around and answered questions and helped students. some had to be prompted to get back on task but others were working away.
this class has a handful of students that are working ahead. rhonda worked with these students, so in this sense i had less on my plate to think about; otherwise i'd have to be differentiating for those students.
today was a great experience! i am excited about accounting - i really want to teach it in the future - and i truly enjoyed interacting with the students. i felt relaxed and while i was mindful of what i was doing so that i'd do what i was supposed to do, i still felt freedom to be myself.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
we didn't have school on monday, so the week started off tuesday with a regular day at the high school. except the days are shorter this week too because there are student-teacher interviews each morning from 8:30-9AM. next week, tuesday, the students don't come to school as there are parent-student-teacher interviews (also called 3-way interviews).
tuesday morning we observed rhonda's classes and worked on prep for our own classes as well. i will be teaching accounting 10 this week for 3-4 days, and next monday start teaching information processing 30 for probably a week. it's a unit on databases.
i'm feeling really comfortable at the school now, after my freaking out and questioning last week about whether i'm in the right place pursuing the right thing. i think i am. i guess today, when i teach my first lesson, i'll really get a better idea of how it feels. but i'm not putting all my apples in one basket. that is to say that if today doesn't go well, i'm not going to catastrophize that my teaching career is over because i've already failed before i've begun. i got a bit of a taste of failure at the previous high school we were at.
wednesday we went through some pre-conferencing with rhonda. she read over my lesson plan and alerted me to things the students will struggle with, have questions about, etc. she also has been super supportive with offering overheads that she already has, using her resources and guiding us along the way. this element was missing from our balfour experience: safety. with rhonda, i feel safe to make mistakes because i feel like she's rooting for me and that we have a relationship where i can try things, and she will be there to support me if i fail (or if i succeed!) without me worrying that i'm ruining my reputation or that of the university.
i've decided that i'm going to use bribery with the students today. just being honest. with being at the school such a short period of time, i more have the status of a substitute teacher. everyone knows that's not a good status: no rapport with the students, no power! i don't have my own classroom and my expectations to communicate, instead i'm walking into someone else's classroom, which is a challenge. so i bought a lot of candy on tuesday, and put it in a big glass jar. it's currently sitting at the front of rhonda's classroom. when i brought it out yesterday and set it on the desk for 5th period, it was the talk of the town! i'm going to use it sparingly, to reward behaviour i like and honestly, use it to my advantage. if i have to externally motivate the students in this way for a few days, i'm okay with it. if it will help me to manage them better, i'm okay with that, too. then i can focus more on teaching and less on trying to get them to be quiet. this is going to be a challenge, as there are 35 students in the class!
we also had a visitor yesterday. our advising professor came to check in. it was good to see a familiar face and chat briefly about how things are going. university classrooms already seem miles away with our balfour experience and now the 3 week block.
i teach in 5th period today, so will document later how it went!
tuesday morning we observed rhonda's classes and worked on prep for our own classes as well. i will be teaching accounting 10 this week for 3-4 days, and next monday start teaching information processing 30 for probably a week. it's a unit on databases.
i'm feeling really comfortable at the school now, after my freaking out and questioning last week about whether i'm in the right place pursuing the right thing. i think i am. i guess today, when i teach my first lesson, i'll really get a better idea of how it feels. but i'm not putting all my apples in one basket. that is to say that if today doesn't go well, i'm not going to catastrophize that my teaching career is over because i've already failed before i've begun. i got a bit of a taste of failure at the previous high school we were at.
wednesday we went through some pre-conferencing with rhonda. she read over my lesson plan and alerted me to things the students will struggle with, have questions about, etc. she also has been super supportive with offering overheads that she already has, using her resources and guiding us along the way. this element was missing from our balfour experience: safety. with rhonda, i feel safe to make mistakes because i feel like she's rooting for me and that we have a relationship where i can try things, and she will be there to support me if i fail (or if i succeed!) without me worrying that i'm ruining my reputation or that of the university.
i've decided that i'm going to use bribery with the students today. just being honest. with being at the school such a short period of time, i more have the status of a substitute teacher. everyone knows that's not a good status: no rapport with the students, no power! i don't have my own classroom and my expectations to communicate, instead i'm walking into someone else's classroom, which is a challenge. so i bought a lot of candy on tuesday, and put it in a big glass jar. it's currently sitting at the front of rhonda's classroom. when i brought it out yesterday and set it on the desk for 5th period, it was the talk of the town! i'm going to use it sparingly, to reward behaviour i like and honestly, use it to my advantage. if i have to externally motivate the students in this way for a few days, i'm okay with it. if it will help me to manage them better, i'm okay with that, too. then i can focus more on teaching and less on trying to get them to be quiet. this is going to be a challenge, as there are 35 students in the class!
we also had a visitor yesterday. our advising professor came to check in. it was good to see a familiar face and chat briefly about how things are going. university classrooms already seem miles away with our balfour experience and now the 3 week block.
i teach in 5th period today, so will document later how it went!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
pre-internship orientation
tyler and i spent the past two days at our high school with our cooperating teacher. i wasn't sure what to expect coming in to the school... part of that is because it's a new school that i've never really been in (minus the gym) with new staff, new students - a whole new world, really. part of that is because i'm still trying to figure out if i'm in the right vocation. i've been feeling really discouraged about that lately. really discouraged.
day one - tuesday, march 15
today was a hard day for me because, as i said above, i've been questioning a lot lately whether teaching is really what i want to do. my first two days at johnson really allowed me to explore that in greater detail. partly because i had a lot of time to think, talk with tyler and my coop and other teachers and partly because i'm sitting in a school, thinking about actually being a teacher there, and wondering what it will be like.
i have to admit, at times it was boring to sit and watch. it felt kind of overwhelming, too. rhonda is such a good teacher. she makes it look easy. she's a good teacher because she's engaging - i noticed that each student that came into the room, she addressed by name, asked them how they were doing and often offered another question to enquire about some aspect of their lives. the kids like her. it's obvious. they banter with her a little bit, but when it comes down to it - she's got them.
so as i watched i really questioned. do i really want to do this? can i even do this? will i be any good at it? right now i feel like i won't be! i decided to really think about WHY i'm questioning. i think the biggest reason is because i know many teachers, some of them are first and second year teachers that are my friends, and lots of them are hating their lives. they're hating going to school, always feeling behind and trying to figure out how to manage their class and teach the material. woof. there have to be better situations out there! that does NOT sound like fun. so i set out to ask a few of the teachers at johnson whether they like teaching.
day two - wednesday, march 16
i ran into two of my former high school teachers today. one actually asked me why on earth i was getting into teaching - didn't i have good marks in high school?? go into something else! (wow, in front of students in her class... yikes!). the second teacher - same kind of thing. the kids this, the school board that, teaching this... not enough time, no money, no resources. at this point i'm starting to respond that, well i have a business degree so i can do whatever when i'm done. lots of open doors.. another teacher i popped in on. "well, if i could go back, i would have gone into something else. too many hours. not enough money. just too much work." eek!
panic is beginning to set in.
thankfully rhonda had a spare in 4th and i had a chance to pose the same question to her. she responded with "do you think i like teaching?". good response! but honestly, my radar was so off and i was feeling so negative, that i didn't really know what to say, other than, "i THINK you do, but i'm not totally sure. i'm so messed up from all the negative things i'm hearing about it!".
her answer broke through the darkness. "i love teaching, because i love the kids."
REFRESHING.
and that's why i want to be a teacher. because i want to spend time with those kids. i want to get to know them, build positive relationships with them and help them to become wiser, more educated, smarter individuals that believe in themselves and their dreams more than they did before they entered my classroom for the semester.
i proceeded to pick rhonda's brain on a handful of other things. i have to admit, the prep, the lesson planning, the delivery of a good lesson. that all scares me a little. if i could just skip to the interactions with the kids, that'd be great! but that's not how it works and these next few years of my journey are going to be about me figuring that process out so that i'm enough of an 'expert' at it that i can focus on the kids - not on my nerves, whether i know the material, differentiation, learning styles, etc.etc. not that i'll be able to cease thinking about those things, but they'll become more second nature. man, i'm looking forward to that day tho!
rhonda talked about having a good support system - a mentor teacher in your building. and having a good 'home life' so that you don't bring that junk to the classroom with you. she said it's hard for her to turn her brain off at the end of the day - because she takes the kids and their problems with her even when she's at home. another teacher popped by (another bus ed one!) and she echoed rhonda's love of teaching. yes, there are hard days, but she cares about the kids. it seems like that makes all the difference.
rhonda's big on trust. you have to get the kids to trust you. you need to know the material and establish your expectations right off the bat. and trust has to be earned. it cannot be taken.
the past few days have been so enlightening for me. i would say that i've taken my own little personal journey while the rest of the school's been going on around me.
next week i start a 4 day rotation of databases in IP 30. the following week i'll do the start of a unit in accounting 10.
i'm thinking about keeping things simple, when it comes to my approach to teaching, because that's what i need right now. i'm going to be dedicating a lot of time the next few weeks to learning the material as best i can so that when it comes to teaching, it's second nature and i can focus more on other things. we'll see how it goes!
day one - tuesday, march 15
today was a hard day for me because, as i said above, i've been questioning a lot lately whether teaching is really what i want to do. my first two days at johnson really allowed me to explore that in greater detail. partly because i had a lot of time to think, talk with tyler and my coop and other teachers and partly because i'm sitting in a school, thinking about actually being a teacher there, and wondering what it will be like.
i have to admit, at times it was boring to sit and watch. it felt kind of overwhelming, too. rhonda is such a good teacher. she makes it look easy. she's a good teacher because she's engaging - i noticed that each student that came into the room, she addressed by name, asked them how they were doing and often offered another question to enquire about some aspect of their lives. the kids like her. it's obvious. they banter with her a little bit, but when it comes down to it - she's got them.
so as i watched i really questioned. do i really want to do this? can i even do this? will i be any good at it? right now i feel like i won't be! i decided to really think about WHY i'm questioning. i think the biggest reason is because i know many teachers, some of them are first and second year teachers that are my friends, and lots of them are hating their lives. they're hating going to school, always feeling behind and trying to figure out how to manage their class and teach the material. woof. there have to be better situations out there! that does NOT sound like fun. so i set out to ask a few of the teachers at johnson whether they like teaching.
day two - wednesday, march 16
i ran into two of my former high school teachers today. one actually asked me why on earth i was getting into teaching - didn't i have good marks in high school?? go into something else! (wow, in front of students in her class... yikes!). the second teacher - same kind of thing. the kids this, the school board that, teaching this... not enough time, no money, no resources. at this point i'm starting to respond that, well i have a business degree so i can do whatever when i'm done. lots of open doors.
panic is beginning to set in.
thankfully rhonda had a spare in 4th and i had a chance to pose the same question to her. she responded with "do you think i like teaching?". good response! but honestly, my radar was so off and i was feeling so negative, that i didn't really know what to say, other than, "i THINK you do, but i'm not totally sure. i'm so messed up from all the negative things i'm hearing about it!".
her answer broke through the darkness. "i love teaching, because i love the kids."
REFRESHING.
and that's why i want to be a teacher. because i want to spend time with those kids. i want to get to know them, build positive relationships with them and help them to become wiser, more educated, smarter individuals that believe in themselves and their dreams more than they did before they entered my classroom for the semester.
i proceeded to pick rhonda's brain on a handful of other things. i have to admit, the prep, the lesson planning, the delivery of a good lesson. that all scares me a little. if i could just skip to the interactions with the kids, that'd be great! but that's not how it works and these next few years of my journey are going to be about me figuring that process out so that i'm enough of an 'expert' at it that i can focus on the kids - not on my nerves, whether i know the material, differentiation, learning styles, etc.etc. not that i'll be able to cease thinking about those things, but they'll become more second nature. man, i'm looking forward to that day tho!
rhonda talked about having a good support system - a mentor teacher in your building. and having a good 'home life' so that you don't bring that junk to the classroom with you. she said it's hard for her to turn her brain off at the end of the day - because she takes the kids and their problems with her even when she's at home. another teacher popped by (another bus ed one!) and she echoed rhonda's love of teaching. yes, there are hard days, but she cares about the kids. it seems like that makes all the difference.
rhonda's big on trust. you have to get the kids to trust you. you need to know the material and establish your expectations right off the bat. and trust has to be earned. it cannot be taken.
the past few days have been so enlightening for me. i would say that i've taken my own little personal journey while the rest of the school's been going on around me.
next week i start a 4 day rotation of databases in IP 30. the following week i'll do the start of a unit in accounting 10.
i'm thinking about keeping things simple, when it comes to my approach to teaching, because that's what i need right now. i'm going to be dedicating a lot of time the next few weeks to learning the material as best i can so that when it comes to teaching, it's second nature and i can focus more on other things. we'll see how it goes!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
an excellent teacher
Describe your conception of an excellent teacher. Think about what teachers do and what do they need in order to be successful in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes.
Prior to this semester, I would have quickly and most likely very simply described what an excellent teacher consists of. At this point in the semester, trying to describe what makes an excellent teacher seems like a LOT more complicated thing than it ever has. Part of that is because I'm now on a very real journey into discovering and uncovering just what that complicated thing consists of. I'm sure that if I was to answer this question a year from now, my answer would be different. Maybe it would contain the same types of words and ideas, but I'm guessing I would be a sharper description.
Teachers need to have a comfortable grasp of the material they are teaching. They need to have a mastery of the way in which they are going to make sure the students learn the material they are teaching. This includes picking the right instructional strategy, adapting lessons to meet the needs of all the learners, being able to properly teach a skill and break down it's critical attributes. Ideally, teachers need to be passionate about the material they're teaching. If that's not the case (as I'm sure often happens) they need to have a passion for teaching kids and being around teenagers. An excellent teacher bring an appropriate amount of energy to a lesson, along with her own personality. An excellent teacher is creative and inventive, gets to know her students personally, has high expectations for each student in her classroom and knows how to lead her students in such a way to motivate them. She's not afraid to take risks! An excellent teacher has fun in the classroom and the students know she loves coming to teach everyday!
An excellent teacher is adaptable; she knows that anything could come her way at any moment and that the only thing she can be sure of is things being somewhat unsure. An excellent teacher is not a first year teacher... or maybe even a 4th year teacher. An excellent teacher has ripened over time; but the sooner she realizes teaching cannot be perfected, the closer she gets to becoming that excellent teacher she wants to be because she's humbled by her own inadequacies, need to learn and the journey she's on. She's not afraid to ask for help along the way!
Self assessment that includes:
Identify strengths that you will rely on in the classroom in your 3 week block.
Some strengths I will bring to the classroom during my three week block are a genuine desire to be with the students and help them learn. I also have the knowledge that I have a LOT to learn which requires me to be humble, which I view as a strength because if you don't know you need to grow or need help, it's a lot harder to accept help people offer - or to grow! I know the material pretty well, though translating it through the curriculum into teachable material is still a work in progress for me. I'm fun and outgoing, so starting to get to know the kids will come naturally to me. I realize that the relationships I build with the students are extremely important; teaching the material will be a whole different thing if I have strong relationships with the students. I realize these will be hard to build over a 3 week process, but I'll be able to start on it and see how my co-operating teacher either does or does not do this (I have a feeling she will definitely be someone who does this!).
Identify what you will focus on and how you will do that (given all the constraints of the 3 week block).
I am going to focus on finding the place where I have enough cues and material to last through each lesson, achieving the objectives I've set out, but where I'm still teaching naturally. This means not relying on my notes all the time, but not just "winging" lessons either. This semester I've often felt overwhelmed by having my lesson plan to guide me, but then a powerpoint as well; I find myself trying to go back and forth between the two, but not rely on them too heavily, and then I get lost, we get on a tangent, and I have no idea where I am in the lesson. I guess more specifically that means finding a simpler way to organize my notes and my brain so that I'm more focused during the lessons on the big ideas I want the students to grasp.
I'd like to take some risks during this time, because I know it's a very unique occasion and one in which it's most safe to do so. I'm not exactly sure what this is going to look like. Honestly, the first risk might be attempting what might seem like a "boring" lesson to me, in order to keep things simple and help me get some more confidence in teaching an hour long lesson. From there taking risks in trying other instructional strategies is the direction I'll plan to go. This might look like experiential learning, group work, among others.
Prior to this semester, I would have quickly and most likely very simply described what an excellent teacher consists of. At this point in the semester, trying to describe what makes an excellent teacher seems like a LOT more complicated thing than it ever has. Part of that is because I'm now on a very real journey into discovering and uncovering just what that complicated thing consists of. I'm sure that if I was to answer this question a year from now, my answer would be different. Maybe it would contain the same types of words and ideas, but I'm guessing I would be a sharper description.
Teachers need to have a comfortable grasp of the material they are teaching. They need to have a mastery of the way in which they are going to make sure the students learn the material they are teaching. This includes picking the right instructional strategy, adapting lessons to meet the needs of all the learners, being able to properly teach a skill and break down it's critical attributes. Ideally, teachers need to be passionate about the material they're teaching. If that's not the case (as I'm sure often happens) they need to have a passion for teaching kids and being around teenagers. An excellent teacher bring an appropriate amount of energy to a lesson, along with her own personality. An excellent teacher is creative and inventive, gets to know her students personally, has high expectations for each student in her classroom and knows how to lead her students in such a way to motivate them. She's not afraid to take risks! An excellent teacher has fun in the classroom and the students know she loves coming to teach everyday!
An excellent teacher is adaptable; she knows that anything could come her way at any moment and that the only thing she can be sure of is things being somewhat unsure. An excellent teacher is not a first year teacher... or maybe even a 4th year teacher. An excellent teacher has ripened over time; but the sooner she realizes teaching cannot be perfected, the closer she gets to becoming that excellent teacher she wants to be because she's humbled by her own inadequacies, need to learn and the journey she's on. She's not afraid to ask for help along the way!
Self assessment that includes:
Identify strengths that you will rely on in the classroom in your 3 week block.
Some strengths I will bring to the classroom during my three week block are a genuine desire to be with the students and help them learn. I also have the knowledge that I have a LOT to learn which requires me to be humble, which I view as a strength because if you don't know you need to grow or need help, it's a lot harder to accept help people offer - or to grow! I know the material pretty well, though translating it through the curriculum into teachable material is still a work in progress for me. I'm fun and outgoing, so starting to get to know the kids will come naturally to me. I realize that the relationships I build with the students are extremely important; teaching the material will be a whole different thing if I have strong relationships with the students. I realize these will be hard to build over a 3 week process, but I'll be able to start on it and see how my co-operating teacher either does or does not do this (I have a feeling she will definitely be someone who does this!).
Identify what you will focus on and how you will do that (given all the constraints of the 3 week block).
I am going to focus on finding the place where I have enough cues and material to last through each lesson, achieving the objectives I've set out, but where I'm still teaching naturally. This means not relying on my notes all the time, but not just "winging" lessons either. This semester I've often felt overwhelmed by having my lesson plan to guide me, but then a powerpoint as well; I find myself trying to go back and forth between the two, but not rely on them too heavily, and then I get lost, we get on a tangent, and I have no idea where I am in the lesson. I guess more specifically that means finding a simpler way to organize my notes and my brain so that I'm more focused during the lessons on the big ideas I want the students to grasp.
I'd like to take some risks during this time, because I know it's a very unique occasion and one in which it's most safe to do so. I'm not exactly sure what this is going to look like. Honestly, the first risk might be attempting what might seem like a "boring" lesson to me, in order to keep things simple and help me get some more confidence in teaching an hour long lesson. From there taking risks in trying other instructional strategies is the direction I'll plan to go. This might look like experiential learning, group work, among others.
teach to peers
last week i had the chance to present a 20 minute lesson to my peers about a technique for teaching. the technique was one that i think it is great - it's called thresholding. it requires teachers to greet their students at the door with a handshake or high five, call them by name and even ask them a question or give them a prompt for the upcoming lesson.
while many people don't like teaching to peers because they think it's tough or embarrassing, i really like it. i think i like it because it's easier. it's easier because you don't have to spell everything out to people who are self-motivated, listen well and can take instruction by filling in any gaps on it themselves. which is the exact reason that teaching high school is so much tougher. what seems obvious and like it shouldn't have to be explained, has to be.
when you're breaking into groups, you have to have a plan for how you're going to get the students to do that. because as much as "turn and work in a group of people around you" sound pretty straightforward, if you give high schoolers that command, prepare yourself for an ensuing mess.
in EPS we've talked about board time - how long is your back facing the classroom. what mayhem might break out while your back is turned? a LOT can happen in a matter of seconds when you are not looking. better options might be to give a hand out, have the material written on the board in advance or to use a powerpoint or graphic organizer to present the material.
one thing i did during my lesson was to organize the lesson for myself, and for the students, by giving a map using cue words on the board. i wrote these words before the lesson started, and then referred to them as i was teaching, sometimes more vaguely than overtly, and returned to them at the end of the lesson.
while the students did groupwork, i walked around the classroom and observed their discussion, giving them warnings about how much time they have left. i prompted them to skip to the last few questions if they hadn't gotten there yet.
it's always interesting to receive feedback. people don't like to say what's tough to others, and i can't say i really enjoy it either. but it's necessary and important if we're to improve as teachers. that's one thing our professor pointed out to us that day when i was teaching. "i like your hair", "you look cute", "you did a great job", etc just don't suffice as constructive feedback on anything of importance with respect to the lesson.
that's one reason why setting a target is important. it helps the person teaching as well as the person collecting data and providing feedback. i used to disregard the importance of targets ("whatever" *rolls eyes*) but i've been humbled into realizing that i'm not a good teacher yet and that i need constructive feedback if i'm to grow. and i have to be pro-active about seeking improvement in the areas that need to grow and change.
that's another reason why we need to think through every area of our lesson plan, as we've been beaten over the head for the past two years. although elements of teaching may come naturally, there are a lot of things that have to be thought through first and that require purposeful action in order to gain improvement.
while many people don't like teaching to peers because they think it's tough or embarrassing, i really like it. i think i like it because it's easier. it's easier because you don't have to spell everything out to people who are self-motivated, listen well and can take instruction by filling in any gaps on it themselves. which is the exact reason that teaching high school is so much tougher. what seems obvious and like it shouldn't have to be explained, has to be.
when you're breaking into groups, you have to have a plan for how you're going to get the students to do that. because as much as "turn and work in a group of people around you" sound pretty straightforward, if you give high schoolers that command, prepare yourself for an ensuing mess.
in EPS we've talked about board time - how long is your back facing the classroom. what mayhem might break out while your back is turned? a LOT can happen in a matter of seconds when you are not looking. better options might be to give a hand out, have the material written on the board in advance or to use a powerpoint or graphic organizer to present the material.
one thing i did during my lesson was to organize the lesson for myself, and for the students, by giving a map using cue words on the board. i wrote these words before the lesson started, and then referred to them as i was teaching, sometimes more vaguely than overtly, and returned to them at the end of the lesson.
while the students did groupwork, i walked around the classroom and observed their discussion, giving them warnings about how much time they have left. i prompted them to skip to the last few questions if they hadn't gotten there yet.
it's always interesting to receive feedback. people don't like to say what's tough to others, and i can't say i really enjoy it either. but it's necessary and important if we're to improve as teachers. that's one thing our professor pointed out to us that day when i was teaching. "i like your hair", "you look cute", "you did a great job", etc just don't suffice as constructive feedback on anything of importance with respect to the lesson.
that's one reason why setting a target is important. it helps the person teaching as well as the person collecting data and providing feedback. i used to disregard the importance of targets ("whatever" *rolls eyes*) but i've been humbled into realizing that i'm not a good teacher yet and that i need constructive feedback if i'm to grow. and i have to be pro-active about seeking improvement in the areas that need to grow and change.
that's another reason why we need to think through every area of our lesson plan, as we've been beaten over the head for the past two years. although elements of teaching may come naturally, there are a lot of things that have to be thought through first and that require purposeful action in order to gain improvement.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
random reflection
i wanted to write down a bunch of thoughts and musings from my experience so far. the past few months at the high school, being part of the pilot program, have been overwhelming, at best. that's not to say that it hasn't been a good experience, but it definitely hasn't been easy. i've realized a lot of things about myself, namely that i'm a perfectionist in a vocation of mistakes.
one of the most uncomfortable feelings, one that i've wrestled with and struggled to rectify in my mind, is the feeling of failure. teaching is more like hockey than i though - a game of mistakes. going into this semester i had this idea that i'd be a really great teacher and that teaching is not that hard. well, i was wrong. i'm not a really great teacher - not yet. i know i have the potential to be one, and how good of a teacher i am will be directly related to experience and dedication.
going into a classroom for the first time was nerve-wracking. i didn't realize how nervous i'd be until i got there and was standing in front of the kids. i wasn't nervous because i felt awkward about having all those eyes on me, i felt nervous about whether my planning was adequate and nervous about using more than one instructional strategy and how that would go. i know the material, really well, but how do i present it for a group of grade 9 students? things like banking, savings, budgeting, business content in general... it seems like common sense to me. it's hard to break it down into small enough pieces that it's suitable for grade 9 students. that's another one of the great challenges for me as a teacher. i've studied business for so long that it seems obvious, but i need to remember that many of these students don't know any of this and that i need to make the content suitable for the level they're at.
i know that i want to use multiple and varied instructional strategies as a teacher, but i think it's unrealistic to try and do this right off the bat. whereas the first week of teaching the PAA rotation, i was really caught up with trying to use multiple strategies, this next time i'm going to keep it simpler. i'm going to allow it to be more about me so that i can feel more comfortable with what is planned. if it's a bit more direct instruction or even a bit boring, i can deal with that. i need to take baby steps!
during spring break last week, i came to a new realization of just what a perfectionist i am. and how that can either be an asset to me as a professional, or it can destroy me. i think the next step in my journey is to figure out how to exist in a world where i don't do things perfectly, i allow myself room for error, room to fail, but i'm continually striving to get better at the same time!
one of the most uncomfortable feelings, one that i've wrestled with and struggled to rectify in my mind, is the feeling of failure. teaching is more like hockey than i though - a game of mistakes. going into this semester i had this idea that i'd be a really great teacher and that teaching is not that hard. well, i was wrong. i'm not a really great teacher - not yet. i know i have the potential to be one, and how good of a teacher i am will be directly related to experience and dedication.
going into a classroom for the first time was nerve-wracking. i didn't realize how nervous i'd be until i got there and was standing in front of the kids. i wasn't nervous because i felt awkward about having all those eyes on me, i felt nervous about whether my planning was adequate and nervous about using more than one instructional strategy and how that would go. i know the material, really well, but how do i present it for a group of grade 9 students? things like banking, savings, budgeting, business content in general... it seems like common sense to me. it's hard to break it down into small enough pieces that it's suitable for grade 9 students. that's another one of the great challenges for me as a teacher. i've studied business for so long that it seems obvious, but i need to remember that many of these students don't know any of this and that i need to make the content suitable for the level they're at.
i know that i want to use multiple and varied instructional strategies as a teacher, but i think it's unrealistic to try and do this right off the bat. whereas the first week of teaching the PAA rotation, i was really caught up with trying to use multiple strategies, this next time i'm going to keep it simpler. i'm going to allow it to be more about me so that i can feel more comfortable with what is planned. if it's a bit more direct instruction or even a bit boring, i can deal with that. i need to take baby steps!
during spring break last week, i came to a new realization of just what a perfectionist i am. and how that can either be an asset to me as a professional, or it can destroy me. i think the next step in my journey is to figure out how to exist in a world where i don't do things perfectly, i allow myself room for error, room to fail, but i'm continually striving to get better at the same time!
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