Classroom Observations

This week I have had the opportunity to observe two classrooms outside of Mrs. Hoover. I observed a middle school math class as well as a high school chemistry class. It was very interesting to see the way the classes were run in comparison to the agricultural classrooms that I have observed.

Students in the chemistry class came into a well-organized class took their seats, ready to start the day. Students got out their ticket-outs from the previous day and went over them with the teacher. The teacher thoroughly went over sample problems. He also let the students volunteer to go over problems and complete them on the marker boards at the back of the classroom. He also used analogies to explain confusing and abstract theories.

The math teacher probably had some of the best classroom management I have ever seen. All of the students came into class and immediately put their bags in a taped off area in the back of the room. All the students got out their homework and the teacher began checking it, while the students copied down their homework for the next night. Then the teacher used a randomize to select which students needed to go up and complete the homework for the rest of the class to see. The teacher then gave the students other practice problems on the Smart Board. First, the students needed to complete the problem on individual marker boards. Students were given directions clearly and followed them with ease. She also used a reward system to help motivate the students. 

My first week as Mrs. Hoover's Student Teacher

This past week has been wonderful! Check out my Mid-Winter convention blog to read about my Farm Show trip! (https://karliewrites.blogspot.com/2018/01/late-nights-call-for-sleepy-students.html)

Wednesday was my first day in the classroom - I have my own desk right next to Mrs. Hoover's and we have been working on my assignments since I wasn't teaching last week. I also starting working on a fundraiser that we will be starting on Monday. The ag department is going to sell hoagies and I am going to run the fundraiser for Mrs. Hoover.

I also realized how important it is to really give students my full attention. No matter what I am doing when a student talks to me, I try to make sure I am looking at them and really listening. I want to make sure that I keep working on this as the semester continues. I also got to go to my first staff meeting! Administration explained students' senior projects and distributed the rubrics. So that was that.

Overall, I think that this week was a success and I cannot wait to keep working with Mrs. Hoover and her students! I can tell that this is going to be a really good student teaching experience for me! Next week, I am excited and ready to tackle my first class!! 

Late Nights call for Sleepy Students

On Monday, I started my first day as a student teacher at Fort Cherry. My alarm went off at 4 AM and I made my way to meet the bus at McGuffey High School. Mrs. Hoover, Mr. Laesure and I got the students aboard. We then made our way to Fort Cherry to pick up the rest of the students and headed to Harrisburg. My first day of student teaching was here and I was more than ready!

The weather was not the best on Monday, and as we were leaving both Fort Cherry and McGuffey school districts had cancelled school for the day. We all talked about the situation and talked to people ahead of us on the road and they said that the roads were clear. The bus driver was confident, Mrs. Hoover and Mr. Laesure talked to their school administrators and we decided to keep going. The rest of the trip to Harrisburg was pretty uneventful. I am really glad I was able to see this scenario play  out and how to make these decisions.

We were able to make it to the Farmshow complex just after noon. Students were given explicit directions as to what needed to be done BEFORE they left the bus. I observed this often on the trip. We always gave students directions prior to them leaving the bus so that we had their attention and it was not chaos. We were then able to meet students in the large arena for the Mid-Winter Convention. Five students received their Keystone Degree this year and two students received a jacket from the PA FFA Alumni.

We took the students to Hoss's for dinner and then to the hotel to change. Then we took them to a local bowling alley for 2 hours. Mrs. Hoover's and Mrs. Cambruzzi's advice was simple: wear the students out! And to spend as little time as possible in the hotel.

The following day we took the kids to Hershey's Chocolate World where they were able to learn about proper chocolate tasting and some even were able to make their own chocolate candy bar! The trip home gave us ample time to discuss things that could be changed in the future. One of these would be to have a single drop-off/pick-up location instead of picking up at both schools to cut on travel time. Looking back, I can also acknowledge that there were no behavior issues on the trip and all of the teachers were well respected and had good rapport with their students. I hope that my trips with my ag program go this smoothly, even with weather hiccups!! 

Marketing Video

Hi everyone! Here is me and Heather's Marketing Video! Take a sneak peak :) 

Weekley Investment #10 - Classroom Management

The last weekly investment of the semester is on classroom management!

My summer reading talked a lot about classroom management, rules, and expectations. If you missed in my previous blogs, this book was "What Great Teachers do Differently: 17 Things that Matter Most" by Todd Whitaker. Whitaker emphasizes that a teacher's classroom management sets the stage for student learning. He also says that great teachers focus on expectations while other teachers focus on the rules. The least effective teachers focus on the consequence of breaking the rules.

The best teachers, according to Whitaker, establish clear expectations at the start of the year and follow them consistently as the year progresses. For example, they may have three guidelines:
 - Be repectful
 - Be prepared
 - Be on time.
These teachers expect good behavior and generally that's what they get. "Great teachers focus on the behavior they expect of their students, not on the consequences for misbehavior." 

Some teachers focus on rules. While rules have their place and "school" and "rules" generally go together, they have their drawbacks. Rules mostly focus on undesirable behaviors. Stating what not to do, may actually lead to students doing just what you did not want them to do. Most people, especially our most challenging students, are typically contrary by nature. When someone says not to do something, you may not have even been thinking to do that thing until they said not to.

Consequences are yet another battle. "Rules outline the boundary between the acceptable and the unacceptable." Everyone is familiar with consequences. Take sports for example. Referees do not just point out the rule that was violated, they also assign a penalty. The purpose of consequences is to discourage people from breaking the rules. Whitaker points out that consequences frequently do just the opposite. He says that students are experts at cost-benefit analysis. "If I skip one hour of class, I'll have to go to two hours of detention. Is it worth it? How many of my buddies will be in detention?" Whitaker points out that the fear of the unknown can sometimes be a more powerful deterrent than a list of predetermined consequences.

I really enjoyed Todd Whitaker's book and his reasons for classroom expectations and consequences. In later chapters he also discusses meaning what you say. He reminds teacher that if they are saying the same thing over and over that they may be the problem. Remember to allow yourself time to think about inappropriate behavior before acting on it - and when you act on it, mean it.

Other reminders:
                            - You do not ever win an argument with a student.
                            - Treat students and parents with respect.
                            - Practice the "golden rule"
                            - Do not yell at students (unless in a true emergency.)
                            - Use your "bag of tricks"
                            - Remember the teacher is the variable.

"When a student misbehaves, great teachers have one goal: to keep that behavior from happening again."

Micro-Teaching Reflection Blog

Last week I was fortunate enough to teach 3 days of lessons at Bald Eagle High School. I taught lessons on soil nutrients and fertilizer. I thought my first day went really well with great feedback from Mr. Biddle. I used a power point and use of a couple activities - including a nutrient activity asking students where plants get their nutrients from and an activity to help students realize what pH different substances were. My lesson also included an interest approach and bellwork that asked students what they thought soil nutrients were and then the interest approach was a video that helped to define soil nutrients further.

Day 2 could have went a little better. It was a good lab about pH and soil pH, but would have been much better if it was split into 2 days with more summarizing activities. The first part of the activity was to help the students better understand pH in general, so they tested the pH of several different liquids with pH test strips. Second, I taught the students how to use the Cornell pH test it. I wish I would have spend more time on this and done a 3 step demonstration with the students - teacher says, teacher does; teacher says, student does; student says, student does. On my feedback forms, a couple of students commented that they had trouble getting the pH indicator separated out of the tray. More time for a proper demonstration would have solved this.

The third day was the review and the quiz. For the quiz I used some techniques we used in 412 for our quiz. After most of the students were complete with their quizzes, I allowed them to use their notes for two minutes. After the end of the two minutes, I gave them about one minute to finish their thoughts and then let them ask someone beside them one question. This seemed to go over well with the students and they did well on the quiz. While the review and quiz went well, I had about 3 or 4 minutes left at the end that I could have managed better.While they were taking their quiz we passed back some papers Mr. Biddle had for them. Many of the students were looking at these after they finished their quizzes and I lost control of the room and was not able to gain it back.

Please take a look at my video on Edthena or here!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5RD0r5Ah2I

 

IBI - Lab Reflection

I think my first chance at an Inquiry Based Unit of instruction went okay, however (like after every lab), there several things that I would change about it.

First things first - I would connect it to Ag. While I was completing the lab, I realized I should have done a better job connecting the lab to Agriculture. My first thought about how to do this would be to include it in a bio-fuels unit in a biotechnology class. The pressure inside the balloon is comparable to the fuel. When the fuel is ignited (in this case the pressure is released) the balloon will be forced down the string according to Newton's laws. While it is as stretch, this could be a fun enrichment activity during a bio-fuels unit on a shorter day to build upon their knowledge and relate it to another industry.

This brings me to my second change - data. While my worksheet had a place for them for record observations and data, and then analyze and conclude, I think that it would be better to give them a specific set of data to record in this case instead of letting them decide. Or maybe give them choice? For example, they could measure how far their balloons go or how fast they go.

Finally, my last change would be to have them write procedures. Not only would they design their rockets but they would also write a procedure for how they are going to test it and collect their data. How are you going to design an experiment to test how far your rocket goes or how fast it gets there. When my tired brain was first trying to think of this lesson, I was thinking of them making "procedures" for building their rockets. The procedures that came with my experiment were:
           1. Tie one end of a string to a chair, doorknob, or other support.
           2. Put the other end of the string through a straw. Then pull the string tight, and tie it to another support in the room.
           3. Blow up the balloon, and pinch the end of the balloon to keep the air inside. Do not tie the balloon.
           4. Have a partner tape the balloon to the straw so that the opening of the balloon is horizontal with the ground, while you keep the air pinched inside the balloon.
           5. Have your partner use the marker to draw a finish line near the end of the string. Then, let go of the balloon and observe!

I feel as though it would be better to give students these procedures of how to make a rocket. Then have them design procedures to test the distance or speed. After students have their hypothesis and procedure to test the data for a simple rocket they could then take it a step farther. They could re-design their rocket to try to get it to go farther or faster and test a new hypothesis.

To tie it all together the students could research which would go make a rocket go faster or farther - fossil fuels or bio-fuels (if we hadn't done it in class) and then assign each of their balloon designs to whether or not they were powered with fossil or bio-fuels.