Documenting Growth.

Link to lesson plan 1.

Target sheet for lesson plan 1.

This lesson was taught on March 18th -- the second day we were out in the field.  I was obviously incredibly nervous, tripped over my words more than I should have, and I wasn't clear with my instructions.  Because I wasn't clear with my instructions, the students didn't work as well as I had hoped.  We went to the library to use the computers, but most of the students sat with their friends and chatted.  Students from other classes were also chatting with the students from my class.  It was just a terrible period overall.

My co-op suggested that I set up clear rules for the computer lab. I allowed only two students to a table, they weren't to sit with anyone that wasn't from our class, and the expectation was that they were using their time to work on the assignment.  I kept those rules throughout my time at Miller, and re-iterated them each time we were going to the library.

Link to lesson plan 2.

Target sheet for lesson plan 2.

I've always had an issue with dating my work, and it was no different during my pre-internship.  Essentially what I'm saying is that I don't remember exactly what day this was on.  I believe that I taught this on the 28th of march, so about two weeks after the first lesson I provided.  This one went far better, and the evidence is right on the target sheet.  I established what I wanted students to do, I went over the rules for the library, and the period went incredibly smooth.

I was far less nervous, as I was already roughly two weeks into the placement, and I knew what expectations I had for the class.  I was able to lay out exactly what I wanted from the students.

Assessing Week Three.

Well, that's all she wrote, I guess.  Pre-internship is over, and I had a blast.  Miller is a phenomenal school, the staff was (and will continue to be) fantastic, and the students were fun to teach.

I have only a few comments on assessment this time around.  I am mostly just amazed with how much students care about marks.  They don't really seem to care about what they are learning, just the quantitative end to it.  When you let students know that you're going to be giving them a mark based on how on-task they are during a work period, the quality of work goes up, and the noise level goes down.

I also noticed that the amount of interest a student has in an assignment correlates with their mark.  I had two major assignments during my time at Miller -- An eleven-point paragraph (comparing two poems) and a personal reflective essay.  I had one student that handed in his eleven-point and got a  2/26 -- and 8%.  He clearly didn't take the assignment seriously, and it showed.  I figured that he was going to do the same with his reflective essay due to the fact that during our three work periods, he didn't do a thing for the assignment.  He just complained about how he had nothing to write about.  I tried to help him think, but he was very resilient.  Finally, April 2nd came along.  Everyone was handing in their papers, and, to my surprise, I got his.  It was even longer than the assignment ask for.  Once he found a topic that he wanted to write about, he was able to do it.  It was interesting to read, and he hit every point on the rubric.  In the end, he pulled off an 86% on the paper -- Which also bumped his overall mark to be above a 50%.  He's passing the class!

Lastly, my intern had a really interesting system for students who did poorly on an assignment.  At the bottom of their page, she would write "RL by this date: _____".  RL stands for "re-demonstration of Learning."  If she feels a student could have done better on an assignment, she'll give them time to prove it.  I really liked this, as it puts the responsibility back on to the student -- they have a chance to bring their mark up, and whether or not they take it is up to them.

Just as an overall, I really enjoyed my time as a teacher.  Building relationship, working with feedback, and evolving into a decent teacher was awesome.  I could see myself grow each and every day.

Yay!

Pre-internship: Looking back at week two.

Now that I've gotten into the groove of teaching, this experience is no longer overwhelming.  I'm not stressing about everything, I know how to plan properly (well, for the most part.), and I'm not spending unnecessary hours mulling over what I need to do for the next day.

I've picked up my second class, now.  It is science 9.  I never thought I'd be one for teaching the younger grades, but every single student in this class was fabulous.  I'm sure much of that had to do with the way Mrs. Robertson had taught prior to my coming, but it was a treat.  The students knew when to have a good time, and when it was time to be studious.

I taught my very first science lab on Friday!  I was terribly nervous for it.  Chemicals and children don't often mix all that well, but there were no issues to be had.  Students followed safety procedures to a T, the experiment worked for everyone, and it was enjoyed by all.  I even had the students ask what kind of gas was produced during the reaction. I wasn't able to answer this, and neither could Mrs. Robertson, so we did what any good scientist would do -- redid the experiment with that question in mind.  Through chemical equations, we were able to narrow it down to either oxygen or carbon dioxide.

These two gases have opposite reaction when exposed to a flame -- oxygen would make the fire grow, and the carbon dioxide would snuff the flame.  As it turns out, the gas was Carbon dioxide.

The science class is polar opposite to my ELA 20 class.  Don't get me wrong, they're a lovely class -- they're just a bunch of chatty 17 year olds.  I found it really hard to be productive in a class of ~22 boys and 5 girls.  Through these three weeks, I was only able to get through 4 texts.  Holy moly.

Well, sometimes you win, sometimes you skin, eh?

Assessing Week Two.

Towards the end of last week, I was able to get into the groove of pre-internship.  The planning, execution, and marking has become less daunting and far less overwhelming.  I've come to the conclusion that exit/entrance slips are possibly the greatest tool for formative assessment and class involvement.

In a three minute step, I can write a few quick questions, have students answer them, and gauge whether or not I've taught my lesson well enough (and whether I need to review anything the next day.)

For my Reflective Essay, I thought about co-constructing the rubric with the students, but they weren't really into it.  The students within the class are fairly apathetic, so it's quite difficult to really get them into doing, well, much of anything, so I just made my own grading scale and asked whether or not they felt that allocation to be fair.

I've been getting some of the other 11 point paragraphs trickling in.  Unfortunately, there are a few left out there that I just don't think I'll get.  I've set up a teacher email for students to send any late assignments for when my pre-internship is over.  Hopefully I won't be marking too far into the summer!