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?

Pre-internship -- Looking back at week one.

Well, pre-internship is certainly one of the most overwhelming but rewarding experiences I've taken part in.  The first class I picked up was an ELA 20, where roughly one third of the class are EAL students, one third are advanced ELA learners, and one third are known to be disruptive -- and I don't think I would change it.  I really enjoy my class, they are phenomenal.

The biggest reality check I have hit during this time is the fact that an hour really isn't all that long.  On Thursday, our co-op asked Tori and myself to provide her with a 3-week unit skeleton for our respective classes by the Sunday after observation days.  We sent them in, and obviously overplanned.  Tori used her 5 hour unit plan that she made for her assessment class.  In theory it is 5 hours, but in practice, it's more like 20 hours.  Wacky.  So far, if I was following my skeleton, I would be in between last Wednesday and Thursday, and I don't think I'll be able to move much further than this.  I have a major assignment being assigned tomorrow, so I have to budget at least 3 work periods if I expect it to be done before I leave the school, and I already know I'm going to have to take a trip back to Miller after the pre-internship is finished to hand them back.

After much turmoil (and asking 3 different teachers) I was able to get into a class for my minor... sort of.  I'm in a Science 9 class, but I'm teaching chemistry.  This is terrifying as I haven't even taken a 20 level chemistry course, but it should be fun.  The teacher I am working with for that offered me a plethora of resources, so planning shouldn't be too bad.

Everything's coming up Milhouse!