Final Reflection June 10, 2010

I am just completing my last few weeks here at Eckstein Middle School.  I believe the fact that the internship was a full year was a great asset to my development as a teacher.  Ms. Anex moved rooms before the year started so I got to help with that and do a lot of the set up and decoration of the room.  I got to greet the parents on parent night before school started, and I got to greet the students on the first day of school.  I feel this helped me establish some credibility with the students, as opposed to other programs where student teachers just show up as a new face later in the year and are expected to take over a new group of students.  I was able to ease into the role of teacher through a smooth transition.  The yearlong internship also allowed me to see the students develop over the course of the year.  Middle school is a time of big changes for many students. For many students there has been a visible difference in growth.  More importantly are the changes in personality over the course of the year.  It has been great to see students who started the year a little unruly mature and settle down a bit.  On the flip side there have been students who have developed the “I’m an adult and I know what is best” attitude; or those who have fallen into the wrong crowds and have tuned out.  I worry for these students and hope they can see their way back on track come high school.  I had only ever worked with children as a ski instructor so I was nervous to see the students and to work with them.  I think like most student teachers, my biggest concern in the beginning was classroom management and dealing with problem students.  When teaching ski lessons if a student didn’t want to do something or was having trouble concentrating, then they didn’t have to participate and the only loss was their parent’s money.  In the school setting, we are responsible for each student’s learning and we see them day after day.

I myself have had ups and downs through the internship.  I have gotten to experience what it feels like to give a lesson that just clicks and many of the students get it.  When exploring the interior of the Earth, the lesson involved the use of online simulations for students to see and think about followed by students acting out the properties of earthquake waves.  The students then were able to connect what they saw in their modeling to what they saw on the simulation video.  That lesson in particular is one that I recall hearing quite a few “oh’s” as what they saw clicked.  On the flip side there were times that my lessons just didn’t have the punch I would like.  I realize that 1^st year teachers don’t come in with a whole years worth of amazing lessons.  It takes years of trial and error to start to build your arsenal.  I still felt bad on the day where the main focus was a lecture/power point presentation with notes.  I tried to make them as entertaining as possible, and some students enjoy those lessons, but they tend to invite restlessness and loss of attention as the lesson goes on.  There were a couple of lessons that I just didn’t prepare enough for.  Timing and pacing are two skills that I need practice with.  There have been lessons I thought would only last 20 minutes that have taken whole periods, and there have been lessons that I thought would take the entire period that were over in half the time, leaving me scrambling for things to do.  I know I need to work on my planning.  It is always good to have too much planned and not get to it rather than too little planned and be left twiddling your thumbs for the last 15 minutes of class (not that the students mind).

In addition to my time in the classroom with the students I participated in professional development activities with the science department.  I collaborated with the other 8^th grade science teachers to come up with some common formative assessments for various units.  These meetings were good in that they were a chance for me to get to see how the other teachers taught some of the lessons.  If the students of one of the other teachers did well on the common assessment while mine struggled a little, it was to my benefit to see how that teacher conducted the lessons and how I can change mine to better help the students.

The SPU portion of the internship was a challenging one for me.  I had been out of school for 12 years before going back.  Needless to say my study habits were nonexistent.  Some of the classes were beneficial.  I feel like the classroom management class was helpful in that he gave us actual classroom examples and his take on those situations.   The teaching methods classes were OK.  We did some lesson planning and also a mini lesson.  I think it would have been more beneficial to have had more practice planning and teaching of mini lessons followed by critiques and ideas from the class.  I thought the feedback I got from the one mini lesson was helpful, but I didn’t get to turn around and try to apply it to another lesson.  The technology class was a broad overview of some of the technologies available free online.  The big project was to create a blog about one or more of the technologies for other teachers.  I feel like we would have been better served practicing creating a site for students to be used in a classroom.  I could see how some of the applications could be used in the classroom.  One tool called “etherpad” seemed like it had lots of potential for use in group projects in the classroom.

In the end the internship has been an interesting and fun experience.  Lots of people say that you are born to teach and you hear the calling to teach.  I was convinced by my girlfriend to give it a try.  Without that I doubt I would ever have thought about teaching.  I am glad I did decide to give it a try.  Will I be a good teacher? We’ll see.  I can see the potential in myself.  If I can keep my motivation up during the hard times I think I will be able to do it.  I am still nervous about the prospect of having my own classroom and being completely responsible for my students.  I think the year long internship will help me in my first year teaching.  Many new teachers have only had 2 or 3 months in the classroom.  Everyone says the first year is the hardest and if I can make it through it only gets better with time.  I have some time this summer to find a job and prepare myself to set out on my own.

Teaching ELL chapter 10 June 3, 2010

Teaching ELL and students from different cultures always seems that much more daunting after reading books such as these.  They usually make me feel like I am failing my ELL students.  We as teachers have a lot of responsibilities to our students.  On top of these everyday responsibilities we have the obligation to take the extra steps to help our ELL students succeed.  Of the responsibilities we have to our ELL students, the most difficult for me to consider is the involvement of the families.  One part of the chapter that interested me was the table outlining some of the cultural differences between families born in the US and those of ELL students.  The first difference, competitive for US born vs. cooperative for foreign born, was an interesting one.  I think we are a competitive culture here in the US.  My students always compare grades when we pass back assignments.  We have been doing a lot of cooperative work in our classroom over the course of the year.  I am not sure how effective it has been for our ELL students.  I’m not sure those new to the language have been able to get the most out of the group and pair interactions.  They are not always able to understand their fellow students and the non-ELL students don’t always know what to do or say when the ELL students can’t understand them.  I think the interaction is good for them, though.  It may not seem like it sometimes but the ELL students are listening and picking up little bits here and there. I will continue to use group work in my classes.  Not matter the level of language proficiency, the ability to work with others is a vital skill for all students and hearing other students speak the language is great practice for learning.

Another point I found interesting was the possible reluctance of ELL families to interact with teachers and school.  This can be due to perceptions that schools do not want the parents interactions or by a lack of trust of figures of authority.  No matter the reasons families are reluctant to contact school, I should work towards creating a comfortable  and welcoming environment where the parents of ELL students can feel free to communicate with me.  I think the idea of being proactive in communication with home instead of reactive is a great one.  It is also one of those things that has been difficult for me during my internship and will probably be difficult during my first year teaching as I try to get settled into my role as a teacher and getting my act together.  Giving positive feedback is something I want to do more of as my career matures.  While they may not act like it, students and parents appreciate hearing positive feedback.

Planning around a disruptive week May 31, 2010

It was a difficult week in terms of planning due to Eckstein taking the MSP test.  For some reason, the way the schedule turned out, we had 1st,2nd, and 3rd periods one more day than we had 4th, 5th, and 6th periods.  Luckily we still had some presentations that didn’t get finished in first and second periods that allowed us to make use of the time.  The rest of the periods were used as review of the moon phases and eclipses.  It is difficult to try to plan around disrupted week schedules.  To add to the scheduling difficulties the band was allowed to schedule a  field trip for one of the days.  This means that every student who goes on the field trip will have to make up the test on Monday.  Situations like these make planning difficult.  They also highlight the need for well thought out plans and the need for alternative plans.  This has been a weakness for me not only throughout this internship but in my life.  I have always been someone who lives a bit spontaneously.  I have found myself on several occasions this year trying to be spontaneous in my lesson planning.  As one might expect these lessons didn’t always go so well.  It feels bad to have a bad lesson and even worse when the lesson is bad due to your lack of planning.  i have gotten much better in my lesson planning as the year has progressed.  Not just the lesson for the next day but for subsequent lessons.

Sound Ideas Conference May 31, 2010

This was a fun and interesting evening.  The guests were from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.  Each panelist came with a story about a teacher they remember.  These stories were what I took the most form from the night.  I would like to be a teacher that students remember.  I would like to be a teacher that students look back on and tell stories about.  I would like to be a teacher that makes a difference in a student’s life.

Stan Jacobson told us about his time at seminary and a teacher there that told him “use who you are to succeed”

Mark Johnson recalled his eighth grade Russian culture teacher.  This teacher had high expectations of the students and made the students feel smart.  The classroom was interactive, the students had choice, and taught each other.  These are all aspects that I want to foster in my classroom.

Zoe Strong shared her challenges she had as a student.  Her story was about a coach who saw past her behavioral issues and stood up for her during a challenging time.  Some of my best memories of teachers are of teachers who were coaches also.  I played a lot of sports as a student and my coaches were a big influence on me.  I would like to coach as a teacher and hopefully I will be able to have the same impact on students that my coaches had on me.

Mack Strong was a students athlete and played for the Seattle Seahawks football team.  He recalled a teacher that looked at him as a students and not just a star athlete.

Anita Deyneka remembered teachers who believed in her.

Ralph Monroe shared several stories about his youth and long career.  Most of them in an amusing fashion.  The ability to tell amusing and educational stories is something I hope to be able to develop over the course of my career.  Ralph gave us five guidelines to keep in mind through our career and life in general.

• Pick up the ball,  Be a leader.
• Set an example.  Be a role model to the students and others.
• Speak you mind but know what you are talking about.
• Stand up for the less fortunate.
• The most important things in life can’t be bought.

These points rang with truth to me.  I want to be a role model to my students.  I try to treat them all with love and respect even when they make it difficult sometimes.  I hope to be able to have a positive impact on students throughout my career and be remembered as a good teacher, which my not always be a favorite teacher.

Draft Professional Development Plan May 26, 2010

Draft Professional Development Plan for __Erik Sanders_______

Date:  ___25^th of May 2010_________

Professional Standard / Criteria		Professional Development Activity	Observable Evidence of Positively Impacting Student Learning
Effective Teaching Demonstrate the knowledge and skills which ensure student learning.
1a	Use instructional strategies that make learning meaningful and show positive impact on student learning.
1b	Use a variety of assessment strategies and data to monitor and improve instruction.	I plan on giving out a pre-assessment for every new unit throughout the year.  These pre-assessments will be saved and compared to the summative assessments given out at the end of each unit.  Small formative assessments will be given out at least once per lesson as quick checks of the effectiveness of the lesson.  These quick checks will tell me what concepts were gotten and what concepts may have not been clear through the lesson.	The comparison of the pre-assessment to the post assessment will give a glimpse of each student’s progress throughout the year.  A lack of improvement between pre and post assessment could warrant a review of my lessons or a student’s effort.  Formative assessments will give me quick frequent checks of understanding.  These can be quickly rated as “got it”, “maybe or somewhat”, or “didn’t get it”.
1c	Use appropriate classroom management principles, processes and practices to foster a safe, positive, student-focused learning environment.	Throughout my career I hope to hone my classroom management philosophy.  For my first year I will concentrate on creating effective classroom norms with clear boundaries and clear consequences and will hold to those norms consistently throughout the year.   In addition to classroom norms I will try to create interesting and engaging lessons which will help to hold students attention and leave little room for errant behavior.	Evidence of effective classroom management will be a well behaved classroom with a small number of disciplinary referrals or contacts home with regards to classroom discipline.  Students will report being able to concentrate on lessons without distractions from disruptive classmates.
1d	Design and/or adapt challenging curriculum that is based on the diverse needs of each student.	Whether I am creating a lesson on my own or I am using an existing lesson, where possible, I will create multiple levels of problems or thought questions to go with each activity.  The increased difficulty challenge questions will give those students that finish the regular assignment additional practice and to think beyond what would normally be expected of the lesson.	The positive impact of students learning will be that all students are challenged at their ability levels.  Those that may find the assignment easy will go on to the harder challenge questions, while those already challenged by the regular assignment will already be working at their appropriate level.
1e	Demonstrate cultural sensitivity in teaching and in relationships with students, families, and community members.
1f	Integrate technology into instruction and assessment.	By my second or third year of teaching I hope to develop an interactive website (either a wiki or a class blog) through which I can not only communicate to students additional content, resources, and assignments; but also communicate with students about class progress and performance.	This site could be a means not only for assigning work, but also a place where completed student work would be easily stored and viewed.  Assignments and assessments for an entire year could be saved, viewed and compared to track the progress of a student’s quality of work and thought process.
1g	Inform, involve, and collaborate with families and community members as partners in each student’s educational process, including using information about student achievement and performance.
Professional Development Demonstrate the knowledge and skills which ensure professional development.
2a	Evaluate the effects of your teaching through feedback and reflection.	I feel feedback from students is a very important part of my development as a teacher.  At the end of each unit of instruction I will ask the students to reflect on what they enjoyed or didn’t enjoy about the unit.  What parts of the unit were more or less effective in helping them reach the learning goals.  Reflection will be an constant and ongoing activity.  At the end of each day I will reflect about what went well and what could have gone better.  These notes will be used to make the lesson better the next time it is taught.	Evidence of positive impact will be the continuing development and improvement of my lessons to become more engaging and efficient in leading students towards reaching the learning goals.  As lessons improve I will be able to implement a larger variety of instructional strategies to keep the lessons fresh.
2b	Use professional standards and district criteria to assess professional performance, and plan and implement appropriate growth activities.
2c	Remain current in subject area(s), theories, practice, research and ethical practice.	In addition to professional development opportunities provided by my school I will strive to remain current by taking advantage of learning opportunities outside of those provided by my school or district.   I will seek out opportunities such as summer field courses in the sciences.  Webinars concerning technological implementation are often offered during the summer season.	Activities such as these will allow me to present lessons using the most up to date information and data.  In the sciences especially,, new discoveries are being made constantly.  By staying current myself I will have a greater pool of knowledge to draw upon when creating lessons.  Students are more likely to engage and remain engaged when their lessons are based in current events they can see or read about.
Professional Contributions Demonstrate professional contributions to the improvement of the school, community, and the profession.
3a	Advocate for curriculum, instruction, and learning environments that meet the diverse needs of each student.	I will attend and participate in regularly scheduled PD activities at my school.  I will strive to be an active participant and leader in my department.  I will try to bring fresh ideas in regards to lesson planning, classroom activities, and curriculum use to the department and school.	Students will benefit from my participation in PD activities through improved lessons that have had the input of multiple teachers.  Collaborative activities such as field trips or projects planned with other teachers  can help synch the science department and give students a sense of cohesiveness throughout the grade level science.
3b	Participate collaboratively in school improvement activities and contribute to collegial decision-making.

OEL lesson planning May 15, 2010

This past week I participated in an OEL lesson planning session.  OEL stands for Observation of Evidence of Learning.  For this activity the science department from our school and science teachers from other schools who choose to participate come together to plan a chosen lesson.  After the planning a teacher will deliver the lesson(s) while the other teachers observe the class.    The lesson chosen for this OEL was a 7th grade science class looking at lung capacity.  Observing and identifying the different kinds of lung capacity we use.

These OEL sessions are a great opportunity for everyone involved.  Those teachers teaching the same grade or curriculum get a chance to collaboratively develop a lesson they can not only use but get to observe it being taught .  For those who are not using that curriculum the OEL is a great opportunity to collaborate with other science teachers and hear ideas about how they might approach a particular concept.  I feel we have a great range of teachers at the school I work at.  Some are great a making up work sheets while others are great at using movement in lessons.  The lesson we developed was a good mix of teaching strategies.  On day one the students were asked to make observations about how they were breathing as they sat there in their seats.  the teacher then led them as they did some jumping jacks.  The students then made observations about how they were breathing after the jumping jacks.  They then compared the similarities and differences as a class.  There was then a discussion about what might affect the way your lungs work, activity, lifestyle, disease, etc; followed by the writing of a hypothesis about the lung capacity of a normal seventh grade student.  Day one ended with the building of simple lung capacity measuring devices and measuring the different capacities of the class.

Day 2 began with students analyzing the data they had collected the day before.  They made comparisons of the data on the graphs and wrote about the findings they saw.  Day 2 ended with an activity modeling the residual lung capacity using a sponge and some water.

After the lessons were taught the teachers got together again to talk about how the lessons went and what could be improved.  It was good to hear what everyone had to say about the lessons.  There were questions about how structured the students writing prompts were, yet most agreed that the prompts helped focus the students thoughts.  The 8th grade teachers were in agreement about the need for students to be able to represent and interpret data in different forms of graphs.  Another thing we wanted to see was students able to make conclusions using the data they have and not making conclusions that can’t be supported by data.

I enjoy activities such as these in that it is a chance to observe many different teachers and see their thoughts on a particular problem.  All teachers have different styles and as a students teacher I try to absorb as many different of those styles as I can and add them to my tool box for future use.

Long Term Projects May 2, 2010

Our science students were assigned long term science experiments around mid February. This year the projects had to be science experiments, not just science projects as in the past.  This was decided due to the requirements of students to know and identify experimental components on the MSP.

This week has been presentations of those experiments.   Those who were on top of things and prepared volunteered to present early in the week.  Those less prepared tried to put their presentations off till later in the week.  This has led to a distinct downward trend in presentation quality.  We have had several well done projects including a home made calorimeter and the effectiveness of different types of detergents on stains.

Many students are learning that theses were more than just assignments that were due in 2 months.  After the presentations are finished this week I think it will be a god opportunity to look back on their progress reports and allow the students to evaluate how honest they were on the progress reports.  In addition I think it will be a good opportunity to reinforce the idea that the projects are not only about science but about personal responsibility and accountability.  In most cases the quality of the experiments were directly proportional to the amount of effort put into them.  As these eighth graders go to high school next year they should be held to higher and higher standards in regards to quality of work and responsibility.  For many it could be a rude awakening.  I have seen some of the students change and mature over the course of the year while others have changed little.  It makes me feel good to see those who have matured while I worry a little for those who have made little progress in their maturity and responsibility.

First Period Can Be Tough April 26, 2010

I am sure everyone has experienced it throughout the year.  You decide how much of the text you might want to use, you try to add some more interesting content, and you plan your lesson.  At some point or points in during first period you notice something that didn’t work quite like you thought it would.  The questions you ask get only blank faces, or confused looks;  the activity you planned is hard to follow, or you don’t quite reach the objective of the lesson.  You make some adjustments for the next period and try them out.  By sixth period you’ve ironed out most of the kinks and the lesson goes mostly the way you want.  I can’t help but feel that first period gets a little short changed over the course of a year.  For a first year teacher, first period get to see every lesson the first time you teach it.

Having 4 periods of science allows me to see the effects of my lessons and to make adjustments.  If I had my own classroom the final lesson of the day would be one to take note of and think about how to improve  for the next year.  My one period of math is a little tougher.  I have to reflect on that lesson and make note of any changes I would want to make for other similar lessons for the current year or for next year.  I imagine this might keep some first year teachers from making big changes or trying new things with a new curriculum.  A lesson that flops can take up time and set you back in your schedule.

Teaching ELL: Teaching Strategies April 15, 2010

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 in the Curtin book dealt with teaching strategies for ELL students.  An important aspect of the strategies covered is that the variety of strategies suggested are no different than those recommended in well run classrooms without ELL students.  Visual aids, demonstrations, graphic organizers, interactive and cooperative learning, are all strategies and tools that should be present in every successful classroom.  I have been trying to integrate as many of these strategies and tools into my classroom as possible.  In both science and math the students spend a majority of their time engaged in cooperative group work.  I feel like it has been successful for the most part.  With the exception of a couple of students, the levels of student discussion on topic has been good.  A recent activity had the students acting out the motions of the Earth-moon-Sun system with certain questions in mind.  It was great to hear students planning their demonstrations and to hear some “ohhhs”  when someone saw something they didn’t before.

The reading provided some useful resources that I think could help me in the future.  The planning chart on pages 74-75 (Curtin 2009) provides a good outline to think about.  Often time my plans are simply written out in a way that I think may work.  The book says I should expect to plan 2-3 times the amount of time the lesson will take. (Curtin 2009)  this is a daunting task.  In this case I am glad to be a middle school teacher with only 2 subjects to plan for.  I know I need to work on my planning.  I have learned that just understanding the content I am trying to teach doesn’t automatically allow me to make my students understand it.  I am really trying to work on guiding the students to understanding rather than simply telling them the information, which is not learning at all.

I think the concept of learning English by learning subject content is an excellent one.  For myself, and perhaps anyone who has tried to learn some of a language for a foreign trip, sitting at home and trying to memorize vocabulary and random sentences doesn’t really work.  The words and phrases that are learned without context have only so much use. ELL students learning the language in pull out classes don’t develop the scientific or mathematical vocabulary needed to be successful in normal classrooms.  So even when they reach a point where their language skills are good, they are starting for behind other students in scientific or mathematical knowledge and skills.

As for my teaching, I am luck to have an ELL co-teacher in my math class for support.  We try to use several of the strategies covered in the the Curtin book.  Lots of group work with think-pair-shares and mini jig-sawing.  We have gotten them up on several occasions to act out graphs or geometric shapes.  I try to read directions or introductions aloud as students follow along and I try to keep the word wall up to date.  Even with our efforts, some of the ELL students are having trouble keeping up.  We have to keep the pace of the class up because we have many high level students also.  This is an issue in many classes and not just with ELL students and one I have a lot more to learn about.

Curtin, Ellen M.  (2009) Practical Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

EDU 6139 Teaching ELL April 7, 2010

The first three chapters of the Curtin book dealt with the history of ELL and stages of english language acquisition and initial teacher considerations when dealing with ELL students.  There are lots of topics included in these chapters.  The hot topic in chapter one is No Child Let Behind.  We’ve all have our own opinions and have heard the opinions of others about NCLB.  From what I have heard, I have few good thoughts about NCLB.  One of the few good things I have heard of is the disaggregation of student data making schools accountable for all students not just certain groups.  There seem to be more downsides than up.  The expectation of 100% success, while naively noble, is impossible, and to hold a teacher up to that standard is ridiculous.   Standards are left up to states and can vary from state to state.  My understanding of the Washington standards is that they are ceiling instead of minimum requirements.  Instead of expecting students to reach a minimum level of proficiency we are expecting students to reach nearly honors level in their grade to be deemed successful.  The last thing of NCLB is the tenets.  The consequences listed in Tenet one seem to have some problems.  Holding teachers accountable is good.  It doesn’t seem to hold the students or the parents accountable.  It seems that a great teacher at a poor performing school is at a distinct disadvantage.  The tenet states that teachers “contributing” to student failure are to be replaced.  (Curtin 2009)  What incentive do teachers have to take jobs at poor performing schools when they can be fired for not bringing students thatthey, or perhaps no one, could bring up to standard.

I have been experiencing ELL first hand.  The eighth grade math class I am teaching is an ELL inclusion class.  We have 6 ELL students (which I know isn’t a lot in some schools).  I have seen the challenge of trying to teach these students.  The greatest challenge to me seems to be the expectation that they be taught at grade level.  The students are placed based on their age but only one is within one year grade performance wise.  I know two of the students read at a 1st grade level.  On page 41 the Curtin text states that the reading level of classroom texts may need to be adjusted, but content must be similar.  (Curtin 2009)  Perhaps this is referring to language arts classes because I am curious where I am going to find an 8th grade level math book written for 1st, 4th, or even 6th grade readers.  I am lucky, in that the class is designated as an inclusion class so it is co taught with an ELL specialist teacher.  I think the curriculum we use is tougher for ELL students.  we are teaching the Connected Math curriculum which focuses a lot on student led activities, group work, and reflections.  A math teacher I know of has experienced success with her ELL students by going back to older text books and learning with numbers, formulas, equations, and repetition.  It may not be the “new way” of doing things but often ELL students can do 2x=10 but may not understand “Mark has 10 Widgets and wants to give them as presents to 2 buddies, how many widgets does Mark need to put in each gift box?”

I am grateful for the ELL teacher in the class.  I have a hard time seeing how we could get anything done with the ELL students without her.  We do a lot of group work and the groups are expected to help each other.  Many of the students do a good job with this but there is only so much they can be expected to do.  There are deadlines for assignments that they have to meet also and we can’t expect them to miss a deadline and a possible learning opportunity while trying to help another student.   One of us can spend the entire class helping a few of the ELL students while the other splits time with ELL and other groups questions.  A great concern is pacing of the class.  I know we are going too fast for the ELL students.  The ELL teacher even takes extra time with them during other periods of the day to work on their math, but they are often behind and missing work is a big problem.  I feel we have to be fair to the other students also.  We are already a couple of weeks behind other 8th grade classes.  Slowing the pace down to accommodate the ELL students penalizes the non-ELL students.  We make accommodations on exams and give them as much help as we can during class.  It is a topic that I feel I definitely struggle with.