I will also be pulling photos from the internet to space out the pictures of myself. Any ideas of pictures I should put up? What about effects?
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About Me
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Post #1 End of the year
The school year is over. Our last day was a fun day at Boomers. I played some arcades, rode the go-carts, played laser tag and swung at some balls in the batting cage. Oh yeah, I also supervised my students. It was fun. I was pretty tired afterwards.
That is not the event I want to talk about though. The event was mentioned in my last blog post and I still want to talk about it. Towards the end of the year, a couple of my 3rd period students and I were having a casual conversation about the class and how they are doing. Their concern was regarding what they could do to get out of a failing grade. Unfortunately, it was a little too late. The conversation tended to the comment "What happened? You used to be so chill?"
There are many ways teachers create an effective classroom environment. One method I heard while in the EDS program was not to smile until after winter break. It expresses to the students that you are serious about your job and that you shall not be messed with. That was kind of the attitude I wanted to go in with, but that didn't really happen. I got my job early in August and I started on August 12. I really didn't have a lot of time to prepare myself since I had summer classes up to that day. On the first day I tended toward my natural attitude which is warm and friendly. Ask around. I'm sure people will agree.
I would support the idea that it would be appropriate to keep this attitude for a couple of weeks so students become comfortable enough to be in your class and to approach you. After those weeks, it's time for business. However, in my situation, I could not change my demeanor. There were only a few times when my students got me in a bad mood. Usually I was in a happy mood. I was happy to be in my classroom, teaching my students.
In my last blog post, I said I would try something else and be a serious teacher from the very beginning. We shall see what happens. I feel that you do not have to front a serious attitude to make your students believe you are serious about your job.
Enjoy a song:
End of the Road-Boyz II Men
That is not the event I want to talk about though. The event was mentioned in my last blog post and I still want to talk about it. Towards the end of the year, a couple of my 3rd period students and I were having a casual conversation about the class and how they are doing. Their concern was regarding what they could do to get out of a failing grade. Unfortunately, it was a little too late. The conversation tended to the comment "What happened? You used to be so chill?"
There are many ways teachers create an effective classroom environment. One method I heard while in the EDS program was not to smile until after winter break. It expresses to the students that you are serious about your job and that you shall not be messed with. That was kind of the attitude I wanted to go in with, but that didn't really happen. I got my job early in August and I started on August 12. I really didn't have a lot of time to prepare myself since I had summer classes up to that day. On the first day I tended toward my natural attitude which is warm and friendly. Ask around. I'm sure people will agree.
I would support the idea that it would be appropriate to keep this attitude for a couple of weeks so students become comfortable enough to be in your class and to approach you. After those weeks, it's time for business. However, in my situation, I could not change my demeanor. There were only a few times when my students got me in a bad mood. Usually I was in a happy mood. I was happy to be in my classroom, teaching my students.
In my last blog post, I said I would try something else and be a serious teacher from the very beginning. We shall see what happens. I feel that you do not have to front a serious attitude to make your students believe you are serious about your job.
Enjoy a song:
End of the Road-Boyz II Men
Monday, June 8, 2009
Last week of school
It is the last week of school. We have four more days left with the students. Then two more days of clean-up and check-out. The students are definitely ready for the summer; as am I. This has been a long year, however, I still remember the first day. Since we have a block schedule, it was like two first days. I introduced myself, told them a little bit about my background, and started to get to know the students. It was fun to think of ways to get to know the students.
Going into it, I was very excited. In the beginning, I tended to have a positive, friendly attitude towards the students. That is just how I am. At some point, I decided in needed to be less of a friend and more of a teacher. The students here do not put in a lot of effort as not a lot of effort is expected of them. I guess I can say that they are accustommed to doing the minimum to get by. What I mean by being more of a teacher is expecting more from my students.
Towards the beginning, I would give my students time in class to work and let them decide if they are going to work or not. Watching other 9th grade teachers, I noticed they do not let them decide. In their classes, their students are working all the time. I think, at the point, I decided to try that out.
I started being more strict; lowering the amount of free-time, bathroom breaks and wasting time. The students noticed that change in management; which is good. In fact, one student asked me last week "What happened? You used to be so chill." I don't want to be chill. I want my students to learn that they will have to learn how to use their time responsibly and that it will take a lot of effort to graduate with good grades.
Next year, I plan on being less "chill" and more strict with how my students use their time from the very beginning.
Going into it, I was very excited. In the beginning, I tended to have a positive, friendly attitude towards the students. That is just how I am. At some point, I decided in needed to be less of a friend and more of a teacher. The students here do not put in a lot of effort as not a lot of effort is expected of them. I guess I can say that they are accustommed to doing the minimum to get by. What I mean by being more of a teacher is expecting more from my students.
Towards the beginning, I would give my students time in class to work and let them decide if they are going to work or not. Watching other 9th grade teachers, I noticed they do not let them decide. In their classes, their students are working all the time. I think, at the point, I decided to try that out.
I started being more strict; lowering the amount of free-time, bathroom breaks and wasting time. The students noticed that change in management; which is good. In fact, one student asked me last week "What happened? You used to be so chill." I don't want to be chill. I want my students to learn that they will have to learn how to use their time responsibly and that it will take a lot of effort to graduate with good grades.
Next year, I plan on being less "chill" and more strict with how my students use their time from the very beginning.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Winding down
It's been awhile since my last post. I have been wanting to blog for awhile now. Seeing as though my students are taking a quiz right now, I have some time to do so. The main thing happening is that the year is starting to wind down. Some students are starting to tune out for the year. A lot of them, however are seeing this as their last chance to do what they can to make up their grades. It's interesting to see this change in...[thinks about the right word]...effort.
All year, we (teachers) have been trying hard to get our students to do their work. Despite all the warnings, making ourselves available after school, parent conferences, second chances, our students wait until the last minute. Now it is clear that these students have had this compassion. I have seen a couple of students turn their grade around in my class last week. I'm still trying what I can to help the others pass.
I'm also concerned with their level of thinking. Right now, they are in survival-mode. They are doing what the can to get at least a C so they do not have to take summer school or repeat Algebra next year. They are not actively engaged in learning. In the long run, this will not help their academics. I guess that is why it is so hard to teach 9th grade, or be a 9th grader.
I hope these students that I speak of can use this as a learning experience. If they had been putting in that much effort all year long, they would not be in this situation. They would be passing and actually learning something. Next year, I hope they can say "I don't want pull a 'freshman-year'" or "I don't want to repeat Algebra again".
All year, we (teachers) have been trying hard to get our students to do their work. Despite all the warnings, making ourselves available after school, parent conferences, second chances, our students wait until the last minute. Now it is clear that these students have had this compassion. I have seen a couple of students turn their grade around in my class last week. I'm still trying what I can to help the others pass.
I'm also concerned with their level of thinking. Right now, they are in survival-mode. They are doing what the can to get at least a C so they do not have to take summer school or repeat Algebra next year. They are not actively engaged in learning. In the long run, this will not help their academics. I guess that is why it is so hard to teach 9th grade, or be a 9th grader.
I hope these students that I speak of can use this as a learning experience. If they had been putting in that much effort all year long, they would not be in this situation. They would be passing and actually learning something. Next year, I hope they can say "I don't want pull a 'freshman-year'" or "I don't want to repeat Algebra again".
Friday, April 17, 2009
To B or to A?
Yesterday I was thinking, there is one girl in my class who does all the work. She comes to class and immediately gets started on the warm-up. She turns in her all her homework and completes all of the assignments. Yet, despite all of her hard work, she doesn't do very well on the assessments. I believe she could be doing more to improve her grade, but she currently has a solid B in my class. What I am saying is that she should be getting an A.
I am wondering: Is that the way it usually works? I am trying to think back to my math classes in high school and in college. Actually, I probably shouldn't compare my high school classes. I was an awesome math student. In college, I tried al the homework and did about average on the exams. I think my grades in my math courses were influenced more by the exams than anything else. So, if that was the case in my math class, she would not be passing right now.
But that was college. This is high school. I do not plan on changing the structure of my class. I think her grade is a fair representation of her abilities and effort. I am showing concern because I am also her advisor. I do think that she is going to have to raise her grade though. Oh and she has a C- in guitar (her lowest grade). What's up with that?
I am wondering: Is that the way it usually works? I am trying to think back to my math classes in high school and in college. Actually, I probably shouldn't compare my high school classes. I was an awesome math student. In college, I tried al the homework and did about average on the exams. I think my grades in my math courses were influenced more by the exams than anything else. So, if that was the case in my math class, she would not be passing right now.
But that was college. This is high school. I do not plan on changing the structure of my class. I think her grade is a fair representation of her abilities and effort. I am showing concern because I am also her advisor. I do think that she is going to have to raise her grade though. Oh and she has a C- in guitar (her lowest grade). What's up with that?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Long, hard week
I know, I know. It's been awhile since I've blogged. Frankly, you would probably hear the same old thing over and over. That's probably not a good intro sentence. Let me try again.
Today my students were being little kids. I'm not talking about the adorable/charming kinds. I'm talking about the annoying, fart-sound-making, giggling at fart sounds kinds. You would think that they get the idea by now. "You're in high school. Start acting like it." I've gone over how to act like a mature high school student before.
Thinking about it now, I think I'm being too nice. I think tomorrow, I'm going to pick up a fresh stack of detention slips. Or maybe have them come during lunch for a lunch detention for making fart noises.
Well, thinking about it again, I don't think it's because I'm being too nice. I've been very preoccupied these past couple of weeks. Last week, I got a good taste of what it will be like working full-time. Last weekend, my subject area leader had his baby. He was out for the week so he asked me to cover his classes. I gladly obliged. The extra money is substantial. So during every prep period I had last week, I was covering one of his classes. I covered one AP calculus class. That was easy. I told them what sections they needed to study for the test and they got right to it and studied the entire period.
I also covered three of his Algebra I classes. For those, he had me start chapter six. So I didn't get to do the cumbersome substitute thing and babysit them. I actually carried on with his curriculum. This took time I could have used for prepping or working on UCSD work. So instead, I was there before and after school doing that.
By the end of the week, I was exhausted. No preps the entire week. Teaching my own classes, on top of that, teaching his classes, staying for tutoring and watching personal project presentations on Friday after school was a bit overwhelming. Needless to say, the weekend was well-deserved.
I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. I definitely need to be more strict and more consistent with my discipline. Sometimes I feel I don't want to deal with discipline, but I can't relegate to that sort of behavior yet. I'm not old enough.
Merit-pay for teachers?
Today my students were being little kids. I'm not talking about the adorable/charming kinds. I'm talking about the annoying, fart-sound-making, giggling at fart sounds kinds. You would think that they get the idea by now. "You're in high school. Start acting like it." I've gone over how to act like a mature high school student before.
Thinking about it now, I think I'm being too nice. I think tomorrow, I'm going to pick up a fresh stack of detention slips. Or maybe have them come during lunch for a lunch detention for making fart noises.
Well, thinking about it again, I don't think it's because I'm being too nice. I've been very preoccupied these past couple of weeks. Last week, I got a good taste of what it will be like working full-time. Last weekend, my subject area leader had his baby. He was out for the week so he asked me to cover his classes. I gladly obliged. The extra money is substantial. So during every prep period I had last week, I was covering one of his classes. I covered one AP calculus class. That was easy. I told them what sections they needed to study for the test and they got right to it and studied the entire period.
I also covered three of his Algebra I classes. For those, he had me start chapter six. So I didn't get to do the cumbersome substitute thing and babysit them. I actually carried on with his curriculum. This took time I could have used for prepping or working on UCSD work. So instead, I was there before and after school doing that.
By the end of the week, I was exhausted. No preps the entire week. Teaching my own classes, on top of that, teaching his classes, staying for tutoring and watching personal project presentations on Friday after school was a bit overwhelming. Needless to say, the weekend was well-deserved.
I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. I definitely need to be more strict and more consistent with my discipline. Sometimes I feel I don't want to deal with discipline, but I can't relegate to that sort of behavior yet. I'm not old enough.
Merit-pay for teachers?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Slope equals rise over run
I'm beginning to realize what it might be like next year. Maybe not.
In case you haven't heard, I got an offer to teach Algebra I and Algebra II next year at Guajome. Woohoo! ***I say offer because I haven't accepted the position yet. I am definitely keeping my options open.*** That's a step up! Or maybe 2 steps up for every one step to the right, depending on the slope...
...Anyways stop laughing, I'm not complaining, but a colleague of mine was out today and I subbed for her Algebra II class for 3 periods straight. Then I still had to go to my advisory and then teach my last period. I didn't get a break (except for lunch). It won't that hectic next year of course. I will have a prep first period and collaboration 2nd. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that that's 1st block everyday. I won't have the need to rush to work everyday. The only drawback is that I won't have my own classroom. :( I don't have one as of right now anyways. I'm am going to try to push for one. It's such a pain to be one of the "traveling teachers". I could probably manage. I've been doing that this year, so it shouldn't be a determining factor. It would be nice to say that I've worked at a particular school for 2 years and it would be much much easier than going around, filling out applications and going to interviews. I will definitely keep Blogger updated.
What happened today? The Algebra II classes are great. It was the third time subbing for them this year. I think they've started to like my style.
My Algebra I class, what a bunch of 4th graders. The first half of class, we worked in the computer lab on our linearity project. For the 2nd half, we went back to the classroom and I taught a lesson on graphing linear equations. As I was getting started, many of the students were wasting time trying to acquire a sheet of paper and a writing utensil. I must have thought it was a bit entertaining because I stopped and watched for a while. Seriously, for about 5 minutes, students were arguing about who is borrowing a pencil from who, demanding paper from other people, playing tug-o-war with pens, etc. After about a good five minutes I stopped them and told them something to the effect that they need to come to class prepared with pencils and paper handy. Also, I usually provide those materials. They know that. Finally I said, if they didn't have those materials, too bad, they're not taking notes. Magically, every student had a sheet of paper on their desk and a writing utensil in the hand. I was really amazed. Really. The rest of the day actually turned out well; better than usual. I finished my lesson, even though we had less time then I had planned, with time left over to start the homework. I was content with them at the end.
Also, one of my freshman girls thinks I was a bully in high school and my middle school students think I was once part of a gang. More on that to come.
I need to learn some organizational skills.
In case you haven't heard, I got an offer to teach Algebra I and Algebra II next year at Guajome. Woohoo! ***I say offer because I haven't accepted the position yet. I am definitely keeping my options open.*** That's a step up! Or maybe 2 steps up for every one step to the right, depending on the slope...
...Anyways stop laughing, I'm not complaining, but a colleague of mine was out today and I subbed for her Algebra II class for 3 periods straight. Then I still had to go to my advisory and then teach my last period. I didn't get a break (except for lunch). It won't that hectic next year of course. I will have a prep first period and collaboration 2nd. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that that's 1st block everyday. I won't have the need to rush to work everyday. The only drawback is that I won't have my own classroom. :( I don't have one as of right now anyways. I'm am going to try to push for one. It's such a pain to be one of the "traveling teachers". I could probably manage. I've been doing that this year, so it shouldn't be a determining factor. It would be nice to say that I've worked at a particular school for 2 years and it would be much much easier than going around, filling out applications and going to interviews. I will definitely keep Blogger updated.
What happened today? The Algebra II classes are great. It was the third time subbing for them this year. I think they've started to like my style.
My Algebra I class, what a bunch of 4th graders. The first half of class, we worked in the computer lab on our linearity project. For the 2nd half, we went back to the classroom and I taught a lesson on graphing linear equations. As I was getting started, many of the students were wasting time trying to acquire a sheet of paper and a writing utensil. I must have thought it was a bit entertaining because I stopped and watched for a while. Seriously, for about 5 minutes, students were arguing about who is borrowing a pencil from who, demanding paper from other people, playing tug-o-war with pens, etc. After about a good five minutes I stopped them and told them something to the effect that they need to come to class prepared with pencils and paper handy. Also, I usually provide those materials. They know that. Finally I said, if they didn't have those materials, too bad, they're not taking notes. Magically, every student had a sheet of paper on their desk and a writing utensil in the hand. I was really amazed. Really. The rest of the day actually turned out well; better than usual. I finished my lesson, even though we had less time then I had planned, with time left over to start the homework. I was content with them at the end.
Also, one of my freshman girls thinks I was a bully in high school and my middle school students think I was once part of a gang. More on that to come.
I need to learn some organizational skills.
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