Reflection #4

Unfortunately stereotyping is something that everyone does. It doesn't matter who you are at some point in your life you have judged a certain individual or group of people based on their appearance, religion, or some other factor. Teachers are human and they are not immune to this. I have seen stereotyping in the classroom and around the school before. One example is that we got a new student a few months ago. The student's father was in the office and covered in tattoos and wearing torn up jeans with a cut off shirt. The student looked close to the same with a crew cut, torn up jeans, and a cut off shirt. Many teachers, including myself, were a little concerned when we saw this and we automatically assumed that the student would be a problem in the classroom. The student didn't stay but for a few days and I only talked to him in athletics. We didn't get a chance to know him but the fact is we were judging him based off of his appearance and we shouldn't have been. I think it is important that we try to not make assumptions about our students. It is important that we pay more attention to the actions of the student rather than making assumptions about them. There is one student who most of the teachers seem to avoid. The student was busted for drugs last semester and most of the teachers seem to assume that this is still an issue for him. I have this student in my athletic period and I have watched him work hard and take his punishment for the offense that he committed. The student has projected nothing to me other than a hard working, respectful young man. And I treat him as any other hard working student who has shown a desire to improve themselves, regardless of past mistakes.

Reflection 3

Reflection 3

I believe in the idea of inclusion. Inclusion means that every student should have equal opportunity to succeed and I believe that this is a good thing. I like the idea of inclusion but putting it into practice is a little bit more difficult. Giving students the exact same opportunities and treating students equally is fair but at the same time there are going to be students who may require special attention. Some students may need extra help with assignments while other students may be advanced enough that they become bored in a standard class. Inclusion also has students with special needs becoming more involved with the regular class. I believe that this is a good thing as well because when a group of kids see that another student is being treated differently then they may respond in a negative way towards that student. Kids have a tendency to seek out those who are different and treat them in a negative way. So again, the idea of inclusion is great (all students given the same opportunity and treated equally) but in reality I believe that it is more beneficial to students to have more personalized plans for each student. In my classroom this semester I have some students who have special needs. I have students who struggle in class and I have some who can answer all the questions, make all A’s on the tests, and seem bored in class. Students who have special needs should be given the help that they need. Students who are advanced should be placed in advanced classes. This is my own personal belief. In class I will walk around to try and help students who may struggle. I modify their homework and their tests. The debate over inclusion is a difficult topic because no answer seems completely right or wrong.

                The No Child Left Behind Act is another difficult topic to discuss. Once again, the idea behind the act is good. The idea of creating a standard test for everyone and then challenging schools to raise those test scores seems like a great idea. But of course there are several issues within this idea. I honestly don’t know if there is a way to completely fix NCLB but I also don’t think it would be wise to completely scrap the whole idea all together. Most teachers that I have met so far complain almost daily about standardized tests. The classes that I am teaching are world history and there is no longer a standardized test for this class. I haven’t had to deal with the preparation for the test that other teachers have had to deal with this semester. In theory having a standardized test is a good way to let educators know where we all stand but in practice, the preparation for the test takes away from the educational experience for the students. Teachers are teaching students just to past the test. I believe that this narrows the abilities of the educators in the classroom. Focusing all of our time and energy on just one test takes away educational opportunities from students.

Daily success journal 6

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Daily success Reflection

All in all this wasn't a bad week. There are several times throughout the week when I know that I get frustrated but that seems to be part of the process of student teaching. I managed to get a couple of wins out of the week through interactions with students and instruction. The one I enjoyed the most was when the sub was here because I wasn't sure how the students would react without the cooperating teacher here.

My second favorite day was when I was teaching the theory of forms to the students. It’s a very difficult subject to grasp (and teach) but the students did fine with it. It was kind of exciting to see that that it started to “click” with some, and then most of the students. I don’t enjoy having to discipline any of the students but sometimes it is necessary. It was nice to see the students react to discipline in a positive manner though. This was a pretty good week with a few ups and downs.

daily success 5

Friday, October 25, 2013

Today in class I gave a lecture over ancient Greek government and philosophy. I know that I enjoy this subject but some students don’t care for it. I tried to make the lecture as interesting as possible by using videos and trying to make references to the students’ lives. The students actually responded well and we had a discussion about Plato’s theory of forms, which is very difficult to understand and explain. This can be a difficult section to teach but I liked the way that I did it and I thought that the students responded very well and they seemed interested. Sometimes just getting some students interested in history for an hour is a win.

daily success journal 4

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Today the students in the classes that I am teaching took a chapter exam. We have been going over this chapter for a little over a week now. I was a little nervous to see how the students would do because there was a large amount of information in this chapter. My win for the day would have to be that the students did do very well. It is nice to see that the students are responding well to instruction and it is nice to see that my instruction seems successful so far. The students played a review game yesterday and I believe that turning the review into a game can help as long as it doesn't get out of hand.

daily success journal 3

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Today in class I had the students play a review game so that they could review for the test. The students in this class are usually good but they can get a little out of hand at times. During the review game some of the students started playing around too much (the game involves the use of a tennis ball). I wanted to lose my temper and start yelling but instead I calmly turned of the projector, had the students get out their books, and we started doing review questions. After a few questions the students decided that they wanted to behave so that they could play the game. I don't like having to discipline students but by taking the game away for a few minutes the students all calmed down and I didn't have any other problems from them for the rest of the class period. The last time we played this review game the students actually did very well on their tests, the test is tomorrow so I hope it goes well again.

daily success journal 2

Tuesday, October 22, 2013
On Tuesday my cooperating teacher had to leave school for a few class periods and a sub came into the class. This was my first time to be the main authority figure in the class since most students don't listen to subs to well and I have always had my cooperating teacher in class with me. The students responded well, they paid attention in class and were respectful to both me and the sub. I wasn't sure how they would react without the cooperating teacher in the building but they did very well. Sometimes students don't behave this way for student teachers because they know how young we are and they will try and see what they can get away with. That wasn't the case on Tuesday and I enjoyed the experience.

daily success journal 1

I accidentally posted my reflection 2 on a different blog under the same name but the rest of my postings will be under this blog, sorry, I'm new to blogging.

This is the first post for my daily success journal.
Monday, October 21, 2013
I have two students in my freshman class who have a tendency to get a little "rowdy". Both of these students are on the football team that I am coaching and I know them pretty well. On Monday both of the students were horsing around with each other and they were disrupting the class. Rather than calling them out in class I asked both of them to stay after when the bell rang. I sat both of them down and had told them that this type of behavior had to stop and I explained why. Since I waited until Wednesday to make this posting I have had the last two days to observe the students and both students have been behaving much better. They responded much better to an explanation rather than just hollering at them in the middle of class.

reflection 2

Part A:

Only offering multiple choice or chapter tests limits the thinking and abilities of the students we teach because these forms of tests do not encourage higher thinking. These forms of tests are also limited in what type of questions they can ask. I believe that it is important for teachers to use several different types of assessments. Using different types of assessments is one way that teachers can try and reach all different types of children.

Part B:

I: Examples of formative assessments: Class observations, daily quizzes, exit slips, small daily group work, class discussions, and worksheets

II: Examples of summative assessments: chapter/unit tests, essays, I haven’t used a presentation project yet but I will in the near future

III: It is important to test students’ knowledge in many different ways. Different types of formative assessments should be used daily to make sure that the students are understanding the material. There should be a summative assessment at the end of a chapter or unit to make sure that the students understand the main themes or the main ideas from the lesson.

IV: The three different types of assessments that I want to try and use in the future are; presentations, group projects, and a class debate. For one of my next chapter tests I would like to have the students give individual presentations for their test grades. The students could choose something that is relevant to the chapter, write a short essay over the topic, then give a short 5 minute presentation over the topic. The presentation could count as half and the essay could count as half. I would also like to give my students a group project that would be a summative assessment. I am not sure if the group project would include an essay or presentation. I would like to do use small groups, two or three people at the most. I would also like to have a class debate. This would more than likely be a formative type of assessment. The students could also prepare for a debate at the end of a chapter and turn in papers for the debate, this could make it a summative assessment.

Reflection 1: intro

Hi, my name is Aaron Hughes. I am teaching sophomore level world history this semester. I have been placed in Christoval high school which is about twenty minutes south of San Angelo. My cooperating teacher also has a freshman level world geography class so I will be teaching that class as well. I am also helping coach the football team and off season basketball. If I had a choice when I graduate I would prefer to find a job around Dallas or Austin. I would also prefer to get a job at a smaller school since that I graduated from a smaller school. But since I am graduating in December I will be happy if I find a job anywhere since we only have about two or three weeks from the time we graduate until the next semester starts. It will be difficult to find a job with that short of time so really I will be happy with anything.

The expectations for teachers are high and teachers fill many different roles. I believe that three of the roles that teachers fill include mentor, learning facilitator, and recourse provider. The first role of being a mentor is very important. Teachers often guide their students as they grow up. The teacher must set a good example for the students and the teacher must work to develop the students into adults who can contribute positively to society. The teacher must also be a learning facilitator. It is the teachers job to provide a safe learning environment for the students. The teacher should also be there for the students through every step of the education process to ensure that the students are learning. The teacher should also be the recourse provider for the students. The teacher should have a vast knowledge of their content area and be prepared to pass this information on to their students. Passing down knowledge and skills are both very important roles that the teacher must fill. There are also many other roles that teachers must fill but I believe that these three; mentor, learning facilitator, and recourse provider are the most important.

I hope everyone has a good semester and good luck to the rest of you throughout your student teaching.