Student success so far

I am almost at the end of my unit, and I am fairly pleased with how it went. I was able to do three different labs, which is something the kids hardly get to do in math class. I think these labs went well, especially the volume lab. In this lab, the students had to measure four different three-dimensional solids, record the values in a table, and then find the volume of each one. At the end of the lab, they were given some problem solving questions that related directly to my action research.

Although I feel my lessons and activities cover the material well, my students have seemed to struggle at times. My host teacher told me that the chapter I'm teaching is always the hardest one for the Course 3 students to learn and comphrehend. The students seem to lack some basic, necessary math skills, which could be part of the problem. They struggle with the basic operations and using simple area and volume formulas. I have been hard on myself about it, but my host teacher told me not to blame myself. All I want is for my students to learn this material and really understand it. I have provided them with graphic organizers, manipulatives, and visuals to help with comphrension, but it doesnt seem to work as well as I'd like it to. Tomorrow is their test, so I will know then whether or not they have mastered the material.

Classroom management

Over the past few weeks, I feel as if I have improved on my classroom management skills. My 8th period is the class I have struggled with the most, but I talked to my host teacher and she gave me some insight as to how to have better control of the classroom. When the students are being disrespectful, they are given an "ABC." If a student gets too many of these, they are not able to attend a reward activity at the end of the term. She encouraged me to give one out, showing the students that I will not tolerate their talking and disrespect. After I gave out my very first one, the students began to quiet down and pay more attention in class. They have been so good lately and I feel as if they see me as more of an authority figure now. I was starting to get discouraged, but my host teacher reassured me that I can effectively manage the classroom and be successful. Over the next few weeks, I want to have my host teacher to make close observations of my classroom management skills, especially with 8th period so I can improve even more!

Inquiry

My action research project has been going very well lately! I have collected most of my data and I am beginning to organize everything. I have given 2 of my three problem solving assessments and I have seen that my students problem solving skills are improving! It's great to see how implementing more problem solving and vocabulary is helping them learn and understand basic mathematics concepts well. The assessments they were given had 10 word problems and they had to highlight different words and phrases that they didn't understand. By doing this, my host teacher and I are able to implement the vocabulary they struggled with into problems during Problem Solving Friday. I hope the strategies I'm implementing are really helping the students learn how to problem solve so they will be successful in the rest of their future math classes.

First Afternoon of Teaching

 Wednesday was the first time I was able to teach for an entire afternoon. I was so excited to finally be able to take control of the classroom. My host teacher was not there, so a substitute was in the room with me. She was a teacher at Suncrest Middle in the past and was associated with Benedum, so I was left in good hands. She was able to take some observation notes for me and was happy to reflect upon my lessons with me.
The students were more behaved than I thought they would be, considering my host teacher was not there. They participated and responded to questions I asked them. I was happy to see that they saw me as the teacher and not just someone who was filling in for my host teacher.
My PDS coordinator was also able to observe me during 6th period. She had good feedback for me, which gave me more confidence as I plan for teaching future classes. One thing I do need to work on is incorporating more formative assessments during my lesson. I always ask my students if they understand, but it takes more than that to really gauge their understanding. The next lesson I teach I hope to be more aware of student comprehension in order to deliver the material more effectively.

Beginning Of Internship

The start of my internship has been slow, but very enlightening and helpful. I began a week early, returning to the middle school for meetings with all of the other teachers. I was able to help my host teacher set up the classroom and get things organized before the students came back. I was able to speak with my host teacher about my expectations and set a tentative schedule for when I would be taking over classes and how things operate in the classroom. I was placed with the same teacher that I was with in the fall of my participant year, so the transition to my internship has been very smooth because I am familiar with how she does things and conducts her classes.

I have been doing a lot of observation so far in order to get a feel for the personality of each class so I can differentiate my future lessons to meet their needs. I go over quizes and get them settled down when class is about to begin. Monday I will begin taking over my first classes and I am so excited! I feel that not just being "thrown to the wolves" during the first week and doing observation will allow me to ease into the teaching role and I will be more confident in what I am doing.

This semester I will be teaching algebra 1, geometry, and course 3, which is the basic 8th grade math course. The average class size is about 25, but one class I will be teaching has 37 students. This is a collaborative class, so there is an inclusion teacher in the room to help. I know this is the class I will have to be most patient with, not just with them but with myself. Having 37 students in a class is a struggle and I know I will learn a lot from dealing with such a large group of students.

My time at Suncrest Middle has been great so far and I am looking forward to the rest of my internship!

Reflection on Inquiry Celebration

This year at the Inquiry Celebration, I attended 1 session regarding my content area (math). These presentations gave insight to how to implement games as a review for tests and how homework affects test grades. I found these presentations to be interesting and gave me some ideas of how to incorporate these two things in my classroom. The results showed that games to not necessarily help students learn and comprehend math concepts better, but they do get the students more engaged. Also, homework does not have a direct effect on test grades. Students may copy answers or just write things down to get credit on their homework, which does not help them at all. In order for homework to be beneficial, it must be relevant and contain more in depth questions rather than just pure computations.

The second session I attended had presentations about differentiated instruction and how having a coach as a teacher affects student behavior. These presentations were very interesting and were put together very well. These presenters were passionate about their topics, which made them enjoyable to watch. I learned that having a coach as a teacher does increase student effort and reduces behavior issues. It helps not only in the classroom, but also at practice.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher- Posting 2

Characteristic 2: We believe that the novice teacher should be an effective communicator.
In EDUC401, I created a parent letter that I would send to students in the beginning of the year. This letter introduced myself, told parents some background information, and encouraged them to contact me at any time. Letters like these show the parents that you care and want to include them in their child's learning.

Characteristic 3:We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching.
An artifact for this characteristic can be my Classroom Management Plan. This shows how I will run my classroom, which will be in a moral and ethical way. It will give an in-depth look at my future plans and intentions once I have my own classroom.