Weekly and Overall Reflections

Week 1

Week 2

There have been a few ideas I’ve tried with regards to getting the room’s attention for transitions; some being speaking loudly, a quick game of Simon Says, flickering the lights, etc. They’ve been prepared by my T.A. to respond fairly well, but they appear to be a tight-knit classroom with lots of energy, so they get side-tracked often. They … I won’t say are testing their limits, but they have been making requests that I’ve had to say no to, regarding running off the to the library during class time, or working on other assignments for other classes when they should be working on in-class assignments, etc.

But more use of the Exit Ticket strategy to keep them working feels like it will be important.

By Nov. 28 I’ve looked to include more examples and interaction to begin a class, and to walk through expectations before setting toward the work period. I’ve found that outlining my expectations for a task is only half the battle; I’ll need to also outline my expectations for behaviour and monitor this as well. With a new seating arrangement to begin December, some students were visibly excited to be with a new seating arrangement and had to be asked to pay attention, as they were becoming a distraction.

When some students are off task, I’ve employed the “how can I help you get started,” or “what part of this assignment is slowing you down,” style questions, to encourage being on task. Sometimes I’ll pause a work period to lead a discussion on an example, that demonstrates the expectations and tasks for an assignment, to offer support and guidance. My T.A., especially on math questions, feels strongly about asking students “Why” they have the right answer, or “why” a math solution is true. The math stuff is out of my wheelhouse, but I’m trying my best with it. Expressing the Perimeter of a rectangle as an algebraic expression with limits is a bit beyond my strenghs as a teacher!

I am being conscientious to not be “challenging” with negative words, like “no,” or “not like that,” or “that’s wrong,” but rather – especially when tackling math riddles – going with “that sounds good, but I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the question that was asked.”

I’m also making a point to not use satire, sarcasm or ironic comments – I don’t think that would be helpful, and could cause confusion and even worse, be misunderstood. It’s easier to avoid its use at all, I think (which isn’t easy for me!)

One student (Nov. 28) I was encouraged to have join me at lunch to complete his work before he was free to go to the gym, but he said he’d do it for homework, and I feel like he got off the hook.

In alignment with the “Thinking Classroom” and the “growth mindset” philosophies, I’ve been encouraging students with questions in response to their questions, to stimulate them in a fresh direction, rather than answering a question directly (commonly in math) – though there are some procedural questions, or questions about expectations that I answer specifically (in literacy).

Week 3

Just a circumstance of coincidence, this week I had two snow days and a volleyball tournament which kept us from teaching Literacy lessons (Wed., Thurs. and Friday), so we did not progress as far in the unit plan as expected. And due to the success from the volleyball tournament, that will be another day next week which will mean one less instructional day – which is jeopardizing the unit plan culminating assignment being submitted, graded and returned before I depart, which is disappointment. I think if the assignments are submitted to Google Classroom I may be able to grade them even after the placement is complete, which I would like to do as an exercise, and to see how well the students grasped my lessons, instructions and handout materials.

I challenged one student re: their phone use, which I understand they are not to be using, and asked them if they were familiar with the rules, and they understood the message, so there was an opportunity to use positive messaging and constructive language rather than sounding punitive – I think that helps contribute to a better classroom.

I was challenged last week to not just be clear and outline expectations for the work, but outline expectations for behaviour, and Monday’s lessons went well (Dec. 2). I’m sensing a difference in the students’ behaviours from the morning to the afternoon – as the day progresses, their focus (generally speaking) is less refined than in the a.m. That may be an area to investigate when preparing for a lesson; that some extra guidance or attention on behaviour management may be necessary in the afternoons.

Exit tickets have been tremendous – there is such a difference between their commitment to a task when there is an exit ticket. I’ll have to consider whether this is a tool for behaviour management or not.

In math, more questions that help guide students into a course of action for better understanding, rather than showing how to do work. Or walking them through the Order of Operations, rather than pointing out their mistakes – so they can spot their bloopers and get back on track.

There are closed-minded, stop-thinking questions that students ask like, how do you do this? Or what’s the answer? I’ve been guided to the growth-mindset question strategies, which lead students to the answer, but have them reach it for themselves. I have been offering some examples of process from the math lessons, and applying them to troubling questions, and demonstrating how the answer is in the process (in math).

Week 4

This week we had another bus cancellation due to an ice storm, which has caused for me to pivot with my final assignment and see either what may be cut, so it can be due early, or perhaps how to give more time and mark the assignment after the practicum placement has completed (which I’m open to doing).

An observation that I hadn’t really expected in my journey through the Teachers College process includes that there is a lot of room for creativity and play, which other jobs do not necessarily provide – and a lot of opportunity to “put yourself” into the work. I guess that’s not necessarily an epiphany or anything, but something I hadn’t expected – and nothing that anyone had ever suggested was a benefit of teaching. But a playful and creative angle to putting yourself into your work isn’t an opportunity in all walks of life, and I’d be fortunate to be able to take advantage of it.

On Dec. 10, to accelerate progress on a unit plan, my T.A. suggested I try using “check ins,” to evaluate/assess the progress the students have made in their final assignment. This was as handy as the Exit Ticket revealed itself to be, in that students felt that they might be called on, and so were more focused on completing some of their work.

In terms of gaining the class’s attention, I’ve tried some count-downs and expectations, or just big calls to get their attention. The classes have been responsive.

We had to move a student or two around from their seating assignments, on occasion, to minimize distractions. I find that when working from a power-point presentation, and having to remain near the laptop to move through slides – those who are at the back of the room can find themselves uninvolved – but I think calling on them to participate more might be a way to keep them engaged or alert.

In the volleyball tournament outside the classroom, there was some interesting new ways to motivate and challenge the students. There was a lot of “don’t get down” language when the team was hitting diversity, and I felt that there might be more positive language that didn’t include “don’t” and “down,” in the phrasing, like: “Pick each other up,” and that sort of thing. It’s a minor detail, but one is instructing them to stop, whereas the other is encouraging them to take action – though intending the same result.

Conscientious language use certainly goes a long way – in my writing career at one stop, Axiom News, we were very thoughtful about how we wrote our “appreciative” articles and designed our questions to “celebrate gifts and strengths” though our questions and writing.

There’s certainly room for this type of questioning in all walks of life and it could come to great use in a classroom.

While circulating, I’d suspected that there are a few students who may or may not fully grasp what’s expected of an assignment, but they appear to be unlikely to ask for clarification or to ask for help from a teacher. One of the strategies my T.A. had advised when I was circulate and when with one of these types of students, to have them demonstrate or explain how they’re getting their answers, or to “walk me through” their thought process for the assignment. In this way it’s possible to measure how on-track they actually are, and apply some supports as is necessary.

Navigation / Table of Contents

Focus areas:

• Teacher Plan Book homepage (link)
• lesson planning (link)
• student observations (link)
• classroom and school context summaries (link)
• reflections for each lesson (link)
• weekly and overall reflections (link)
• reflections on the associate teacher’s classroom management, lesson implementation and assessment & evaluation (link)