The first beneficial aspect I found from this past week was that it went much better than week ten. In my week 10 post, I reported that I felt I was in a planning slump and wasn't thrilled about my lesson plans. This week went much better and I can tell the students were more interested in the content. In the middle of the week, I took a break from Word activities and did a two day mini lesson with Web 2.0 tools. I introduced iGoogle and RSS feed to the students on Wednesday and they loved it. I had some of them tell me on Thursday how they went online at home Wednesday night and added more to their iGoogle account. In Money and Banking, the students completed a lending activity where they took the role of a bank and had to create a lending program for their fellow classmates. The students seemed to enjoy working on the project and gave wonderful presentations of their programs. One of the requirements included creating a TV commercial that promoted their loan and one group went above and beyond and taped their commercial. We watched it then in class during their presentation. I was impressed by the students' effort for the project and was grateful for the chance to have them participating in class in a different way.
As I mentioned, I introduced Web 2.0 tools to my Computer Applications students. For Thursday's lesson, I had a number of websites in mind to show the students and then I was going to let them go online and choose the site they wanted to become an expert about. However, before presenting the sites to the students, I did not check what sites are blocked by the school's Internet filter and, of course, all the sites were blocked. I had to improvise and switched gears to wikis because I knew wikispaces.com is not blocked. First of all, I wish I would have checked on a student's account for the sites I wanted to show them. Second, I wish I could have had more of a plan as to what I would teach the students about wikis. Most of them have some familiarity with the site because they uses wikis in another teacher's class. It turned out all right at the end of the day, but just not as I would have liked.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Week 10
This past week was an uneventful one at Shikellamy. Ironically, one of the most valuable aspects of my week comes out of a complaint about my Computer Applications class. The students are currently learning Microsoft Word skills and complete an activity every day that includes the new skill I taught during the class period. I heard many of the students make comments of how they don't like class. At first I thought it was me and went round and round with myself of how to make the content more interesting for the students. I finally asked them what was so bad about the class and the overwhelming response was that they actually have to do something during the class period. Many of the students named some of the other classes in their schedule and explained to me that all they do is sit and listen to the teacher talk or take notes. I think their views of other classes may be exaggerated a bit; however it made me feel better about their opinions of not enjoying my class. It's not that I am boring them, I'm actually making them do something in school. Imagine that!
My thoughts as to what I would change from the week switch to my other class, Money and Banking. I feel like I am in a planning slump. This past week went slower than any other week and I think it's because I was not thrilled with my lesson plans for the class. We are covering types of accounts offered by banks like checking, savings, certificates of deposit, and loans. The ideas I had while planning seemed like they would go well, but when I taught the class, the students didn't seem to have an interest. I am thinking this week will be different because they will be working on a group project for the first half of the week. Maybe it will be a change of pace for them and for me as well.
Have a great week!
My thoughts as to what I would change from the week switch to my other class, Money and Banking. I feel like I am in a planning slump. This past week went slower than any other week and I think it's because I was not thrilled with my lesson plans for the class. We are covering types of accounts offered by banks like checking, savings, certificates of deposit, and loans. The ideas I had while planning seemed like they would go well, but when I taught the class, the students didn't seem to have an interest. I am thinking this week will be different because they will be working on a group project for the first half of the week. Maybe it will be a change of pace for them and for me as well.
Have a great week!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Week 9
After yet another week, the most valuable aspect I experienced for the week was the midterm review. I found the formal evaluation between my coop and Mrs. Wiscount beneficial to me because it left me with their opinion of me as a teacher. I do find their usual classroom observations to be helpful as well, but I am a number person and like to see where I am on a number scale. I guess being in my fourth year of college has made me like that, where everything else I have been evaluated on has included some sort of a percentage scale. The midterm review restored my confidence in myself as a teacher that I was beginning to lose. It also provided me with the areas and ideas to improve myself for the second half of the semester. I have to admit, I was somewhat dreading this midterm evaluation, but in the end I agree with what came of it and appreciate the value of seeing it as a grade for my efforts of teaching so far.
On Thursday, I completed my observation of following a student for our Clinical Studies assignment. For my absence in the classroom, I created a worksheet for my Money and Banking students to complete while I was gone. We are currently discussing services offered by commercial banks, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, certificate of deposits, loans, and so on. I used the activity as a preview; I wanted the students to figure out some of the basics of the services on their own and what local banks offer for each service. I created a generic worksheet for the students, who worked in pairs, but each pair had to research a different website of a local bank in the Sunbury area I provided. I thought it would be a good activity; the students would be working on the computers, they would be discovering information on their own, and getting a preview of the banks that are in their immediate geographic area. I had a different bank for each pair of students so that on Monday, my idea was for each group to share their bank's information with the class. As it often happens in teaching, my activity didn't go as planned. My coop explained to me at the end of the day that some of the bank's websites were blocked for the students by the school's Internet security and that the students had a difficult time finding some information on the worksheet. While planning the activity, I went to each website to be sure it offered all the information I asked for on the worksheet, however I think I just assumed too much on the students' part in that they would understand the questions I was asking on the worksheet. For next time, I simply need to be sure the students can access websites I want them to use and not to assume what they may or may not understand.
On Thursday, I completed my observation of following a student for our Clinical Studies assignment. For my absence in the classroom, I created a worksheet for my Money and Banking students to complete while I was gone. We are currently discussing services offered by commercial banks, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, certificate of deposits, loans, and so on. I used the activity as a preview; I wanted the students to figure out some of the basics of the services on their own and what local banks offer for each service. I created a generic worksheet for the students, who worked in pairs, but each pair had to research a different website of a local bank in the Sunbury area I provided. I thought it would be a good activity; the students would be working on the computers, they would be discovering information on their own, and getting a preview of the banks that are in their immediate geographic area. I had a different bank for each pair of students so that on Monday, my idea was for each group to share their bank's information with the class. As it often happens in teaching, my activity didn't go as planned. My coop explained to me at the end of the day that some of the bank's websites were blocked for the students by the school's Internet security and that the students had a difficult time finding some information on the worksheet. While planning the activity, I went to each website to be sure it offered all the information I asked for on the worksheet, however I think I just assumed too much on the students' part in that they would understand the questions I was asking on the worksheet. For next time, I simply need to be sure the students can access websites I want them to use and not to assume what they may or may not understand.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Week 8
Week eight provided me with two distinct valuable aspects with one of them being the survey I created for the students about myself. I presented it to the students as their opportunity to grade me instead of me grading the students which grabbed their interest. It was helpful to view the students' feedback of their opinion of me, the effect I have on them, and their suggestions to improve the class. I will definitely do my best to implement this information into my future lesson planning. The second aspect that stood out to me are the non-instructional interactions I had with some of my students this past week. I'm not sure if the students are reaching an increased comfort level with me or what else made a few of them open up to me, but I received a reminder or reality check of what some students experience outside the school environment. I had at least four students share something significant about their lives with me this week. One even included me talking to the guidance department about one of the students. It was an eye opener to me and I sympathized with them because they are good kids-just not so good home lives. From this experience I just want to emphasize to you, my fellow student teachers, that a student's misbehavior is not always caused by the student just not wanting to follow directions or whatever the case may be. Talk to your students; find out what the real issue might be.
From this week, I would improve my lack of thinking through the class period for Friday's Money and Banking classes. I had a test planned for the students which went fine; it was the time after the test I didn't consider. I hadn't thought about the fact that students may not need the whole class period to complete the test, which none of them did, and I didn't plan any other activity. I improvised and added a link to my Delicious account for the students to access. In class we have been talking about currency and coins and the students have been questioning the legitimacy of commemorative coin collections. I found a link on the U. S. Mint site to an article about Obama coins that had been released that aren't issued by the Mint. It helped both with the students understanding additional content from the unit that they weren't necessarily tested on and it saved me from not having something else planned for the period. Now I'll be better prepared for our next test day!
From this week, I would improve my lack of thinking through the class period for Friday's Money and Banking classes. I had a test planned for the students which went fine; it was the time after the test I didn't consider. I hadn't thought about the fact that students may not need the whole class period to complete the test, which none of them did, and I didn't plan any other activity. I improvised and added a link to my Delicious account for the students to access. In class we have been talking about currency and coins and the students have been questioning the legitimacy of commemorative coin collections. I found a link on the U. S. Mint site to an article about Obama coins that had been released that aren't issued by the Mint. It helped both with the students understanding additional content from the unit that they weren't necessarily tested on and it saved me from not having something else planned for the period. Now I'll be better prepared for our next test day!
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