Turning the Page

     Reflecting back upon my observed lesson and my time spent with the students I have discovered a greater sense of confidence and assurance in myself as a teacher. I no longer perceive students who do as I ask as doing me a favor but rather as behaving as any student who wants to succeed would. I can feel my “teacher identity” developing and all my hard work finally paying off and coming together. I also learned that not every lesson has to amount to a fancy complex assessment piece. Assessing students based on the discussion and tweets/status was a way to see that students did grasp the main ideas of the lesson that were clearly connected to the novel. With this newfound knowledge I plan on further developing my presence as a teacher as well as understanding that learning can be achieved in a variety of ways whether it’s from writing an essay to conveying your own personal message in a few words.

      In regards to the students sitting in front of me I could not be any more pleased with them. They approach each question as if it is their mission to answer and defend. They have been welcoming and willing to share their thoughts, opinions, and personal struggles since day one. To be so open with student teachers who they barely even know shows me that these students are here to be active participators in their own learning regardless of the circumstances. With this knowledge I am going to go into student teaching with a positive outlook on the pros of teaching, since these students have showed me one of the best sides of this profession. Also, I have had a realization that these students are just children who will not hold it against you if a lesson goes wrong or if I make mistakes as a teacher.

      Ms. Tundis has showed me that there are multiple ways of teaching English Language Arts that are both fun and engaging for the students. She has shown me that although reading out loud may been an old school teacher strategy it also has many benefits that ensure comprehension and eliminates the issue of students not doing their reading. Additionally, Ms. Tundis has opened my eyes towards understanding that English can be used as a gateway to teach students about larger issues in life, ones that will matter long after students walk out the classroom doors. All in all this has been a great experience that has diminished my worst case scenario teacher fears that often flooded my mind. On Friday Katie and I had a picturesque ending as we finished the novel and closed with period F on our last day. This has been an experience that I will not forget and I hope to find a similar environment to Alan Shaun Feinstein Middle School when I enter the real world.

Teach Week Countdown

       As teach week approaches I wonder what mistakes from Burrilville I can improve on in regards to both planning and delivering lesson plans. Mainly I would like to focus and improve on my overall teacher identity and the persona I convey while leading the class. Since I have already been coteaching for the past few weeks I feel confident on working on my presense as a teacher. Being the one in charge means speaking with a loud voice, acting confident in what I am saying, and to be authoritative when it comes to handling students and pushing them to go further. This is something I look forward to doing next week since I am in my ideal environment to practice this. When it comes to lesson planning I am feeling pretty excited considering the students are already engaged in the book they are reading and are open-minded to new ativities in the classroom. A potential debate and a lesson on the power of influence are already in the works. I want to make these lessons as engaging and hans-on as possible while providing students the right tools and guidance to make them successful. I lookk forward to take all that I have learned and put it to practice in one last hurrah before student teaching.

Challenge Accepted

This week at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School was a week of change as Katie and I moved on from simply observing to actually taking center stage in the classroom. Ms. Tundis presented us with the challenge to take over two of her classes by reading the novel, A Chance in the World out loud to the students. We happily accepted this unexpected offer and jumped right into the novel. We also had to use our judgement to decide which parts to stop on and foster a brief discussion. Our English expertise paid off since we were both able to make on the spot decisions regarding which points we wanted to clarify and which parts we wanted students to express their opinions on. Reading out loud to the students was both a fun and exciting experience for myself, since I not only enjoyed the reading part but was also drawn in by student responses. Students would debate back and forth over a question as simple as whether or not one of the characters was a sympathetic or unsympathetic figure. After teaching these classes we engaged in a discussion with Ms. Tundis, in which she expressed her perspective on the benefits of reading a story to the class. She said how most teachers would view this as being extremely oldschool, but that this technique allows for students to comprehend and engage in the novel during those during reading discussions. Also, students are better able to understand and become engaged since it is being read with expression and not in a monotone voice. I could not agree with Ms. Tundis more and plan on implementing this as much as possible in a classroom of my own one day. I wonder if this book would have been as successful in another classroom had students been assigned to read chapters on their own for homework. Would they still be anxiously asking the teacher if their going to focus on the novel in class? Would they have as much knowledge of the events and characters?

Classroom or Courtroom?

 

       This week I began my new experience at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School in Coventry. Although I have only observed the students for two days I can already tell that Ms. Tundis has a motivated and strongly opinionated group of eighth grade students. The students were so eager to raise their hands and participate for every question that was thrown at them. I can honestly say that the whole concept of wait-time would not have to be used at all with these eighth graders. As I watched students debate back and forth in a polite manner over a simple question the teacher asked I was beyond impressed at their responses and level of engagement. Students began to state examples from the text in support of their position, make up real life situations relating to the topic at hand, and use accountable talk statements created for a respectable way to carry on a conversation. I felt as if I was in a courtroom of “literary lawyers” who would stop at nothing to prove their point. The students both initiated and conducted their own debate that could have kept going had the bell not interrupted them.  I was so impressed with their ability to build off of one another’s opinions and pull out solid examples from the text. In addition to this I was able to witness the extent to which engaging novels play on the learning’s of a class room full of pre-teens. Ms. Tundis and her students are midway through reading a novel titled, An Orphan Who Had a Chance. When Ms. Tundis told students to close their books and pack up for lunch they all begged her to keep reading and even said they would rather stay in her class than go to lunch. Hearing a bunch of eighth graders get upset about going to lunch certainly took me by surprise! I wonder what types of reading materials I can bring into the classroom that will peak students interest to this magnitude. It was evident through classroom discussions and the high participation levels that these students truly enjoyed being in this classroom and were having fun from reading this book.

       One of the main things I immediately noticed from the second I walked into the classroom was the unique teacher identity that Ms. Tundis has created for herself. The way she interacts with students is on a personal yet professional level. She possesses such a strong teacher presence that I hope I can one day create for myself. Students respect her and she respects students. It is clear that she has high expectations for her students, in which they want to rise up to. I cannot wait to work with this group of kids since I know they are a group that is ready to learn and ready become active participants in their own learning.

Highlights of Teach Week

     This week at Burrilville was a week full of lesson planning, accomodating, on the spot modifications, and new learnings. One of the most beneficial experiences I had this week was the oppurtunity to teach both the honors 10th grade class and the college prep tenth grade class. Although both classes were filled with bright students they definately differed dramatically when it came to personality and overall effort put into their schoolwork. Faith and I were used to teaching the honors class, which was full of extremely motivated hard-working well-behaved students. Having the priviledge to teach the college prep class and experience the differences and modifications that must be made allowed myself to start developing an adaptative teacher persona. In the college prep class I had to speak louder, develop a stern tone to my voice, and stop students frequently throughout the reading of The Crucible to ensure that students are understanding the events of the play. The students in this class were not afraid to show their personalities and to share their thoughts and opinions. Although this class may have been more rowdier and needed more guidance, it was certainly refreshing to see students finding humour in the play and not being afraid to be themselves. This made me wonder about what type of classes I will encounter as a teacher. I've been told by many teachers that every individual class has it's own personal vibe or essence that is unique and never duplicated. This makes me realize that even though I may be teaching the same material to multiple classes that my time spent in each class will be dramatically different.

     In addition to this eye-opening experience I was also able to gain an awarenss of many of my novice teacher weaknesses during observation day. Beginning class that day I felt confidant in the well planned out lesson that was prepared, however by the end of the period and by the end of conferencing I certainly felt doubtful on my original plan. Although it was disheartening to recognize and hear the faults of your teaching it was necessary in order to progress and improve. One of the main flaws of this lesson was the mistake of not being clear and specific while providing directions for students. Although it may seem like a rather simple task to teacher candidates I have to remind myself that high school students need clarity and lots of modeling to perform a specific task. Stating directions while students are gathering into groups is a recipe for disaster. Faith and I ended up reteaching and going over directions with each individual group instead of just being clear from the start; lesson learned! I also learned to never assume that students will "get" something just because you do. The need to scaffold, define words, ask proding questions are all important ways to allow students to grapple with a challenging piece of text. Watching the lesson plan unfold in a real classroom definately shined light upon little yet crucial aspects that were previously unpredicted. My time spent at Burrilville will play a role in helping me become a successful teacher in the future. Althouh I am sad to say goodbye to the students and to my cooperating teacher I am ready to move on to the next palcement and gradually gain the experience needed to be in charge of the education of hundreds and eventually thousands of students.

Teachers and Chameleons, not so different after all?

       This week at Burrilville High School I began to notice with a greater awareness the differences between different classes of the same grade level and the need for the teacher to not only modify her lessons, instructions, and assessments but also the tone used with students. Ms. Ricci teaches three tenth grade classes(two of which my partner and I have regularly observed). Although both classes contain groups of great students, one class is way more focused and on task while the other class needs extra guidance and support. Comparing the manner in which Ms. Ricci handles these two very different classes opened my eyes to the need to take on a changing and accomodating role as a teacher.

         Ms. Ricci would begin one of her tenth grade classes, who needs little support, with signing up for crucible roles and then jumping into the reading. This class will have a culminating test at the end of the unit once the reading has been completed. She makes comments to lead a class discussion that typically flow very smoothly and stay on task. While opening class for the other tenth graders she would remind them that after each act they will be given a quiz and that it is very important to take notes. She wrote up on the board what to title their notes and what section of their notebook to turn to. Additionally, when Ms. Ricci stopped to make comments and ask questions she would tell students exactly what to write in their notes and make sure that the brief portion of reading was comprehended, at least on a literal level. Many interuptions occured such as comments pertaining to, "What page are we on again?" or the teachers need to ask students to put their cell phones away. Her tone was more stern and more serious than it had been with the previous class.

       It is through these observations on how the teacher handles two completely different groups of students who are covering the same content that I began to realize teachers must constantly be able to change up their plans of assessment(culminating test versus regular quizzes), method of delivery, and overall persona, depending on the aura and audience of each particualr class. This type of adaptative ability reminded me of that of a chamelian, always able to change colors that are suitable towards the situation going on around them. Thier ability to camoflauge into the colors of their environment to avoid predators is somewhat similar to a good teacher's ability to change up his/her "colors", so to say, in order to remain effective in each given environment. As I realize the extreme importance of adapting to your students I will be able to become more prepared in developing methods to deal with such variation and to recognize that I may have more than one teacher identity based on the situations I am faced with and the students I am responsible for.

Beginner Teacher Tendencies

           This week at Burrilville High School Faith and I taught our first mini lesson introducing the students to new vocabulary words for Act I of The Crucible. Although this was a quick and simple lesson I became aware of aspects of teaching that never seemed to really phase me before. For example, it is important to tell students how many words you will be introducing, what part of their notebooks they should open up to, and a brief introduction of the purpose. Just because I know why we are introducing vocabulary does not mean the students will automatically know it will help their comprehension of the play and will be the content they will be quizzed on later this week. Faith and I wrote sentences from The Crucible up on the board that contained one of their vocab words. We then urged students to make use of context clues to take a guess at the meaning. This played out pretty well; we had volunteers that were able to take guesses at the words meaning with the help of our guidance. We then wrote the words and their parts of speech on the board for students to write down and define for homework. Ms. Ricci's positive and constructive feedback on this mini lesson has made me become more self aware of aspects that may seem little but that can make a world of difference in the classroom. For instance, wait time is very essential to ensuring that students are active in the lesson and participating. Although it was difficult to wait approximately 10-15 seconds for a volunteer it always paid off once that one gave in, reminding me that wait time was invented for a reason and that it actually does work! Additionally, Ms. Ricci pointed out the beginning teachers tendency to speak which a soft spoken low voice opposed to a louder more authoritative one along with the importance of being aware of your presence. These pieces of constructive advice will definately come in handy for next week as we being to teach act II.

           After introducing the vocab words we observed a class discussion based on a crucible anticipation guide that asked students to agree or disagree with relating broad statements. Taking notes on the types of questions Ms. Ricci would ask in order to get students to relate these to common siuations in their own lives helped me to become more confident in fostering a discussion for next week. There was one student in particular who would volunteer for every statement and speak for approximately five minutes for any question the teacher would ask. This occurance made me question what techniques I could use in my own classroom if I had a student that wanted to constantly speak. Although it is in no way a bad thing to make your voice heard in the class I noticed that this took away from other students having the oppurtunity to share their opinions. While brainstorming a way to mediate this I recall back to a previous SED class in which each student had to pick two slips of paper out of a hat. The slips would have two tasks for the day, in which students must complete in order to be dismissed. For example, one slip could be to ask a question while the other one could be to make a connection. Implementing this technique into a classroom where I have students who dramatically outstage the rest would be an effective way to make sure the voices of some do not silence the voices of others. Even though my time at Burrilville is limited I feel like I have already learned and became more aware of things that I have not considered while planning and preparing for the day. I can only imagine the substantial amount of knowledge I will gain not only through practicum, but through student teaching and through having a classroom of my own. For now I will take my constructive criticism and my notes from the days spent at Burrilville and use them to guide me to becoming a better teacher, one class and one lesson at a time.

Burrilville Lens

Prior to my visits at Burrilville High School I had a particular view regarding the classroom management of students and the struggles I would have to face as a beginning teacher. Although I know my experiences at Burrilville will not be identical to my experiences elsewhere I can say that my fears and anxieties I have had about being in front of a classroom have definitely diminished only after two days spent observing with cooperating teacher, Ms. Ricci. Ms. Ricci is a RIC graduate and has been teaching at Burrilville high school for 18 years! On the first day my partner Faith and I got to sit down with her to discuss the culture of the school and her experiences as a teacher. One of the main points that she said she wanted to communicate to us was the importance of developing one’s own teacher identity and staying true to oneself no matter what. While observing classes on both Monday and Thursday I was shocked at how well-behaved the students were and how the need to manage the classroom was pretty much non-existent. Students quieted down by themselves and did not speak out of turn once. Additionally, I was impressed on how responsible and self-motivating the students were. They would approach Ms. Ricci themselves asking to double check due dates and to find out what was missed if they were absent, opposed to Ms. Ricci having to go up to the students and remind them. This school truly has a great group of students who take responsibility for their own learning and who have a strong personal desire to be successful in their schoolwork and in life. I know that this will not always be the case and that it is my job to motivate and challenge those students who need it the most, however it is comforting to see students who truly value the information you are teaching them. Even though it has only been two days I feel confident enough to stand up in front of the class and to start teaching as soon as I can. Faith and I will be teaching the Crucible during our “teach” week and I am ready to start considering possible fun and engaging lessons once I refresh my memory on the details this play.

I got to witness Ms. Ricci’s “WOW” lesson to this play, which involves a week long group project in which each group was assigned specific sections of research. For example, one group would research Puritan Lifestyle while another group would research the evidence that the accusations were based off of, and so on. After 5 days of research and outlining students will get together in jig-saw groups and share their findings as well as share their class outline, which will help them in the open notes quiz they will be given next week. Witnessing how Ms. Ricci preps her students for the reading by having them discover an abundance of background information allowed my-self to realize just how important frontloading really is and how it is can extend into a week-long activity if needed. I look forward to observing and learning from future lesson plans as well as gradually becoming active in the classroom and working with students more.

After all the comments I had received when telling people I am going to school to become a high/middle school teacher I think it is safe to say that I had prepared my-self for the worst but also hoped for the best. Comments such as “they are going to eat you alive” have definitely played a large role in one of the many anxieties that inexperienced beginning teachers must face. However, I am relieved and happy to say that the students at Burrilville have exceeded my expectations on what “the best” is and I hope that within the weeks to come I can exceed their expectations as my position as their student teacher.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"

Starting fieldwork this Monday makes it even more real for me that within less than nine months the journey of my student career to become a teacher is about to end as my journey of becoming an actual teacher is about to begin. My nerves are reserved for the day when I am solely responsible for a classroom of my very own, but for now I am mostly excited and eager for 7:30am on Monday to finally arrive(although I'm sure that feeling will temporarily go away when my 6am alarm clock wakes me up from a sleep cut too short). I feel as if this is prime time in my experiences as a teacher in training, considering I will be getting  support from my professors, cooperating teacher, and teacher partner. Knowing that I have someone to collaborate with and share the front stage of the classroom is definately a major stress reliever. Additionally, having a cooperating teacher who will be guiding me through working with the students, confirming lesson ideas, and providing "teacherly" advice is more than any inexperienced aspiring teacher could ask for. My cooperating teacher has already informed my partner and I what is currently being taught in all her courses and seems to be equally excited to have us become a part of her classroom. Having a teacher who is happily willing to become a part of our training and open up her classroom to us makes this experience even more beneficial.  I know with the hard work and effort I will be putting into this experience along with support from others that there is no reason to be scared of failing, but rather every reason to be excited as I will finally be putting all my prior learnings from years past into action at last!


"Learning is never done without errors and defeat."
Vladimir Lenin