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.