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iii. Learning and Thinking

iii. Interesting things you learned about student learning/thinking through your work with the students prior to you leading an aspect of instruction

Prior to working with my students on my own lesson, I would walk around the classroom and watch as students completed the work. Two students who really effected my observations where a girl who had come into class having had a bad day, and the other was a boy who procrastinated on doing his work. For both of these students, I worried about their grades and questioned whether they would be able to accomplish the task assigned to them for the day, but that is where I learned quite a bit about them and was shocked at the outcome. 

For the female student, she had begun crying in the beginning of class, and I allowed her to sit outside of the class as to give herself time to breathe. Periodically, I would go outside and make sure she was doing okay, showing her that I was there for her whenever she needed. As class went on, I offered her the choice to do her work outside which she quickly took. We continued out work in class, but she didn't fall a pace behind as she quietly read to herself and completed the worksheet that came along with it. She hadn't received any sort of help throughout the sheet, but she was still able to complete it on her own showing that she was a student who did not require a teacher to guide her through her thinking.

As for the male student, I had watched him throughout multiple class periods, and he ended up being one of the students who wasn't able to stay focused. I thought he hadn't been listening throughout the class period, and I wasn't surprised to see when his work would completed at a slow pace. For a reading comprehension quiz, the class period had ended, but he had the whole assessment still incomplete. After having seen it, I sat down and worked with him through the questions. As we were working, I realized that he did kn ow all the answers, but it just took a push to get him to start using his critical thinking skills to work through the problems. We work through the quiz, and the next class, he had received a 100%. 

With all the students that I observed, I noticed that a lot of the students did know what was happening and were able to articulate their thought process, but a lot of them fell flat because they didn't like the work. Though tedious, I want to be a teacher who is open to working with students through the questions if all they need is that push. 

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ii. Classroom Community

ii. Observations about classroom community building and classroom management

In my observations, a common occurrence that occurred in each of my class was the lack of attention due to talking over the teacher and each other. In this sense, I was say that the community that I had witness was a very lively and active one, which led to a lot of classroom management problems. As a watched my classes, I questioned how I and my mentor teacher would deal with such rowdy kids, because as a whole I can lose my patience, and from what my teacher told me, he can too. With the amount of talking that would occur in the class, my mentor teach got int he habit of watching and waiting using a majority of the students were calm and looking at him. After having received most of the attention, my teacher would scold the students and tell them where they were being disrespectful in hopes that it would leave a lasting effect on them (at least for that class period). Along with being too talkative, a lot of classes I saw would include students that would regularly hand up out of their chair, turn around, bend backwards, and so on. This was an effect, I think, because of the lack of activity included in my mentor teachers lessons, so middle school students would obviously act out. For this issue, my teacher would calm tell the student or students to stop what they were doing and sit down looking forward. This strategy never sat well with the students and they would quickly be talking to their friends once again. As a whole, I think the main reason why it is so hard to handle these students is because of how well they all get along. There wasn't a single class where I saw a student sitting alone, because everyone had a friend. The community is really lively which is then taken into the classroom, which, in the end, caused a lot of issues for my mentor teacher. At most, all he was able to do was move their seats away from their friends, but it wouldn't stop them from turning around. 

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i. Teacher’s Role

Observations you made about the teacher’s role in facilitating student learning during the time when you were observing

While observing, I tried to make note of the different types of reactions fro the students towards my teacher and his teaching style. As a younger woman, I want to work hard as a teacher to make sure that my lessons are both full of knowledge and interesting in order to keep my students focused and interested. In my observations, I realized that a lot of students had a hard time staying focused on the topics and would, a good amount of the time, turn around to talk to others or completely lose focus of the lesson all together. In my observation, I watched my mentor teacher a he directed the class in multiple readings, as well as used constant questioning to get students to process the information and think critically about what they hear. He would use different strategies to reiterate information to ensure that students would hear what was said by other students. His roles is very important in that he guides the conversation, while still allowing students to make their own assumptions are what is happening in the readings or what the information they just absorb is trying to say. In middle school, teachers need to start letting go of being the guide for students and allow them to take control of their own earning and that’s exactly what my mentor teacher practices ins is own classroom.

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Curriculum and Instruction in Writing

(a) How is the writing curriculum described?  What strategies are recommended?  What approach to the teaching of writing seems to be reflected in the document?

In my school, there was a strong need to keep students writing, because, in 8th grade, they would have to take two SOLs for English. This writing practice is very important in upholding the writing and reading skills students need, so it was very common to witness my teacher asking the classes to write a short paragraph about the reading they had done as well as writing as a way to update other projects. I wasn't observing the case at a time where my mentor teacher was working on the structures of writing or working on a type of writing, it was mainly used as a way to reflect on what they had heard from the reading. I did witness my teacher working with the students looking at what simple, complex, and conjunction sentences were as a way to recognize how each were different, as well as teach them how to write these types of sentences.

(b) Discuss with your cooperating teacher his/her own approaches to writing instruction. What strategies does he/she recommend?

When teaching writing instruction, but teacher would focus on the need for an in-depth thought process that displays the knowledge of a student. He liked to use short writings as a way to see the reflection of his students, and once he would grade them, he would consider whether the student had an understand as well as if they gave an explanation of their thought process.

(c) At least once during the semester (and preferably more often), arrange to observe a writing lesson/activity. Observe the teacher’s instructional procedures very carefully; if possible, discuss the objectives, procedures, and planned assessment with the teacher.

In my class, I was able to observe multiple writing activities where students would write short responses for my teacher to assess later for comprehension. The student during the activity were left to write on their own, but if they had a question about the writing prompt, my mentor teacher would be there to help guide them into the writing. The objectives for writing these short responses were solely for the use of checking comprehension and gaining an understanding as to whether my mentor teacher needed to extend on the reading. The instruction given to students was to write a short response to a prompt written on the board, and then students were given 5-10 minutes to create their response and turn it in. While walking around the room, I could tell from the amount of writing who liked English and who needed help starting up critical thinking. There were multiple times where I would notice that a student wouldn't have written everything, and it was in that moment that I knew I needed to stop and help the student work through the prompt.

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Day 4 Field Experience 3/29

For day 4, I don't really have anything to reflect because for the classes I observed, the were only working on Ecarts. My teacher turned off the lights as they work, and because of that, I feel that the students were calmer and more willing to do their work. With the Ecart grade, my teacher took the average grade of the class, and would make it an assignment score. So if the students were to get an average of 18 out of 21, 18 would be placed as the perfect score, and students who got above 18 would get extra credit. One student my teacher said had a 104% in the class because of the extra credit he received. I really enjoyed the fact that my teacher turned off the lights for the class, because as a student, I remember having an easier time concentrating in a dimly lit room. Though the students didn't want to do the Ecart test, my teacher made it more enjoyable with this possibility of extra credit, turning the lights off, and giving them candy to get them through the test.

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Field Experience Day 6 4/8

In our continuation of short stories, for today, my mentor teacher read another short statuary that had the theme of passion which connected to a passion book project the students had made at the start of the school year. As my teacher was reading, he once again took moments to ask questions and generate understanding in the class. After having completed a majority of the reading, my teacher asked students to read and would allow them to pick who they wanted to read next from the text. Most students were okay with reading, but one student did ask whether he had to read or not. I could tell he was in a bad mood, but my mentor teacher still had him read, so I'm unsure if he normally comes in in a bad mood.

One thing that made me really proud was that a student I helped work through a worksheet after having not worked on it all class, got a perfect score on the worksheet. I was frustrated with the fact that he didn't do his work having had all class to complete it, but I feel that it was really worth it to show him that he could do it. In today's class, though very tired, he did all his work and stayed on task. I'm unsure if he was jus in a better mood, but watching how he went from struggling to answer a question to writing a paragraph on his project made me really happy as a teacher. As well as this struggling student, the student that I had let out into the hall was also having a better day which I was very happy to see.

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Field Experience Day 5 4/3

For day 5 of my field experience, I was able to observe and work with 2 periods that I have worked with multiple times before. By this time, I would say I'm pretty comfortable with extending out my help, even if I don't know what the answers might be to their work. For this day, my 6th period had come in to do a reading with my teacher, and I was informed that my mentor teacher had lost his patience with them the class before, and had them read to themselves.

To start the class, my mentor teacher recalled the issues they had the class before, and warned them that he would not be allowing any sort of issues to come about this time. After his lecture, he did another thumb up thumbs down introduction to the short story, just like they had done for dinner party. Once done, he picked up the short story where they had stopped and as he read, he would ask questions about what was happening to help them with critical thinking but also to test their comprehension of the information. Both the extroverted and introverted students were involved in this question-answer with the teacher, and because it is such a rowdy class, I was glad to see them calm and interested in the work.

An important point I wanted to note is that, before class, the student that I had once noted to have had done a complete 180 turn compared to the last semester, she had been brought into class by a women, visibly upset. During the discussions of the introduction, she began to cry and I quickly walked over and led her to outside the room. Once outside, I didn't ask what was wrong, and instead asked if she wanted to stay outside. She said yes, and I told her that if she needed anything, that I would be there, because I could relate to being down. Throughout the class, I would go out and check on her, bringing out the short story to let her read it to herself as to not be left behind in the days work. Once the class finished reading, she was given a reflection worksheet that my mentor teacher allowed her to do outside. Though upsetting, I am glad I was able to support her and view the ways my mentor teacher would accommodate to students who were having bad days. She later joined the class and thankfully was able to smile again and focus on the class.

As a final note, I allows got to take the time to help two students work on the reflection sheets of the short story question-by-question. I was happy to be able to take the time to work the each student to encourage them by guiding them through it. I was glad to have my mentor teacher there as well, so that he could focus on the class as a whole while I was able to work with a smaller group to help them keep focus. As a student, I also had  hard time doing my work, but I appreciated when teachers would take time to guide me through my work, because I knew they believed that I could do my work, I just needed a little push. I hope that, even though it was such a small thing, the students who I focused on will know that I took that time, because I knew that they had the ability to succeed in their work.

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4/22 Day 7 Field Observations

Today, the students talked about what they did for spring break, they got their SOL scores back, completed more SOL review for the reading SOL and read a short story called, "The Chaser".

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Day 2 Field Experience 3/22

For day 2, the class continued to talk about POV and worked on a POV worksheet to prepare for their quiz the next week. After having finished the worksheet, the teacher asked that students raise their hands and offer the answers. The teacher gave both worksheets as well as filling out the worksheet along with the students as they worked to give them multiple sources of visuals and auditory tools. By doing the worksheet in a way that the teacher could project the work for all students to view, even if there was a student who spoke quietly, the teacher would repeat the answer and would give other students a visual of the answer. The worksheet was done as a pre-quiz meaning that the worksheet was similar to the read test. By doing a pre-quiz, students were able to stress less about what to expect about the real quiz, because they then knew what to expect.

After having finished their pre-quizzes, the teacher introduced the title of the reading they would be doing for the remained of class, the teacher had a fun way of introducing the topic. The teacher asked that the students to stand back-to-back with their table partner and put up their hands to prepare to do either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The teacher would read a statement that was similar to the theme of the book, and based on their opinions the students would do either a thumbs up or thumbs down whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement. The statement dealt with topics of stereotypes allowing students to find a deeper interest in the class. Once the statements were read, they would answer and turn around to discuss their answers with their partners. I found that it was a very fun introduction to the topic, but while watching some of the students, I noticed that a lot of students didn't have deeper conversations on the topics because they weren't very close. I wanted to join the the conversations to help students who were more uncomfortable have a guide who could get their conversations started.

After having finished the introduction, the teacher began to read the short story, Dinner Party. After having read the story out loud, the students completed a plot diagram along with the story, but they first match the definitions of each step in the diagram. While they are completed the definitions and the diagram for the story, I went around the room to help the students fill the worksheets out when they needed an explanation.

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Day 1 Field Experience 3/20

I'm completing my field experience at Robinson Secondary school in a middle school English classes that incorporate gen. ed, special education, ELLs, and honors students.

For my first day, I was able to observe two class periods that I had met last semester and the winter break alone was enough time for students to grow and change from what I had known of them before. One student that realize surprised me was a student who, the semester before, had many down days and would have a lack of motivation because of out-of-school issues. After having seen her again this first day months later, she had shown a major change in her learning. She was very active and smiling, and loves to do her work without being pushed to by the teachers. It was a joy to see because her previous state had me worried, but I'm glad she is finally able to smile and be present in class.

In terms of the content of the class, the students were studying the topic of point-of-view, so to practice and prepare for a quiz they would take the next week, they completed a worksheet identifying which point-of-view each sentence was. This worksheet was done at the beginning of the 6th period class and, as I have seen the months before, they are a very rowdy group, and that fact did not change.

After finishing the worksheet, they had 30 minutes of silent reading, and I was actually surprised in how quiet they were all able to be. Many of the students would lay their head down and or would flip through pages. Many students didn't have books to read, so they would have to be sent to get a book to read. There was one student that I was keeping my eyes on, because, when my teacher gave her a book, she sat for those 30 minutes playing with the pages.

For the rest of class, my mentor teacher had the students recalls story they read part way the class prior, and during their recollection, he guided students by having them answer questions about the text. I recognized this as a strategy teachers use as a way to guide students with memory and problem solving, because it gives teachers the chance to allow them to take charge of their own learning instead of having it as a teacher-center lesson.

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Reading Response: The What, Why and How

For today's reading response, I am going to focus on the importance of making lessons on vocabulary fun, written about in the Essential, enjoyable and effective: The what, why and how of powerful vocabulary instruction article. All throughout or lives we never stop learning vocabulary. It is an essential part of building our academic speech and helps us to become readers, but it is a lesson that never ends. When taking vocabulary lessons and putting it into the classroom, teachers need to make sure that students are able to apply those words to more than just the definitions they have memorized on the other side of a flashcard. In the reading, it talks about the different ways a teacher can incorporate more engaging ways to teach vocabulary, and as a student who had struggled with english at a younger age, I personally want to stress the use of fun lessons to teach vocabulary. Apprenticeship is one of the strategies talked about in the article, and it talks about the need to expose students to the words being taught used in action. Have exposure to sentence structure and context of the word in a sentence, students are better able to gain and understanding by seeing how it is used in practice.  I really like this method, because, as someone who learns from example, this can come in hand for students who need models. As teachers, we are also taught to model what we teach, and this is yet another way to model to help our students understand the topics further. The use of engage methods to teach students will keep them interested in what is being taught, and will mask their learning to be more like a game. By only giving students one way to learn vocabulary, there is a disservice being done to the students who need lessons to be adapted in a way that is easy to understand keeps the focused.

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Reading Response: Blogging

In the article, “Can 23 blog about this?”: Amplifyinf student Bouxe in Secondary Language Arts, written by Christina Melly, Melly talks about pros of allowing students to use their voice through blogging. She talks about how blogging can give students the chance to have more conversation, because it is an open space where anyone in the class is able to view and react to a peer’s writing. She also talks about the creation of dialogue and how she would use blogging as a tool later for conversations in the classroom but in small groups. I like the use of blogging personally because of the fact that it is so officiant, and can easily be done within class. It is a low stress environment and it moves journal writing where others are not able to see to an open area where students can take in each others points of view and either change their own idea or question another students thinking to get conversation rolling. I love writing whenever possible, so by mixing technology with it, students may be more inclined to write too. 

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Reading Response: ELLs + Complex reading

In today's reading, I want to talk the opportunity to talk about ELLs and their ability to understand the rhetoric of argumentative writing in the English language. In the article, Preparing English Language Learners for Complex Reading, written by Janice Silva, Paul Delleman, and Andria Phesia, the discus the need for a break down of argumentative pieces with Spanish speaking ELLs. In English, argumentative pieces tend to show both the pros and cons as a way to recognize the opposite side, but to then debunk the other side, whereas Spanish only states one side. If an ELL student does not understand th rhetoric of an english argumatiptve piece, it could be hard for a student to recognize the structure unless they are guided through it.

As teachers, the break down of writing types needs to be done to ensure that ELL students are able to see a model and practice how to build types of writing. I really enjoyed this article, but it gives examples as to how to guide a student into deciphering an argumentative piece such as looking at bias and having them sort facts based on priority. I also enjoyed the use of a site that had argumentative pieces that are at reading levels more appropriate for ELL students. Being able to hold up an argument in the english language is very important because it is a way to show critical thinking and give students a chance to practice their academic language. When teaching an ELL, a teacher has to model what is expected of a student, because that is how they best learn. By modeling and having students look at the importance of facts used in an argumentative piece will help ELL students grasp how an argumentative piece is set up through the lens of a native English speaker.

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What Is Your Most Compelling Reason for Teaching Grammar?

When reading, What is your Most Compelling Reason For Teaching Grammar, I didn't expect to have the opportunity to read the reasons why other teachers find grammar important for their students. All throughout the article, I noticed moments which resonant with me, but the quote that I feel is very important while teach is, "Linguists are quick to remind us that all dialects are valid. They are rule-bound and predictable, and therefore correct within their group of users".

This quote hit home with me, because something that is spoken about in schools a lot is the idea of "correct english". When studying linguistics, a common practice was to look at the multiple types of ways a single word can be called just in the United States, because english by itself has such a large range of dialects. This quote points out the idea that there is not correct way of speech, so to focus on the idea that different dialects may be present in your own classroom is really important to ensure there is no form of discrimination in the class. When applying the idea of multiple dialects in my own classrooms, I will need to focus on the need of not pressuring students to conform to to a single way of speaking. While teachers should stress a use of wide vocabulary and academic speech, I want to also focus on incorporating a students own speech pattern and making sure not to penalize my students for how they speak, especially if it is based on where they grew up or how they grew up. As teachers, we must be considerate to the out-of-school life of our students to ensure that their experiences are not ignored.

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Reading Response: Writing to Explore

For today’s reading, I want to talk about exploratory writing found in chapter 6 of Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay, written by Kimberly Campbell and Kristi Latimer.   Exploratory writing is a great way to get students to practice the writing with the low stress environment. Instead of having students begin a response with  an intensive essays, exploratory writing starts off with students asking questions about the book. In the chapter, the author talks about the issues that can come with this type of writing. While it allows students the chance to ask questions, student may not know how to begin writing a thesis for an essay based off of an exploratory piece of writing that they created. It is a teacher two models to students how to create thesis statements and how to extend on questions that they asked in the writing prior. I think using journals as a way to show comprehension for reading is a great way to test their understanding, but I never thought of asking my students to then extend on one of the questions they asked in their these short piece of writing.

After having this chapter, I want to try using exploratory writing with the intent of asking my students extend on their thoughts in an essay format. I feel that it would be a great way to practice creating a thesis based off of questions that they have already articulated, because it will give them the chance to think further about the questions and try to find the answers on their own. When writing exploratory journals, students will be making assumptions, and by having them extend on these assumptions, they will be able to find the proof needed to support their claims. As an English teacher, it is my job to make sure that students are able to create pieces of writing based off the questions that they ask as they read, and I want to be able to help my students succeed and learn the skill of creating a thesis statement based of exploratory writing.

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2/18 Reading Reflection

In today's reading, I want to talk about the importance of using a student's native language and culture in adapting to the needs of ELL students with disabilities, talked about in the article, Reading Strategies: Adaptations to Meet the Needs of Secondary English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities,written by Tiece M. Ruffin. When working with ELLs who are also diagnose with a disability, supporting a students education is completely based on the specific need of the child. Just as gen ed students, ELLs with disabilities all have different needs, so as teachers, we need to make sure that we are supporting our students in every way that will successfully adapt to their needs.

The practice of surround students in their native language when helping ELLs is very important, because there is a constant reinforcement of teaching english while still being exposed to the language that is already known and comfortable. By using this strategy when adapting to an ELL student with disabilities, that student may be able to feel a sense of comfort in learning a new language, because there is the decrease in stress when being paired with a known topic. I enjoy this type of adaptation for ELL students, ELL students with an IEP, and Gen Ed students, because incorporating culture and other languages into a lesson or class can open students to people outside of what they know. By using it in a class with Gen Ed students as well, there is a barrier that is broken down, because they would also be learning piece of another language and culture along with ELL students. There is a sense of community in this way, because ELL students would then be apart of a large group and wouldn't be the only students struggling with learning to understand a new world.