Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

I’ve decided that I am going to post every once in a while, including a ‘wrap-up’ post at the end of the week. I think that way, I am a little more clear about what has been running through my mind

Bueller….Bueller…Anyone?

This crossed my mind as I had a few students absent today, and others back from absence on Friday. Students came up and ask me what they missed, and what they might miss, if they were gone tomorrow. What comes to the forefront of my mind is the lack of preparedness on my end for this. I didn’t really think about it when I was writing my unit plan, and it is something that I took for granted. Most activities can be completed outside of class, but they make much more sense in the context of the classroom.

This question arises: Should Absenteeism be a prominent feature in a teacher’s lesson/unit plans?

Eye of the Tiger

The Penguins from Madagascar say to Smile and Wave. That’s what I felt like on Wednesday, the first first day of my life. Pretend you know what you are doing. Confidence doesn’t actually have to be there, as long as it is perceived to be there.

This past week was a whirlwind of emotion, work, and numerous other things. Starting Wednesday morning, I found myself in a classroom, with students, that looked to me to teach them. What a crazy feeling. My opener for the day was for students to write down what they expected out of their teachers. I got a lot of answers like ‘No Homework’ and such. But I also found deep answers, like ‘A teacher that respects me, so I can respect them’ and ‘A teacher should not only know what they are talking about, but enjoy it as well, and teach it to me in a way that is interesting’. It was crazy to see how deep the students could be in their answers. I am hopeful that these journals at the beginning and ending of each day.

The first day, looking back, was a blur of activity. Students laughed, I laughed. We had some interesting comments about the ideas of nation, state, and nation-state. Students were engaged. Maybe they were excited for some new life into a class, particularly within 1st period, that lacked some enthusiasm at times. The lesson, which I found for my thursday lesson as well, was slightly too long. Perhaps the extracurricular conversations are causing that.

The next day, Thursday, students did most of the ‘work’ on their own, and this met with mixed responses. Most work was covered together as a class, and students understood the information. As the day progressed, (I have found this to be true for everyday), my lessons become tighter and much more comfortable. What I find frustrating, is that the 1st period is easily the least engage-able class. The combination of  engagement and freshness of the lesson are really dragging that class down to the bottom. I need to figure out ideas of how to engage the classroom.

Today, my lesson was too short in 1st period, and a little too short in the other two. I adjusted by adding some collective note taking on the board to my ReadAloud to ensure students understood what we were covering, namely the revolutions of 1848, which have the most vague standard I have ever seen. There is no real information that the students need to know, aside from the fact that there were failed revolutions.

The biggest thing that I am finding is difficult is the homework department. The more that I learn about pedagogy and the more I am in the classroom and look at the SOLs and what needs to be known, the more I am finding that, in my opinion, there isn’t a huge need for homework. But, Ms. Luck has students read and complete chapter questions most of the time, but also gives them a variety of other homework options. Some of the homework is great, things like asking parents about what they think the government’s role is in the economy, but others feel like busy work.

But, as I am a guest in her classroom, and she is a very respected teacher, it seems, I am going to begin giving some homework now. I hope to find ways to do this in creative, and meaningful ways.

Welp. That is my first, crazy week. five days next week, along with lots of planning for my next unit on European Imperialism! Any ideas, let me know!

Too Much

How much is too much? Students have so much happening outside of the classroom, and seem to be able to handle it. Between their extracurriculars, homework, and social lives, they find a balance. Do they do it all at once, since the invention of texting and the cellular phone? Is there an overload point outside the classroom? And if so, then is that ‘overload’ point higher or lower inside the classroom?

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This past week was an interesting week. With a unit plan needed to be completed after being sick, and screening interviews, as well as a spill over day for lessons taught by my peers, I only got to spend one day in the school. The one day I spent, however, had a great testimony to how to run my classroom in the future.

Ms. Luck’s lesson dealt with the British reform movements, particularly the end of the slave trade and slavery. Students were asked to read and dissect a primary source or two and discuss in class. Afterwards, they were asked to create an editorial or a political cartoon and a paragraph justification of the cartoon supporting (or not supporting) the British Abolition movement.

While they were doing this, Ms. Luck played a movie, “Amazing Grace”, about Mr. William Wilberforce, one of the most active politicians in the House of Commons against slavery. She showed a few different, powerful scenes from the movie, all which engaged the students thoroughly. While the 1st class did well, and I would say 80% finished their classwork, the last class probably had only 25-30% finished.

Multitasking is almost becoming a ’21st century skill’, which comes into play in my interviews about how I, as a teacher, will ensure my students are ’21st century learners’. These days, people have 3-4-5 different things happening on the laptops every time they use it. How do you teach the ability to think dynamically, but also stay focused?

Obviously, showing an engaging movie while expecting students to complete a task is not the best way to ensure students complete the task. They may get the experience of the history they are supposed to learn, but are the tasks more able to complete the objective? I think that making a priority and showing students the priorities that you have in your lesson are becoming more and more crucial as I look at my classroom in the future.

Down with the Sickness

Sickness. I came down with a really nasty form of the cold last week, which took me out of commission for a half of the week, from Tuesday Night to Friday Morning. The question arises, which I have already posed once before in a previous post, is how does a teacher react to a sick day? Do you suck it up, and go in sick and spread it, because they can’t ‘get behind’?

**

As I said above, I only spent one day in the Bayside this past week, as I was sick. The one day that I did go in, I spent a period observing one of the younger teachers, but found that he too did much lecturing and power points, though he had a great report with his students. I’ve come to the conclusion that there must be a driving force behind the lecture style classroom, because it is prevalent throughout many history classes.

This came to light when we had a guest lecturer in class, who devulged some new information about the latest SOL test in History and Social Studies. Namely, that before this year, the tests were very much recall knowledge, lower-level Bloom’s questions. They have shifted to a more mid-range Bloom’s analysis type of question, which has caused scores to tank. Perhaps, the revolution in the Social Studies classroom is under way, and I am on the front lines of starting it.

Lesson Planning for the Unit Plan has been quite difficult. I can’t quite wrap my brain around making sure that my unit is covered by my lessons, and vice versa. It makes me appreciate the art of lesson planning much more. However, I find that most teachers I know don’t do lesson plans. Most of those teachers lecture. Is there a correlation? I believe so, and thus the hardship of lesson plan continues, as I try to break the mold of the conventional history teacher at Bayside.

Bayside Whip-around

As I wondered the hallways of Bayside the past week, I noticed that during changeovers, teachers weren’t out in force. I observed a few classes, and what I noticed was this picture above. Teachers, at their desk, completing work. This did not seem to effect the mood of the class, though it would be intriguing to see what it would be like if the teacher was there, and had a form of ‘bellwork’ on the projector.

This past week was a week of ‘exploration’ for me at Bayside. I took advantage of the last week without mirror teaching or being active in the class to go around not only the Social Studies department, but also to a friends classroom to see what works and doesn’t work. The first classroom I visited was the department head of the Social Studies classroom’s AP US History course. Ms. Close spent most of her time in the same spot in the classroom, standing amongst the students, and lectured the entire time on the beginning of Reconstruction. Her lecture style, however, was stupendous. Such detail interwoven with PowerPoint presentations is a goal of my ‘lectures’. But, at the same time, I do not want to talk for 4-5 hours a day.

I spent some time in my personal friend, Mr. Kent’s Honors Chemistry class, which is his best class of the day. They were finishing up a lab about calories in food, and so the class was very fluid and ‘casual’. The students were incredibly self motivated, and stayed on task, despite the ability to ‘play with fire’. How do I create a classroom that is so self motivated, within a class that is often considered drab and uninteresting? One thing that I found ‘unappealing’ was Mr. Kent’s dress, which was casual enough for me to lose him multiple times in the lab, since he looked like the students.

I also went into Mr. Scot’s classroom, which was very low tech compared to all other classes. He had no SmartBoard or projector, and it did not stifle learning at all. He had a slide projector and an overhead projector, which he used to write notes along with students. That was one of the more interesting things that I found that worked while looking at classes throughout the school. When the teacher was doing the same thing as the students, they were more engaged. There was not a barrier in class. He also had an incredible rapport with a class of difficult students, a ‘lower’ level class with a few students that are known to cause trouble in other classes.

Overall, it was an incredible opportunity to sit in and learn from some very talented faculty, who have been teaching for only 3 years, or to those who have been teaching for over 20 years. I also found that there is always things that can be approved, even if you have been teaching for so long.

Brandon!

As I discussed in my previous post, I know many of the students I am going to be teaching this semester, as well as students outside of my classroom. As a former Young Life leader to many of these kids, I have great relationships with most of them, that will be an amazing asset in my classrooms. But, the issue comes to the ‘respect’ I get in terms of my name with these students. To them as of two days ago, I was Brandon. Now, I have to be Mr. Sexton. Does my relationship with these students suffer? I know that it is “just a name”, but “Brandon” is a personal relationship. Just a thought as I start this new journey.

First Day, Round Two

Yesterday was my first true day at Bayside High School, and what a great day it was. I have volunteered some 20 hours a week for the past three years with many of the students that are in my class and in the halls of Bayside. Seeing smiling faces and cheerful greetings throughout the school was a welcome sight for me, though I was not too nervous.

A little background on Bayside: it is the most diverse school in the district, with students from around the world, whose parents are either studying at the major university in town, or are teaching there. Students come from within the large town itself, and from the rural areas surrounding it. One class I will be teaching this semester alone has 3 ELLs from three distinctly different backgrounds. Another dividing force is SES, with the lower level class being full of lower SES students than the upper level classes I will be teaching.

One of the first things that stuck out to me as I entered the school was the free formate of the day students are given compared to every other school I know of. Students (and faculty) are given an entire period (45 minutes) for lunch, and a ten minute break in between 2nd and 3rd periods, for students to socialize. I am curious to see what this format allows students to do academically. Also, iPods and some electronic devices (not cell phones) are allowed to be used during period changes. (or at least the ten minute break)

Students spent their time on day one doing a History Alive! activity, which could be done as a group or individually. The first period did it individually, but with incredible speed. But as the day wore on, the students began to group up and actually do less work. The classes are broken down like this: first, fourth, and seventh periods are honors World History II, with fifth period being the “college” World History II, the name for Bayside’s lowest level class in World History. Ms. Luck also teaches an AP World History class, which I will help as much as I can with, but cannot teach.

Unlike my first day at Smallville Middle last semester, this day was incredibly easy and full of activity. I took it upon myself to do as much as possibly, copying, roaming during group activity, introducing myself directly to students. I felt much more “in my element” then I did at Smallville starting out. I had a direction that I knew I needed to go early, and I stepped up and got it done.

Bayside and Ms. Luck are going to be phenomenal resources as I begin to plan and teach in the coming months. The first thing Ms. Luck and I did was figure out where we wanted to be at the end of April. We discussed her teaching style, what was available to me in the school, among other things. Overall, this was an amazing first day, where I not only got to see and interact with students, but also got a great vision for where I want to go.

SmartBoard/SmartNotebook Lesson

1. Balkans Lesson Plan

Here is my write up for my lesson. This is a slightly adapted version of a lesson that I formed for an earlier assignment, with a little more focus on the use of technology. The goal in this lesson is for students to use the SmartNotebook Application to create map slides of the Balkans, according to various parameters, such as past and modern political borders, geographical features, ethnicity, and more. Included in this is the rubric for #4.

2. 

I currently have only received one of my screencast reviews. Sloan really gave me some great feedback, both positive and negative, like the ambiguity of my lesson, something that I will work to correct before I teach.

3. Balkan Slides

Letter Example

5.

Reflection on one teaching tool

During Digital Humanities today, we were given a rubric of sorts which one teacher uses in his class, to get kids engaged with each other, and with various technologies.

To give the reader a run down, it has sixteen different assignments that students MUST complete each week. They are separated into four different categories, making comments, creating multimedia posts, adding bookmarks to Diigo or Delicious, and creating discussion posts. Under each category, there are four assignments, each falling into a different category similar to Bloom’s taxonomy. They are: Reflect and Connect, Wonder, Investigate, Construct and Express. Assignments range from reading news articles and bookmarking them, to making a video or graph about the webpage for discussion.

My first glance at this rubric is simply an overwhelming. Sixteen separate tasks for students. Even I do not have sixteen separate tasks to do each week, as a Graduate student. To expect a high school student to do such a thing would be crazy. I like that it requires students to make up their own question to answer, but I think that it needs to be supervised by the teacher. This is an English class rubric, and so the open-ended nature of it could lead to a minimal assignment from a student who has the capability to do great things, but is not motivated by themselves.

After look through it again, all of the assignments are great individually, but I could see some of them taking more time than what they might be worth. I think that some form of this rubric would be great to use in a classroom, to require students to use technology. However, I think that one thing would be required for students to complete this. Class time to do this assignment must be given, especially in this large of an assignment.

Would I use something like this? Perhaps, but on a much smaller scale. I think there is a lot of tedious work involved in sixteen different tasks. I understand the diversity of assignments, but I believe that giving any student something with sixteen different tasks on it, and telling them to do it each week will scare them more than it will excite them. Sixteen at the end of the year? I could understand. I’d start with 4-8. GIve at least one full day in class to complete.

My CODA

This is my CODA for my paper about literacy, language, and inquiry, and their place in the Social Studies Classroom