Our school uses Beyond Textbooks instead of having curriculum planning meetings and pacing guides and that sort of thing. I think it is VERY helpful! I love that I can print off a copy of the curriculum for the whole year and just review it month-to month and figure out what I really need to work on with the kids. I think the only issue I have with it (and the other teachers have this problem as well) is that it seems too fast-paced! Students are supposed to master a concept barely introduced to them in one week and it's BAM! Off to the next topic. I think that makes it so that students get really immersed in it for a little bit, and seem to understand it, but then when we go off to the new thing, students forget what we talked about the week before!
I noticed that students had a week to add fractions with different denominators, then a week to subtract them, and the next week it was multiplying them in word problems. Well, the students took to multiplying easily enough (if they could just remember to simplify!), but then a few weeks later we had a benchmark test on fractions and even after reviewing fractions a day ahead of time, students STILL had "forgotten" how to find a common denominator! I kind of feel like if I had kept having students add fractions while we were multiplying and dividing fractions, they would have just gotten more confused, and not be able to do either! Even my straight-A, super-smart kids couldn't "remember" what to do when adding and subtracting fractions. They could all whip out the multiplication easily enough, but remembering steps to something else seemed to be beyond them! Don't even get me started on adding mixed numbers versus multiplying/dividing them! The steps all seemed to become blurs that became indistinguishable to the kids!
But back to the curriculum mapping, despite the fast-paced nature of BT, I really like it, and think the students are going to be as prepared as possible for the AIMS test...I just hope it's not at the expense of them memorizing "how to" do work without actually learning and retaining the information!
I think if I were designing a curriculum map for my room, I would use the BT suggestions and calendar, but I would always have a bit of review to keep the skills they've used in the previous week sharp. In fact, that's an excellent thing to use as "bell work" (which I give the student every morning right after they come in from "outs")!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Blog #10 -- Differentiated Instruction
I have to admit that differentiating instruction is the part of education that I have the hardest time with. I know logically what it isn't...I don't have to plan an individual lesson for each student...but I have a hard time NOT doing that! One student thinks they are getting "ripped off" if they don't get the exact same worksheet, or another thinks they are getting "overworked" because another student doesn't have as difficult an assignment to do. Some are supposed to have modified assignments, but they don't WANT them modified because they think it makes them stand out, and the other students resent the "special treatment". I just have a hard time striking a balance where someone isn't feeling picked on because their work is harder or easier than someone else's! All of my students seem to want to be required to do exactly the same thing, even though they are at very different levels. This applies from special ed to gifted students. I would love to have projects for students to do based on their "style" of learning, but thinking of grading all of that gives me a headache. Even thinking of coming up with different and "fair" rubrics for all of that gives me a headache!
I recognize the importance of differentiating instruction, but I don't have any good examples of teachers who do it to follow, so I'm somewhat at a loss. Even knowing I'm supposed to incorporate it in my instruction and with every lesson, I don't know HOW. Maybe I'm making it harder than it is. I don't have to have something really different, just something slightly modified so that students at all levels can show that they are learning the same thing...easier said than done, still! It's often not even me that has a problem with it, as I said earlier, my students feel like I'm being "unfair" if certain students have to "show what they know" in a different way. So as of now, differentiated instruction doesn't have a huge impact on my class, and though I would love to teach to various learning styles, I don't know how to! I'm hoping that's something I learn as I go...
I recognize the importance of differentiating instruction, but I don't have any good examples of teachers who do it to follow, so I'm somewhat at a loss. Even knowing I'm supposed to incorporate it in my instruction and with every lesson, I don't know HOW. Maybe I'm making it harder than it is. I don't have to have something really different, just something slightly modified so that students at all levels can show that they are learning the same thing...easier said than done, still! It's often not even me that has a problem with it, as I said earlier, my students feel like I'm being "unfair" if certain students have to "show what they know" in a different way. So as of now, differentiated instruction doesn't have a huge impact on my class, and though I would love to teach to various learning styles, I don't know how to! I'm hoping that's something I learn as I go...
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Blog #9--ELL/SpED
Like I've said before, we have no ELL department in our district. We have a rather substantial Special Ed department, however. I have 4 SpEd students in my homeroom, and work with another during my science class. I think what I have more concerns with are the behavior problems that are "undiagnosed", or who there is no special protocol for than I do with the special ed students. I feel like modifications are handled well for me by the special ed aides and teachers, and I have to make very few accommodations for my SpEd students, even though we have full inclusion and one of my kids is considered "medically fragile" and is pretty severely disabled. When it comes to emotional disorders, I'm kind of at a loss, and I may be less than compassionate at times.
Since I am a first year teacher, I could always use help with modifications and ideas on how to successfully fully integrate special needs children. I want everyone to be able to meet their educational goals, and I've got that idealistic view where somehow I think I'm going to be THAT teacher, that makes my students love school and know they will succeed therein. It's naïve, I recognize that, but let me live in my little bubble a while longer! I don't like hearing so often that "this" class is the one that nobody is expecting to do well, so I'm expecting them to do great! It's been a learning experience for all of us, as I show and tell students I expect great things from them and as many of them begin to put forth more effort because I'm not "handing" them a passing grade, I'm making them EARN it! :)
Since I am a first year teacher, I could always use help with modifications and ideas on how to successfully fully integrate special needs children. I want everyone to be able to meet their educational goals, and I've got that idealistic view where somehow I think I'm going to be THAT teacher, that makes my students love school and know they will succeed therein. It's naïve, I recognize that, but let me live in my little bubble a while longer! I don't like hearing so often that "this" class is the one that nobody is expecting to do well, so I'm expecting them to do great! It's been a learning experience for all of us, as I show and tell students I expect great things from them and as many of them begin to put forth more effort because I'm not "handing" them a passing grade, I'm making them EARN it! :)
Blog #8--Technology in the Classroom
Ha, I feel like we're backwards as far as technology goes in our school, but when I heard some of the things people in my class were saying about THEIR classes, I kind of felt lucky to have what we do! While I think it is great that some students are required to learn cursive and hand-write all of their papers, there's something to be said about learning to type on a keyboard, and at least have ready access to computer labs!
This blog is supposed to be related to the use of technology in ELL/SpEd programs, however. We have no ELL program in our district. We do have a Special Education Department, and they have several tools and technologies that are available for our students. I have a child with cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder in my class, and he's SUPPOSED to have an iPad and programs he uses on it. He dropped and broke his personal iPad, and the school has been "ordering" him one for months, but we have yet to see it. I think it would be beneficial for him to have it in class, because he cannot really use a regular pencil and paper to do work, and he has educational goals he's supposed to be meeting, too.
Things I could do to increase my use of technology in the classroom? Well, I could always try to set up my Mimeo, which has been sitting in a box for who knows HOW long, and which I never got around to figuring out before school started. I do use the projector hooked up to my teacher PC often to show video clips and also in lieu of the old-timey overhead transparency projector. We've projected things on to the whiteboard to "correct", and I use it to show particularly good student work and maps and things I want everyone to be able to see. My students go to "Computers" (a computer lab that is treated as a class) one to two times a week (depending on our "outs" schedule that quarter), and we have two student computers in the classroom, which student take AR and accelerated math tests on. Many of the students go to intervention in reading and/or math every day, and that is in computer labs. I don't have a smartboard, and I'm not sure what I would do with one. I also don't have a document cam, and again, I wouldn't know how to use it.
I'd just be happy with getting an iPad, because I know there are a lot of fun and educational apps out there, and I requested one at the beginning of the school year, but still I'm waiting to hear about getting one!
This blog is supposed to be related to the use of technology in ELL/SpEd programs, however. We have no ELL program in our district. We do have a Special Education Department, and they have several tools and technologies that are available for our students. I have a child with cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder in my class, and he's SUPPOSED to have an iPad and programs he uses on it. He dropped and broke his personal iPad, and the school has been "ordering" him one for months, but we have yet to see it. I think it would be beneficial for him to have it in class, because he cannot really use a regular pencil and paper to do work, and he has educational goals he's supposed to be meeting, too.
Things I could do to increase my use of technology in the classroom? Well, I could always try to set up my Mimeo, which has been sitting in a box for who knows HOW long, and which I never got around to figuring out before school started. I do use the projector hooked up to my teacher PC often to show video clips and also in lieu of the old-timey overhead transparency projector. We've projected things on to the whiteboard to "correct", and I use it to show particularly good student work and maps and things I want everyone to be able to see. My students go to "Computers" (a computer lab that is treated as a class) one to two times a week (depending on our "outs" schedule that quarter), and we have two student computers in the classroom, which student take AR and accelerated math tests on. Many of the students go to intervention in reading and/or math every day, and that is in computer labs. I don't have a smartboard, and I'm not sure what I would do with one. I also don't have a document cam, and again, I wouldn't know how to use it.
I'd just be happy with getting an iPad, because I know there are a lot of fun and educational apps out there, and I requested one at the beginning of the school year, but still I'm waiting to hear about getting one!
Blog #7--Common Core & Reading
How prepared do I feel to teach reading? Well, I originally signed up to teach high school English because at that age I figured students already knew HOW to read! I found I was wrong when I substituted for 8th grade once and heard about 80% of the class refuse to read aloud because they "didn't know how to read". Of course, I knew THEY knew how to read, they were just uncomfortable with it for whatever reasons. I was fine with that, because I much preferred to read materials aloud to them myself, thus avoiding the horrible pauses and stutters that I remembered so well from the tortuous time when I was back in grade school, enduring read-alouds by people that didn't read as well as me!
Of course, I was robbing students of opportunities to become better readers, and although I still kind of hate listening to students read aloud, I understand the necessity of it. Luckily, I am enrolled in a "how to teach phonics" class this semester, and it has been a lot of fun tutoring some students in reading from my class, even though I had my doubts when I first began the process. I feel like one of my strengths is that I'm a good reader myself, and it is something I enjoy doing. That also might be my weakness, however, because since I know I am a good reader, I expect my students to be as good and I don't have a lot of patience with kids who claim they "hate" reading! Since reading has always come easy to me, I might expect it to be second nature to everyone, and I don't give students the time they might need to develop good reading habits.
I have been focusing so much on getting my math lessons in alignment with Common Core (and now of course PARCC) that I have been somewhat remiss in getting all of my reading lessons aligned. I know I have given my students a couple of reading assessments, as well as benchmark testing on reading as well as math, and I was pretty disappointed with how "behind" my students seem to be. Along with not being very good at simply reading aloud, they have no "alphabet sense" and can barely seem to find a word in the glossary of their reading book, let alone an actual dictionary! Guide words were a nightmare for them, even the "super smart" ones! So, I guess my determination for "how's it going" as far as aligning my reading program with Common Core goes: needs improvement. :P
Of course, I was robbing students of opportunities to become better readers, and although I still kind of hate listening to students read aloud, I understand the necessity of it. Luckily, I am enrolled in a "how to teach phonics" class this semester, and it has been a lot of fun tutoring some students in reading from my class, even though I had my doubts when I first began the process. I feel like one of my strengths is that I'm a good reader myself, and it is something I enjoy doing. That also might be my weakness, however, because since I know I am a good reader, I expect my students to be as good and I don't have a lot of patience with kids who claim they "hate" reading! Since reading has always come easy to me, I might expect it to be second nature to everyone, and I don't give students the time they might need to develop good reading habits.
I have been focusing so much on getting my math lessons in alignment with Common Core (and now of course PARCC) that I have been somewhat remiss in getting all of my reading lessons aligned. I know I have given my students a couple of reading assessments, as well as benchmark testing on reading as well as math, and I was pretty disappointed with how "behind" my students seem to be. Along with not being very good at simply reading aloud, they have no "alphabet sense" and can barely seem to find a word in the glossary of their reading book, let alone an actual dictionary! Guide words were a nightmare for them, even the "super smart" ones! So, I guess my determination for "how's it going" as far as aligning my reading program with Common Core goes: needs improvement. :P
Blog #6 --Classroom Management
I have been thinking about and re-thinking about my classroom's seating arrangement as it relates to classroom management, and have probably re-arranged desks in my classroom 5 or 6 times since the beginning of the school year, so an article that really caught my eye on EducationWorld.com had to do with discipline and seating arrangements in a classroom. One phrase that caught my eye from Fred Jones was: "When students as a group are given the freedom to sit wherever they want in a classroom, they will always choose the location for themselves that is to the teacher's greatest possible disadvantage." THIS was precisely my problem with the LAST "group" situation in my classroom. I allowed the students to choose a group to sit with. Their big promise to me was, "If we're too noisy, put us in separate corners of the room, and then we won't EVER want to misbehave." Well, right away, it was crazy with everyone choosing their friends (i.e, someone they're going to constantly want to talk to) and some being excluded and some wanting to be by themselves in the back 40 of the room. I told them I'd give it a few days and see how it went. Probably by day three, it had turned into a "boys vs. girls" thing, with most of the boys being in a group of 8 and the girls being in a group of 8, plus two groups of two boys. One of those groups had to be separated quickly, because they were a couple of kids who didn't focus anyway, and it was just TOO convenient to have someone RIGHT THERE to distract themselves from schoolwork with.
This morning I went right back to the good old "rows" that I began the school year with. I've had a couple of different arrangements of students within rows, but this time I went with "boy, girl" in a checkerboard pattern, and it was pretty nice again. I didn't feel like I had to yell over the class's noise, which is a problem, anyway. I've had t break out my stopwatch again for the first time in a while, however, which means that I'm taking their recess time for equal "teaching" time of mine that they waste by being noisy. I certainly don't like doing it, because recess is one of my few "breaks" during the day, but if it's the only threat that will work...
My classroom management has good times and bad times. Sometimes I feel like things are going really well, and other times I feel like I'm turning into a shrieking lunatic trying to get the students to LISTEN. I know it's not my job to yell over their noise, but I haven't quite found my niche where I can just give them "the look" and silence reigns. I envy the teachers who can keep their door open during the day because their classes are doing their work and can't be heard all the way down the hall! My husband thinks my class is too "fun" and that I need to be more hard-nosed with them (he's the son of two teachers), but I don't want my students to hate coming to school, either!
I feel like I've got pretty good established routines (bell work, how we hand papers back, grading methods, what things we do on which days), but recently I had to take an item off of the prize wheel that students really loved because they were being irresponsible. I think just like with my own children, I have to be consistent, or students aren't going to believe that I'm going to follow through and give them unpleasant consequences for disobedience. I got a good tip from a veteran teacher just this morning concerning "groups" and how to make sure they stay in shape, so even though I have disbanded the groups in my room for now, I think I will assign "rows" as groups so I can use her reward method. She uses checks (negative) and stars (positive) and the whole group gets rewarded or punished according to how many checks or stars they "earn". That will be implemented tomorrow, I vow (woo for me, I used a vocabulary word there!).
Here's that article I was talking about:http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr330.shtml
This morning I went right back to the good old "rows" that I began the school year with. I've had a couple of different arrangements of students within rows, but this time I went with "boy, girl" in a checkerboard pattern, and it was pretty nice again. I didn't feel like I had to yell over the class's noise, which is a problem, anyway. I've had t break out my stopwatch again for the first time in a while, however, which means that I'm taking their recess time for equal "teaching" time of mine that they waste by being noisy. I certainly don't like doing it, because recess is one of my few "breaks" during the day, but if it's the only threat that will work...
My classroom management has good times and bad times. Sometimes I feel like things are going really well, and other times I feel like I'm turning into a shrieking lunatic trying to get the students to LISTEN. I know it's not my job to yell over their noise, but I haven't quite found my niche where I can just give them "the look" and silence reigns. I envy the teachers who can keep their door open during the day because their classes are doing their work and can't be heard all the way down the hall! My husband thinks my class is too "fun" and that I need to be more hard-nosed with them (he's the son of two teachers), but I don't want my students to hate coming to school, either!
I feel like I've got pretty good established routines (bell work, how we hand papers back, grading methods, what things we do on which days), but recently I had to take an item off of the prize wheel that students really loved because they were being irresponsible. I think just like with my own children, I have to be consistent, or students aren't going to believe that I'm going to follow through and give them unpleasant consequences for disobedience. I got a good tip from a veteran teacher just this morning concerning "groups" and how to make sure they stay in shape, so even though I have disbanded the groups in my room for now, I think I will assign "rows" as groups so I can use her reward method. She uses checks (negative) and stars (positive) and the whole group gets rewarded or punished according to how many checks or stars they "earn". That will be implemented tomorrow, I vow (woo for me, I used a vocabulary word there!).
Here's that article I was talking about:http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr330.shtml
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Blog #5 --Assessment
I use assessment every week in math because that is what is in alignment with our Beyond Textbooks calendar, but I don't do very well as far as assessing reading skills. We use "Accelerated Reader" in our school, and the students have goals they are supposed to reach by the end of each quarter, but my students squander the "SSR" time they are given and I think only 3 from my class were able to attend the AR celebration because the rest had not met their goals in the last quarter. It seems like we are SO CONCERNED with getting the students "up" in math that language arts are kind of swept by the wayside. I have been good about keeping up with spelling and vocabulary assessments, and the students go to another class for writing, but as far as things like dictionary skills or main ideas in a paragraph or point of view go, I have been remiss.
I'm hoping I do all right as far as informal assessments go. I have "arrangements" with a few students, and they are given modified work because they felt really overwhelmed with "regular" work I was giving everyone. I often stroll around the room, or have the "tutoring table" in back, where I sit as students do their independent work and I can help those that think they need it. That has been largely successful in helping students turn in homework, because they didn't understand the material, so of course they weren't going to attempt it at home! My informal assessments are used so I know which students are struggling with which concepts, but unfortunately, my "higher" students are often neglected. They finish their work and turn it in, but instead of having several enrichment assignments for them to work on, I encourage them to read. I guess that is a sort of enrichment, but when it's during math time, it feels like cheating!
In our school, we use the weekly formative assessments to develop "re-teach" groups in our grade. For instance, the students who earned the highest scores (4/5) will go to "enrichment", because they demonstrated mastery of the skills. Students who get 0-3 on the test go to different teachers' rooms to get more help with the area that was tested. After a week of "reteach", we give the students a re-test on the material, and adjust scores accordingly, assuming the student does better the second time around. Sometimes they do much better, and sometimes it is about the same score, but at least very rarely is the score worse than it was the first time around! Unfortunately, we do not really have anything for students if they fail the second time around, because we are required to keep on moving through the material, so we can't just stay back for a couple of students. These students normally do go to "math remediation" class for a portion of the day, but they seem to be far behind in so many skills that the remediation is far behind even the grade level where students are SUPPOSED to be, so it doesn't seem like it is a lot of help. I'm not going to get on my soapbox about it, but that is what assessments are used for in our class and grade.
I guess I do what I'm "supposed" to, but I hesitate to rate myself real high as far as assessment goes, because it isn't always used as I've thought it's meant to be used. Maybe I'm a 6 or 7. I plan on using assessments to REALLY help the students in my class to get to a "10".
I'm hoping I do all right as far as informal assessments go. I have "arrangements" with a few students, and they are given modified work because they felt really overwhelmed with "regular" work I was giving everyone. I often stroll around the room, or have the "tutoring table" in back, where I sit as students do their independent work and I can help those that think they need it. That has been largely successful in helping students turn in homework, because they didn't understand the material, so of course they weren't going to attempt it at home! My informal assessments are used so I know which students are struggling with which concepts, but unfortunately, my "higher" students are often neglected. They finish their work and turn it in, but instead of having several enrichment assignments for them to work on, I encourage them to read. I guess that is a sort of enrichment, but when it's during math time, it feels like cheating!
In our school, we use the weekly formative assessments to develop "re-teach" groups in our grade. For instance, the students who earned the highest scores (4/5) will go to "enrichment", because they demonstrated mastery of the skills. Students who get 0-3 on the test go to different teachers' rooms to get more help with the area that was tested. After a week of "reteach", we give the students a re-test on the material, and adjust scores accordingly, assuming the student does better the second time around. Sometimes they do much better, and sometimes it is about the same score, but at least very rarely is the score worse than it was the first time around! Unfortunately, we do not really have anything for students if they fail the second time around, because we are required to keep on moving through the material, so we can't just stay back for a couple of students. These students normally do go to "math remediation" class for a portion of the day, but they seem to be far behind in so many skills that the remediation is far behind even the grade level where students are SUPPOSED to be, so it doesn't seem like it is a lot of help. I'm not going to get on my soapbox about it, but that is what assessments are used for in our class and grade.
I guess I do what I'm "supposed" to, but I hesitate to rate myself real high as far as assessment goes, because it isn't always used as I've thought it's meant to be used. Maybe I'm a 6 or 7. I plan on using assessments to REALLY help the students in my class to get to a "10".
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