Sara Winterling

Day 8 - 8 Hours

2006-04-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

Another day of teaching. And even more exciting stuff!

My brother had a meeting to go to in the morning so he had a sub assigned to his class, but since I was there I was pretty much the acting student teacher. I was in charge of the class, settling them, taking attendance, informing them about their research papers, and teaching the lesston. My brother returned at the end of the first period I was teaching and since I had such control of them (he was impressed that a student who does minimal work was reading his poem to the class and the whole class was listening) that he didn't approach any of the students or engage them unless they had a specific question just for him.

Anyway, the form of class was simple. Students read their found poetry from the day before and then were given the task of creating found poetry from their research papers. This was a challenging task for nearly all of the students, but they all produced something and even those who thought their work wasn't that great was really pretty good. i don't know if I would do found poetry off of research papers again, but at the very least it was a cool experiment to see what would happen. After they spent time working, I had some students volunteer to read their work. Only one class wasn't very receptive to sharing, but apparently that class (according to my brother) doesn't do a lot of work and are disengaged in general.

Some highlights:
During my first class, i briefly mentioned if the students wanted to stand up to read their poems or come to the front and the students took the initiative and nearly all who read stood up. This showed such pride and ownership in their work. I didn't mention it so much in the other classes (i forgot to) but that is definately something I need to remember for the future. But when the students did read, to quiet the class I appealed to them telling them to respect each other. This seemed to work.

Also, maybe one of the coolest things so far was the kids calling me Ms. Winterling. The first student who did caught me off guard and I didn't realize he was addressing me. It was just pretty neat. I was also talking with one class and I thanked them for giving me to opportunity to teach, since it was my first experience. Well, they were surprised, they thought I had been teaching for a while! HA!

And just a little side note of gloating. My brother said that I looked really natural teaching, that when I asked for his advice on how to praise the students after they read and he suggested things I just naturally picked up that advice and put it to work. He also said that he was more comfortable/confident of my teaching on my second day in his classroom than he was with his student teacher in the third week she was in his classroom. He may be partially being nice, but he wouldn't praise me without truth behind it.

And actually, when I was in between periods or when I had a bit of free time I wanted to be working with the students. I wanted to engage the class or individual students. I'm just so happy that now I am sure that this is what I want to do, and apparently I'm suited for it!!

Day 7 - 9 Hours

2006-04-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

I TAUGHT!!!

I have spent quite some time talking to my brother about what lesson to do while I'm there and if I can actually run the class. They are at the end of their poetry unit so I came up with the idea of doing found poetry with the class. My brother had never heard of it so i explained it and he was all for trying something new. Between our brainstorming (since he has about 6-8 yrs of teaching experience) we decided to show the class an example of found poetry and then have them do it on their own. He wanted to use parts of the texts from The Crucible, so he pulled out a page from each act (one page per group) because I am not familiar with that play.

That's the prep... on to the more exciting stuff, namely, teaching!!

First off, I have a cold and I was a little worried about how I would come across, sneezing, sniffling, nose running... Also, I was worried I would blank, lose my train of thougt, or freeze. I told my brother to save me if I do so. All this not to mention that all these classes are back to back, 4 classes in a row.

So I start. I explain found poetry, my brother is my helper and hands out the photocopies of the example and later the exerpt they are working with. We go over the piece (thanks to the graduate students from adolescent lit last semester who did found poetry in relation to Rules of the Road), then the poem that was created from it. I lay out guidelines and rules involved in found poetry, explain what they'll be doing, ask if they have questions, and then they are off!!!

They made their own groups, working individually all the way up to groups of 5, (this was at my brother's discretion), but the large groups tended to fix themselves when they realized that they hda different ideas and that they would rather work with just one or two people to concoct their own poem.

As they worked (we gave them about 15 minutes, five to read through the section, and a good chuck of time to work) mybrother and I walked around the room being available for students, keeping an eye on progress and talking with students who were having a hard time but weren't the type of raise their hands to ask for further clarification or help.

As students finished my brother and I read the finished poems. This was the exciting part. The poems were all really impressive, and (now for the really exciting part) the students all felt such ownership for their work. They were eager for me andmy brother to read their pieces. They joked about how great their pieces were (ours is better than yours, or this should be published), but the joking had truth in it because they were genuinely proud of themselves. Even the students who tend not to do their work and are less than motivated in class completed the task.

At the end of class I reminded the students to hang on to the finished poems because they will be sharing them tomorrow and to also bring in their research papers (finished or not) because (andthis is my brother's idea that I liked) the students will be writing found poetry from their own research papers. They have been working on these (less than exciting) research papers for several weeks, so now we give them the opportunity to do something creative with them. From their response today (which my brother was really impressed about) I think tomorrow should go well (given that they actually bring in their papers).

Overall, I'm so happy! I was worried about how I would do in front of a classroom for the first time, but (not to gloat) my brother said I looked natural. I walked around the class when I wass explaining, I didn't um and ah (too much) and I was able to get the class' attention and get them to follow my directions and complete an assignment.

YAY!!!!! (can't wait until tomorrow!)

(can't wait until student teaching!!!)

Day 6 -10 hours

2006-04-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, it was a very long day, and I'm tired.
This was the first of three days I am spending at a very cool (I don't feel comfortable naming the school) High School in western Pennsylvania with my brother. He teaches both 11regular (American Literature) and a College Writing class.

First I have to react to the school. It is AMAZING!!! They have everything! Including two or three gyms (the small one is the size of most schools gyms on long island), a swimming pool, televisions in every classroom over which they do announcements, a huge library that is so big most of the bookshelves are empty, and a rifle range. (Yes a rifle range... this is PA after all...)

Unfortunately the school is currently in a crisis. They have a several million dollar deficit for several reasons. All in all, they are looking to furlow (??) and to cut somee positions. They also have thing called PRAXIS which is a test that a teacher can take and suddenly be qualified for a new content area and be in the same position as someone who went to school 4 years for a teaching certificate in that area of study. The teachers aren't really appreciative of this, which I can't blame them for, but let me get off the teacher's union stuff and onto what happened in the classroom.

My brother teaches 4 periods in a row so it is pretty crazy. The students are reaching the end of their research papers so a draft was due. These drafts were reviewed and commented on by their peers. My brother had a two-sided sheet which had many questions they were suppose to answer about their peers' drafts. The first questions were all content based because that is the most relivant,but it went all the way through the paper to spelling and margin sizes. It was excessive, but it was more of a guide than something for them to stress over. During these periods, my brother used me as a tool. I got to circulate the room just like him and answer any questions. I answered lots of questions, most were pretty simple, but it was my first time in this position and I really enjoyed myself.

The college writing class was pretty basic. Their period is always in the computer room where they are currently working on a "how to" paper. I was to circulate the same way I did in the other classes, but they weren't as forthcoming. This class does have a class website at blogspot where they have to complete assignments. I'll insert the web addy when I get it.

The technology at the school is great. A student wasnt in class today so she couldn't physically bring in her draft to have her peers comment on it, but she sent it to my brother's school account and he was able to print it out and have students comment. She will get it back the follwoing day with feedback! Also, all the grades and lesson plans are done on the computer where they have a drop down box of standards. Parents can access their childrens' records in real-time including what homework assignments they missed then they can email the teacher to assk about them.

I'm just highly impressed and looking forward to tomorrow where I may get a chance to teach. I'm sure I'll have even more to say about that!!

Day 5 - 8 Hours

2006-03-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

A long post for a long day...

Today I got the privilege of spending an entire day in a school, getting to experience everything, including assemblies and the faculty lounge. Basically, it was a day in the life of a teacher.

I observed both a student teacher and the cooperating teacher teaching the exact same material in very different ways. The cooperating teacher pretty much dictated what the student teacher did so she had the student teacher put off a technologically-based lesson involving music (what was suppose to happen was that students all brought in songs that related to the text, wrote about how it related to the text, were suppose to talk about it, analyze it, and then listen to their songs). The students were all very excited about this but when it came down to it, the teacher pushed for the text to be finished instead and since the school can only afford a class set of books that meant reading outloud all day long. (Exciting I know)

I tried to get as much out of this day as possible, looking at different things the student and cooperating teachers did and the different things they drew the students' attention to. The students write a journal every day at the beginning of class. This is something the teacher has them do every day since the beginning of the year. After they write for 2-5 min the teacher asked them to answer it. The journals tend to be fun, like this one about what the (pregnant) cooperating teacher should name her new baby since she just found out it is a boy.

There were directed reading questions about the text on the board. The students are suppose to keep these questions in mind when they read, but it was unclear if they were ever going to go over them and write about them or anything. Also, the student teacher made mention of this questions the first class, but for each of the remaining class he never brought them up again. As a student teacher his lessons seemed to be a little less carbon-copied versions of his lesson. Each class had different types of students and a different atmosphere. I don't know if the student teacher was playing off these differences on purposes or not but I think it worked.

One thing that bothered me that both the student and cooperating teachers did (that I think was a byproduct of the cooperating teacher) was when a student was reading outloud and they just started to stumble over a word the teacher chimed in quickly with the correct pronunciation. It was like the teacher was ready for it, since the student barely even let got through the first syllable. It didn't give the student a chance to work it out on his/her own. I just didn't see how that student was learning anything from it. I think it is better if the teacher gives the student at least a chance and if the student looks to the teacher for help the teacher should then offer it. (I want the student to try, but I don't want the student to sit their struggling, feeling stupid in front of his/her classmates). The student teacher did this only once, though the cooperating teacher did this over half a dozen times.

Both teachers would stop the reading of the text to make mention of critical scenes, asking what they meant or to have them make connections to the literature. This was all content based and never really gave the students a chance to do anything more than do a bit of new-critical analysis. But the teacher was so bent on getting the book done, anything higher than basic content recollection was too much.

One thing the cooperating teacher did that I liked (if you look back at my previous post you'll understand) was stressing the importance of taking notes while they read. She didn't talk about how to take notes or anything, but just that they should jot down anything they found important. I don't know if she's ever directed them on how to take notes from a text, but I kind of doubt it because even though she mentioned this many students just still sat (with notebooks open) following along but never writing. Their notebooks opened pretty much just humoured the teacher...

Also, the cooperating teacher I guess got confused by the novel and where she was in it. She stopped at one point and asked the students to make connection to what she thought was something that happened in a previous chapter, but she was mistaken because that chapter came later (the students had yet to get to it). Here she was trying to get the students to remember and make connection to something they had not read yet. I mentioned this to the student teacher who agreed, but I don't know if he ever mentioned it to the teacher and I don't know what the teacher would say about it. I am sure we all will make mistakes like that when we are teachers... maybe... maybe not.

During one period the reading went past the bell and none of the students stirred because they were only about a dozen lines away from the end of the chapter. This showed disipline because I was itching for them to get done. They didn't rush, but just let the person finish reading and then got up to go. I was very impressed with their disipline.

Overall, this day mostly taught me about what to expect when student teaching, which was something I really wanted to experience. This makes me feel more confident, thinking, "I can do that." Student teaching is definately something I think it obtainable for me. The only critique on my behalf is that I tended to be a little shy and quiet while in the school, but I think that since I was only there for a day it is expected. I'm sure I will open up when I finally get the chance to be in front of the class. (I'll have a lot more to say about this matter in April)

Day 4 - 4 Hours

2006-03-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

When the students come into the classroom the teacher has a "do now" written on the board. It is a question that they had already discussed the previous class. The do now is to regenerate these ideas and for the students to express them in written form. After they have a few minutes to do this, the teacher asked for them to answer the question orally and to discuss what they had written. This reminds me of Prof Lomonico's BB discussions. We thought about and wrote something down and then he brings up the points we made in class, asking us to detail it or explain it more. The class already had written something and thought about it so it isn't as though the student is on the spot or anything. In the most basic form they just have to read what they wrote.

Today they analyzed a poem in relation to Paradise Lost. The students chose their own groups to work in and each group was assigned a stanza to explicate. The groups didn't seem to work well because there was more socializing in the groups than analyzing. The students weren't always focused (which is okay) but I think too much time as allotted to them to get this assignment finished. If they were really under a time constrain maybe they would have worked more diligently, and maybe if the teacher created the groups it woul have been less cliche-ish. I hate when I see all the cliches pair off and then there is a group of the misfit kids who dont fit into any of the cliche, it's just not fair... We shouldn't be allowing this self-segregation and isolation. This is something that just bothers me.

One student made a reference to 7th Heaven and connected it to the poem. Again the mention of technology in class. The students keep bringing up different forms of media in relation to the texts. It seems like they are starved for the chance at analyzing text along side technology. I think this reoccurring mention shows that they would be receptive to this and they would welcome it readily. Unfortunately, however ready they might be for technology in their class, the budget is just so tight that anything more than a TV on a cart is too much. But, I do know some teachers incorporate technology quite a bit into their classrooms in this particular school even though the money is tight. I think if this teacher saw what I see in the students, he should be pushing and doing what he can to start making real-world and technological based connections to the texts.

Oh, and the best part of all? A fire drill... I know they are necessary, but as a teacher it puts the class behind all the other classes. I never thought about that before. As a student we love them, but as a teacher, it's just a further distraction in the classroom that we are burdened by.

Day 3 - 4 Hours

2006-03-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

The teacher started out by summarizing the previous day's class which he used as his motivation for today's lesson. He lectured for part of the class as students took notes. The teacher and I discussed this method outside of class and he said that the honors students are very receptive notetakers and that they learn best this way. I think this was sort of a rationalization for him wanting to teach a good deal of information in the shortest time possible. The students may be used to taking notes and learning through lectures, and because they are used to it they have probably become good at it, but what about the other ways of learning? I have yet to see the teacher use any unconventional ways of teaching. When they finally got into the text they merely had their texts out without notebooks open or anything. They just followed along and partially participated, but I question that if students don't write stuff down, will they not remember? They may be very good at taking notes during a lecture, but it doesn't seem like they were taught to take notes while they read.

This teacher often got off on many tangents, which did spice things up and made the class more interesting, but I think he should probably tried to incorporate interesting and exciting things that pertained to the lesson.

One of the tangents did accidentally pertain to the lesson which the teacher then used as a teachable moment. A student mentioned the movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and how the demons that possessed her were named in the movie. Some of those demons (of the ones she could remember) were some of the fallen angels in Paradise Lost. The teacher used this opportunity to make the connection of current popular culture with Milton and attempted to get the class excited by mentioning how the demons who possessed Emily actually get dialogue in the text. Like, Milton suddenly becomes some sort of backstory to Emily Rose. The students can have a deeper understanding of the movie through English class. (I think I may have been reading more into it than necessary) This is the closest thing to technology in the classroom I have seen in this school so far. A mere mention of a movie the teacher hadn't even seen (although I have to say, I wouldn't be researching horror movies for my ELA class).

Day 2 - 4 hours

2006-02-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

On this day I saw something that really excited and intrigued me. The teacher had gave the students a packet of critical lenses early in the year. (Note to self: go back to the school and request a copy of packet) In the packet, around 6 or so lenses were outline and defined, as well as defining what critical lenses are in the first place. I really like that because my collegue and I have been struggling with what is the best way to teach literature through lenses (since we agree that we can't teach them without explanation). In between periods the teacher and I discussed this packet and the benefits of using it. We concluded that by giving the students a packet the students had this valuable resource at their fingertips. In the class I saw it put to use, mainly because the teacher prompted it. After reading a section, he asked the students what lens they could apply here, why, and to interpret the passage through that lens. I had not mentioned it yet, but this was an 11 honors class, and although they are suppose to be "quicker" or whatever than regular English classes, I think giving out a packet of lenses could work for any class. It's a glossary/key, why shouldn't every student have this?
Anyway, they used reader response to analyze a section feeding off of the information that they had obtained before beginning the epic (see previous post). And it was because of the packet that the students knew and understood what to be analyzing while looking at it through a reader response lens (or at the very least, if they weren't sure, they could just look at the packet and easily find out).

Also, as they began reading, the teacher had the students using different voices of the characters including Satan and the demons. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this except that it was amusing to both watch and do. This was also the closest thing toward acting I have seen...

Day 1 - 4 hours

2006-02-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

After much procrastination in starting my field experience blogs, I shall begin.

My first four hour day began with an intro to Milton's Paradise Lost. The teacher let the students know what the book was like, that it is good however monotonous at times and very long. Rather than saying "we're going to read it and you're going to like it" the teacher was real with the students, letting them get the sense that he's on their side and together they will get through the text.

There was a lot of leg-work done as a precursor to Paradise Lost including reading the first few chapters of Genesis, for context, and learning a bit about Milton and the time in which he lived. It was the teacher's assumption that as the students read the text they could use that prior knowledge to help them analyze the text, which they were doing as they began reading that day, but I question if the teacher could have integrated this information more seamlessly as they read.

As they read they stopped as the students got tangled up in the language. The teacher had spots in mind in the text where he was planning on stopping and stuck to this method. He guided the students through using the text and the information they had to create meaning. He would emphasize an idea and have the students decompact it. He wrote the idea on the board and as the students suggested things they pulled out from the text he wrote it around the main idea. This could help the students, yet they weren't engaged in the activity which showed by the fact that so few students wrote, many of the students not even having their notebooks open. This makes me worry. How important is it for students to take note on literature? And if it is really important how can we make students take notes without making them take notes?

My First Entry

2006-01-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

The totally technologically inept teacher candidate has done it!