My Experience At Awesome High

 

April 18, 2007

The time I spent with my CT’s students will stay with me for many years.  My perception of reluctant learners has changed to one of deep understanding and concern.  I perceived my CT’s students as unmanageable young adults that were uncaring about their future.  But after a period of four months in observing and assisting them, I learned that they do care and want to succeed.  Most of them have tough exteriors but they have the same concerns and needs of anybody.  In their defiance of authority they are emotionally expressing their frustrations and feelings, which they are unable or unwilling to communicate.  The experiences that I had in this segment of my education will be with me throughout my teaching career.  What I learned was that children are children no matter their age.

I had such wonderful learning experiences in my CT’s classroom.  She is truly a remarkable teacher that should be applauded for her efforts in handling certain students. Ms. W once told me that teaching difficult students was her niche in life and she would not trade it for anything else in the world.  I am sure Shannon would agree with me that Ms. W has a certain teaching style that demands attention but shows empathy for her students.  She knows the “ticks” and “triggers” which motivates her students and uses them to her advantage.  Ms. Wynn takes the time to form a solid foundation with her students so that she can establish a lasting relationship with them.  I will use my experiences with Ms. W while developing my own teaching style.

In the beginning of the semester, I had reservations about my internship at a high school level.  I thought a future elementary SpEd teacher would not have anything in common with future high school teachers.  But this was a misconception on my part.  What I gained from my fellow interns is invaluable and worthwhile.  Getting to know them and sharing experiences was an integral part of my experience. Their unique insight into my difficulties was welcome and appreciated.  I learned that my feelings, responses, and instincts were not unique to me.  Good luck to you all.

My instructors have given me a solid base with which I will develop to be an effective teacher.  I really enjoyed this semester.

Not so great day…

April 11, 2007

Today, I didn’t have an opportunity to observe other classes.  I hoped to observe an art class that Mary suggested, but time got away from me.  I mostly stayed in my CT’s classroom and observed all her classes until 6^th period.  I wanted to see how the morning classes differ from the afternoon classes.  The other intern mentioned last week that 4^th and 5^th period were more cooperative, but I didn’t see that today.  I had a very uncomfortable day.  I did record S’s video teach, which was great.  There were some amusing moments during her teach, as some of the students can be quite funny.  Unfortunately, there were some shaky moments during filming because I was laughing.

There’s humor in every situation…

April 11, 2007 

I had an interesting observation today.  I had to observe my ELL student during an activity-based class and unfortunately it was PE.  I usually deplore anything sporty, but I considered this class worth my time.  Dr. N gave me excellent directions to the gym, but I had difficulties finding the class once I entered the building.  I did find a typical gym class that had students actively playing sports, but it was the wrong class.  The teacher directed me to the next room where a few boys were playing basketball, and the girls were sitting on the bleachers talking, reading, or applying makeup.  The boys who weren’t playing basketball were either hanging out or flirting with the girls who were talking.  I did notice a cute couple necking in the bleachers.  No one seemed to notice except me.  I felt sooo BAD.  Needless to say, I was confused until a substitute confirmed that this was indeed D’s PE class.  She told me that the regular teacher was out and she was here to watch his students.  So I sat on the bench with her and talked about the hardships of being a substitute teacher as we watched his students.  Unlike her, I had a job to do.  I was there to observe my ELL student actively participating in a social environment.  At first, I had difficulties locating D; I could not understand why, as there were very few girls in that class.  I finally found D tucked comfortably in the mist of about five or six boys sitting in the corner of the gym.  She did some gym work by scooting a basketball around the floor for a few minutes to show the boys that she could indeed play.  Amazingly, she never took off her backpack.  My conclusion: she has no problems participating or interacting with her peers.

 

Today, I had an opportunity to interview my CT about teaching strategies, which she uses to help ELL students.  I was under the assumption that she didn’t have any ELL students this year and I was amazed that she had 12.  Silly me didn’t connect poor readers with ELLs until today.  My interview was cut short when a teacher called her to discuss a serious problem with one of her students.  In that short amount of time, I learned that every ELL student is unique and needs to be treated differently.  What may work with one student, may not work with another.  For example, one particular student has excellent verbal skills but poor writing skills.  This student’s memory is so amazing that he could recall everything that was read to him.  To accommodate him, Ms. W would wave written tests because he could not pass them.  She grades on what they can do instead of what they can’t do.  She also checks for comprehension quite often.

Today’s class…

April 4

Today, we learned about interviewing for a job, which I’m pretty rusty.  Dr. B gave us some good information that would be beneficial in our job search.  I’m just happy it’s not going to happen for a while.  We also learned about Problem-Based Learning and Project-Based Learning, which was good.  And…of course, Dr. N gave a good lecture.  We did some activities that involved writing poetry, which I flunked in creativity.  I was familiar with some of them, as we did a few last semester. The poem I enjoyed most was the Sense Poem.  That’s because it made more sense to me.

A Great Day…

April 4, 2007

Today, I had a wonderful time with my ELL buddy.  We just flipped through a TEEN magazine and she read some sections.  I asked her some questions that related to the articles and she answered in English.  I learned some things about teenage dating and how to dress for a party.  After I had my fill with TEEN, we did a writing activity that Dr. N suggested a while back.  We both wrote something in our preferred method of communication and exchanged papers.  I read her paper in Spanish and she read mine in English.  She didn’t have a chance to translate because Dr. N rang the pizza bell.  Later that evening, I had a friend translate D’s paper.  I’m still not exactly sure what it says, because my translator was rusty.  What she said sounded beautiful, but I’m not sure. Anyone want to give it a shot?  Meeting with my ELL buddy gave me a deeper understanding of the struggles some students face in school.

Rewarding students

March 28

 Today’s lecture was about motivation.  We learned different techniques on how to keep students motivated during an activity.  Most of the motivational tools I am familiar with, as I have seen them used by other teachers.  I agree with most of the lecture and handout techniques, but I question the method of rewarding students for work and behavior.  Don’t misunderstand, I agree with verbally praising students in all areas, but the materialistic part of rewarding bothers me.  I have witnessed a few teachers that used material rewards as bribery.  How do you differentiate between the two techniques?  I agree with rewarding students with an occasional pizza party as a way of saying I appreciate your hard work, and it helps build rapport.  I have worked with a Resource teacher and an EBD teacher that both used individual contracts that were created by the students.  If a student produced good work or desired behavior during the week, he/she gets rewarded every Friday.  This method works for their reluctant learners.  I have also seen teachers throw (really) candy to students who answer questions correctly or work productively.  How do I use material rewards effectively, or are they really necessary? 

Observations

March 28

Today, my buddy presented me with a baby rose that she picked from her garden.  It was rather wilted, but pink and beautiful.  That little jester put me on such a high that I didn’t care how bad my day went.  Last week, Dr. Nicholson gave me some valuable advice that miraculously helped open the communication between my buddy and me.  The activity involved reading sections in a TEEN magazine.  We just thumbed through the magazine and she read interesting tidbits about the Dos and Don’ts on first dates and the TEEN’s male hot list.  Today, we just chatted about food.  She asked me what my favorite foods were and of course, that opened up the whole menu.

On Wednesday last and Monday of this week, I got the opportunities to observed two classes.  One was my buddy’s Science class and the other was Mr. R’s class.  The Science class was uninteresting; they were reviewing for Thursday’s exam.  The teacher had the class work on a review sheet without help for about 35 minutes and she answered questions the remaining class time.  I watched the students study quietly and then listened to the teacher answer questions.  During that time, I managed to observe my buddy interacting among her peers.  My buddy just talked within her click of friends, who spoke Spanish.  I noticed that as she studied, she copied the answers off her friends’ papers.  She didn’t asked the teacher for any help.  My buddy has low grades in Science and fails to turn in her assignments.  The teacher, Ms. H, explained the review procedure and expectations in a direct, meaningful manner that was appropriate for all levels of comprehension.  She mostly worked at her computer and occasionally walked around the room to monitor student’s progress.  She made herself available if a student needed help.  I didn’t get a clear evaluation of her teaching style, but in that short time, it seems to be Teacher Directed.  The students asked the questions and she worked out the problems.  I would have worked with the students to solve the problems.

Mr. R. had a totally different teaching style.  Which was student directed.  He interacted with his students on a more personal level than the other teacher.  He is more hands-on than the other teachers at the school.  I was impressed with how he managed to use the think aloud method to increase student understanding in math, and assigned meaningful writing activities that relate to real world events, such as job interviews and life experiences.  He also rewarded his students with lots of praise. 

Different direction…

March 21, 2007

Monday morning, Dr. B. slid in a lesson about handling student fighting.  I thought the information was very informative and helpful to regular teachers, but for some SpEd teachers fighting can be an everyday occurrence.  Not so much with student/student but with student/teacher.  I remember the first day I volunteered in an elementary life skills class for the severely retarded.  I was green and vulnerable, as I didn’t know the harsh capabilities of Ms. B’s students.  Her class is one of the toughest and most challenging. Within the first hour, I was pinched (hard), spit in the face (unfortunately, I was talking at the time), and whacked in the head with a doll.  These kids test authority by responding in negative ways, which sometimes can be violent.  As time passed, I have learned to dodge punches/pinches, spit in face, and doll whacks.  I’m still challenged, but not as severely (I’ve grown tougher skin).  I also credit this to learning each student’s behavior triggers, building rapport, and strong sense of humor.  To this day, I still look forward to working with her students, as they can be the most loving children I have ever encountered.  SPECIAL EDUCATION ROCKS!

As for my CT’s class, I’m interacting more by helping students with their class work. Today, I joked with one of the students.  Actually, she was having a delightful crazy day and wanted to joke around.  As time passes, I’m feeling a little more at ease with some of the students. I love helping them with reading, but I’m still having problems with hearing.  This also includes the intern and the teacher who both have soft voices.  I often feel left out of their conversations.

A Step Backwards…

March 21, 2007

Well, Monday my encounter with my ELL student didn’t go well.  I met with Mr. R. again and he offered some interesting strategies to try.  One suggestion was performing real world scenarios, such as mock job interviews, counselor visits, and teacher-student conferences.  Another tactic was a language activity called Minimal Pairs (keyword-Minimal Pairs).  He explained that ELLs often have problems with words that have exactly the same pronunciation except for one sound which have different spellings and which therefore have different meanings; for example, berry-very, meet-met, shoes-choose, and thy-thigh.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this a phonemic awareness activity.  Here is an interesting tidbit- this is why people have accents.  He also suggested performing an evaluation on each other.  I then asked my ELL student her opinion as to the helpfulness of our sessions.  I also asked her to list her expectations.  In other words, what’s wrong!!  It’s obvious that she’s still uncomfortable.  I felt like I was talking to a smiling tabletop.

 

Today, I didn’t have a chance to work with D. (exam review), but I did talk to Dr. N.  She suggested two writing strategies that I could teach.  If you can’t get them to talk, get them to write!  Activity #1:  Pick a topic to write about.  D. writes in Spanish and I write in English.  She reads my essay in English and I read hers in Spanish (I think Dr. N. was having fun with this one.  I don’t speak Spanish).  Activity #2: D. reads aloud an excerpt from a book or magazine and then summarizes it in English (she’ll needs to talk in this activity).  Activity #3: If one and two fail, I’m stumped! 

I’m not able to conduct an informal language proficiency assessment until next week.  Originally, I thought D. was a Level 2 because she gave one/two word responses and yes/no answers.  Her self-evaluation was at a higher level.  A few weeks ago, she did read a short passage from a novel.  I was amazed at how well she read.  She had problems with polysyllabic words, but other than that she read remarkably well.  Even though, she read efficiently from a novel, I question weather or not she understood what she read.

A Step Forward…

March 7, 2007

Today I was able to assess my buddy’s reading level.  After a few weeks of failed attempts to assess her language/reading proficiencies, I decided to take the upper hand and do it.  I had her select a book from the library (romantic novel) and read a paragraph.  To my surprise, I found that she was proficient in reading.  She had some difficulties pronouncing polysyllabic words, but other than that she did fine.  After she read the paragraph, I ask her to summarize it.  She had some difficulty, but I’m unsure if it was due to deficient language skills or comprehension.  D. explained that her problem was not in reading, but in speaking.  She understands English; she has problems responding.  She asked me to help her improve her communication skills.  After discussing my dilemma with a colleague that understands language difficulties.  He suggested a plan that involves a lot of dialog.  I am going to create a list of common phrases that will help build her communication skills.  I also want to expand on this idea by having D. rewrite common Spanish phrases into English. This strategy will help her learn English and teach me Spanish.