Sunday, February 20, 2011

Grade, Lesson Plan, Rinse, Repeat

This weekend has been packed full of grading and lesson planning.  I start teaching my work sample on Tuesday and Shawn needs a copy of my unit plan and a copy of the lesson I'll be teaching.  I had an opportunity to grade short answer/vocab. and multiple choice unit exams for my AP Psychology class.  And, I got to score some Freshman narrative essays.  I feel like a "real" teacher, complete with a busy work load to finish at home.  I understand that a bulk of my work will be done in my classroom, but another large portion will be done at home. 

While this weekend was busy and full, I loved it just the same :)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Practicum: Halfway Point

First things first: yay it's Friday!  Now, on to the important stuff.  I haven't posted in a few days because (ironically enough) my practicum experience is taking up my time.  I've never been more tired and fulfilled all at the same time.  My third week as a practicum student teacher has come to a close.  I'm so incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing teacher: Jon McNulty.  Even though he is currently out due to surgery for his hernia, his daughter, Erin, is doing a fantastic job showing me the ropes.  It's strange to me that this experience is halfway over!


Next week - after the President's Day weekend - I will begin teaching my work sample unit on Emotion.  It feels a little bit like just when I'm getting the hang of this student teaching business, something else changes on me.  But, I'm hoping to glean the flexibility that excellent teachers have from the ever changing process.  I hope the students enjoy what I have planned.  I want to change things up a bit, but not too much to push them outside of their comfort zone.  Jon (bless his heart) teaches mainly with PowerPoint presentations and lecture.  That's just not my style.  I need (actually I crave) more movement in a classroom.  I plan to get these kids up out of their seats and supplement the activities with the lecture material.  I asked around today and most of the students seem game for movement.  They want to have fun.  In my opinion, they have the rest of their lives to be busy with college and work, why not play while they still can.

Here goes nothing :)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

What a Relief!

I am so pleased with today!  I taught my two periods of AP Psychology and BOTH classes engaged in discussion with me and appreciated the little bits of humor I included.  It seemed to go off without a hitch!  First period was awake and fifth period was even better than yesterday.  I think we are getting to know each other and they are coming to terms with me taking over Jon's teaching job.  I also feel like I'm on the road to getting more comfortable with the students.  I must admit, I was a bit intimidated by the AP students at first.  But, they are actually great kids and nothing to be afraid of.  I'm loving today and I hope the rest of the week goes as well.  :)

Monday, February 14, 2011

I'm the Teacher

Yay!  It was my first day teaching both AP Psychology classes for the entire class period.  It was exciting, but I imagined it to go a little differently.  Jon left me Powerpoint Presentations to instruct the class with, but I feel like I'm not using them effectively or it's just not my style.  I think it's a good place to start, but I think I'll be using more activities during my work sample to liven things up a bit. 

First period (or as I affectionately refer to them as my "sleepy seniors") just sort of stared at me through the entire presentation.  A few of them interacted when I asked questions, but they mostly just looked at me like, "Come on student teacher...get it together..."  And, I'll admit, I was nervous and it probably showed.  But, I was picturing a bit more participation and excitement from them.  I was a little disappointed  with their demeanor.  I'm hoping that we are just still learning each other and that things will get better. 

Fifth period was much better.  They were patient (even helping me with technology!) and picked up on cues for questions/comments.  I think they too were waiting to see exactly how I would be as a teacher, but they were a bit more willing to give me a chance. 

I'm hoping that these two groups of students will be more receptive to the activities I have planned for them in the coming days.  It's strange because it just sort of feels like I'm taking over another classroom.  These kids don't feel like mine.  I guess this is what people are referring to when they say, "Don't judge the teaching profession on your student teaching experience."  In my opinion, it stems from the fact that we (Concordia MATE's) arrive in the middle of the year.  It would be different if we started at the beginning of the year with the kids.  However, I'm grateful to have a placement and some great kids to work with :)

PS - Here's a look at my practicum classroom

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Fart Machinesl

This blog is for my cooperating teacher, Jon McNulty.

 In our AP Psychology classes we brought back a classic: The Epic Fart Machine.  And I'm not talking figuratively, I'm talking in literal terms.  Jon has not one, but two fart machines with a remote.  They are little speaker boxes essentially.  When the remote is pressed they release (no pun intended) a fart sound.  Some are short.  Some are loud.  Some are long.  And some are a combination of all the fart noises.

Today, we gave the second part of the Learning unit exam - a short answer portion and a vocabulary portion.  Jon happened to arrive at school early this morning to set up for the pep assembly tomorrow.  He strategically placed one under the counter and in the classroom closet.  When I arrived, he handed me the remote and told me to, "let 'er rip," during the exam.  I chuckled and waited for the perfect moment.

Students began to file in and grab their tests.  I watched them all, looking for signs that they knew what was about to happen.  However, they were all too preoccupied with the exam to notice my strange behavior.  They took their seats, chatted for a few moments, and then quieted down and got to work.  As soon as the students were completely focused, I pressed the button.  The fart machine let out a long, loud fart right behind a very shy young lady.  She blushed, and looked around embarrassed.  The other students chuckled, and got back to work.  Then, I pressed the button again and the second fart machine let out a short, quick toot.  It was across the room behind a very, "in love," young couple.  They chuckled and looked around.  I continued to send farts out along the room for about fifteen minutes before the students figured out what was going on. 

Jon and I probably ruined their concentration, but everyone was amused.  I think we actually reduced any test anxiety by bringing a bit of comedy into the room.  The students loved it, and the fart machines made me thankful to be back at Madison with my favorite teachers :)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Opposite Gender Day

Oh, Spirit Week, how I adore thee.  Monday was Twin Day and not too many outrageously amazing risks were taken with spirit attire.  But, today was great!  Most of the seniors in AP Psychology were dressed to the nines for Opposite Gender Day.  Now, I realize that this topic could get messy and could even be offensive.  But, let's not dwell in the land of PC today.  Let's just let the kids have their fun.

Also, enjoy these photos of my FANTASTIC students.










 
In other news, I'm scheduled to start my full time student teaching March 13.  However, since I have a few free periods with Jon's class, Steve Musaeus offered to let me start teaching lessons early!  For next week, I'm planning a lesson to inform his Freshman class about college.  I'm thinking about framing it around what they are going to need to get done during high school.  College is still far away for the fourteen year-old mind :)

Keep your eyes open for photos from Ugly Sweater Day including (but not limited to) my own variation of the Ugly/Tacky Sweater. 

Are You a Parole Officer?

Monday began the transition from classroom observation to teaching.  It also started my second week of my practicum experience.  I was given the opportunity to teach an activity!  The activity turned into a homework assignment, so I was only in front of the class for about fifteen minutes.  However, the class responded well and I can't wait to see what the they produce :)

Jon gave me the starting point, but I actually created the activity!  It is a time capsule letter and asks students to examine motives, stimuli and internal/external motivation.  This activity fits in with the AP Psychology unit: Motivation.

As I began teaching, I noticed that my students got a little more rowdy as things were being passed out.  I need to work on keeping their focus on me.  Constant directing back to me (and the lesson at hand) is not an ideal situation.  But, it's a learning process and I'm excited to see where I can go from here. 

I also had a meeting with my supervisor from Concordia, Shawn Daley, on Monday.  I had the opportunity to show him around my school and introduce him to my cooperating teacher, Jon. I also showed him Mr. Museaus' room (where I will be student teaching starting March 14).  We discussed more about his role, and set up an observation schedule.  My first observation will be Friday February 18!  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.

Madison has always been filled with lots of teachers who dress on the casual side (some donning t-shirts and jeans on a daily basis).  Shawn, however, is always dressed in a bit more formal attire - at least when I've seen him in the professional world.  Monday was no different.  As Shawn entered the building one of the students (seriously) asked him, "Hey, are you a parole officer?"  I wasn't present for the encounter, but as I understand it, Shawn shook his head.  But, seriously, is this the face of a parole officer:


 I think not.  Next time, Shawn told me, he'll wear jeans to Madison :)


I spent a bit of time with the Freshman English class, and was left with a few thoughts.

1.  The days to come will be full!

Both teachers, Jon and Steve, fill their classes and are constantly searching for more time.  They squeeze every minute out of their class time and spend their "free" time grading or planning.  I cannot wait for the fullness of classroom activities.  Right now, I feel a bit like an outsider taking a peek into classrooms that are not mine.  But, soon enough, I'll become permanent in the classroom.  All of the chores and students will become mine.  I can't wait!

2.  "Put down the walking stick."

A quote from the book the Freshman are reading.  The book is titled Two Old Women.  It is a tale about two Alaskan Native women who have been abandoned by their tribe.  At one point in the book, they forget their walking sticks and continue to carry on.  They realize they never needed them and are stronger than they think.  I do not want any "walking sticks" to hold me back from accomplishing all that I can during my time at Madison.  I want to achieve the everything I can with the students and my cooperating teachers.  I want to know what it's like to have stood beside the legends of Madison (Jon and Steve) and filled their shoes.  I'm putting down all excuses that will stand in my way.  I'm putting down the walking stick. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Squirt Guns, Freshman, and Perfection

What a wonderful day in the classroom!  I'm getting used to the schedule, the students and I are becoming more comfortable around each other, and Jon is planning lessons with me (which makes me panic A LOT less).  Yesterday was hard, as we all know, but today was over in a flash.  In fact, I wish it was longer.  I'm finding my place.  I'm learning my role.  It's all getting easier. 

In the AP Psychology class and in Leadership, the transition of responsibility has begun.  Today, I was lucky enough to assist Jon with a lesson on conditioning (a form of psychological learning).  The lesson consisted of a large plastic garbage bag, a towel, a blindfold, a squirt bottle and a list of words.  Jon chose a student at random and had them walk up to the front of the classroom.  In both classes, the students walked up when asked, but they were wary.  I can't blame them, who knows what wacky idea Jon has come up with.  When the student arrived in front of the classroom, Jon pulled out a stool and, ever so sweetly, asked them to, "Take a seat."  Once seated, Jon cut a hole in the top of the plastic bag like a rain poncho.  The plastic bag was then placed over the student.  After the student was completely covered with the makeshift rain poncho, Jon covered their eyes with the blindfold.

Next, he handed me a list of words and a squirt bottle.  The words were mostly random, except the word CAN appeared more often than the rest.  The word CAN was the signal for, "squirt the student."  The first student, a boy, began to anticipate the squirting after a while.  He even opened his mouth and tried to catch the water from the squirt bottle.  The second student, a girl, responded a little differently.  She tried to dodge the squirting, flinched, and even whined a little every time she heard the word CAN.  The students had no idea we had prepared this activity for today.  But, I guarantee, none of them will ever forget their experience with conditioning.  And, Jon and I conditioned them today; we conditioned them to expect the unexpected.

I also had the opportunity to visit my student teaching placement (just right upstairs) in Mr. Museaus' room.  I met his two of his Freshman classes.  And, his classroom is amazing.  The students are even more amazing.  The Freshman are reading a fantastic book right now called Two Old Women.  It's about two elderly women abandoned by their Native American tribe, and left to a certain death.  The book tells the tale of the women attempting to save their own lives and the journey they take to do so.  Next, the class will read the Hobbit (which I will help to teach) and then we move on to my unit, Romeo and Juliet.


Even from my short observations today, I found out that I absolutely adore Freshman.  I love their energy, their questions, and even their immaturity.  The remind me so much of kids, and I love that.  Seniors and Juniors and almost, "too cool for school."  They've mostly got school figured out.  They know what they can get away with and they try everything they can.  But, Freshman are still trying to find their way, to find their place.  The Juniors and Seniors in Jon's classes sort of rolled their eyes when they met me, the "student teacher." But, the Freshman were intrigued and wanted to get to know me.  I think they are my favorites so far. 

In other news, next week is the second round of Spirit Week at Madison High.  The spirit days are:
M: Twin Day
T: Opposite Gender Day
W: Pajama Day
TR: Ugly Sweater Day
F: School Spirit Day

I can't wait to get my spirit week on! 

The end of week one has come.  I have never been more tired in my life.  But, at the same time, I've never been more completely fulfilled.  I smile every day as I walk to my car.  I think about all of the kids who I get to know.  All of their stories I get to hear.  And all that they have left to teach me.  This weekend holds lots of lesson planning and research, and I can't wait to get back to "my" kids.

Next week brings more teaching responsibility.  I can honestly say that I'm nervous.  I'm a little frightened because I still don't know exactly what to expect.  I'm also a bit of a perfectionist, and I know that I'm not going to be perfect the first time.  This makes me a little anxious, but I've been talking myself down all week.  I'm still learning, and if I was already perfect, I wouldn't be a student.  I've got a long way to go, but I'm enjoying the journey.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Looking Forward

Busy busy busy!  That's sort of the gist of day three of my clinical teaching experience. 

Madison is on a modified block schedule, so my week runs as follows:

Monday: Periods 0 through 7 (each class is about 45 minutes long)
Tuesday: Periods 0 through 7 (each class is about 45 minutes long)
Wednesday: Late arrival day - Periods 2, 4, and 6 (each class lasting about 90 minutes)
Thursday: Periods 0,1, 3, 5, 7 (each class lasting about 90 minutes except for 0 period)
Friday: Periods 0 through 7 (each class lasting about 45 minutes)

Whew!  It's hard to keep track of the schedule, but it's a bit easier since I've already lived this schedule.  Today is a Thursday, and I've decided that it's the busiest day of all.  However, even though it's our busiest day, the day definitely went by quickly.  I placed myself around the room and entered lots of the discussions that Jon had with students today.  It's a bit strange that most of these kids are only a few years younger than me.  One student even told me that I wasn't his, "elder," yet.  Even though I'm not his elder, however, I am his teacher.  Establishing that teacher/student boundary is going to be a bit difficult, but I think I'll get there. 

I also had an opportunity to meet with my other cooperating teacher.  I found out that I'm going to be teaching Romeo and Juliet, elements of poetry and a few other things with Freshman and Junior Honors students.  As much as I'm enjoying getting acclimated with a high school classroom, I think it's safe to say I'm most excited about getting into a Language Arts classroom.  Psychology will be fun, and planning lessons with one of my all-time favorite teachers will be a blast, but teaching English/Language Arts is my passion and I can't wait to get there. 

Onward!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Fitting In and Finding Routine

My clinical teaching experience is quickly becoming a reality.  I'm starting to get used to the routine of Jon's classroom and the routine of my own preparation.  I can say that 7:00am comes very early, and 3:15pm sneaks up on me at the end of seventh period.  Each day is bringing new questions (which I love!) and making things just a little bit busier.

Today was much the same as yesterday:  I greeted students, discussed my unit with Jon, and took notes while he taught.  It felt great to sit at the teacher's desk, but now I'm ready for some action.  Teaching in this classroom will be a challenge.  These are all AP students, and they love Jon.  These students may not present a classroom management problem, but they will expect me to be a fantastic teacher.  They expect to be prepared for the AP test when the time comes.  They expect to be prepared for college.  I'm stepping into the role of a fantastic teacher.  A teacher who these kids respect and really care about.  They are big shoes to fill, but I think I can do it.  I hope I can do it.

My plan for tomorrow is to mix in with the students, answer questions where I can and get to know the students.  I also plan to work a bit more on my work sample.  I want to have my unit plan nailed down.  The unit I'll be teaching is Emotion is AP Pyschology.  I have it mostly divided up, and my next step is to get the details worked out for the ten lessons.  My questions left are: what assessments will I be using?  How much of Jon's method will I be using?  How much will I be creating? 

In other news, Shawn Daley (my Concordia supervisor) will be coming to Madison on Monday!  I'm hoping that I can teach a little bit (or co-teach with Jon) on Monday.  I'm excited for him to meet my teaching all-stars and to collaborate with both of these Social Studies dudes :)

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Fall Down on Your Face Day

Today I embarked on the first day of my clinical teaching experience.  During this experience I will have the opportunity to observe and teach six weeks of Social Studies and twelve weeks of Language Arts.  It was one of the most nerve-wracking days of my life.  I also found such fulfillment in the fact that I've made it this far: I'm in the school!!!  But, there is still a long way to go until the end of my journey.

For this clinical experience, I was placed at my former high school, James Madison High School.  And during the first six weeks I have the honor and privilege to work with one of my all-time favorite teachers, Jon McNulty.  Our schedule is rather light, but I'm excited to jump in slowly.  I will mostly be working with the Pyschology kids and the Leadership class.  Jon also teaches AP Economics (which I am scared to death to teach, so I'll just observe) and Weight Training (I won't be PE certified, so I can't teach this).

When I showed up at Madison this morning, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I had laid out and pressed my outfit, packed my lunch, packed my "school" bag (complete with my cooperating teacher's folder, my work sample, the Pyschology textbook, a flash drive with Jon's complete curriculum on it, my lap top, and a few pens), and set my alarm the night before.  And, in the midst of all of this I realized that I was about to be the "new guy" once again.  I felt excited, a bit unprepared, professional, and ready to get back to school.  
 I looked like a rookie (you know, the over prepared dork we all laugh at when they show up to work for the first day), but I didn't even care. Aaaaannnnnd then, I tripped in the parking lot and fell on my face.  Lucky for me, it was 7:00am and there were only a few students and staff members around.  But still, in my dorky perfection, I picked myself up (smile and all) and kept walking.  Tripping in the parking lot was perfect.  It showed me that no matter how wonderful this profession is, there will always be the imperfect "fall-down-on-your face" days.

When I got inside, I saw former teachers in the hallway (some of them hugged me and others smiled like they knew me from somewhere) and younger siblings of friends.  It felt wonderful to be home.  But, it also felt different.  I no longer roamed these halls as a student, now, I roamed as a teacher.  It was sort of like the feeling I got when I saw "behind-the-scenes" of Disneyland; I felt like it was something I wasn't supposed to be seeing.  But, I think that'll make it all the more fun and exciting. 

Today I had the opportunity to meet the students and look over a few ideas for my work sample.  Observation and assisting is the name of the game for week one.  I will be teaching my work sample unit on Emotions and Stress/Health.  My ideas for success in this work sample are not getting eaten alive by high school kids, adequately covering the topic, and having A LOT of fun with my students.  Jon has laid a strong groundwork with them, and he's pretty much a rockstar.  So, I have gianormous shoes to fill when I take over the class in a few weeks.  I'm not ready today, but I'll work up to it.  I'm starting the process of coming to terms with some of my imperfections.  I'm ready to take critques and become the best teacher I can be.

Let's do this!