August 24th - 28th
My first week as an intern at Suncrest Middle School went by quickly. Spending 40 hours a week in my PDS is really making me start to feel like a professional now! While I've been a preservice teacher for three years now, it wasn't until this year that I really started feeling like a part of the school staff. I attend 8th grade team meetings daily, will be granted access to online resources like Grade Quick and Edline, and will even have my picture taken for the yearbook! Being at Suncrest for five consecutive days a week will also help me get to know my students on a more personal level and vice versa.
Mrs. Chico has already been extremely helpful with my Action Research. We will begin collecting data this coming Monday! I created several attitude surveys for my students' views of grammar and mechanics. Mrs. Chico, Mrs. DeWall, and I looked over them and discussed which formats would elicit the best responses and data for my research. We decided that we should try two different kinds of surveys: five open-ended questions and a multiple choice survey in which students use remotes to submit answers. Both surveys will be anonymous so that students may feel comfortable submitting their answers.
Mrs. Chico has also suggested teaching a unit on "Flowers for Algernon", which ties in perfectly with my research on teaching grammar through writing. Charlie, the narrator of this story, has a learning disorder which is apparent through his journal entries. I will be spending the weekend reading this book and coming up with lessons that incorporate grammar instruction and themes on the importance of writing well.
A very motivating week! :)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Week 2 Reflection
August 31st - September 4th
On Friday, September 4th, my 8th grade students did a grammar and mechanics pretest. I used the program Beyond Question to create the pretest and students used responders to send their answers to the multiple choice questions electronically. I hope to use this program often in the future because the program actually calculates graphs for each classes' answers to each question. I will use this tool next week to review the correct answers with the students. This way, they will be able to see the distribution of answers in their class, while keeping their own scores anonymous. This tool is also very helpful for my action research because it totals data for me and creates graphs that I can use for presentations.
While I was skimming through the 8th grade language textbook for question ideas, I decided that I would make my pretest questions challenging. I assumed that the students would know the basics (i.e. capitalizing the first word of a sentence, separating series with commas, end marks, etc.). Instead, I developed questions that applied to more complex rules of mechanics. I did make sure, however, that each of my questions could be referenced from their textbook, indicating that these concepts are intended to be addressed this year.
After each class took the pretest, I would ask them how well they felt they performed. Most students said it was pretty simple. (Students also recorded their answers on paper and indicated their certainty level for each question). However, I was surprised to see that barely any student got higher than an 80%, and most students failed. Now looking back at the test, I am sure I made it too difficult. I felt guilty every time I handed out pretests to the subsequent classes. Was it fair to give them such a difficult test? Will a pretest like this discourage students?
Mrs. Chico gave me great advice for the next time I create any test: take it yourself, and have someone else take it. Not only will errors be more easily found, but the difficulty level will also be assessed.
On Friday, September 4th, my 8th grade students did a grammar and mechanics pretest. I used the program Beyond Question to create the pretest and students used responders to send their answers to the multiple choice questions electronically. I hope to use this program often in the future because the program actually calculates graphs for each classes' answers to each question. I will use this tool next week to review the correct answers with the students. This way, they will be able to see the distribution of answers in their class, while keeping their own scores anonymous. This tool is also very helpful for my action research because it totals data for me and creates graphs that I can use for presentations.
While I was skimming through the 8th grade language textbook for question ideas, I decided that I would make my pretest questions challenging. I assumed that the students would know the basics (i.e. capitalizing the first word of a sentence, separating series with commas, end marks, etc.). Instead, I developed questions that applied to more complex rules of mechanics. I did make sure, however, that each of my questions could be referenced from their textbook, indicating that these concepts are intended to be addressed this year.
After each class took the pretest, I would ask them how well they felt they performed. Most students said it was pretty simple. (Students also recorded their answers on paper and indicated their certainty level for each question). However, I was surprised to see that barely any student got higher than an 80%, and most students failed. Now looking back at the test, I am sure I made it too difficult. I felt guilty every time I handed out pretests to the subsequent classes. Was it fair to give them such a difficult test? Will a pretest like this discourage students?
Mrs. Chico gave me great advice for the next time I create any test: take it yourself, and have someone else take it. Not only will errors be more easily found, but the difficulty level will also be assessed.
Week 3 Reflection
September 7th - 11th, 2009
This week, I reviewed the pretest answers with my students. I used the Beyond Questions program to show answer distributions within each class period. The students actually enjoyed looking at the graphs for each question and trying to figure out if the majority answered correctly. I measured their interest with their responses when I would reveal the right answer. Most students thought that the majority would get it correct, but that's the beauty of a pretest: the questions were tricky and results indicated that most, if not all, of the students needed to brush up on their skills.
Even though the students took interest in this pretest, I felt guilty for making this test so difficult. They seemed a little more discouraged every time I would reveal the correct answer. I had to assure classes several times not to worry -- most students didn't do very well. Not only were they frustrated with incorrect answers, but I only had time to quickly explain the rules for each correct answer before I went on to the next question. Even though some students quickly understood these concepts, the majority were probably overwhelmed by all of the grammar & mechanics terminology. How much time is ideal for reviewing answers of a pretest if the concepts are going to be covered that year anyways? I felt as if I was either completely boring the students or completely frustrating them, if not both.
Here are some pictures from the Beyond Question lesson:
-- Explaining the Beyond Question answer view to the students before taking the pretest
--Explaining the Beyond Question answer view
--Students submitting answers to Beyond Question during the pretest
-- A closer view of the screen while students were taking the pretest and sending their answers to the receiver using their remotes
But I refuse to go on with my action research with anxiety over losing students' interest or motivation. Mrs. Chico came up with a great idea earlier this semester to help students with parts of speech, syntax, and the overall writing process, and it would definitely tie in to my AR. Students will be given manila folders with six envelopes glued inside, each envelope pertaining to a part of speech. Students will collect vocabulary terms and other parts of speech throughout the year (which will compliment class texts and units), and will use their sentence folders to create phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. This technique will be a great tool for kinesthetic, visual, and even logical learners to understand the basics of grammar. We will also color code the folders so that students can get into groups during some activities.
This idea can be used in multiple areas in the language arts classroom, as well as cross curricular classrooms. For example, English teachers could use these folders to help students learn vocabulary terms, phonology, or morphology. Teachers could even label envelopes for specific categories being taught: literary terms, characters in a novel, the writing process, etc. Students will love this idea because it's like magnetic poetry: the more random the pieces, the funnier they are! I'm looking forward to using this technique in the classroom and seeing how beneficial it could be for the students.
This week, I reviewed the pretest answers with my students. I used the Beyond Questions program to show answer distributions within each class period. The students actually enjoyed looking at the graphs for each question and trying to figure out if the majority answered correctly. I measured their interest with their responses when I would reveal the right answer. Most students thought that the majority would get it correct, but that's the beauty of a pretest: the questions were tricky and results indicated that most, if not all, of the students needed to brush up on their skills.
Even though the students took interest in this pretest, I felt guilty for making this test so difficult. They seemed a little more discouraged every time I would reveal the correct answer. I had to assure classes several times not to worry -- most students didn't do very well. Not only were they frustrated with incorrect answers, but I only had time to quickly explain the rules for each correct answer before I went on to the next question. Even though some students quickly understood these concepts, the majority were probably overwhelmed by all of the grammar & mechanics terminology. How much time is ideal for reviewing answers of a pretest if the concepts are going to be covered that year anyways? I felt as if I was either completely boring the students or completely frustrating them, if not both.
Here are some pictures from the Beyond Question lesson:
-- Explaining the Beyond Question answer view to the students before taking the pretest
--Explaining the Beyond Question answer view
--Students submitting answers to Beyond Question during the pretest
-- A closer view of the screen while students were taking the pretest and sending their answers to the receiver using their remotes
But I refuse to go on with my action research with anxiety over losing students' interest or motivation. Mrs. Chico came up with a great idea earlier this semester to help students with parts of speech, syntax, and the overall writing process, and it would definitely tie in to my AR. Students will be given manila folders with six envelopes glued inside, each envelope pertaining to a part of speech. Students will collect vocabulary terms and other parts of speech throughout the year (which will compliment class texts and units), and will use their sentence folders to create phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. This technique will be a great tool for kinesthetic, visual, and even logical learners to understand the basics of grammar. We will also color code the folders so that students can get into groups during some activities.
This idea can be used in multiple areas in the language arts classroom, as well as cross curricular classrooms. For example, English teachers could use these folders to help students learn vocabulary terms, phonology, or morphology. Teachers could even label envelopes for specific categories being taught: literary terms, characters in a novel, the writing process, etc. Students will love this idea because it's like magnetic poetry: the more random the pieces, the funnier they are! I'm looking forward to using this technique in the classroom and seeing how beneficial it could be for the students.
Week 4 Reflection
September 14th - 18th, 2009
Because high school is shortly approaching for our 8th graders, Mrs. Chico and I have been trying to model and emphasize the importance of organization. For starters, each student is required to keep a binder with tab dividers to organize their handouts, notes, assignments, etc. Also, we introduced effective note-taking with a storytelling unit. Students used highlighters and bullets to outline headings, subheadings, and details in their notes.
I have noticed that when middle school students do follow directions, most follow them exactly as they think we expect of them. Teachers should obviously encourage their students to follow directions, but it becomes a problem when they take it too literally. For example, while they were taking notes on the different types of folk tales, the students would write down everything on each PowerPoint slide. We had to keep reminding students to paraphrase and summarize. This skill is beneficial in many ways: shortening notes makes it easier to reread and study, it isn't as exhausting, and students will be more likely to revisit these notes if they are short bulleted lists and phrases, not prose. And let's not forget that it's quicker to take notes this way, which is an advantage to both students and the teacher. While we explained this to the students, it still took longer than I had expected for them to take notes during the PowerPoint. Most high school classes demand this skill, so it's something we really need to work on with these 8th graders.
Along with note-taking, we also had the students read an example of each type of folk tale. My mentor teacher is an amazing storyteller- she is loud, clear, energetic, and can mimick a variety of voices and sounds when she reads. It was interesting to observe the students while she read- their eyes were wide and they followed along or just simply listened to her. It takes a lot of energy for middle schoolers to be attentive, especially when something is read to them. I know that I have always been more of a visual learner than an oral one, so listening to stories during classes was not always the best approach for me when I was in grade school, either. But Mrs. Chico really grabs their attention with her voice and acting, no matter how interesting the story may be.
Several times this week, she taught the first half of the day and I taught the last few periods. My first few tries reading aloud weren't very impressive. I don't feel that I struggle with clarity or volume when I speak, but I have trouble being an 'actress' or 'entertainer' in front of my students. However, after a few trial runs, I became more confident with making voices, changing my intonation and tone, and reading the stories as if I were on a stage. I never knew how much skill is required to simply read aloud and grab an audience's attention. My teacher said I improved, and I hope I continue to work on this skill.
Because high school is shortly approaching for our 8th graders, Mrs. Chico and I have been trying to model and emphasize the importance of organization. For starters, each student is required to keep a binder with tab dividers to organize their handouts, notes, assignments, etc. Also, we introduced effective note-taking with a storytelling unit. Students used highlighters and bullets to outline headings, subheadings, and details in their notes.
I have noticed that when middle school students do follow directions, most follow them exactly as they think we expect of them. Teachers should obviously encourage their students to follow directions, but it becomes a problem when they take it too literally. For example, while they were taking notes on the different types of folk tales, the students would write down everything on each PowerPoint slide. We had to keep reminding students to paraphrase and summarize. This skill is beneficial in many ways: shortening notes makes it easier to reread and study, it isn't as exhausting, and students will be more likely to revisit these notes if they are short bulleted lists and phrases, not prose. And let's not forget that it's quicker to take notes this way, which is an advantage to both students and the teacher. While we explained this to the students, it still took longer than I had expected for them to take notes during the PowerPoint. Most high school classes demand this skill, so it's something we really need to work on with these 8th graders.
Along with note-taking, we also had the students read an example of each type of folk tale. My mentor teacher is an amazing storyteller- she is loud, clear, energetic, and can mimick a variety of voices and sounds when she reads. It was interesting to observe the students while she read- their eyes were wide and they followed along or just simply listened to her. It takes a lot of energy for middle schoolers to be attentive, especially when something is read to them. I know that I have always been more of a visual learner than an oral one, so listening to stories during classes was not always the best approach for me when I was in grade school, either. But Mrs. Chico really grabs their attention with her voice and acting, no matter how interesting the story may be.
Several times this week, she taught the first half of the day and I taught the last few periods. My first few tries reading aloud weren't very impressive. I don't feel that I struggle with clarity or volume when I speak, but I have trouble being an 'actress' or 'entertainer' in front of my students. However, after a few trial runs, I became more confident with making voices, changing my intonation and tone, and reading the stories as if I were on a stage. I never knew how much skill is required to simply read aloud and grab an audience's attention. My teacher said I improved, and I hope I continue to work on this skill.
Week 5 Reflection
September 21st - 25th, 2009
On Friday, the 8th grade class went to the Buckwheat Festival. This was my second time on this fieldtrip as part of the staff. However, this trip felt different because I knew the staff and students more and thus felt more involved.
During the fieldtrip, we gave each group of students two disposable cameras to document Kingwood's culture through pictures. They will then create a digital story in groups using these pictures, personal narratives that they write and record as narration, and music in the background. Many students also used their own digital cameras and were very willing to share their photos with their classes for this project.
Earlier in the week, I had to divide each period into seven groups (Kingwood history, arts and crafts, geography, architecture, food, festival events, and industry), each of which documents a unique aspect of Kingwood's culture. After introducing the digital story project and explaining each topic, I had the students rank their preferences on an exit pass. The exit passes were a good idea to help me organize the groups, but it was a far more difficult and time consuming task than I had expected. First of all, I had to make sure that each group only had one or two band members because they didn't get a chance to take the guided fieldtrip tour. Second, I had to consider students with SATs and IEPs. I also had to consider students who wouldn't work well together.
Until this week, I never realized how difficult it is for teachers to create groups and leave students satisfied with their group topic and groupmates. Needless to say, I had a lot of students give me nasty looks or sigh with disgust when I called out the groups on Thursday. I think group work is an excellent way for students to learn and I'd love to use group projects when I have my own classroom, but I may need to come up with a less stressful strategy first. I hope this project will be successful!
On Friday, the 8th grade class went to the Buckwheat Festival. This was my second time on this fieldtrip as part of the staff. However, this trip felt different because I knew the staff and students more and thus felt more involved.
During the fieldtrip, we gave each group of students two disposable cameras to document Kingwood's culture through pictures. They will then create a digital story in groups using these pictures, personal narratives that they write and record as narration, and music in the background. Many students also used their own digital cameras and were very willing to share their photos with their classes for this project.
Earlier in the week, I had to divide each period into seven groups (Kingwood history, arts and crafts, geography, architecture, food, festival events, and industry), each of which documents a unique aspect of Kingwood's culture. After introducing the digital story project and explaining each topic, I had the students rank their preferences on an exit pass. The exit passes were a good idea to help me organize the groups, but it was a far more difficult and time consuming task than I had expected. First of all, I had to make sure that each group only had one or two band members because they didn't get a chance to take the guided fieldtrip tour. Second, I had to consider students with SATs and IEPs. I also had to consider students who wouldn't work well together.
Until this week, I never realized how difficult it is for teachers to create groups and leave students satisfied with their group topic and groupmates. Needless to say, I had a lot of students give me nasty looks or sigh with disgust when I called out the groups on Thursday. I think group work is an excellent way for students to learn and I'd love to use group projects when I have my own classroom, but I may need to come up with a less stressful strategy first. I hope this project will be successful!
Week 6 Reflection
September 28th - October 2nd, 2009
This week, I introduced students to personal narratives. Each student will each write an individual narrative on their digital story theme, and then, as a group, they will collaboratively incorporate all of their personal narratives into one script for their digital story. So far, this unit has progressed really well. I've been having them practice writing with sensory details and brainstorming using the 4-square method.
Most of the students seem interested in the lessons and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have them more actively engaged. Recently, I've been reflecting on lessons that I've spent lecturing and having students take notes. This teaching style is stressful for me because I have to prepare and plan for everything that I say and although I feel comfortable infront of a class, I get more nervous when the spotlight is just on me. But the main reason why lecturing isn't my personal teaching style is because I get so discouraged when I notice students losing interest and viewing my lesson as a dreaded chore.
I still feel more on task when I have a PowerPoint behind me while introducing certain topics, but I have learned to make these presentations less wordy and more visual. I have also tried to limit the amount of slides and include more student activities throughout the PPT, like free writes, questions, and links. By doing so, the students are more alert, interested, and get to apply what they've learned -- and I feel more comfortable and satisfied by the end of my lesson.
I think it took a little bit of time and reflection for me to transition from high school to middle school placements, even though I was only student teaching at a high school for one semester. During my first few weeks at Suncrest, I didn't realize how my much my teaching style was influenced and altered by my time spent at North Marion HS. Students in 11th grade may benefit more from lectures and may respond better to this teaching style, but 8th graders certainly do not. Once I became aware of where my weaknesses were coming in my lessons, it was easier to adjust and improve.
This week, I introduced students to personal narratives. Each student will each write an individual narrative on their digital story theme, and then, as a group, they will collaboratively incorporate all of their personal narratives into one script for their digital story. So far, this unit has progressed really well. I've been having them practice writing with sensory details and brainstorming using the 4-square method.
Most of the students seem interested in the lessons and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have them more actively engaged. Recently, I've been reflecting on lessons that I've spent lecturing and having students take notes. This teaching style is stressful for me because I have to prepare and plan for everything that I say and although I feel comfortable infront of a class, I get more nervous when the spotlight is just on me. But the main reason why lecturing isn't my personal teaching style is because I get so discouraged when I notice students losing interest and viewing my lesson as a dreaded chore.
I still feel more on task when I have a PowerPoint behind me while introducing certain topics, but I have learned to make these presentations less wordy and more visual. I have also tried to limit the amount of slides and include more student activities throughout the PPT, like free writes, questions, and links. By doing so, the students are more alert, interested, and get to apply what they've learned -- and I feel more comfortable and satisfied by the end of my lesson.
I think it took a little bit of time and reflection for me to transition from high school to middle school placements, even though I was only student teaching at a high school for one semester. During my first few weeks at Suncrest, I didn't realize how my much my teaching style was influenced and altered by my time spent at North Marion HS. Students in 11th grade may benefit more from lectures and may respond better to this teaching style, but 8th graders certainly do not. Once I became aware of where my weaknesses were coming in my lessons, it was easier to adjust and improve.
Week 7 Reflection
October 5th - 9th, 2009
Language arts has so many components to teach: vocabulary, spelling, sentence structure, grammar/mechanics, stages and modes of writing, literature analysis, etc. Judging from my own experiences and observations in school, English has so many more diverse topics that teachers must cover. I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the tasks of addressing all of these subjects with my students. I think that this situation is a little more demanding because this group of students hasn't learned fundamental skills that most 8th graders have. Therefore, we have to do more reviewing and can't begin new material and more interesting lessons for the students.
Currently, writing personal narratives for the digital story is the biggest task on our agenda. This includes teaching the mode of writing, the five stages of writing, and MLA. This unit would be easier to teach (and much quicker to finish) if we didn't have so many other mini-lessons to address meanwhile. For example, I introduced subjects/nouns, proper nouns, and capitalization also this week. I know that the best practice for pedagogy is to make all lessons and content interrelated, and these grammar lessons are obviously connected to writing. But maybe the source of my frustration isn't coming from the list of skills I must address, but how long each one is taking for mastery. Mini-lessons are lasting for entire periods, and the next day is always spent reviewing a homework assignment or doing a warm-up activity on that skill. And if the mini-lessons do only last 20 minutes, it's hard for students to get much accomplished with online or print research for the remainder of class. And next week I need to finally begin the unit on Flowers for Algernon - in addition to grammar mini-lessons and the digital story.
Needless to say, I've really been thinking about the advantages of block scheduling recently.
Language arts has so many components to teach: vocabulary, spelling, sentence structure, grammar/mechanics, stages and modes of writing, literature analysis, etc. Judging from my own experiences and observations in school, English has so many more diverse topics that teachers must cover. I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the tasks of addressing all of these subjects with my students. I think that this situation is a little more demanding because this group of students hasn't learned fundamental skills that most 8th graders have. Therefore, we have to do more reviewing and can't begin new material and more interesting lessons for the students.
Currently, writing personal narratives for the digital story is the biggest task on our agenda. This includes teaching the mode of writing, the five stages of writing, and MLA. This unit would be easier to teach (and much quicker to finish) if we didn't have so many other mini-lessons to address meanwhile. For example, I introduced subjects/nouns, proper nouns, and capitalization also this week. I know that the best practice for pedagogy is to make all lessons and content interrelated, and these grammar lessons are obviously connected to writing. But maybe the source of my frustration isn't coming from the list of skills I must address, but how long each one is taking for mastery. Mini-lessons are lasting for entire periods, and the next day is always spent reviewing a homework assignment or doing a warm-up activity on that skill. And if the mini-lessons do only last 20 minutes, it's hard for students to get much accomplished with online or print research for the remainder of class. And next week I need to finally begin the unit on Flowers for Algernon - in addition to grammar mini-lessons and the digital story.
Needless to say, I've really been thinking about the advantages of block scheduling recently.
Week 8 Reflection
October 12th - 16th, 2009
Recently, we've been trying to cover the parts of speech in mini lessons. Yes, most students have reviewed these in elementary school, but they definitely need the review. We can't address more complex parts of grammar until everyone has an understanding of the basics. So far, we've reviewed subjects/nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The adjective lesson was probably the most successful lesson I've had. (Mrs. Tibbs, the special educator with whom we collaborate, developed the idea for the lesson).
In this lesson, we had two volunteers per class period put their hands in a bag with unknown substances (pasta with oil, chocolate pudding with marshmallows, yogurt, applesauce, peeled grapes, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes) and had to describe the texture, taste, and smell using as many adjectives as possible. The kids were really into it - they were telling the other classes about the activity in the hallways, during lunch, etc.
I explained to them that the purpose of this lesson wasn't that they didn't know what adjectives were - they just needed to use them in their writing more often. This is the reason why we are going over all of the parts of speech. It's not because standardized tests will have them define the subject and predicate of a sentence or answer what an adverb modifies; it's because their writing isn't as advanced as it should be for 8th grade. They need to be aware and reminded of the elements of strong writing. Therefore, every time we go over a grammar concept, I am sure to have them incorporate the skill in their writing.
So we decided to tape each student's reaction and on the next day, I played the video and they had to describe their reaction (including facial expressions, posture, tone of voice, etc.) using descriptive language (i.e. adjectives). I stressed for them to use more sophisticated word choices and avoid adjectives like basic colors or big/small. Hopefully they have fun with these exercises but also incorporate contents from the lesson.
Here are some photos from the "What's in the bag?" activity:
Recently, we've been trying to cover the parts of speech in mini lessons. Yes, most students have reviewed these in elementary school, but they definitely need the review. We can't address more complex parts of grammar until everyone has an understanding of the basics. So far, we've reviewed subjects/nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The adjective lesson was probably the most successful lesson I've had. (Mrs. Tibbs, the special educator with whom we collaborate, developed the idea for the lesson).
In this lesson, we had two volunteers per class period put their hands in a bag with unknown substances (pasta with oil, chocolate pudding with marshmallows, yogurt, applesauce, peeled grapes, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes) and had to describe the texture, taste, and smell using as many adjectives as possible. The kids were really into it - they were telling the other classes about the activity in the hallways, during lunch, etc.
I explained to them that the purpose of this lesson wasn't that they didn't know what adjectives were - they just needed to use them in their writing more often. This is the reason why we are going over all of the parts of speech. It's not because standardized tests will have them define the subject and predicate of a sentence or answer what an adverb modifies; it's because their writing isn't as advanced as it should be for 8th grade. They need to be aware and reminded of the elements of strong writing. Therefore, every time we go over a grammar concept, I am sure to have them incorporate the skill in their writing.
So we decided to tape each student's reaction and on the next day, I played the video and they had to describe their reaction (including facial expressions, posture, tone of voice, etc.) using descriptive language (i.e. adjectives). I stressed for them to use more sophisticated word choices and avoid adjectives like basic colors or big/small. Hopefully they have fun with these exercises but also incorporate contents from the lesson.
Here are some photos from the "What's in the bag?" activity:
Week 9 Reflection
October 19th - 23rd, 2009
The flu has officially hit Suncrest Middle School, and it hasn't been pretty. Last Friday, over 80 students were absent school wide - and there are only 135 students in the 8th grade! While our classes are smaller, the work load for the teachers becomes more demanding: keeping track of absences, getting students caught up on their work, and trying to track down make-up work. This is another job in and of itself!
At first, it seemed like a burden every time a parent would call the school asking for their sick child's make-up work. However, I began to realize the unfortunate truth that few parents even consider work missed because of absences. Suncrest gives students two days to make up everything that they have missed, but the work definitely accumulates if a student has been gone for multiple days. And some of these students have been out for a week straight. When parents take the initiative to collect any make-up work, that's one less student that the teacher needs to nag about getting caught up.
Our list of students who owe overdue assignments has grown exponentially - and before every class, we have to remind the same students, day after day. I am beginning to sound like a nag, and I hate it. Not only is this daily task time consuming; the organization for make-up work is yet another obstacle. If there is any standardized way to keep track of how many points each student loses for missing assignments, I certainly haven't found it. Unfortunately, it's not even winter yet, so the absences obviously won't diminish any time soon. I hope to figure out a less stressful and more organized way to keep track of these sick students, and not become one myself!
The flu has officially hit Suncrest Middle School, and it hasn't been pretty. Last Friday, over 80 students were absent school wide - and there are only 135 students in the 8th grade! While our classes are smaller, the work load for the teachers becomes more demanding: keeping track of absences, getting students caught up on their work, and trying to track down make-up work. This is another job in and of itself!
At first, it seemed like a burden every time a parent would call the school asking for their sick child's make-up work. However, I began to realize the unfortunate truth that few parents even consider work missed because of absences. Suncrest gives students two days to make up everything that they have missed, but the work definitely accumulates if a student has been gone for multiple days. And some of these students have been out for a week straight. When parents take the initiative to collect any make-up work, that's one less student that the teacher needs to nag about getting caught up.
Our list of students who owe overdue assignments has grown exponentially - and before every class, we have to remind the same students, day after day. I am beginning to sound like a nag, and I hate it. Not only is this daily task time consuming; the organization for make-up work is yet another obstacle. If there is any standardized way to keep track of how many points each student loses for missing assignments, I certainly haven't found it. Unfortunately, it's not even winter yet, so the absences obviously won't diminish any time soon. I hope to figure out a less stressful and more organized way to keep track of these sick students, and not become one myself!
Week 10 Reflection
October 26th - 30th, 2009
During a post-lesson conference, my teacher mentioned that I was being too confrontational with a BD student. This student, who I will refer to as 'Beth', has unpredictable mood swings and isn't very receptive to discipline or criticism. However, she is very intelligent, especially in reading and writing.
The first time that Mrs. Chico cautioned me about my interactions with Beth was when I read a list of students who had missing assignments at the beginning of a class period. It would have been too time consuming to address each individual student during class, and I wanted to make a point that all of this late work is unacceptable. While most students might be embarrassed or annoyed when a teacher calls them out, oral reminders are usually still effective. However, Beth took this as a personal insult.
Today, I must have been getting too close to her when I was explaining the work that she had missing. Beth didn't get physical or yell, but Mrs. Chico sensed she was getting overwhelmed. Mrs. Chico said, "Alright Beth, that's fine. Just drop it." I wasn't aware of being so confrontational, and I don't want to seem like a nag. I just haven't had much experience with BD students and tend to get frustrated and impatient too easily. But now, I feel like I'm walking on thin ice any time I interact with Beth. I'm afraid that now I'm letting her get away with missing assignments, filling out SRs for not having work completed, and prompting her when she isn't on task. Giving her special treatment wouldn't be fair for the other students. And I have a feeling that she senses I've been easier on her, because she rarely does work in class or for homework anymore.
I know that the solution is not to simply ignore the problem, so I need to come up with methods to encourage productivity without sounding demanding. I've found some success using other students to show examples of good work without directly addressing those who aren't giving their best efforts. I'm also trying to be more enthusiastic about what I'm teaching and the work I assign, so that students like Beth might actually want to complete it because they find it interesting. English is Beth's favorite subject, and I don't want her to dread coming to my class because she feels all I do is pester her. She's going to be one of my biggest challenges this semester, but I am determined to find effective strategies to work with her and establish a better relationship!
During a post-lesson conference, my teacher mentioned that I was being too confrontational with a BD student. This student, who I will refer to as 'Beth', has unpredictable mood swings and isn't very receptive to discipline or criticism. However, she is very intelligent, especially in reading and writing.
The first time that Mrs. Chico cautioned me about my interactions with Beth was when I read a list of students who had missing assignments at the beginning of a class period. It would have been too time consuming to address each individual student during class, and I wanted to make a point that all of this late work is unacceptable. While most students might be embarrassed or annoyed when a teacher calls them out, oral reminders are usually still effective. However, Beth took this as a personal insult.
Today, I must have been getting too close to her when I was explaining the work that she had missing. Beth didn't get physical or yell, but Mrs. Chico sensed she was getting overwhelmed. Mrs. Chico said, "Alright Beth, that's fine. Just drop it." I wasn't aware of being so confrontational, and I don't want to seem like a nag. I just haven't had much experience with BD students and tend to get frustrated and impatient too easily. But now, I feel like I'm walking on thin ice any time I interact with Beth. I'm afraid that now I'm letting her get away with missing assignments, filling out SRs for not having work completed, and prompting her when she isn't on task. Giving her special treatment wouldn't be fair for the other students. And I have a feeling that she senses I've been easier on her, because she rarely does work in class or for homework anymore.
I know that the solution is not to simply ignore the problem, so I need to come up with methods to encourage productivity without sounding demanding. I've found some success using other students to show examples of good work without directly addressing those who aren't giving their best efforts. I'm also trying to be more enthusiastic about what I'm teaching and the work I assign, so that students like Beth might actually want to complete it because they find it interesting. English is Beth's favorite subject, and I don't want her to dread coming to my class because she feels all I do is pester her. She's going to be one of my biggest challenges this semester, but I am determined to find effective strategies to work with her and establish a better relationship!
Week 11 Reflection
November 2nd - 6th, 2009
After almost four weeks of brainstorming, researching, and drafting, the personal narrative due date has finally arrived! Normally, a teacher wouldn't be so enthusiastic about receiving stacks of papers to grade, and I sure do have stacks: students turned in everything involved in their writing process. The reason why I'm happy to finally collect them is because I was sensing a lot of frustration and boredom from the students. While I did give students the opportunity to rank topic preferences and tried to give them one of their top three choices, the majority of students were uninterested in their assigned topic. I know from experience that students won't put as much effort into writing about a topic that they feel indifferent about or dislike. And this is the root of why so many students associate negative feelings with writing.
However, I have a feeling that they will appreciate these personal narratives so much more when they see the finished product of their digital stories. There is so much work involved in creating a multimedia project like this, and last year I saw the pride that the eighth graders had when they presented their digital stories to their classmates. I just wish I could have shortened the time it took to create this assignment without losing the quality. It was necessary for me to spend time explaining the process of brainstorming, researching, and drafting. I was surprised with how confused these students were when it came to incorporating information into a paper without actually writing a research paper. It took a lot of time to explain how to balance first person accounts with relevant information from primary and secondary sources. But thankfully, this writing assignment is over -- for now.
This was the first unit project that I've ever created and used in a classroom, so I was bound to make some mistakes with the execution. One lesson that I learned was that students can help teachers avoid 'busy work' by doing simple organizational tasks. For example, I gave them a checklist with seven items that they needed to turn in on Wednesday. I thought that the checklist was a very effective method for students to understand the gravity of the assignment, but I only used this paper as a reminder of what was due. I should have told them to staple the papers in the order of the checklist and actually check off the items that they have, but I just collected stacks of papers. It might not sound very important, but I spent at least two hours that night organizing papers, stapling, and keeping track of who turned in what on a roster. This could have been avoided by simply passing around a stapler and giving them a few minutes at the beginning of class to organize and complete the checklist.
I am learning every day that there are so many aspects in teaching that seemed minuet, but prove to be otherwise. I've already mentioned in previous blogs how stressful it is keeping track of overdue and make-up homework, helping students organize their binders for class, and reteaching skills that should be mastered. Before I had first-hand experience teaching at my PDS, I never considered the interruptions to a teacher's original plans. I'm slowly learning that organization and flexibility are some of the most essential qualities that a teacher must have. I can imagine that this would be especially true for a teacher's first few years, when they begin developing these procedures to avoid chaos down the road.
After almost four weeks of brainstorming, researching, and drafting, the personal narrative due date has finally arrived! Normally, a teacher wouldn't be so enthusiastic about receiving stacks of papers to grade, and I sure do have stacks: students turned in everything involved in their writing process. The reason why I'm happy to finally collect them is because I was sensing a lot of frustration and boredom from the students. While I did give students the opportunity to rank topic preferences and tried to give them one of their top three choices, the majority of students were uninterested in their assigned topic. I know from experience that students won't put as much effort into writing about a topic that they feel indifferent about or dislike. And this is the root of why so many students associate negative feelings with writing.
However, I have a feeling that they will appreciate these personal narratives so much more when they see the finished product of their digital stories. There is so much work involved in creating a multimedia project like this, and last year I saw the pride that the eighth graders had when they presented their digital stories to their classmates. I just wish I could have shortened the time it took to create this assignment without losing the quality. It was necessary for me to spend time explaining the process of brainstorming, researching, and drafting. I was surprised with how confused these students were when it came to incorporating information into a paper without actually writing a research paper. It took a lot of time to explain how to balance first person accounts with relevant information from primary and secondary sources. But thankfully, this writing assignment is over -- for now.
This was the first unit project that I've ever created and used in a classroom, so I was bound to make some mistakes with the execution. One lesson that I learned was that students can help teachers avoid 'busy work' by doing simple organizational tasks. For example, I gave them a checklist with seven items that they needed to turn in on Wednesday. I thought that the checklist was a very effective method for students to understand the gravity of the assignment, but I only used this paper as a reminder of what was due. I should have told them to staple the papers in the order of the checklist and actually check off the items that they have, but I just collected stacks of papers. It might not sound very important, but I spent at least two hours that night organizing papers, stapling, and keeping track of who turned in what on a roster. This could have been avoided by simply passing around a stapler and giving them a few minutes at the beginning of class to organize and complete the checklist.
I am learning every day that there are so many aspects in teaching that seemed minuet, but prove to be otherwise. I've already mentioned in previous blogs how stressful it is keeping track of overdue and make-up homework, helping students organize their binders for class, and reteaching skills that should be mastered. Before I had first-hand experience teaching at my PDS, I never considered the interruptions to a teacher's original plans. I'm slowly learning that organization and flexibility are some of the most essential qualities that a teacher must have. I can imagine that this would be especially true for a teacher's first few years, when they begin developing these procedures to avoid chaos down the road.
Week 12 Reflection
November 9th - 13th, 2009
Parent/teacher conferences were held today after school, and the only thing missing was parents. To my complete surprise and disappointment, only one set of parents made the effort to come -- in the entire eighth grade! When I was in middle and high school, parent/teacher conferences seemed like they were almost mandatory for parents. These nights were practically as highly attended as open house (which also had a shockingly low attendance for SMS's 2009 open house). I can distinctly remember my father making the effort to go to most of the parent/teacher conferences for me and my brother when we were in middle and high school. While he didn't have the educational background to help us with most of our homework, I appreciate his efforts to be informed now more than ever.
Sadly, the only set of parents that did schedule an appointment belonged to a hard-working, but shy girl that had nothing but positive reports from the eighth grade team. Yet, I'm not sure this is a bad thing -- it's important for every parent to be involved in their child's education, regardless of the student's level of achievement. But it is disappointing that the parents who really needed to be there did not make the effort.
I'm convinced that it's not because parents weren't informed: the conference information was posted in the newsletter and on Edline. Also, teachers were available from 4-7 PM today, which leaves plenty of time for parents to come after work, dinner, etc.
After our one conference, one teacher on the eighth grade team said, "and you want to know why this specific class is struggling more than previous eighth grade classes? This is why" (pointing to the empty conference schedule). It really is shocking to continuously find how many of these students are lacking such basic, fundamental skills. I don't think I can place all the blame on parents considering my own father wasn't very supportive academically and I did well. But my father was invested in my education in other ways. He never grew tired of telling me "I just want you to have more opportunities than I did," and I know that I did better because he cared.
Coincidentally, I picked up a copy of Times magazine today at the gym and found an article about parent academies. Three US cities (Philadelphia, Miami, and Boston) have developed programs for parents to help them become more involved. Helping Children Prepare for Tests and 9th Grade Transition to High School are examples of the typical workshops offered for free to parents in these urban areas. Some of the more unique courses offered include Keeping It Real: Straight Talk Between Parents and Teachers!, Feeling at Home with Numbers, and Sexting: Safeguarding Children from Misuse of Technology.
The woman who established Parent University explained her mission with a truth that all educators can agree: "If you want students to actually do better, then you need to ground that change in the fabric of a community -- and that means getting parents engaged." And after skimming the list of classes offered, it's easy to see that academic skills aren't the major concern of what educators think parents need the most. Many parents may be able to revise an essay or review math problems; the issue is that they don't know about daily life and politics in their child's school. These classes offer parents a deeper understanding of policies, procedures, state test scores, etc.
The only weakness I see in this program is that despite the fact that these classes are free, it's worth assuming that the parents who enroll are already invested in their children's education -- just like the only set of parents who came to conferences today. However, the people who work for these parent academies have also recognized this problem, so they've promoted these workshops in all types of public places where these parents can be found.
Parental involvement seems to be a sore subject for many of the teachers that I've met throughout my student teaching, and I can understand why. Teachers already have such an immense responsibility to the students. It's quite an investment of time and effort to not only be reaching out to the students, but their parents as well. But the correlation between successful students and supportive parents is too significant to be ignored. After witnessing the unbelievable attendance at parent/teacher conferences, I am thankful to have found hope in this article today. Even though we may think that parents are becoming less involved in their children's education, there really are people out there who work hard to solve this problem by developing such community outreaches.
Parent/teacher conferences were held today after school, and the only thing missing was parents. To my complete surprise and disappointment, only one set of parents made the effort to come -- in the entire eighth grade! When I was in middle and high school, parent/teacher conferences seemed like they were almost mandatory for parents. These nights were practically as highly attended as open house (which also had a shockingly low attendance for SMS's 2009 open house). I can distinctly remember my father making the effort to go to most of the parent/teacher conferences for me and my brother when we were in middle and high school. While he didn't have the educational background to help us with most of our homework, I appreciate his efforts to be informed now more than ever.
Sadly, the only set of parents that did schedule an appointment belonged to a hard-working, but shy girl that had nothing but positive reports from the eighth grade team. Yet, I'm not sure this is a bad thing -- it's important for every parent to be involved in their child's education, regardless of the student's level of achievement. But it is disappointing that the parents who really needed to be there did not make the effort.
I'm convinced that it's not because parents weren't informed: the conference information was posted in the newsletter and on Edline. Also, teachers were available from 4-7 PM today, which leaves plenty of time for parents to come after work, dinner, etc.
After our one conference, one teacher on the eighth grade team said, "and you want to know why this specific class is struggling more than previous eighth grade classes? This is why" (pointing to the empty conference schedule). It really is shocking to continuously find how many of these students are lacking such basic, fundamental skills. I don't think I can place all the blame on parents considering my own father wasn't very supportive academically and I did well. But my father was invested in my education in other ways. He never grew tired of telling me "I just want you to have more opportunities than I did," and I know that I did better because he cared.
Coincidentally, I picked up a copy of Times magazine today at the gym and found an article about parent academies. Three US cities (Philadelphia, Miami, and Boston) have developed programs for parents to help them become more involved. Helping Children Prepare for Tests and 9th Grade Transition to High School are examples of the typical workshops offered for free to parents in these urban areas. Some of the more unique courses offered include Keeping It Real: Straight Talk Between Parents and Teachers!, Feeling at Home with Numbers, and Sexting: Safeguarding Children from Misuse of Technology.
The woman who established Parent University explained her mission with a truth that all educators can agree: "If you want students to actually do better, then you need to ground that change in the fabric of a community -- and that means getting parents engaged." And after skimming the list of classes offered, it's easy to see that academic skills aren't the major concern of what educators think parents need the most. Many parents may be able to revise an essay or review math problems; the issue is that they don't know about daily life and politics in their child's school. These classes offer parents a deeper understanding of policies, procedures, state test scores, etc.
The only weakness I see in this program is that despite the fact that these classes are free, it's worth assuming that the parents who enroll are already invested in their children's education -- just like the only set of parents who came to conferences today. However, the people who work for these parent academies have also recognized this problem, so they've promoted these workshops in all types of public places where these parents can be found.
Parental involvement seems to be a sore subject for many of the teachers that I've met throughout my student teaching, and I can understand why. Teachers already have such an immense responsibility to the students. It's quite an investment of time and effort to not only be reaching out to the students, but their parents as well. But the correlation between successful students and supportive parents is too significant to be ignored. After witnessing the unbelievable attendance at parent/teacher conferences, I am thankful to have found hope in this article today. Even though we may think that parents are becoming less involved in their children's education, there really are people out there who work hard to solve this problem by developing such community outreaches.
Week 13 Reflection
November 16th - 20th, 2009
Sometimes it can be a futile effort to plan detailed lessons when a school break is on the horizon. Absences are more likely, the students that are there begin sinking into vacation-mode, Plus, there's always the worry that students may forget material over a long period of time, so units are usually planned to end before them. Thanksgiving break begins after school Friday, so we just had the students review, take a test, and watch the movie that's based on "Flowers for Algernon". Plus, Mrs. Chico left for a conference for the last three days of the week.
As I was planning the lessons for the week, I was having trouble coming up with ideas for after our literature unit were over. Unfortunately, the final test fell on a Wednesday, so I had two extra days worth of planning. The movie took up most of both periods, so I decided to make a mini-lesson on sentence structure for my action research. I noticed that the students definitely need the practice after reading their personal narratives: there were run-on sentences and missing commas in almost every paper. But after my host teacher read my lesson plans, she reminded me not to make up lessons that don't fit naturally. She explained that students will see this as busy work if it doesn't connect and won't take it seriously. If they don't put enough effort into the work, the teacher won't get the most accurate results from the students.
And it was true. I almost felt guilty teaching the lesson because I kept thinking it was poorly connected. I even started to believe that teaching sentence structure wasn't necessary, too. When the teacher is in that mindset, the students will sense it (and that's why our action research professors always stressed how important it is to keep your AR within the natural flow of the classroom). So I could sense the apathy in the students, especially considering they did poorly on the assessment. I am definitely going to start working on how to keep my lessons connected and to prove the relevance of the subject to the students.
Sometimes it can be a futile effort to plan detailed lessons when a school break is on the horizon. Absences are more likely, the students that are there begin sinking into vacation-mode, Plus, there's always the worry that students may forget material over a long period of time, so units are usually planned to end before them. Thanksgiving break begins after school Friday, so we just had the students review, take a test, and watch the movie that's based on "Flowers for Algernon". Plus, Mrs. Chico left for a conference for the last three days of the week.
As I was planning the lessons for the week, I was having trouble coming up with ideas for after our literature unit were over. Unfortunately, the final test fell on a Wednesday, so I had two extra days worth of planning. The movie took up most of both periods, so I decided to make a mini-lesson on sentence structure for my action research. I noticed that the students definitely need the practice after reading their personal narratives: there were run-on sentences and missing commas in almost every paper. But after my host teacher read my lesson plans, she reminded me not to make up lessons that don't fit naturally. She explained that students will see this as busy work if it doesn't connect and won't take it seriously. If they don't put enough effort into the work, the teacher won't get the most accurate results from the students.
And it was true. I almost felt guilty teaching the lesson because I kept thinking it was poorly connected. I even started to believe that teaching sentence structure wasn't necessary, too. When the teacher is in that mindset, the students will sense it (and that's why our action research professors always stressed how important it is to keep your AR within the natural flow of the classroom). So I could sense the apathy in the students, especially considering they did poorly on the assessment. I am definitely going to start working on how to keep my lessons connected and to prove the relevance of the subject to the students.
Week 14 Reflection
November 30th - December 4th, 2009
This week didn't begin very well. I've been battling a cold that seems to be lingering for months, but on Monday I came into school with practically no voice. It wasn't the best timing: this was the first day back from break so all of the students were very social, and in addition, we were doing a group project. I attempted to teach, but by Tuesday my voice was completely gone. As my luck would have it, Molly and I had scheduled an observation with our liaison for Wednesday. So Mrs. Chico was my voice during Tuesday's lesson so I could regain my own for the next day.
My voice was stronger on Wednesday, but this observation was still pretty stressful. First of all, our liaison Mrs. Weaver (who was also my very first host teacher), could only come in during first period, so we didn't have a trial run. Also, Mrs. Chico brought in her video camera to record us. And to top things off for Molly, she is normally only in our classroom during third period, so she wasn't familiar with the majority of the students.
Molly and I had split up the lesson to introduce two new components to the digital story. I was going to explain how to create a screen capture of their pictures, and she would review the proper format for the final script. We had prepared for the lesson by making a detailed procedure list and assigning tasks to each other. I was going to begin by having the students review what they accomplished last period. However, I jumped right into the lesson because I wanted to make sure the students had enough individual work time that I completely forgot to introduce Molly. Eventually I had realized this when it was time for Molly to begin her part of the lesson.
I thought the lesson went fairly smooth, and it got better with each class that we taught (and luckily we were videotaped during 4th period). However, I am looking forward to Mrs. Weaver's comments because she knows a lot about coteaching and can help us with new strategies. After all, I never learned much about coteaching in my education classes, nor have I seen coteaching modeled before in my PDS.
There are a few things that I'm curious to see when I watch this video. First of all, I'd like to make sure that we shared the floor and one person didn't try to run the show. Most likely that person would be me because I tend to assume the leader role when I work with my peers, and I always seem to overtake the conversation. I found myself often interjecting when it was Molly's turn, and I hope it didn't come off as being rude. Mrs. Chico and I often do this when we are teaching, but with Molly being the new teacher in the room, I probably should have been more formal. I also want to see if the lesson was natural and didn't appear too rehearsed. Sometimes the flow of the lesson is choppy if the activities aren't transitioned well. And when two teachers go back and forth with components of a lesson, students should be able to see how they relate.
I have had the opportunities to see the benefits of coteaching because we have a preservice teacher that comes in two days a week, and we have a special educator and another intern come in and help one period every day. It's especially helpful when doing group projects because we can monitor groups more closely and give more personalized assistance. I hope to learn more about effective strategies because I'd love to work with other teachers in the future.
Below are some pictures from our coteaching lesson. Enjoy!
This week didn't begin very well. I've been battling a cold that seems to be lingering for months, but on Monday I came into school with practically no voice. It wasn't the best timing: this was the first day back from break so all of the students were very social, and in addition, we were doing a group project. I attempted to teach, but by Tuesday my voice was completely gone. As my luck would have it, Molly and I had scheduled an observation with our liaison for Wednesday. So Mrs. Chico was my voice during Tuesday's lesson so I could regain my own for the next day.
My voice was stronger on Wednesday, but this observation was still pretty stressful. First of all, our liaison Mrs. Weaver (who was also my very first host teacher), could only come in during first period, so we didn't have a trial run. Also, Mrs. Chico brought in her video camera to record us. And to top things off for Molly, she is normally only in our classroom during third period, so she wasn't familiar with the majority of the students.
Molly and I had split up the lesson to introduce two new components to the digital story. I was going to explain how to create a screen capture of their pictures, and she would review the proper format for the final script. We had prepared for the lesson by making a detailed procedure list and assigning tasks to each other. I was going to begin by having the students review what they accomplished last period. However, I jumped right into the lesson because I wanted to make sure the students had enough individual work time that I completely forgot to introduce Molly. Eventually I had realized this when it was time for Molly to begin her part of the lesson.
I thought the lesson went fairly smooth, and it got better with each class that we taught (and luckily we were videotaped during 4th period). However, I am looking forward to Mrs. Weaver's comments because she knows a lot about coteaching and can help us with new strategies. After all, I never learned much about coteaching in my education classes, nor have I seen coteaching modeled before in my PDS.
There are a few things that I'm curious to see when I watch this video. First of all, I'd like to make sure that we shared the floor and one person didn't try to run the show. Most likely that person would be me because I tend to assume the leader role when I work with my peers, and I always seem to overtake the conversation. I found myself often interjecting when it was Molly's turn, and I hope it didn't come off as being rude. Mrs. Chico and I often do this when we are teaching, but with Molly being the new teacher in the room, I probably should have been more formal. I also want to see if the lesson was natural and didn't appear too rehearsed. Sometimes the flow of the lesson is choppy if the activities aren't transitioned well. And when two teachers go back and forth with components of a lesson, students should be able to see how they relate.
I have had the opportunities to see the benefits of coteaching because we have a preservice teacher that comes in two days a week, and we have a special educator and another intern come in and help one period every day. It's especially helpful when doing group projects because we can monitor groups more closely and give more personalized assistance. I hope to learn more about effective strategies because I'd love to work with other teachers in the future.
Below are some pictures from our coteaching lesson. Enjoy!
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