I have a weakness... They're called sweets. One of the best/worst things of being a teacher is all the fricken sweets that are available to you. It's one of the best things if you love snacks. It's one of the worst if you are trying to watch what you eat and it takes you great effort to do so. There were sweets everywhere on Friday.
I start my morning at Chabot Elementary around 7:30 am. Around 8 ish am, one of the teachers brings in this red tin of chocolate covered cookies and leaves them on a table in the teacher's lounge. My gut reaction was to walk over. I stared at those cookies for the longest time. I just kept staring at them. I was hoping that my desire to eat them would go away. Believe it or not, eventually, that's what happened. Victory!
Now, I go to Mr. Agajan's classroom. Class hasn't quite started yet. This one student knows that I love cookies. Every day of last week, she brought me a homemade fudge cookie with white chocolate chips. They tasted really good. Smart thinking. Apples are so antiquated. This time she brought some figs. I'm not very picky. I'll eat figs too. But, the more I eat, the more calories I consume. "No no... That's ok. I'm really trying to watch how much I eat. Thanks though."
On to lunch time. I go back to the teacher's lounge. Another teacher went on a field trip to this organic farm. They made oatmeal raisin cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies aren't my favorite, but these cookies looked so beautiful. You could bend off a piece so easily and the cookie wouldn't crumble. On top of that, those cookies were colossal. If the Hulk died of sunbathing and reincarnated as an oatmeal raisin cookie, these are the cookies he would come back as. Again, I had a staring contest with those oatmeal raisin cookies. "God... please... no no. Just take them away." I didn't give in.
It's after lunch. It's a 3rd grader's birthday. You know what that means? They bring in snacks... So, her dad brings in this variety of ice cream sandwiches. There's mint, cookies and cream, napoleon, and strawberry. So, she offers me some. At first, I'm just kind of feeling the ice cream sandwiches (Don't worry. They were still wrapped). Then, I back my hands off. "Uhh... That's ok. I'm good. Thanks." You remember that girl that brought me the fudge cookie everyday of the week? So, she picked up a mint ice cream sandwich. And, she knows that I want one to. She unwraps her ice cream sandwich, stares directly at me, and slowly... she bites into it. She was teasing me! How evil! :-(
Ok. So, class is over now. I head over to one of the portables because that's where some of the students go for their after school classes and that's where I work after the school day is over. So, I think that I'm home free. No more snacks are available to me. I've succeeded. I go to the very back of the portable. I see this white square cardboard box with this plastic window. There's this assorted fruit pie sitting in it. On the border of the box, it says, "We love those after school teachers." So, again, I have a staring contest with the pie for a while... But, I lost. "Damn it! Screw it! Fine! I'll have a fricken slice of pie." So, I take a slice and duck my head under the counter as I eat it.
You must have an iron will or no desire for sweets whatsoever to resist all the sweets that you'll encounter as a teacher.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Going a Little Further Than Raising One's Hand
Originally, when a student responds, my inclination is to respond back. But, sometimes, more than one student responds at once. And, if multiple students respond orally, it can be difficult to make sense of who to respond to first. On top of that, it just makes the classroom noisy. So, these are a few signals, which if utilized, will minimize the amount of noise that occurs in the classroom.
In the current classroom that I student teach in, Mr. Agajan uses a signal for "I agree," "I disagree," "I'm confused," and "speak up." "I agree" is simply signaled by giving a thumbs up with both one's left and right hands. For example, I will show a student's work under the docucam (such as math homework completed in a math workbook). For each answer that is covered, it is asked whether the class agrees, disagrees, or is confused. So, instead of everyone yelling out their response, they may give a thumbs up.
This is how "I disagree" is signaled. The palm of each one's left and right hand are facing towards the ground. They are at about chest level. One of the hands is slightly higher than the other. They are about one hand's length away from each other. While the left hand and nothing else repeatedly swings from left to right, the right hand and nothing else simultaneously and repeatedly swings from right to left. If it helps you understand it better, it looks similar to repeatedly doing the alternate possession signal as a referee would do. In any case, again, while going over the homework, if one student got a different answer than another student, then the student with a different answer would use this signal. Then, the disagreeing student would be addressed in order to determine what it is that that student disagrees with.
This is how "I'm confused" is signaled. Basically, a student just swipes his/her hand back and forth above their head with their palm facing downward.
Finally, for "speak up," a student simply points their ear at the speaker, puts their hand behind their ear, and bends the rim of their ear forward. So, say that a student is giving a presentation or a speech. Then, instead of merely raising one's hand, yelling speak up, or waiting until the presentation/speech is over to say that the speaker was too soft, this "speak up" signal can be used.
So yea, signals are a lot more diverse than a mere raise of the hand. That is, a lot more meaning can be conveyed than simply "I have something to say" as raising your hand simply implies.
In the current classroom that I student teach in, Mr. Agajan uses a signal for "I agree," "I disagree," "I'm confused," and "speak up." "I agree" is simply signaled by giving a thumbs up with both one's left and right hands. For example, I will show a student's work under the docucam (such as math homework completed in a math workbook). For each answer that is covered, it is asked whether the class agrees, disagrees, or is confused. So, instead of everyone yelling out their response, they may give a thumbs up.
This is how "I disagree" is signaled. The palm of each one's left and right hand are facing towards the ground. They are at about chest level. One of the hands is slightly higher than the other. They are about one hand's length away from each other. While the left hand and nothing else repeatedly swings from left to right, the right hand and nothing else simultaneously and repeatedly swings from right to left. If it helps you understand it better, it looks similar to repeatedly doing the alternate possession signal as a referee would do. In any case, again, while going over the homework, if one student got a different answer than another student, then the student with a different answer would use this signal. Then, the disagreeing student would be addressed in order to determine what it is that that student disagrees with.
This is how "I'm confused" is signaled. Basically, a student just swipes his/her hand back and forth above their head with their palm facing downward.
Finally, for "speak up," a student simply points their ear at the speaker, puts their hand behind their ear, and bends the rim of their ear forward. So, say that a student is giving a presentation or a speech. Then, instead of merely raising one's hand, yelling speak up, or waiting until the presentation/speech is over to say that the speaker was too soft, this "speak up" signal can be used.
So yea, signals are a lot more diverse than a mere raise of the hand. That is, a lot more meaning can be conveyed than simply "I have something to say" as raising your hand simply implies.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
If a Calendar was an Obstacle Course
The calendar is a combination of mathematical exercises. The calendar activity will require some explanation. It is kind of complex. Mr. Agajan assigns many kids jobs. First, he assigns someone as the card flipper. Every day, a card is flipped on the calendar. After the card is flipped, a shape is revealed. After so many days, a pattern can be revealed. However, there are more patterns than just looking from the left side of the calendar to the right. Some students might notice patterns in multiples of 3, 5, and etc. Or, some students might notice patterns in diagonals.
All other students who do not were not assigned a job will make predictions about what the next shape will be. The illustrator will draw the expected shape on the whiteboard. While this is happening, another student is writing the school day of the year. If the school day number is odd, the post it which it is written on is yellow. If the number is even, the post it which it is written on is pink. If the school day number is a multiple of 5, it is underlined. If the school day number is a multiple of 10, it is circled. Each row consists of 10 numbers, then the next row continues, and so on.
From day one, a bank is established. In this bank, fake money is deposited. That is the depositor's job. The amount of money that is deposited simply depends on the school day. If it is school day #1, then 1 dollar is deposited. Once it is school day #2, then 2 more dollars are added. Once it is school day #3, then 3 more dollars are added, and so on until the end of the year.
Then, there is the algorithm specialist. The algorithm specialist adds the bank deposit (i.e. an amount equal to same number as the current school day) to the money which is currently in the bank. So, if there are $6 dollars in the bank and it is school day #4, then the algorithm specialist will do the math of 6 + 4. Right now, they're at school day #79 and they're doing math in the three thousands.
I haven't really led the calendar yet. It's been kind of daunting to me. But, I think I have a pretty good idea of its structure now. So, I expect to tame this beast of a calendar activity soon.
All other students who do not were not assigned a job will make predictions about what the next shape will be. The illustrator will draw the expected shape on the whiteboard. While this is happening, another student is writing the school day of the year. If the school day number is odd, the post it which it is written on is yellow. If the number is even, the post it which it is written on is pink. If the school day number is a multiple of 5, it is underlined. If the school day number is a multiple of 10, it is circled. Each row consists of 10 numbers, then the next row continues, and so on.
From day one, a bank is established. In this bank, fake money is deposited. That is the depositor's job. The amount of money that is deposited simply depends on the school day. If it is school day #1, then 1 dollar is deposited. Once it is school day #2, then 2 more dollars are added. Once it is school day #3, then 3 more dollars are added, and so on until the end of the year.
Then, there is the algorithm specialist. The algorithm specialist adds the bank deposit (i.e. an amount equal to same number as the current school day) to the money which is currently in the bank. So, if there are $6 dollars in the bank and it is school day #4, then the algorithm specialist will do the math of 6 + 4. Right now, they're at school day #79 and they're doing math in the three thousands.
I haven't really led the calendar yet. It's been kind of daunting to me. But, I think I have a pretty good idea of its structure now. So, I expect to tame this beast of a calendar activity soon.
Monday, January 9, 2012
"All Write Round Robin"
Mr. Agajan taught me a new teaching procedure. I'm trying to master it. As the subject makes explicit, it's called "All Write Round Robin." Tomorrow, my supervisor, Peter will observe me facilitating this procedure. Tomorrow, I will teach a lesson on suffixes.
First, I will show them a sheet of paper. I will grab a long side of the sheet of paper and fold it in half. The base words will go on the left side of the crease and the suffixes will go on the right side. I will give my students an example of how a suffix is used. For example, I will first provide the base word "fear." First, I will put "fear" on the left side of the sheet. Then, I will put "ful" on the right side. I will move on to the next word. I will write "fear" on the left and "less" on the right. On to the next word. I will write "fear" on the left and "lessness" on the right. I write "fear" each time since each instance reflects a new word. After I finish giving them that example, I will give them a new word such as "help." I will not provide them examples for that word. On to the "All Write Round Robin" part of this lesson.
I will give all students 1 minute to write down as many words as they can. That is, they will write as many of the same base words with suffixes attached. After that 1 minute is up, I will give them an additional minute for another activity. Everyone sits in groups of 3 or 4. Everyone is only working in their own groups. The first person in a group reads one word from their list and then, the second, third, and fourth. After the last person in the group reads their word, the cycle continues until everyone has the same list of words. If a word is read off which a student in a given group already has, then they merely check it off. If a word is read off which a student in a given group does not have, then they write it down. I think that is why this teaching procedure is called "ALL WRITE ROUND." The "Robin" part just seems to have been added for cuteness. * cough *
After all students have finished sharing their words with each other in their respective groups, I will take a couple different students recorded words. I will display those words under the docucam. And, I will list them off in case other students did not also record those displayed words. That's basically how All Round Write Robin works.
First, I will show them a sheet of paper. I will grab a long side of the sheet of paper and fold it in half. The base words will go on the left side of the crease and the suffixes will go on the right side. I will give my students an example of how a suffix is used. For example, I will first provide the base word "fear." First, I will put "fear" on the left side of the sheet. Then, I will put "ful" on the right side. I will move on to the next word. I will write "fear" on the left and "less" on the right. On to the next word. I will write "fear" on the left and "lessness" on the right. I write "fear" each time since each instance reflects a new word. After I finish giving them that example, I will give them a new word such as "help." I will not provide them examples for that word. On to the "All Write Round Robin" part of this lesson.
I will give all students 1 minute to write down as many words as they can. That is, they will write as many of the same base words with suffixes attached. After that 1 minute is up, I will give them an additional minute for another activity. Everyone sits in groups of 3 or 4. Everyone is only working in their own groups. The first person in a group reads one word from their list and then, the second, third, and fourth. After the last person in the group reads their word, the cycle continues until everyone has the same list of words. If a word is read off which a student in a given group already has, then they merely check it off. If a word is read off which a student in a given group does not have, then they write it down. I think that is why this teaching procedure is called "ALL WRITE ROUND." The "Robin" part just seems to have been added for cuteness. * cough *
After all students have finished sharing their words with each other in their respective groups, I will take a couple different students recorded words. I will display those words under the docucam. And, I will list them off in case other students did not also record those displayed words. That's basically how All Round Write Robin works.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Neglecting the Positive
I made a mistake before I left Mr. Agajan's class yesterday. I don't think that I always do this. But, the mistake I made highlights something that I need to make sure that I do on a regular basis as far as recognizing student's behavior goes.
Art class was extremely difficult for Ms. Hall to control. According to her, the class was more difficult to control than usual. I mentioned this to Mr. Agajan. He suggested that I make an announcement to the class about it. He said that I was in a better position to comment on the behavior then he was since I was in the art class at the time and he was not.
So, right before I left, I made explicit that there were some students who were blurting out questions without raising their hands or talking were over Ms. Hall while she was reading her children's book on Picasso. I was about to leave it at that, but then Mr. Agajan jumped in before I was about to end. "Mr. Auto? Can you name some students who you thought did a good job in Ms. Hall's class?" That kind of caught me off guard. So, I just named a boy and girl student who I could vaguely recall did a good job. Then, I wished everyone a good weekend and went on my way.
In retrospect, I feel like a dork for almost leaving the classroom on a negative note. Why? Well, first, I'm pretty confident that it's not the case that everyone in Mr. Agajan's class was disruptive. Some students were disruptive, but other students were cooperative. Second, if I'm going to give examples of students who were disruptive so that they know how not to act, I should give them the other side of the coin. I need to highlight examples of what specific students did so that they can replicate those behaviors. Third, if I only give explicit recognition of disruptive behavior, it makes it seem pointless to do good behavior. So, it discourages those who are behaving in a cooperative way to continue doing so. Lastly, I'm just imagining how these students would feel about me if I always left them on a negative note. I'm just thinking about the worst case scenario and the most expedient way to get there. If I always left them on a negative note, they would hate my guts. Why? I would be known as the teacher that dislikes everything they do. It's not exactly a confidence builder. So, if always being negative would be the fastest way to get them to hate me, then doing it less will be that much slower of a way to get them to hate me. I don't think that means I must strictly always be positive, but it means that I must show that I'm aware of when students are disruptive and cooperative rather than just one or the other.
This is the bottom line. Whenever I show explicit recognition of students' disruptive behavior, I should also show some recognition of their cooperative behavior. On the flipside, whenever I show explicit recognition of their cooperative behavior, I do not necessarily need to show explicit recognition of disruptive behavior.
Art class was extremely difficult for Ms. Hall to control. According to her, the class was more difficult to control than usual. I mentioned this to Mr. Agajan. He suggested that I make an announcement to the class about it. He said that I was in a better position to comment on the behavior then he was since I was in the art class at the time and he was not.
So, right before I left, I made explicit that there were some students who were blurting out questions without raising their hands or talking were over Ms. Hall while she was reading her children's book on Picasso. I was about to leave it at that, but then Mr. Agajan jumped in before I was about to end. "Mr. Auto? Can you name some students who you thought did a good job in Ms. Hall's class?" That kind of caught me off guard. So, I just named a boy and girl student who I could vaguely recall did a good job. Then, I wished everyone a good weekend and went on my way.
In retrospect, I feel like a dork for almost leaving the classroom on a negative note. Why? Well, first, I'm pretty confident that it's not the case that everyone in Mr. Agajan's class was disruptive. Some students were disruptive, but other students were cooperative. Second, if I'm going to give examples of students who were disruptive so that they know how not to act, I should give them the other side of the coin. I need to highlight examples of what specific students did so that they can replicate those behaviors. Third, if I only give explicit recognition of disruptive behavior, it makes it seem pointless to do good behavior. So, it discourages those who are behaving in a cooperative way to continue doing so. Lastly, I'm just imagining how these students would feel about me if I always left them on a negative note. I'm just thinking about the worst case scenario and the most expedient way to get there. If I always left them on a negative note, they would hate my guts. Why? I would be known as the teacher that dislikes everything they do. It's not exactly a confidence builder. So, if always being negative would be the fastest way to get them to hate me, then doing it less will be that much slower of a way to get them to hate me. I don't think that means I must strictly always be positive, but it means that I must show that I'm aware of when students are disruptive and cooperative rather than just one or the other.
This is the bottom line. Whenever I show explicit recognition of students' disruptive behavior, I should also show some recognition of their cooperative behavior. On the flipside, whenever I show explicit recognition of their cooperative behavior, I do not necessarily need to show explicit recognition of disruptive behavior.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
My Potential Behavioral Management Plan
This is how I've organized my behavior management system. Basically, the following is my personal notes, but I don't think you will have difficulty interpreting it.
For the most part, I will pursue this behavior management system, but I suspect that there is one shortfall with it. The shortfall is that there is not really any short term reward. An example of a short term reward is Mr. Agajan and his fruit roll ups. They get 5 stars for completing their homework for every school day each week. In which case, they get a fruit roll up. It's surprising how much it drives them. I can't do exactly the same thing as Mr. Agajan. But, I must find some reward to give them for following these rules each week. That's something that I'll need to think about over this weekend. Why?
It's a long time from now until April for a pizza party. So, the weekly reward is just something small to keep them going. Anyway, I'll begin implementing both my short and long term reward/behavior management system next week. Let's see how it works out.
Behavioral Management System
Fixed Factors
- Tables
- 6
- Students per table
- 4
- Points per lesson
- 3 (for beginning, middle, and end)
- Prize
- Pizza Party
Varying Factors
- Lessons per day
- 2 (for 7 weeks)
- Total Possible Points: 42
- 3 (for 7 weeks)
- Total Possible Points: 63
- # of Behavioral Expectations
- 1: Raise your hand (i.e. Don't call out) (2 weeks)
- First week with interval prompts
- Second week without interval prompts
- 2: Eyes and ears on the speaker (2 weeks)
- First week with interval prompts
- Second week without interval prompts
- 3: Keep your body and objects to yourself (3 weeks)
- First week with interval prompts
- Second week without interval prompts
For the most part, I will pursue this behavior management system, but I suspect that there is one shortfall with it. The shortfall is that there is not really any short term reward. An example of a short term reward is Mr. Agajan and his fruit roll ups. They get 5 stars for completing their homework for every school day each week. In which case, they get a fruit roll up. It's surprising how much it drives them. I can't do exactly the same thing as Mr. Agajan. But, I must find some reward to give them for following these rules each week. That's something that I'll need to think about over this weekend. Why?
It's a long time from now until April for a pizza party. So, the weekly reward is just something small to keep them going. Anyway, I'll begin implementing both my short and long term reward/behavior management system next week. Let's see how it works out.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Pacing One's Progress in Instruction
Winter break just ended. I decided that instead of doing 1 lesson a day as I have been for the past.... 3 semesters, I will begin doing 2 lessons a day. This is my final term. Assuming that I complete my term successfully (I feel silly for treating that as an assumption... Whatever), I will receive my credential by April of 2012. I will be in class everyday of the week for this last term. For my final 2 weeks, I must teach full time. That is, in my mentor's class, I must teach every lesson. It's a temporary take over. It seems like kind of a strange to jump from 1 lesson a day to every lesson for every day. So, I'm trying to pace myself for this last term. I have about 16 weeks for this term. This is how I will pace myself for this term.
I will teach two lessons each day for the first 7 weeks, three lessons each day for the second set of 7 weeks, and I will teach every lesson for every day for the last 2 weeks. That is much closer to a progression than 1 lesson a day to every lesson for every day. On that note, I'm having a belated regret about how I have structured my progression.
Despite only teaching 1 lesson per day for 3 semester, I have still gone beyond the call of duty. That is, instead of volunteering as an instructional aid for 15 hours a week for 1 year, I had volunteered as an instructional aid for 32 hours a week for 1 year (but, 15 hours a week for the third semester). Nonetheless, I could have initiated this progression structure much earlier. Had I thought of it, this is how I would've structured my progression.
I would've taught 1 lesson per day for my first semester, 2 lessons per day for my second semester, 3 lessons per day for my third semester, and 4 lessons per day for my fourth semester. Why? Well, the time devoted to each stage would've been more evenly distributed. Instead of devoting majority of my days to 1 lesson per day as I did, the frequency of days spent teaching 1, 2, 3, and 4 lessons per day would have been roughly equivalent (i.e. since the number of days in each semester is roughly equivalent).
Oh well... on the chance that this lesson will be literally or analogically applicable to me (or anyone else reading) in the future, live and learn.
I will teach two lessons each day for the first 7 weeks, three lessons each day for the second set of 7 weeks, and I will teach every lesson for every day for the last 2 weeks. That is much closer to a progression than 1 lesson a day to every lesson for every day. On that note, I'm having a belated regret about how I have structured my progression.
Despite only teaching 1 lesson per day for 3 semester, I have still gone beyond the call of duty. That is, instead of volunteering as an instructional aid for 15 hours a week for 1 year, I had volunteered as an instructional aid for 32 hours a week for 1 year (but, 15 hours a week for the third semester). Nonetheless, I could have initiated this progression structure much earlier. Had I thought of it, this is how I would've structured my progression.
I would've taught 1 lesson per day for my first semester, 2 lessons per day for my second semester, 3 lessons per day for my third semester, and 4 lessons per day for my fourth semester. Why? Well, the time devoted to each stage would've been more evenly distributed. Instead of devoting majority of my days to 1 lesson per day as I did, the frequency of days spent teaching 1, 2, 3, and 4 lessons per day would have been roughly equivalent (i.e. since the number of days in each semester is roughly equivalent).
Oh well... on the chance that this lesson will be literally or analogically applicable to me (or anyone else reading) in the future, live and learn.
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