Professional Organization Reflection

           I had the special opportunity to attend the Promising Practices Conference held at RIC back in November.  Sadly, the two sessions I attended did not offer much useful information for me.  They seemed interesting when I signed up, but did not follow through.  The keynote speaker, however, provided me with a wealth of knowledge and brought up things which had not crossed my mind before that point.  Dr. Emdin gave a wonderful address about hip-hop education and stale pedagogical practices.

            Dr. Emdin spoke about his idea about hip-hop education and how it could revolutionize the education system as we know it.  It is all about the reversal and upheaval of typical teaching indoctrination.  He believes that this upheaval is necessary because current pedagogical practices do not focus on student culture and that is detrimental to learning.  The speaker claimed that reality pedagogy (student-centered learning) is not culturally relative pedagogy.  The former is a theory which claims that student cultures are the same across-the-board.  Dr. Emdin claims that each classroom will have a specific culture and the teacher must use that to help students learn.  The only way to fix the educational system is to fix the foundation (culturally relevant pedagogy), not just throw on a fresh coat of paint (adding technology).  He finished his speech by stating that education has not changed over the last 150 years, it has simply been painted over and called new. 

            Honestly, I think Dr. Emdin’s ideas are radical, scary, and absolutely necessary.  As educators, our first priority should be the students sitting in front of us.  If they have a certain way of doing things to help them learn and express that learning, we should learn to embrace those methods.  The speaker talked about students who use hip-hop as a primary means of communicating their knowledge.  One student he mentioned actually used hip-hop to orally present his knowledge on Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics.  The speaker encouraged teachers to allow students to learn in a way which they know.  Instead of telling them to write papers, let them express their knowledge and help them turn it into papers later. 

            This idea is outstanding.  My sister, for instance, would always draw intricate sketches in her notebooks along with her notes.  Some teachers would reprimand her for “not paying attention.”  Those were the same teachers who failed to notice that her drawings said everything her notes did and more.  She remembered things by drawing, not by taking verbatim notes.  I believe this idea is very similar to Dr. Emdin’s.  As long as students are learning, why does the process matter?  Why does it matter if students want to rap or draw their final project instead of writing it?  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying thesis statements and syntax are not important.  I am saying, however, that they should not take priority over students understanding the material.  I think I will use this information to help me become a better teacher.  I am interested to see how students learn and I want to incorporate that into my teaching.

Observation #4_Quiz

                                                               Lord of the Flies Quiz

 

Pick two of the following prompts to write about.  Each answer should be at least 1 paragraph (5 sentences) long. 

 

1.) In what way is Lord of the Flies a novel about power? How is it about the power of symbols and about the power of a person to use symbols to control a group?

 

2.) Compare and contrast Ralph and Simon. Both seem to be “good” characters. Is there a difference in their goodness?

 

3.) List three important symbols from the story and explain their importance to the plot and themes.

 

Rationale:

1) What do you think the objective is?

 

Students will create short answers using critical thinking to interpret issues (power, goodness, and symbols) presented in Lord of the Flies.

 

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

 

All questions fall under Analysis and Synthesis on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

 

3) How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?


Each short answer should take 3-5 minutes to create; therefore, students should be able to answer 2 questions in 10 minutes.  I have given 3 prompts so students may pick the two they feel they will have the most success with.

Observation #3

I had the opportunity to visit a 9^th grade English class to get some insight into classroom management.  The teacher informed me that since this class happened at the end of the school day, the students tended to be antsier than they would be in an earlier period.  He also informed me that he had a couple boys in the room with behavioral issues—he did not want me to experience any surprises.  When the students enter the room, they walk around and talk to friends.  2 boys have an argument and begin shoving each other.  The teacher ends the confrontation by asking one boy to take the hall pass and bring some papers to the office for him.

Once the bell rings, students begin to move to their respective seats.  2 girls who pose distractions to the class are asked to separate.  They are reminded that they have been asked politely multiple times and the next time they must be asked, they will each receive disciplinary action.  The girls move with no further incident.  One girl logs onto a computer to finish an extra credit assignment until the lesson begins.  3 students come to the teacher’s desks to ask for help with their writing journals.  The teacher tells them that he will discuss the assignment with the whole class after attendance is taken.  After everyone finds their seats, they are asked to take out their journals and begin writing.  The teacher takes advantage of the quiet to take attendance and do some homework housekeeping.

The students take out their writing journals and begin some exploratory writing work.  At this time, a list of students forms to get the hall pass for various reasons.  During the writing assignment, the teacher has to ask students to settle down three times.  In that time, he says that he can “smell a phone out” twice and the offending texters immediately put their phones away and apologize.

After 10 minutes, the teacher asks students to put away their writing journals and pull out their reading journals.  He hands out copies of “The New York Times Student Edition.”  Students are asked to turn to page 14 and look at the article’s pictures and read the captions.  After 5 minutes, students are asked to make some reading predictions based on what they have seen and read.  The teacher asks them to open their reading journals and jot notes about their predictions so they can check if they were correct later on.  During this time, some students speak out of turn, but the teacher gently reminds them to raise their hands so some of their quieter friends have a chance to answer the questions.  After the students look through the photos, the teacher reads the article and stops after each paragraph to have students sum up what has been read so far.  They are instructed to write their findings in their reading journals.  After reading through half of the article, the teacher asks students to write down a tentative theme and share their ideas. 

The remainder of the class period is used in this same fashion to help students build their reading comprehension skills.  After the article has been read, the teacher opens the floor for questions.  Some students do not take the assignment seriously and goof around.  Aside from sending looks their way and pointing to his magazine, the teacher does not acknowledge their behavior.  After realizing that their tactics are not working, they settle down.  Some interesting discussions arise and the teacher lets the students express how the article made them feel.  He lets them know that he is interested in learning how what they read applies to the world outside the classroom.  (The article detailed how the earth was due for a mass extinction…fun, right?)  Each time a student contributes to the discussion, the teacher praises them for their help in understanding what they read.  The students really seemed to appreciate the care the teacher used when validating what they thought.  

In the middle of their discussion, the bell rang, dismissing the students to leave.  Some of the boys were quite enthusiastic to be done for the day and accidentally shoved a girl while she was packing up her books.  The teacher asked the boys to come see him and they approached the desk with their heads hung.  He explained that he understood how excited they were to go home, but they needed to show more care for others around them.  He asked them to apologize to the girl and they did immediately.  In fact, they offered to carry her books to her locker to make up for their unintentional roughness.  With that, the last of the students left and I was left alone with the teacher.

I asked him what his secret was for classroom management.  He let me know that there is no secret formula to understanding human beings, but he suggested that I get to know my kids.  He said that some of his kids had very difficult home lives.  They deal with abuse, hunger, homelessness, and absent parents.  He told me that if I know what my students deal with outside of my classroom, dealing with behavior issues will be much easier.  He also suggested that I adopt a “let it go” policy.  He said that if I understand my students and know what they deal with, outbursts (excluding violent or disrespectful ones) will mostly roll off my back.  He brought my attention to one of the boys who was disruptive during the lesson—that child lives in a car with his mother and little brother.  After telling me this, he explained that the reason he did not verbally correct the student was because he already had it hard enough in life.  He said that gentle correction seems to yield the highest results with students who just need someone to care about them.  I will never forget that conversation and will appreciate what I was taught in that 50 minute period of time.

Observation #2

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 and 407 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Denise Roberts	Subject: English	Grade(s): 10
Name of Lesson: Lord of the Flies Breakdown
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional Application and Analysis Students will work in groups to analyze provided writing prompts using at least four examples from the book.
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): Common Core Grade 10 Reading Standard 1: 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): RIPTS 5.2: Teachers pose questions that encourage students to view, analyze, and interpret ideas from multiple perspectives.
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context? Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? This lesson will be taught toward the end of the unit to encourage higher-level learning by interpreting the novel.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Pens, paper, copies of novel
Accommodations and Modifications n/a
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2)
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? Very confident

(Boxes expand as you type) Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice)
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic?
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
E.g. Intro/5 min.	Ask students to work in writer’s notebooks	Exploratory writing
Presentation or Open-ended/	Introduce goals for assignment, have students separate into groups, give out prompts	Students will separate into groups and determine if they will agree or disagree with prompt
Guided Practice or Convergent/	Move amongst groups and help if necessary. Make sure students are on task.	Students work to find 4 textual examples to support their thesis.	Informal assessment: are all students participating in their positions in group?
Closing/	Check progress of students and tell them to be ready to present their work the next day.	Finish up group work and be ready to present findings the following day.
HW/Application/	Fine-tune work to present	If citations have not all been found, students may complete the work at home.
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble? I will give hints that the student may choose from while still allowing them to draw their own conclusions from the text.
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? They will be allowed to decide what order they will present their findings the next day.
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) Conversations with students in groups.  I will see where they are and help them if they struggle.

 

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?   All students actively participated in assignment.
	What area of weakness needs addressing? Some students argued during group time—maybe consider separating them next time.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? The objective was met.  All groups found their required examples and were able to explain their thinking in informal assessments.
	Which students did not meet objectives? One group only found 2 examples from the text.  They were given until the next day in class to finish.
	Was time managed appropriately? Yes
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson? no
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? The argument was ended immediately and did not lead to a worse altercation.  2 girls were off task at different times, but were quietly reminded to focus and continue their assignment.
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? Yes
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)   I learned that some students become emotionally involved with the text and I should use this to my advantage.
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?  Students are able to thrive when they work together and can run ideas by their peers.  I will definitely try to utilize this whenever possible in my future classroom.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future? I learned that students are more comfortable with informal assessments which help them know whether or not they are on the right track with their work.  I will be sure to use this tactic whenever possible.