How I feel about my day:

Captain's Log 2 (Weekly Reflections from in the Classroom

Captain’s Log 2

            Being back in a middle school classroom has provoked me to look back in to my past, at my own middle school experiences. I was shy, awkward and a late-bloomer. I didn't have all the developed parts my fellow classmates did, and I was convinced they gossiped about me all the time. I hated school so much and begged my mother a million times over to let me transfer to another school in the Yakima Valley. Thankfully my mother knew better and forced me to stick it out in the trenches of my middle school, which was actually more of a portable rather than a traditional classroom. The highlight of my week would have made middle school me beam with admiration. I've finally realized the thickness of my skin as of this last week in school.

            My students often make comments. At first these comments were nice like, “We love Ms. R! Can we keep her?!”

They have slowly transgressed:

Student: “You’re not a real teacher so you can’t tell me what to do.”

Me: “Well I’m not a fake teacher either. I’m a teacher to you right now, and you need to

complete this assignment in order to pass- that’s from your ‘real’ teacher”.

Yes, I used air quotes to make that emphasize. Roll your eyes if you want but it worked.

Another comment which wasn't critical or mean, but rather sweet was a compliment from a student. However the compliment got a bit out of hand and was leering towards becoming an inappropriate topic at the exploitation of the student’s peers:

Male student: “Ms. R, you look beautiful today!”

Me: “Thanks,”

Other students: “Oh my God, you can’t just hit on the teacher!”

Male student: “I was just trying to make her feel nice!”

Me: “Thank you for the compliment, but I’m going to walk away now because this is getting out

of hand. The three of you need to get to work.”

    Although these comments weren't outrageous, I've come to notice the dramatic change in my ability identify when it is appropriate to let the comments roll and when to address them. Being able to handle these situations today, in comparison to my middle school self, is something comparable to a 180 degree change- she was shy and introverted and thin-skinned. I wouldn't recognize myself today as myself back then.

            In my own future classroom, I will certainly need to develop this more. Making sure students know what is appropriate to say as well as when is a line I will need to develop and define for them. It’s something that is difficult for me now since this is not my own classroom, or my own students, but instead someone else’s. I have to consider their own rules before I make judgment calls, which can be difficult because as I’m still learning I don’t know them all. For example, I’m still unclear of the schools expectations for myself when I allow students to leave the room to use the bathroom or retrieve their materials in terms of hall passes. I also still don’t know if I should be asking students in the hall ways to produce their passes/slips as I’m passing by. I suppose I’m still learning the ropes as I go.

(Me as students walk by in the hall)

            This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off. 

Education 303 – Foundations of Assessment

TPA Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Danielle Raschko            Grade: 11 Length of Lesson: 55 minutes

Content Area: English/History                         Unit/Subject: American Literature/US History 

Lesson Title/Focus: Elements of the Jazz Age within The Great Gatsby         

Academic and/or Content Standards:

Social Studies EALR 4: History: The student understands and applies knowledge of historical thinking, chronology, eras, turning points, major ideas, individuals, and themes on local, Washington State, tribal, United States, and world history in order to evaluate how history shapes the present and future.

Component 4.3: Understands that there are multiple perspectives and interpretations of historical events

GLE 4.1.2, Part 3: The student understands how the following themes help to define eras in US history: Reform, Prosperity, and the Great Depression.

English Language Arts Common Core State Standards, Reading Literature Standard 1: Students cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as influences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Content Objective:

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify specific elements of the Jazz Age that appear in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.

Academic Language Objective:

Students will be able to relate theme and motifs from a literary text to historical events as well as find historical context within a literary work.

Assessment Strategies:

Before students begin group work, they will be given a worksheet that will be used to assess their work. Additionally, students will be observed during their group work and prompted with questions to assess their understanding. Students will also be questioned during class discussion.

Lesson Rationale:

This lesson builds on both previous English language arts and US history knowledge of The Great Gatsby and the Jazz Age, respectively. Having students think about both subjects and topics gives them a different perspective on literature as well as a narrative of a historical event adding to the depth and breadth of their overall knowledge and understanding.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks to Support Learning:

Direct Instruction (15 minutes): To begin the class, there will be a brief PowerPoint presentation covering the lives of Americans during the Jazz Age accompanied by a lecture by the teacher. Students will be expected to take notes during this presentation to use for their group work later on in the period. Students will also be given an opportunity at the end of the presentation to ask questions. Students will then be sorted into groups of 3-4 by the teacher and given time to gather a handout and meet with their group members.

Group Work (20 minutes): Groups of students will then find examples of Jazz Age life within The Great Gatsby and support their finds with evidence from the text. During this time, the teacher will observe each group, prompting relevant questions and answering any questions students may have. Additionally, the teacher will be making sure that students remain on track and are participating in their groups using an observational checklist.

Class Discussion (15 minutes): The teacher will then direct the groups into a class-wide discussion of the findings. Each group will share one element of the Jazz Age that they found. Students will record these on their handouts. Once all groups have had an opportunity to share, additional responses will be asked for. When all of the responses to the handout have been shared, the teacher will lead students in a discussion relating the Jazz Age to one of the main themes of The Great Gatsby: how the American dream doesn’t overcome everything.

End of Class (5 minutes): Students will have time at the end of the lesson to turn in assignments and pack their belongings.

Differentiated Instruction:

The student who has a Section 504 accommodation for vision will be given print copies of the PowerPoint as well as the content of the PowerPoint in text. The student with an IEP for learning disabilities will be paired with students who have been performing well in this unit and consistently proving that they understand the material. The teacher will also be close by in case the student is having trouble understanding the material.

Additionally, this lesson targets multiple learning styles. The actual PowerPoint presentation will benefit visual learners, while lecture will benefit audio learners, and the notes will benefit tactile/kinesthetic learners. The group discussions have also been constructed in a similar fashion, as audio learners will listen to their classmates, visual learners have the worksheet to see, and tactile/kinesthetic learners have the worksheet to work on.

Resources and Materials:

This lesson consulted:

Fitzgerald, F.S. (2004). The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner.

Management and Safety Issues:

Not applicable.

Parent and Community Connections:

Parents/Guardians will have received an itinerary of the unit schedule from their student. Students will be sent home with weekly notifications of missing/incomplete work or failure to participate; slip must be signed and returned.

Observation Checklist

Group #	On task	Members	On task	Participating in group	Participating in discussion
Group 1		Jimmy
		Bobby
		Sally
Group 2		Eddie
		Martha
		June
Group 3		Johnny
		Jane
		Roy
Group 4		Mary
		Niel
		Patty
		Priscilla
Group 5		Finneas
		Quentin
		Adelle

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

In Waking Up the Back Row: Using Effective Communicating-to-Learn Strategies in Education Courses, the authors Patricia Williams, Margaret Hammer, Joyce K. McCauley, and Sam Sullivan focus on writing as a form of assessment. Williams, Hammer, McCauley and Sullivan cite writing as a preferred technique for assessment because of it causes students to learn “specific material” relevant to the content area, forcing them to analyze and think critically, drawling out their own ideas and formulating conclusions about the material. Writing is a demonstration of communication techniques; “Students become more active learners….putting their knowledge, uncertainties, speculations and intellectual connections into a words on a page” (Anson, 2001, p. 10). Furthermore, writing helps us to organize our thoughts and opinions in order to come to our own conclusions, which become separate and independent from the ideas of others.

In terms of assessment, writing can take place in various formats aside from essays! For example, teachers should consider journal entries, poetry, letters and note taking as well as brainstorming activities. Williams, Hammer, McCauley and Sullivan provide fifteen example activities to consider in a college classroom, which I have taken and considered in the terms of a secondary setting.

Of the suggested activities I really liked the QCC (Questions, c comments and concerns) cards which are similar to the KWL (know, want to learn, learned)Charts. Using index cards, students are allowed to offer student voice about a particular class day or a recently completed assignment- any topic works. Students jot down questions, comments and concerns for the teacher to consider and address. This method is a great idea to help students feel more involved and valued; it is certainly something I want to implement in my own classroom.

Another suggestion is allowing a ten minute free write. In this activity students must keep pen to paper for a set amount of time (like seven or ten minutes), regardless if what is written makes sense or not. It’s a great opportunity for students to, again, voice their opinions as well as issues in their own lives. It is helpful if the writing is related to the day’s content, but again it is suppose to act as a free space for students. And finally, I liked the idea of using writing as an exit task in which students take a question, answer it and share before they leave. It’s a good task to close the day with, especially if it is relevant to the day’s content. If done well, it can work to refocus the class before dismissal. 

Article: Waking Up the Back Row

Williams, P., Hammer, M., McCauley, J. K., & Sullivan, S. (2007). Waking Up the Back Row: Using Effective Communicating-to-Learn Strategies in 

Blog to Follow:

The YUNiversity

Why?

The YUNiversity blog takes difficult English subjects, such as grammar, and explains in easy-to-understand memes like these. Students/I love these! I will certainly be using this information in my future classroom. 

 You bring up an excellent question.

There is a subtle (but crucial) difference between “recur” and “reoccur”:

 “Reoccur” isn’t even listed in many dictionaries. But those that do include it define it as simply “happening again,” with no mention of it being repetitive or occurring in a pattern. Quite literally, it is to “re-occur”:

....It's relevant....#catonburrito

Star Trek Schools: Education...But Not As We Know It

Check out this article about the future of education with the involvement of new technologies such as the iPad, which is finding itself in classrooms nationwide.

This article also features Salman Khan, a 36-year-old former hedge fund analyst, it has put almost 3,400 tutorials online at his video stream, Khan Academy. 

My Life

  

Captain's Log 1 (Weekly Reflections from in the Classroom)

Captain's Log 1:

To be honest, in my middle school class it is a norm for me to be surprised when students finish short, relatively easy assignments before the class period is up. I find myself giving away answers, yet my students still ask, “Wait, what? So what is the answer?” Last Friday, one of my students gave me a wonderful surprised when he asked if he could use an outside source in a mini-paragraph essay response. He held up a Lewis and Clark book that he had checked out from the library and told me he had already read the material and had picked out a section he wanted to quote in his essay response. I was so excited, I could barely contain it. Finally, I had met a student who was excited about learning!

            During my first day in the classroom I quickly identified a few key issues that affect student learning: classroom management in terms of overall organization as well as student behavior. Further, I cite poverty and low parent expectations as factors for student effort. As I get to know my first and second period students in terms of their personal lives, I begin to understand their motivations behind their actions more and more. For example, one outspoken, disruptive individual lives in a family in which their parents are quite a bit older than what is average, as well as her siblings are all grown up. Therefore, the student speaks out in class, seeking attention that is not given at home. For another student, a death in the family/family emergencies causes the student to be pulled out of class for weeks at a time resulting in the suffering of that student academically. I am trying to think of ideas that help students who are constantly absent from the classroom, whether that be physically or attention-specific, to be caught up regardless of how much they’ve missed. I am looking for strategies that will help students stay on track despite situations that may arise. So far I've found that graphic organizers with notes that are used over several weeks, as well as providing days in which students can catch up are important to ensuring all students remain caught up and at the same point in the unit.

Over the past week I've come to this pint where the more I learn about my students and their home lives, the more I fret when I’m away from them.  I’m having trouble separating myself from my life at the middle school and my life outside of it. I worry so much about how they are doing, and who is bullying them. I want so badly for them to succeed and to be happy that it has a tendency to cross my mind outside of the classroom. So as of last Friday, I’m actively attempting to block out any thoughts about the middle school on a personal level. I’ll address academic issues, but I've made it a goal for myself to only think, discuss or worry about the students’ lives when I’m in the middle school. This is my attempt to retain sanity.

Overall, since last Wednesday I've had a pretty good week. I loved the sub that came in, but I did understand my students’ distraught reactions as I witnessed the difference between the teacher talking to me and the teaching talking to the students. I've started to actively pay attention to the difference in how I act towards my coordinating teacher and my students.

This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off. 

Classroom Management Response

Frontloading Classroom Management written by science teachers Keith Roscoe and Kim Orr called defines frontloading as the uniting of several classroom management elements including the “organization of the physical environment, positive relationships, behavior expectations, classroom procedures, effective instruction and intervention.” Although Roscoe and Orr are addressing important elements of a science classroom, these elements are important to remember and consider in any subject-based classroom. Physical environment, for example, is essential to consider when arranging class desks. For example, English teachers must think of what arrangements allow for students to easily transition from individual work to group work as well as whole class discussion. Roscoe and Orr reiterate the importance of paying attention and practicing classroom management such as classroom procedures and behavioral expectations early in the school year. If procedures and expectations are established and practiced, the class runs smoothly- students know what they are expected to do and the proper way to conduct themselves.

            Roscoe and Orr provide a run-through of first-day procedures for teachers including the lesson’s introduction which involves the use of a “hook”- or something that sparks the student’s interest. A “hook” is a wonderful idea because it answers the question, “Why is this important?” for students. Further, teachers should make sure to discuss year objectives, assessment strategies, classroom rules, procedures and expectations. Following, Roscoe and Orr suggests icebreaker activities, referring to them as “relationship-building activities” that help “build trust”. Activities such as asking students to introduce themselves or playing games like bingo, helps build community amongst peers and with the teacher. Activities also help students to get an understanding of the classroom environment for the year as well as how their instructor acts. Of the first-day errors, avoiding relationship-building activities is accounted for a failure in overall management, especially when trying to build a healthy environment and friendly relationships.

            Most useful to new teachers, Roscoe and Orr offer personal suggestions including organization, advanced preparation of the inclusion of frontloading classroom management as vital to first day success. Both authors cite the attention paid to these three aforementioned details had a “ripple effect” for the rest of the school year. In my own experience of student observation I too would agree that these three elements are crucial. In my own case, my coordinating teacher is new to the school for and is working to establish his classroom as his first year there; however, he has ran into several issues which can be traced back to the lack of time to have advanced preparation. His own hiring was last minute and prevented him from  having the normal allotted time to prepare his classroom to the caliber in which his previous teaching experiences had been at.

Roscoe, Keith, and Kim Orr. "Frontloading Classroom Management." Science Teacher. 77.5

(2010): 43-48. Print.

Frontloading Classroom Management by Keith Roscoe and Kim Orr