Captain's Log 8

Captain's Log Week 8

This past week in the classroom students have started working on their Social Studies Curriculum Based Assessment essays. The challenge with this work is that students are at this point in the quarter- the last two weeks- where they have disengaged, mentally checked out and a good portion are completely resistant to participating in class. I can’t really blame them because I feel the same exact way with my own college courses.

            The challenge in my class is the learning gap. There is a defined group of students who excel and do well, but its marginal from the larger group that does not fully comprehend the objectives nor do they speak up when they need help until they are asked. With this range in the class, my coordinating teacher and I find ourselves spread thin, trying to re-explain how the lesson that had just been taught. Some students catch on to what were telling them, but a handful just brush us off and say “I have to go to summer school anyways!” and that fact can be discouraging not only to the students but to us, the teachers, as well because it feels fruitless- we want to see them succeed and its difficult to see them just give up!

            Another challenge is the lack of alignment between the CBA essay and the English class content. The ability to brainstorm, research, and write an essay is lacking so much so that I had to teach a lesson of formatting an essay in addition to previous lessons taught over the quarter. Its very redundant for students who get it and remember talking about it but news to those who don’t. The best alternative is to separate the class and develop depth to the essays of those who are at the finish line and aid those who need the basics discussed more.  Having the two learning groups together really prevents students from wanting to admit that they’re not part of that top group.

            I learned that unfortunately everyone, students and teachers, all feel that end of the school year drag and it is killer to trying to finish up leftover work and lessons. My greatest take away is making sure to lesson plan all first year of teaching because its important not just to stay on track but to know how to adjust to requirements like the CBA. Rushing the essays at the end is crippling for students who don’t finish and I don’t want to put my students or myself in that position. 

Captain Raschko, signing off. 

Captain's Log 5

Captain's Log 5

            Over the course of the past week not too many exciting things have happened in the classroom. I’m at the middle part of the quarter and my overall feelings are that I have far too much on my plate. If it wasn’t for the years I’ve spent procrastinating assignments from when I was a freshman in high school to present day, even as I write this, I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress and demand. I’m being pulled in different directions: college studies, middle school hours, my part-time job, running, family, friends and the extra stuff including graduation applications which have yet to be found. If my parents question my frequent trips to coffee shops I might just send them my course load in the mail as a response. Now days I don’t drink shots unless they’re espresso shots. I’m also confident I haven’t slept more than five hours since spring break- I miss those days. I also haven’t made a home cooked meal in weeks- unless a sandwich counts, in which case I cooked on Monday. I don’t even know if it’s about balancing everything anymore. I feel like I’m just struggling to stay on top of the water and whenever I make a gain somebody tosses me a brick: “don’t forget this!”

            In the classroom I’m trying to cope with the stress I have overall in my life by ignoring it. Ignorance is bliss, and I don’t want the stress to taint my enjoyment of time spent in the middle school. I’m trying hard to drop everything at the door and keep things separate. So far so good! I was having difficulty this morning with a bad start of spilling coffee and slow drivers that nearly made me late (thankfully I didn’t get a speeding ticked). I lucked out and my coordinating teacher gave me an organization task in which I got to just work on mindless items- exactly what I needed. I think the more this quarter goes on, the more I realize how important it is to focus on the task at hand. I can’t do everything, and some things have to just have to be let go. I know my coordinating teacher has said that a million times, but only now, when I am feeling spread thinly across my responsibilities, do I realize how important that advice is.

            In my first few years of teaching, especially in my student teaching quarter, I will be working to organize my own life in a manner that things stay separate. I don’t want stress or issues from other halves of my life to affect the other. My home life shouldn’t affect a child’s performance in school; they already have their home lives doing that for them. For myself, I don’t want school to follow me home or home to follow me to school. That will be the balance I’ll focus on most so I don’t end up feeling like I’m drowning, with too much to handle. 

This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off. 

Captain's Log 4

Captain's Log 4

            On Monday I had a break through moment with a female student in my class who in the past has been shy, reserved and resistant to completing class work or participating in discussions at all. I asked her how her day was to which she shook her head and just said “awful”. I asked her what was going on and she said her mom and her had a fight, and that it was a regular thing. We talked about her upcoming move to England to live with her father; our connections to the Air Force and at the end of the conversation she asked me, “Are you going to be here the rest of the year?” To which I answered “Yes, of course!” She smiled- I have never seen this girl smile-and said “Good”. During the conversation, however, she confessed (I’m paraphrasing for her own privacy) that the fights between her mother and her were moderately physical. I was shocked that she had decided to share this with me. I reported back to my coordinating instructor which he said he would document and report during his free period, and then we briefly discussed her past history. Apparently she had shared similar information with him, but left out the physical aspect of the fighting. It dawned on me that for this girl I had become someone she could trust with private and personal information.

While I know it is mandatory to report, and I fully believe in the idea, I am worried that our teacher-student relationship will lose trust to which I see as harmful to her. I see this as harmful because I see already see her disconnect in the classroom and I’m hoping this won’t add further to it. I also can tell that these fights DO affect her classroom performance and that it is absolutely necessary to report this- that this is quite possible her call for help.

            My experience from this incident serves to affirm, in my own beliefs, the importance of mandatory reporting as well as the weight of relationships between students and teachers. We need to be the person they can trust but also act as their safety line, especially when they can’t see the way out for themselves. In my own classroom in the future I want to establish trusting relationships with my students and maintain an open door policy so when things like this happen in their lives they can trust me to act in their best interest.

            A final thought: What do you say to a child who says something like that? I’m a little in despair about that conversation still. At that time I just sort of paused, and sort of re-directed the subject. I don’t know if it was the right thing to do, but she must not have thought anything poorly of it by the way the conversation ended. I mean how do you console someone who confesses something like that?

This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off. 

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. 

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”:

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. 

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