Lesson Plan Reflection

Ultimately, my reaction towards my lesson plan was that I was completely surprised. I went up there thinking, "Wow, they're going to rip me apart!" As the lesson plan unfolded, I was basically just waiting for the big blow. Who was going to jump out the window? Or walk out of the class without me realizing? Who was going to GROWL during the entire lesson? But it never happened! I'm not sure if it was because I set the rules out on the line from the beginning, or if the students were just tired from the weather and anxious to begin their Thanksgiving break, but I was honestly blown away at how behaved everyone was!

Overall, I think my lesson plan itself went really well. I think I handled the class behaviors decently. (I guess I should thank my years of working with children to that..) I was so upset that my little ice cream tune didn't work as I expected it! But I'm so glad Dr. Luongo intervened and helped me MODIFY to still incorporate it into my lesson (thanks!). I remember thinking that 40 minutes was a LONG time to come up with one little lesson, but in the end, I didn't even have enough time to finish! I wish we would have been able to color and cut out our ice cream cones so we could display them, but oh well. :[

Anyway, I think I did a good job! I wish we could do lessons everyday!! :]

Happy Thanksgiving everyoneee!

Report Cards

How fitting! As we speak, students all over are anxiously waiting for their parents to come home from Parent-Teacher conferences with their report cards/progress reports! (at least the school I work at is doing it now?? lol) I, for one, was never bothered by report cards. Overall, I was a student who pulled mostly A's with little effort *not to toot my own horn..toot! toot!* The only thing I can remember about getting report cards, was my father looking at it and saying "An A-? How come it's not an A+ like Catina (the dreaded genius older sister)?" --- yes, it was JUST like coming home with those 92's instead of 98's ! Personally, I look at report cards as a motivation slip. If I got a B in Science, it would annoy me and make me work harder and focus more to get that A. I was determined! But I know every student is different. Some may think report cards are discouraging. Those who try hard and still don't do as well may give up. Some may even disregard the report card all together! Regardless, I think they're important and positive for the student, teacher AND the clueless parents.

Portfolios

I think that when used appropriately, portfolios can be extremely effective. They are a great way for students to get involved. I clearly remember being in elementary school and having my teacher make us pick out stories we've written for our writing portfolio. Naturally, I made sure to pick out my "best" work! I can still remember the amount of pride I felt in having control over what was going to be shown at parent/teacher conferences. I just KNEW my parents would be blown away by my creative writing pieces! (And they were, of course!)

Looking back, I can't really remember any teachers that didn't use some sort of portfolio during the year. If I remember correctly, there was a portfolio that followed me from 1st grade to 5th. It was a compilation of all stories I'd written over the years, and in 5th grade, we were allowed to take them home. It was great to see how much I had progressed over the years!

Portfolios are helpful to the teachers as well. They are a way to organize the students work, making it easier to track progression. I agree with the concept of having the student and teacher work together to put assignments into their portfolio. It's important to have them work together to make it a fair evaluation of their progress.

PS- Dr. Luongo, I totally love the idea of using pizza boxes or something more creative as their portfolio, rather than just the plain folder!

A vision of K-12 Students Today

Ok, ok..so it's been three weeks! I'm SORRY! As my student's choice blog, I found this cute little video on good old YouTube. I totally thought of Dr. Luongo considering she's a technology lover! It just goes to show that our generation and the younger generations all agree that it's important to incorporate technology into the classroom. It's a part of our everyday lives and teachers need to understand this (especially the old fashioned ones!). Hope you enjoy :]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8&feature=related

Homework

Ah, the dreaded homework subject. I have to admit, working with students at an after school program, which is supposed to focus on helping students with their homework, has made me think twice about hating it. I look at some of these students, who are at an age where they should know things, and they're clueless. Why? Because they don't focus on their homework. They don't go home and sit at their kitchen table and do math or spelling. No, they come to Think Tank (my job), try to rush through homework, so they can be picked first for dodge ball. UM HELLOOO!! HOW ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION!? It's like pulling teeth getting students to sit down and do homework, and honestly, I understand. You sit in school for 8 hours following rules, and at 3 o'clock you just want to let loose. Trust me, I've been there, we ALL have. I know I'm guilty of begging my mom to stay at the park for just a little bit longer, to prolong homework. But when it came down to it, I sat at my table and I was focused, mainly because I didn't have a choice (gotta love those strict Italian parents).

Looking back, I know I hated homework. I used to moan and whine when the teacher would write the assignments on the board that would be due tomorrow. But as a future teacher, I can say that I do believe homework is necessary. It helps to reiterate what was taught in class. The extra practice really does help (as much as it pains me to admit it). Homework is just as necessary as assessing students. And wait, they go hand in hand! A teacher can assess what level the students are comprehending their lessons, by looking at how well they do on their homework. To be honest, homework is a way to really see what the student is learning, or it should be. In class, you always have someone helping someone, or the teacher doing a small informal tutoring session. At home, the students have a chance to show what they really learned by using their and only their brain. (Ok, so this is in an ideal world - minus the parents who do their kids homework, minus the group of friends that get together and do it, minus checking the Internet for answers.) I guess it comes down to trusting that the student is using the homework to benefit their education.

Rubrics

Dr. Luongo has struck again. She has once again opened my eyes to actually appreciate something I used to dread- rubrics! I can honestly say that when I had Teaching Science, I use to cringe when Dr. Redden mentioned that she expected a rubric with our assignments. What on earth are we supposed to write in a rubric!? I used to come up with the most PATHETIC rubrics for her class, somewhat embarrassing, I must say. If only I had been introduced to Rubistar..ah! After our conversation in class, I realized Dr. Luongo was right. It's a great tool. Students can clearly see what is expected of them, and how they have received their grades. In high school, I used to just accept the grade I got, without question (unless, of course it wasn't an A!). But I never knew what was expected. Another great point is that, from the teacher's point of view, if a student or their parent comes in to question your grading method, you can clearly show them what was expected. In plain English, you're covering your own butt. Unfortunately, I had an experience in college where a certain professor (no names mentioned) would give us a test where we were allowed to use our books to directly quote for answers. My friends and I would study ahead of time, comparing answers (since he would give us the questions ahead of time). We would all put almost word for word the exact same answer, and yet all of our grades varied. There were A's, A-'s, B's and even C's!!! How on earth did this professor get these grades? What was he expecting us to write? If only there was a rubric, we could argue our point. Oh well, too late now.

Anyway, I searched the Internet for some things on rubrics and I found this article by a woman named Joyce Kasman Valenza. She discusses almost exactly what we've spoken of in class. Feel free to read it. I thought it was interesting that she discussed how she wished we used rubrics back in history. Why DID it take us so long to come up with it!?

Enjoy :)

http://joycevalenza.com/rubrictext.html

Fairness in Assessment

I'm starting to stress about just how broad these post topics are! There are so many ways you can respond to discussing what's fair when it comes to assessing students. Clearly, after our first post, we all understand that assessing a student IS necessary, but that the valid ways of doing it are diverse (much to the old school teachers disbelief). Personally, I think a big factor in being fair while assessing students is having guidelines. Prior to Dr. Luongo's discussions (and really cool rubric websites -which I totally passed onto to all teachers I know!) I always thought rubrics were just a waste. I was more of a "just give me my grade and as long as it's an A, I really don't care." But as a future teacher, I realize now that, in plain English, we need to cover our butts! By creating these rubrics, students have a flat out description of what is expected. There really are no ifs, ands or buts. It comes down to - did the student do what the teacher expected? A rubric is a great way to show fairness when it comes to assessment.

On a totally different note, I started thinking about students on different levels of learning in the same classroom. As much as we teachers like to think that our classes will always be on the same level, reality is, it's not going to happen. There's going to be that one outstanding student and there's going to be that student who drags behind everyone else. So how on earth are we supposed to assess students who vary so greatly? I know we don't like to admit it, but we WILL categorize students. Favorites, bullies, slackers, overachievers- we'll have them all. I guess the only thing that will help fairly assess these students is to get to know them one at a time and getting a good grasp at their strong and weak points and working with them. The good thing about it is that a teacher is never alone. There's always someone else to help out! By working with students and getting them to that level, assessing a student fairly will become just a little bit easier.