Melissa is concerned about the balancing act

As a student teacher, I feel that have learned so much this semester. This experience has been invaluable to me.  I have a cooperating teacher who is very dedicated to her job and she tries to help me a lot, even though her plate is full with graduate school courses and deadlines. However, it has been a very challenging task for me to balance teaching, working (part-time) and motherhood.  

            Once I am on my own as a first year teacher, I will no longer have someone to consult with while I am in the classroom. The thought of that makes me feel a little anxious. I realize that I have so much more to work on, to read about, and to experience.   I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and discouraged at this point.  I wonder how I can become the effective teacher that I want to be without sacrificing time with my daughter.  My questions to the class are the following:  How can I find the time to develop my professional skills and knowledge while balancing my family responsibilities? Can it be done successfully?  Additionally, I would like to know………………besides looking for a job this summer, what are some of the things that you will do to enhance your personal development as a future teacher?

Yuri is facing a conundrum about calculators

        I've been noticing that a number of the students in my double period classes and even students from my pre-calculus class seem to be very dependent on their calculators.    I spoke to my cooperating teacher about this and he informed me that it was because a few years ago the  district began a “push” for students to use calculators in class.    They encouraged teachers to allow students to use their calculators. Their reasoning was that they had the calculators and they may as well use them. They figured if students did not spend as much time working on calculations they could focus more on the actual application of what was being taught. However, studies and the data gathered from standardized testing have shown a negative effect on grades across the board in mathematics. There is word that in the near future the district will pass a new policy they demands less dependency on the calculator. My question is would it be ok if I start discouraging such a dependency on calculators in my classes?   For example, would it be fair of me to state that no calculators are to be used for tests or quizzes?  Of course I will adjust my assessments so that a calculator is not necessary in order demonstrate comprehension.  What is your feeling on this subject?   

Kaitlyn is concerned about student lack of motivation. Is she justified?

     When I was in high school I attended an all-girls, Catholic high school where the tuition was about $8,000 per year. Needless to say, most, if not all, of the 200 girls in the school were sufficiently motivated and knew they had to do well in order to stay at Immaculate Conception High School. Furthermore, the teachers and the administration set high standards for all of the students and the girls knew they had to meet those standards. The graduation rate at my high school was close to 100% and maybe one student in each graduating class did not attend college the year after graduation. It was just a “given” that everyone applied to colleges and, by the spring had enrolled in one of those college for fall attendance.    

            When I got my student teaching assignment at my high school I knew it would be a different experience than what I had had  in high school but I had no idea it would be this different! The most striking difference for me is the lack of motivation on the students' part as well as on the teachers' part. I have so many students who couldn't care less about their grades and performance in the classroom. They refuse to do homework, refuse to take notes, and never participate in class, even when I randomly call on them. Then, when they fail chapter tests, they have no reaction and if I ask them what happened they matter-of-factly say that they did not study and they do not mind that they failed. I have also had, on multiple occasions, some of my older students, when asked about their future or their performance in class, they have replied with something like, "I'm just waiting until I turn 18 so that I can drop out of this place." or "I don't care about this stuff. I'm never going to college and I'm never gonna use this stuff. I don't need this stuff on the streets." First, it breaks my heart to hear a child have such miniscule motivation in life and have such low standards for himself. Second, and maybe even worse, I have no idea how to respond to comments like that. How do I get students with no goals and no desire to have a successful future motivated in my U.S. history class?

      I decided to pick the brains of the other teachers and see how they motivate their students and how they respond to comments like these. To my surprise, the teachers' motivation for their students was just as bad as the students' motivations for themselves. The teachers do not expect the students to do well while they do expect them to end up on the streets or worse. I actually had a teacher tell me, "Don't waste your time trying to motivate a kid like that. He's just going to end up in jail. Just forget that he is in the classroom and give him a D so that he passes and can get out of here." I almost cried when I was told this. No wonder the kids have such low motivation and self-pride. The teachers and their low standards are a big part of the problem!

            I bring this topic up because I am extremely bothered by this whole situation and it is something I have never experienced nor ever had to deal with. I know that I cannot save the world and I know that I will not keep everyone of my students off of the streets. But I feel as though I have to do something to try and make these kids think more positively about themselves and their futures. I refuse to give up on my students. But my question is, how do I motivate these kids who have no desire nor drive to be in school, never mind pass and succeed in their classes? How do I deal with students who are just waiting to drop out of school?

Jana suggests that we become comfortable with technology and infuse it into our lessons. Do you think it matters?

  

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson033.shtml

I had the opportunity to take some instructional technology professional development workshops during the semester and I am amazed by all the different types of technology that can be utilized by teachers.  I think that technology integration is an important part of being an effective teacher.  I've learned how to blog with students, how to use digital storytelling in the classroom, and how to utilize Google docs for group projects (and countless other uses).  I'll be the first to admit that when I walked into my student teaching classroom and saw an overhead projector and an ancient TV, I thought I would have very little use for technology in my classroom, but to my surprise, the lack of a  Smartboard has challenged me to be more creative and try new instructional technology.

     The article I read listed a number of brilliant things that teachers can do with technology. 

·         empower kids with technology

·         use technology as a propellant, not as a crutch

·         create assessments that rigorously determine the quality of projects enhanced with technology

·         find and use resources, if what you need doesn’t exist………….create it.   

·         use your blog, website, and email to communicate with parents

·         weekly plans and upcoming important events (tests, projects, etc.) get posted toblog

·         update available resources on the blog to connect with my lessons

·         put kids in touch with the world

·         accept the role of co-learner

·         use kids’ own devices to better teach them    

       The article suggests that our students can be our best teachers when it comes to technology.  I've witnessed some amazing presentations that would not have been possible without students using their personal iPads.  Finally, delight in the discovery, the newness, and the fun that technology has to offer.  The article reminds us that  technology can't make a poor teacher a good one, but it can help make great teachers the ones that students remember.

         I feel very comfortable with using different kinds of technology in the classroom because my cooperating teacher expected me to jump in with both feet.  Learning about Google Docs and how to integrate it into a class has been great for me.  (Think digital peer-editing!  Even online reading quizzes through Google forms!)  How do you feel about the use of technology in the classroom?  As the author of this article says in his conclusion…………….Do  you think the use of technology has the ability to transform you from a great teacher to a memorable one?  What are you biggest concerns or challenges when it comes to using technology in the classroom?  Do you think technology has helped you during your student teaching experience?

Cynthea shares the greatest "A-ha" moment of the year!!!!!

Student teaching is the hardest work I have ever done. It takes me through the whole emotional gamut on a weekly basis. Some days I am so tired and overwhelmed I just want to cry. Other days I am absolutely sure that I have chosen the right profession and I am ridiculously happy because I had a breakthrough of some kind with a student. That’s what I want to focus on here, because focusing on the other stuff is too depressing.

Have you had an “ah ha” moment with one of your students yet? My best one happened this week on the day that I was teaching the Pythagorean Theorem to my 7^th grade math classes. I wore my “Find X” math t-shirt (a true sign of a math geek J). This t-shirt is a joke. When a math teacher tells you to “find x”, you are not supposed to locate x, you are supposed to solve for x and tell what the value of x is. Only a few of my students got the joke. 7^th graders are really funny that way. Many of them are still very literal. One of the boys who tests my patience daily because he cannot focus or stop talking and does not get the best grades in math noticed my shirt when he came into class. He said, “That’s impossible. You can’t figure out what x is. You only know that’s a right angle and we know they add up to 180° in there.” Just hearing him say the angles in a triangle add up to 180° made me really happy because we had learned that the week before and that meant he retained it! I told him that he would be able to “find x” for the triangle on my shirt by the end of class and he was skeptical. I didn’t bring it up again and taught the lesson. As he was packing up to leave my class, he said, “Hey. Let me see your shirt again.” and he verbally proceeded to figure it out and solve for x. I was so happy I almost cried and he was really proud of himself.

That’s why I’m here, trying so hard to learn how to be a good teacher – for moments like that one. I would love to hear your version of a story like this that has happened in one of your classes.

Debbie and Lauren share a concern

I am doing my student teaching in a school where there is obvious socio-economic diversity.   I am teaching three US History II CP classes and two US History II classes. There is a special education teacher in the room for the two US History II classes. The two US History II classes  (Period 1 and 5) have over ten students who have IEPs. Many times, especially in my fifth period class,  the students have no desire to participate in any of the lessons.  They seem to not want to be there.   For some of the students this is the second time taking this class and they are there because they need it to graduate. Some the students are turning 18 and have no intention ies that I have prepared.  If I ask them to do any work they usually just say no. The special education teacher can sometimes get them to do work,  but not always.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help motivate these students and get them to stop talking and participate?  My co-operating teacher sometimes sends them to A-212 which is the discipline room. There they are given a slap on the wrist and then sent back to history class.   HELP!!!!

Lauren wants to know how we motivate at-risk students

          As I mentioned last week, I only have 5 classes that I teach. Four of these classes are  honors classes and the other is a very, very low level pre-algebra class. The kids in this pre-algebra class literally do not care to be in there one bit. It is a class full of some of the worst students in the 8th grade.  I do believe that each one of these students has potential, but each one tries very hard to impress their classmates with his/her bad behavior.    We have an in-class support teacher in this  room and the students are extremely rude and disrespectful to her. If she tries to help them with something they say they do not need help and then they come over to ask me for help. There are three teachers in this class and the students are uncontrollable. They do not care to do any work, they will not take any notes and they certainly do not do homework.   I try to make the material interesting for them and try not to make the class boring for them, but it seems the more I try to make it better for them the worse they get.   I find that they continually try to take advantage of me. They do not show disrespect to me with their words,  the disrespect is manifested in their behavior. They actually really enjoy having me teach them.  

These students give everyone in the school a problem and it would appear that  every single problem student in eighth grade is in this class.  I do not know what else I can do to gain their attention and make them interested in algebra.    Are there any suggestions that you would like to make as to how I can change the attitude of these students?