Aricel is concerned about helicopter parents

I have come to believe that parental involvement with regard to a child’s progress in school  is extremely important.  I’ve noticed, however,  that parents fall at both extremes in terms of being involved with their child’s progress. There are some parents who are constantly aware of what their child is learning and then there are others who do not seem to have any involvement in their child’s school work.   I have been dealing with both these types of parents and I will tell you that it can be frustrating at times.

The school in which I am doing my student teaching has an online grading system called PowerSchool .   Parents have access to this program at all times. Every time I input a grade in for particular students  I receive a stream of e-mails from parents questioning me as to why their child received that specific grade.  Recently, I had a parent who sent a lengthy e-mail which included the statement, “My child is not a ‘C’ student” and strongly suggested that I change the daughter’s grade.

I also have had parents who do not want any involvement in helping their child improve their grades.   My cooperating teacher and I have called a few parents of students who are getting D’s or F’s as a way of trying to help that student.   Some of these parents did not care and made it clear to us that it was our job to teach their child, not theirs.

Most parents do not make an issue.  It is just the parents who  fall at either  end of the spectrum that can make life difficult.   It seems that with online programs such as PowerSchool, parents are expected to be constantly vigilant as to what  their child is doing in school. This is beneficial because it allows for parental/teacher/student cooperation.   However,  I feel as if it should be used in moderation.  How does everyone feel about parental involvement at their schools?  Is it important at the school you are in? Do the parents in your school have daily access to their child’s grades?    Do you find that to be helpful?    Do you have any similar issues with parents?  Would you prefer that schools did not use programs that gave parents daily access to grades?   

How did you get here? Accidentally?

So often I feel that I have fallen into the path of becoming a teacher by accident.  After reading the article for class, I sat down and thought about what I had just read.  Most of what was mentioned in the article really reminded me of the path I have taken.  I have had a few differences, but have you ever thought of yourself as wanting to become a teacher by accident?

            For many years, just like the man in the article, I was fully against becoming a teacher.  I  sat through school for 13 years, and I surely was not going to choose to be getting up at that hour to go back to school as a teacher.  I went to a 4 year college and majored  in animal biology with zoology with the intention of pursuing veterinarian school.  After my four years of undergraduate school, I applied to veterinarian school and was accepted to St. George’s University School of Veterinarian Medicine.  Little did I know that life had a different path for me.  It was going to be $250,000 for the first three years, and I did not have that kind of money.  So I applied to all sorts of jobs, many of which consisted of resident life at colleges, vet hospitals, and zoos and aquariums.  After working at a nursing home, a veterinarian hospital, a wholesale stuffed animal and gift company, and lots of other odd jobs, I decided I wanted to go back to school.  I had been told by many jobs that getting my teacher certificate could really increase my chances of landing a job in the education department in the zoos and aquariums.  Little did I know that after starting my student teaching, I would really like being in a classroom.  I would still like to do the education programs in a zoo or aquarium, but I feel like my whole journey has been a way to make me an accidental teacher. 

            I am sure that just like the man in the article,  I will have teaching jobs that are great learning experiences, but are just not a right fit for me, or jobs that are great.  Either way, I feel like it is a way of fitting into a job.  I am a firm believer that a lot of times it’s the people you work with that make or break a job.  I have really enjoyed my student teaching experience, and the school district that I am in.  Have you?  Have you felt like you are also an accidental teacher and that the path(s) you have taken to get to where you are right now just kind of fell  into place?

Marina wonders if we are scaffolding too much. Guided notes: to be or not to be!!!!

      Among the many effective teaching strategies we have learned, I believe that having the students use guided notes was one of the best.  My experience is that guided notes are commonly used when teachers lecture. However, I believe that one of  our responsibilities as a classroom teacher is to make sure that our students learn how to take notes effectively on their own. Many of the teachers in different school districts check students’ notebooks at the end of each marking  period in order to  make sure their notebooks are neat and well organized.

            My cooperating teacher takes this idea one step further and prepares guided notes for all of her students for each of the math sections she teaches.  Every student gets a copy of the outline and is able to follow the lecture as the teacher fills in the blanks on the Smartboard.   Using this method my cooperating teacher can highlight everything that is important.   She can point out main ideas, and she makes sure that the students have the important parts of that day’s lesson marked.   However, even thought her notes are very detailed and nicely organized,  I see a big problem as a result of relying on this  method of teaching.

First of all the students get very dependent on the teachers note taking skills.   I wonder what happens in the following year when the teacher doesn’t produce  guided notes and expects the students to know how to take notes independently. How about when they go in college?... There, they are totally on their own.

My first opinion is that the teacher should have started the year out using guided notes as a scaffolding strategy.   She then could slowly take away her guided notes and then slowly allow the students to assume the note taking responsibility.    Secondly,  maybe the teachers in middle school spend more time making sure students understand effective note taking. I think students are capable of learning much more in their earlier years than we demand of them.   Because I believe that student should be taught to take good, effect notes and because I am being asked to continue this practice, I am continuing to give students guided notes, but I am  not putting as much details into those notes as did  my cooperative teacher.

What are your opinions on guided notes? Do you think students are capable of learning effective note taking in the earlier grades? Do you think the students will be fine with the transition I’m making for them at this point in their career?  Thank you for your responses.

Samantha and bullying by females in middle school

As we read in the handout from class, bullying has become a major issue in classrooms today. Bullying is not only physical, but has become more verbal over the past several years. There is a big issue at the middle school in which I am a student teacher.   Girls are being overly mean and nasty to each other. I see it more amongst the girls in my school rather than the boys. This bullying is leading to multiple day suspensions or in-school suspension. Over the past two weeks, I have had at least one student out of every class be suspended.  I need some help or advice on how to help these students on the work they missed. Some have been suspended for 10 days as a result of the fighting.