Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
First Disaster!
I've been student teaching for a few weeks now, but I just experienced my first crisis! I was asked to draft a test to determine how prepared my students were for the upcoming semester. I based the questions on clearly defined state standards, worked on excellent multiple-choice answers and got an enthusiastic response from my mentor teacher. I passed the test out, waited for the students to finish and giddily anticipated grading my first real creation as a teacher.
The result: disaster!
My students scored an average of 27%, slightly higher than absolute guessing on every question. The test had completely failed to test anyone's prior knowledge, as they could have acheived the same result by marking each question "A."
Disheartened, I reasoned that the students were simply woefully prepared for the coming semester. After all, the teacher had thoroughly approved the test and I had no problem with any of the questions. To test this hypothesis, I gave a copy of the test to my girlfriend, a college graduate with a Biology degree from the University of Michigan. She proceeded to answer 33% of the questions correctly. It was only then that I realized that I had made a mistake that should have been obviously detected: I had assumed that the students' content knowledge matched my own. The next prior knowledge test I draft will feature a much wider range of difficulty in the questions in order to properly assess my students' knowledge.
The result: disaster!
My students scored an average of 27%, slightly higher than absolute guessing on every question. The test had completely failed to test anyone's prior knowledge, as they could have acheived the same result by marking each question "A."
Disheartened, I reasoned that the students were simply woefully prepared for the coming semester. After all, the teacher had thoroughly approved the test and I had no problem with any of the questions. To test this hypothesis, I gave a copy of the test to my girlfriend, a college graduate with a Biology degree from the University of Michigan. She proceeded to answer 33% of the questions correctly. It was only then that I realized that I had made a mistake that should have been obviously detected: I had assumed that the students' content knowledge matched my own. The next prior knowledge test I draft will feature a much wider range of difficulty in the questions in order to properly assess my students' knowledge.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Second Day Notes
I've just arrived in Ann Arbor after spending the morning attending meetings at Western International. I fear that the constant commuting from Livonia to Detroit to Ann Arbor is going to drive me crazy at least once this year, but it's certainly been manageable thus far.
Some notes:
The amount of work required of teachers before the school year starts seems absolutely massive. I've carried hundreds of textbooks, cleaned the classroom and my mentor teacher even repaired a desk with an electric drill! This is not even considering the actual preparation for teaching our students, who will be expecting a pristine classroom and a prepared teacher by next Tuesday.
I have also gotten an overwhelmingly positive welcome from my fellow teachers. I initially worried that some teachers might treat me a bit like a student (as I doubt I look much older than many of their students...), but they have welcomed me into their group and are sure to be a constant source of advice and support throughout the year.
I'm guessing that my Day 3 notes will be a touch less interesting, as we seem to be rolling into the Labor Day holiday on a wave of paperwork, but I'll post posting regardless!
Some notes:
The amount of work required of teachers before the school year starts seems absolutely massive. I've carried hundreds of textbooks, cleaned the classroom and my mentor teacher even repaired a desk with an electric drill! This is not even considering the actual preparation for teaching our students, who will be expecting a pristine classroom and a prepared teacher by next Tuesday.
I have also gotten an overwhelmingly positive welcome from my fellow teachers. I initially worried that some teachers might treat me a bit like a student (as I doubt I look much older than many of their students...), but they have welcomed me into their group and are sure to be a constant source of advice and support throughout the year.
I'm guessing that my Day 3 notes will be a touch less interesting, as we seem to be rolling into the Labor Day holiday on a wave of paperwork, but I'll post posting regardless!
Monday, August 31, 2009
First Day Thoughts
I've just completed my first day at Western International! Though there were no students attending class today, it was still an eye-opening experience and I learned an enormous amount about the school and faculty. While there were a number of negatives I noticed almost immediately, I'm only going to focus on the positive aspects for the inaugural blog post.
First and foremost, my mentor teacher, Tom Hoetger, is a truly dedicated professional. He responded to my barrage of rookie questions with thoughtful, detailed replies and a great sense of humor. I believe our teaching styles will greatly suit each other and lead to a successful year.
The Western International administration also recognizes the school's problems and genuinely cares about helping teachers. Every administrator I encountered seemed to care deeply about ensuring that each teacher would be able to effectively educate their students, even when resources were scarce. I even heard a number of references to the taxonomy and lesson-planning strategies we've been studying in MAC!
In all, it was a busy and tiring first day (and the kids haven't even come in yet!). More to come tomorrow!
First and foremost, my mentor teacher, Tom Hoetger, is a truly dedicated professional. He responded to my barrage of rookie questions with thoughtful, detailed replies and a great sense of humor. I believe our teaching styles will greatly suit each other and lead to a successful year.
The Western International administration also recognizes the school's problems and genuinely cares about helping teachers. Every administrator I encountered seemed to care deeply about ensuring that each teacher would be able to effectively educate their students, even when resources were scarce. I even heard a number of references to the taxonomy and lesson-planning strategies we've been studying in MAC!
In all, it was a busy and tiring first day (and the kids haven't even come in yet!). More to come tomorrow!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
End of August
Well, the blog has been on a bit of a hiatus during the August recess, but I'm finally back! I have my first day of class tomorrow at Western International High School in Detroit. I'm sad to report that my almost all of my relatives (whom I spent the majority of the break catching up/vacationing with) gave roughly the same response when I informed them that I would be teaching in Detroit:
"I hope you're bringing a flak jacket."
This sort of immediate aversion to Detroit schools seems to be a sad reality among many suburban Michiganders. Though my family failed to discourage me from student teaching in the city, I can only imagine how many other teachers the city has lost to this type of pressure. I hope that my experience at Western will allow me to have a more informed discussion about the real issues facing Detroit schools and dispel some of the damaging misconceptions surrounding them. This blog will play an integral part in logging my experiences and helping me analyze my viewpoints as they change to account for new teaching experiences.
My blog will really take off tomorrow evening, so check back if you're interested!
"I hope you're bringing a flak jacket."
This sort of immediate aversion to Detroit schools seems to be a sad reality among many suburban Michiganders. Though my family failed to discourage me from student teaching in the city, I can only imagine how many other teachers the city has lost to this type of pressure. I hope that my experience at Western will allow me to have a more informed discussion about the real issues facing Detroit schools and dispel some of the damaging misconceptions surrounding them. This blog will play an integral part in logging my experiences and helping me analyze my viewpoints as they change to account for new teaching experiences.
My blog will really take off tomorrow evening, so check back if you're interested!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Catching Up & Twitter Commentary
I'll admit that my blog has suffered due to my focus on other classes, but I'm posting today to make sure that I've got four posts up by next week! Look for a post or two this weekend as well. On to the blog post!
For me, the idea of incorporating Twitter into a lesson is intriguing. Twitter allows students to voice concerns without anxiety and lets the class collectively discuss issues that might have otherwise been skimmed over in the classroom. The idea of a group of engaged students listening to a lecture while simultaneously discussing their own ideas could allow for unprecedented levels of class participation. For instance, I'm currently writing a blog post on the merits of in-class Tweeting while listening to Prof. Stanzler explain the Point-Counterpoint assignment. Though my attention is admittedly divided between the two, I am confident that I am retaining all necessary information while writing about ideas directly related to the course. One could argue that I'm doubly engaged in 504 content!
Of course, somebody else could argue that I'm only HALF engaged in 504 content. If my blog post were considered weakly reasoned or if I end up bombarding Prof. Stanzler with questions about the Point-Counterpoint assignment, a reasonable individual could suggest that my attempt to multi-task was detrimental to my performance in both avenues. If focusing on one blog post can be so distracting, imagine the impact of focusing on a number of Twitter discussions involving dozens of participants. The fact that I could just as easily be writing a blog post about skateboarding or surfing the internet only exacerbates the problem. I may be overly cynical, but I feel that a group of high school/early college students is likely to get off track fairly quickly.
P.S. I was able to easily follow the Point-Counterpoint discussion regarding video games in learning while blogging...but I missed my chance to make a comment in class.
For me, the idea of incorporating Twitter into a lesson is intriguing. Twitter allows students to voice concerns without anxiety and lets the class collectively discuss issues that might have otherwise been skimmed over in the classroom. The idea of a group of engaged students listening to a lecture while simultaneously discussing their own ideas could allow for unprecedented levels of class participation. For instance, I'm currently writing a blog post on the merits of in-class Tweeting while listening to Prof. Stanzler explain the Point-Counterpoint assignment. Though my attention is admittedly divided between the two, I am confident that I am retaining all necessary information while writing about ideas directly related to the course. One could argue that I'm doubly engaged in 504 content!
Of course, somebody else could argue that I'm only HALF engaged in 504 content. If my blog post were considered weakly reasoned or if I end up bombarding Prof. Stanzler with questions about the Point-Counterpoint assignment, a reasonable individual could suggest that my attempt to multi-task was detrimental to my performance in both avenues. If focusing on one blog post can be so distracting, imagine the impact of focusing on a number of Twitter discussions involving dozens of participants. The fact that I could just as easily be writing a blog post about skateboarding or surfing the internet only exacerbates the problem. I may be overly cynical, but I feel that a group of high school/early college students is likely to get off track fairly quickly.
P.S. I was able to easily follow the Point-Counterpoint discussion regarding video games in learning while blogging...but I missed my chance to make a comment in class.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Technology in the Classroom
I am a bit skeptical about relying on technology in my classroom. I worry that students will struggle with new technology to the point that I will end up teaching computer techniques than my subject area. This idea was cemented in my mind while watching our cohort of MACers struggle with Mac OS and video capture equipment. If a group of highly intelligent individuals with widely varied backgrounds can have such trouble with technology, it seems a bit optimistic to assume that a group of young children will easily master the concepts. I believe technology has its place in the classroom, but a teacher should not depend upon it.
Friday, June 26, 2009
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