Thursday, October 30, 2014

Blog Post 9


There are many things that go into a good school but I think some of the most important things are having students engaged, good student-teacher relationships, and a well-rounded school. When creating my own school I would choose to have it as a liberal arts school. It is very important for kids to be well rounded especially at younger ages. Once students get into high school I feel they should be able to take most of their classes in the concentration of their choice but should be required to take classes in all subjects so they are able to keep developing their skills to be a well-rounded student. This goes back to keeping students engaged. Not every student is going to be engaged into every subject but, it is the teachers’ job to keep the students engaged. The better relationship a teacher has with their students the better they will be able to do this. In order to keep students engaged the teachers need to create activities that involved the students’ interests. One way to connect to the students interests and get to know them better is to create a feeling of a safe school where they can come and feel open to be completely themselves. There is a lot to keep in mind when creating a school and sometimes it is hard for a teacher or administrators to keep all the different things in balance.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Field Blog 2

            I recently did an observation at Cleveland Heights High School with Mrs. Hansen. Going into the class I posed the question of what would be the difference in the atmosphere of a middle school gym class and a high school gym class. I found high school to be a much harder age group to teach. Before doing any observation I had the idea that the older the kids got the harder it would be to reach them, so far I have found this to be true. The kids in Mrs. Hansen class were very disrespectful. I contribute some of this due to the area the school was in and how the kids are brought up but mostly I contribute it to them being teenage high school students.

When I first walked in I was left standing there with the students for about ten minutes before the teachers even came into the gym. Right as the teacher starting taking attendance one of the girls shouted out, “What the fuck”. The teacher immediately went over to the student and pulled her aside and discussed the situation. No real discipline was put into action though. I feel this gives the students the impression that it is ok to use that language because they will not have to face the consequences of their actions. I also understand that the teacher needs to allow the students to express themselves freely in a classroom but I do not feel this was an appropriate time for this language. The language from the students continued as the class went on. As Mrs. Hansen was giving directions for the day two of the male students were lying down and chatting with each other. When Mrs. Hansen asked them to sit up they refused and kept talking. She then told the students to go sit on the side with the students who were not participating for the day. As the group of students were on the side they started to make comments about their teacher how she is a dyke and racist because she is a white and most of the students are black. The entire time the class was completely out of control. The kids were not participating in the activity.

One of the biggest problems that Mrs. Hansen said she had was with the students being on their cell phones. She said that there was no policy about using phones in class but I asked the principle about this after my observation. She said they do have a no phone rule during class but it isn’t strictly implied because she finds the students are able to use their phones for educational purposes. Most of the students in the gym class either had their phones in their hands or in their pockets and weren’t able to properly do the activity because they were hanging on to their phones. Mrs. Hansen says she tries not to spend too much time of class reprimanding kids for using the phones because if she did she would never be able to do any teaching. I feel the administration should crack down on the students using their phones because from what I saw it took away from the educational learning rather than enhancing it.

Over all my experience at Cleveland Heights High School was very eye opening. This was an atmosphere I was not familiar with. There kids there had different demographics then those in my high school and the classes were conducted in a much different matter. It showed me that not every school as going to be easy breeze and sometimes teachers are thrown into more difficult situations.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Blog Post 8

After discussion in class and reading chapter ten in Educational Foundations I realized there are more things that go into planning a lesson then just the things in my previous Blog. The biggest thing that I believe I had forgot in my early blog is the idea of creating a community within the classroom. Creating a community means that every child is involved in some way. This can be a difficult task for a teacher since many kids learn at different speeds and in different ways. Bills Ayers shows this in his comic by going back and making sure each kid understands subtraction. This can be a tiring task for the teacher because it may mean having to reteach the lesson many times and in different ways but I feel it is important task. No child left behind is a great phrase for a teacher to live by. A teacher also needs to be flexible in their teaching. Changing the lessons plans to fit your students is a skill that I feel all teachers should have. I have seen many teachers who continue to use the same lesson plan year after year and never take their students into consideration when planning their lessons. Providing good lessons may mean a teacher has to change within their selves in order to communicate their lessons in the best way possible to their students. Another technique I did not include in my previous blog is the ability for a teacher to grow and work with others. If a teacher can have the parents and the community of the students as allies it can only make them that much better of a teacher for their students. Parents and the community outside a classroom know a student on a different level than a teacher does inside a classroom. Understanding a student's outside life can give a teacher the opportunity to use a students previous knowledge and incorporate it into the lesson plan and build on it. This could not only save the teacher time from having to teach what the kids already have an understanding of but it also allows the teacher to get to know their students on a deeper level outside the classroom. There are many things that go into planning a lesson and I am sure I am still missing some but I am going to keep trying to learn and observe those around me.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Blog Post 7

When Ayers uses the metaphor of building bridges I believe he is talking about building bridges between the student and teacher. This is done through the teacher being able to relate to the student on a personal level.

The pattern of greatness:
1.) Greatness in teaching, too requires, a serious encounter with autobiography.
2.) Greatness in teaching is always in pursuit of the next challenge; the next encounter…greatness demands an openness to the new and the unique.

All the examples show how a teacher is to build a relationship with their students and why it is so important.

We are planning a lesson on the Declaration of Independence.

When planning the lesson we considered:

·       The interests of students

·       Students prior knowledge

·       Students learning styles

·       The length of presentation

·       The teaching styles

o   Student involvement

·       Any materials needed for lesson

·       Consulting with colleagues

·       Self-reflection

o   Relationship with students

·       Awareness of

o   Tone of voice

§  Fake it if needed

o   Interaction of students

o   Dress

·       Simplify and relate to students
 
In our group we also discussed the activities we would do with the students to help them have a better understanding of the lesson.
We would have the students write a mock Declaration of Independence to declare some independence from their teachers and parents just as the colonies did to the king.
We would also do an activity where we had a king barking orders to the students without them receiving any benefits to show them how the colonies felt and why they wanted their independence.
We also talked about having the students do a debate of patriots vs. loyalist so that they understand both points of view.
 
 

Monday, October 13, 2014

Field Post 1 Beachwood MS

Visiting Beachwood Middle School was my first field experience. While there I observed Mr. Gibbons and Mrs. Hollingsworth who is not only one of the middle school gym teachers but also teaches health at the high school. Mrs. Hollingsworth recommend that along with majoring in Mulit-Age Education I should also look into either double majoring in health or get a minor in heath. This is something I plan on talking to my advisor about to see what she thinks as well. The reason Mrs. Hollingsworth suggested that is because this is her last year teaching before she retires and without her certification in health she would have been cut but because of that certification she was able to fill both positions and able to keep her job. I was surprised but her great enthusiasm even though she is retiring. Many times you see teachers slack in their last year because they know they do not need anything from the district in years to come. Mrs. Hollingsworth also  emphasized how important it is to have another certification besides just Physical Education because of the competitive job market for teachers.
I was able to observe two class periods in the gym while on my observation. Both classes had much diversity amongst the students. The class was primarily white but did have some racial diversity but also had a few kids with physical disabilities. In the class there were two kids who were deaf. To compensate for their hearing disability there was an aid in the gym as well who translated what the teachers were saying into sign. I thought it was great that the school provided this option that allowed the students to be integrated into the class but also allowed them to understand what was going on. I find that there are many school that do the opposite of this, they instead pull the challenged kids out so that they can learn at their own pace. I had a first hand experience with this when my cousin, Kevin, who has spinal bifida was put in a classroom full of kids with mental and physical disabilities even though he was able to handle the traditional classroom. Kevin started having behavioral issues because of the classroom and it took months to convince the school to put him back into a the regular classroom. I feel that if students are able to handle a integrated classroom and aren't a distraction to other students learning then they should be in those classrooms. During the first class I noticed the uniforms that the kids were wearing for gym. They were allowed to wear whatever bottoms they liked -- which ranged from jeans to athletic shorts -- but they all wore black t-shirts that said Beachwood Middle School on them. This was something that I didn't expect from a public school but see why they do it. During middle school and high school my phys. ed. teachers were constantly having to talk to students about their shirts being cut inappropriately or for having inappropriate images or writing on them. Having uniformed shirts takes away the issues. I feel that having uniformed shorts for gym may be a good idea because it is one less issue for the teachers to deal with. With gym uniforms I feel it still gives the kids the opportunity to express themselves during the school day in the clothes they wish but also allows them to change for gym into clothes that allow them to properly move during the class.

One of the biggest differences I noticed from the gym classes I participated in through school is that that the teachers at Beachwood Middle School involved themselves in the activates that took place in class. The teachers kept score and stopped the game when it was being played incorrect. I feel this is an very important role for the gym teachers to play. It allows the students to build relationships with their teachers, opposed to them just standing on the side talking to each other and yelling at the students when they were doing something wrong. There was one point in the game where a student was not participating in the game and the Mr. Gibbons went and talk to the girl on how she could participate more. The students were also very conscience of those students who were not participating as much and would toss them the ball to allow them to serve and involve them in the game. I was very surprised to see this as many of the students were competitive I thought they would be more of "ball hogs". I feel that because the teachers were standing right there and were involved in the game the students were less likely to misbehave, making the teachers job that much more easier. I felt the teachers also did a very good job of making sure their was little down time so the students were always doing something. When one team was waiting for another team to finish up playing the teacher split them up real quick to play against each other. The teachers also kept rotating the teams so that the kids didn't get bored and kept them interested. Gym teachers in a middle school have a tough job to find activities that interested all their students. Their classes ranged from sixth graders to eight graders. At this age there is a huge gap in the ability of the students. The teachers were aware of the gap though, as we discussed it between classes, and did a good job of finding activities that all of the students could participate in .

I feel the gym teaches at Beachwood Middle School do a very good job of building relationships with their students, which I find is the most important thing a teacher can do. Mr. Gibbon remember that a student was sick last class and asked him how he was feeling today. He also asked another student where his sister was because she wasn't in class earlier that day. Mrs. Hollingsworth told me a story how two of the girls in the class brought her earrings that they made during the first few weeks of class for just being a great teacher and now she wears a pair of the earnings almost everyday. These are the things that I feel really help build the relationship between a student and a teacher that is important for the student to make the most of their learning experience in a school.

One of the only negative things I found in the room was how early the students got released from class to go change. Most kids just wore the pants they wee wearing for the day in class so all they had to do was change their t-shirts. The teachers gave the kids about ten minutes to do so and many of the students were back out in the gym after just two or three minutes and were asking to get basketballs out to playing with until they leave. I feel leaving the students in class long would cut down on this nagging and also allows them to get more physical activity for the day.

Overall I am unsure if middle school gym is something that I am interested doing but it is not totally out of the question. I am excited to visit a high school and elementary school gym class to see the difference in them all.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Blog Post 6

While reading chapter 8, page 108 caught my attention. Page 108 talks about how both the student and the teacher need to authenticate each others thinking. This made me think about a teacher I had in high school, Ms. Flint. I had her for 10th and 11th grade for U.S. and World History. Every few weeks Ms. Flint would shut down the smart board and either stand or sit on the desk depends on her mood for the day and she would allow us to talk about whatever we want to. Discussion would often lead to controversial topics that we as students were facing. This was a time that allowed students to talk about things such as drinking or sexual orientation. These conversations really surprised me on how open students were with our teacher. I feel like this really showed how much the students respected that the conversation would stay in the classroom. Because of this openness many of the students looked at Ms. Flint as someone they could trust and could go to when a problem occurred knowing she would know what to do. I feel more teachers need to take an approach as she did. Maybe it doesn't need to be to the extreme that she did but I feel a little more understanding from the teachers would allow the communication between students and teachers to improve.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Blog Post 5

Many times throughout the reading I have a hard time seeing Rofes ideas and views on homophobia and heterosexism in schools. I would assume this is because of the fact that I didn't have negative experiences in my own high school with this issues. My high school was very open to the GLBT community. There were many kids that I know that came out openly and were accepted for who they were. We had many same sex couples who would walk down the halls holding hands and the student body accepted it as normal. I believe the reason things were this way in my school is because many of the kids who came out were kids who were previously well liked in the school. Towards the end of the discussion in class on Thursday I started to think more of the way things were in my school and I recalled a post I had seen on our schools website just a few days before. The article was on this years homecoming court. As I started to think about the kings and queens I realized that three out of the five of our kings are openly apart of the GLBT community. This reconfirmed my ideas that my school was accepting of the GLBT community and it wasn't just my outlook of the school. I hope that the school I end up working at is also accepting to the GLBT community. As my goal is to be a guidance counselor I hope that I am able to support the GLBT through different allies and clubs at the school. I understand that many people have different views on heterosexism and homophobia but I feel many times that those who are against it usually are the ones who don't understand it. I hope that through my job I can make everyone see the whole picture and then let them make their own judgments based on all the information instead of limited stereotypes.