Week of February 21, 2011 – No School
This turned out to be quite the week and practically Spring Break #1. We had 4 out of the 5 days cancelled due to ice, snow, etc. And the one day we did have school was Wednesday and I stayed home because I was still getting over the flu that I got on Monday evening. (I wouldn’t have taught that Wednesday anyway because it is a block day with Spanish V and John has been working with them recently).
Once again I have missed out of many valuable days of teaching experience that I will not get back because we are following BSU schedule and I finish May 4 no matter what. So besides getting sick and getting over my illness, I spent some time working on my LAMP (Learning Assessment Model Project). That is a big BSU project that we complete for a 2-week unit that we create and teach during our student teaching. So it was good to get going on that.
Hoping for a better week during week 8! Can’t believe we are this far into student teaching!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Week 6
February 16, 2011
This has been a week of firsts! Starting with administering a test on Monday and Tuesday. The administering part was not a big deal, but grading two parts (writing and chapter test) in just a few days was slightly overwhelming. Luckily, John and I shared and we each graded two class periods. Even having two periods to grade felt like a lot. On Monday I also went to a Webinar with a few other staff members. We listened to a pre-recorded webinar by Ken O’Connor about grading and assessment in the schools. It was interesting; he has some different ideas and suggestions. To continue my week of new “firsts” John and I ate lunch in the teacher’s lounge on Wednesday. We usually eat in our room and continue working or planning. It was nice to meet some other teachers, because I have been kind of isolated in our foreign language area and only know the teachers that are in our wing of the building. Wednesday evening I also attended my first sporting event. I went to part of the girl’s gymnastics meet. We have four girls in our classes on the team and it was neat to watch them compete! I am hoping to go to a few more extra curricular activities to support the school and students.
February 18, 2011
For the second half of the week I started a new chapter with Spanish II. We started with some vocabulary activities first. I think right now the main areas I need to be working on are giving clear accurate directions in Spanish using words the students are familiar with. I need to remember that with Spanish II the students have a pretty limited vocabulary and I need to be clear and concise. Some of my activities have not gone as well as I had hoped and directions and explanations are part of the problem. I also need to constantly remember who my students are, what interests them, and figure out how I can engage them. Ideally it is better to have multiple short activities so that students do not get bored. If possible, I need to try and get them up and moving around in the classroom as well. These goals are going to take time and experience to feel more comfortable with them, but they are definitely something that I am aware of and trying to work on.
p.s. I cannot believe I am already 6 weeks into this!! Only 10(ish) more left! WOW.
This has been a week of firsts! Starting with administering a test on Monday and Tuesday. The administering part was not a big deal, but grading two parts (writing and chapter test) in just a few days was slightly overwhelming. Luckily, John and I shared and we each graded two class periods. Even having two periods to grade felt like a lot. On Monday I also went to a Webinar with a few other staff members. We listened to a pre-recorded webinar by Ken O’Connor about grading and assessment in the schools. It was interesting; he has some different ideas and suggestions. To continue my week of new “firsts” John and I ate lunch in the teacher’s lounge on Wednesday. We usually eat in our room and continue working or planning. It was nice to meet some other teachers, because I have been kind of isolated in our foreign language area and only know the teachers that are in our wing of the building. Wednesday evening I also attended my first sporting event. I went to part of the girl’s gymnastics meet. We have four girls in our classes on the team and it was neat to watch them compete! I am hoping to go to a few more extra curricular activities to support the school and students.
February 18, 2011
For the second half of the week I started a new chapter with Spanish II. We started with some vocabulary activities first. I think right now the main areas I need to be working on are giving clear accurate directions in Spanish using words the students are familiar with. I need to remember that with Spanish II the students have a pretty limited vocabulary and I need to be clear and concise. Some of my activities have not gone as well as I had hoped and directions and explanations are part of the problem. I also need to constantly remember who my students are, what interests them, and figure out how I can engage them. Ideally it is better to have multiple short activities so that students do not get bored. If possible, I need to try and get them up and moving around in the classroom as well. These goals are going to take time and experience to feel more comfortable with them, but they are definitely something that I am aware of and trying to work on.
p.s. I cannot believe I am already 6 weeks into this!! Only 10(ish) more left! WOW.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Week 5
February 8, 2011
I have been working this Spanish II this week. Monday and Tuesday we went over a composition (8 sentences) that the students were supposed to have completed for their homework, which of course not many did. John and I sat at a table and the students had to bring their compositions up to us and we would make corrections. The students then had to make the corrections and continue bringing their compositions up to us until we gave them a stamp of approval. This writing piece was aimed to specifically work with AR preterit verbs.
The lack of homework completion amazes me. The students are assigned Spanish homework on a daily basis but it is never a huge amount. It should take them 10-15 minutes, in my opinion, to complete. Yet, majority of the students do not complete their homework, so when we try to go over assignments in class the students respond with their favorite phrase, “no sé” (I don’t know). I hope to try and find a way to motivate students more, and help this issue. Back when I was in high school, (4 years ago ☺) was I the only one who always did their homework?!
February 11, 2011
Thursday I taught the entire day, (even though we had a delay) classes were still an hour and four minutes long and I had four of them back to back with no break except lunch during 5th period. It was slightly exhausting and at times I felt my voice going out, but it was a good day. It was my first time teaching a lesson that I had prepared all by myself. It went pretty well! The last activity I planned didn’t go over as well as I had hoped so I am learning to be quick on my feet and made a few slight adjustments for the later classes and I think it went over better. Thursday was also my first day staying “late” at school, until 7. I had given a quiz during the day and needed to have them graded, recorded, and returned the next day. So, I stayed after to work on those and to make some copies for Friday as well.
I have decided that I am not a huge fan of block days. I prefer the 7 period school days with 45ish minute classes. Today we did a little bit of review because the students have a writing assessment for the chapter on Monday and a chapter test on Tuesday. Next week, I get to experience my first time grading 105 tests and writing pieces ☺ I think I am in for a treat haha.
If you live in Indiana, you have most likely heard of all of the controversial proposed bills and such going on at the state level with the education field. My CT and I have many conversations about this, as well as with other teachers in the building. I am trying to read and stay up-to-date on all of these issues. All of the proposed changes and unknowns are scary and it will be a very interesting next couple of months to see what happens to the education world in Indiana at the same time as I am job searching.
I have been working this Spanish II this week. Monday and Tuesday we went over a composition (8 sentences) that the students were supposed to have completed for their homework, which of course not many did. John and I sat at a table and the students had to bring their compositions up to us and we would make corrections. The students then had to make the corrections and continue bringing their compositions up to us until we gave them a stamp of approval. This writing piece was aimed to specifically work with AR preterit verbs.
The lack of homework completion amazes me. The students are assigned Spanish homework on a daily basis but it is never a huge amount. It should take them 10-15 minutes, in my opinion, to complete. Yet, majority of the students do not complete their homework, so when we try to go over assignments in class the students respond with their favorite phrase, “no sé” (I don’t know). I hope to try and find a way to motivate students more, and help this issue. Back when I was in high school, (4 years ago ☺) was I the only one who always did their homework?!
February 11, 2011
Thursday I taught the entire day, (even though we had a delay) classes were still an hour and four minutes long and I had four of them back to back with no break except lunch during 5th period. It was slightly exhausting and at times I felt my voice going out, but it was a good day. It was my first time teaching a lesson that I had prepared all by myself. It went pretty well! The last activity I planned didn’t go over as well as I had hoped so I am learning to be quick on my feet and made a few slight adjustments for the later classes and I think it went over better. Thursday was also my first day staying “late” at school, until 7. I had given a quiz during the day and needed to have them graded, recorded, and returned the next day. So, I stayed after to work on those and to make some copies for Friday as well.
I have decided that I am not a huge fan of block days. I prefer the 7 period school days with 45ish minute classes. Today we did a little bit of review because the students have a writing assessment for the chapter on Monday and a chapter test on Tuesday. Next week, I get to experience my first time grading 105 tests and writing pieces ☺ I think I am in for a treat haha.
If you live in Indiana, you have most likely heard of all of the controversial proposed bills and such going on at the state level with the education field. My CT and I have many conversations about this, as well as with other teachers in the building. I am trying to read and stay up-to-date on all of these issues. All of the proposed changes and unknowns are scary and it will be a very interesting next couple of months to see what happens to the education world in Indiana at the same time as I am job searching.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Week 4 - The Blizzard
February 3, 2011
So far our only day of school this week was Monday, thanks to the blizzard! Although on Monday I did teach the entire day by myself (for the second time). We were in the language lab on Monday and we continued working with the preterit for Spanish II and vocabulary with Spanish V.
Once again, first period was pretty rough. I wrote a few comprehension questions about a song we listened to for Spanish II and they ended up being too opened ended for the students. Thankfully, second period is a prep and John and I were able to make some changes to the activity to make it easier for the kids to follow. We gave them options to choose for the comprehension questions. The same lesson went MUCH smoother the rest of the day. In the language lab at CHS we use a program called Virtuoso and everyone wears headsets and they hear me talk to them and I can display what we are working on with the projector. With the program, Virtuoso, I can put the students into pairs so they can hear and talk to another student. I can also launch files, like the song we listened to, to each of their PCs. It is a really neat program and I am getting more and more comfortable using it.
On Monday John stayed in the classroom for the first two periods but he felt comfortable enough to leave for the last three and work on something else in his classroom. I think that it is a good sign that he is feeling confident with my teaching and allowing me more time to work on my transition into being the main teacher. He and I are still doing a lot of collaborating with planning, which I am very thankful for!
I love working with the Spanish V kids. They are a small group and they are in the advanced level because they enjoy and care about Spanish. They are able to hold lengthier conversations and discuss opinions about things. They understand jokes in the language and enjoy playing back. Spanish V does a conversation journal and I have taken those over. Each student has a notebook and we take turns writing a page or so to one another. The teacher gives a prompt and the students respond. Prompts could be about a topic we are currently studying, it could work with a grammar structure we are working with, or relate to current events etc. It has been fun for me because it allows me to get to know the students on a more personal level and through writing.
While I have had my three days off of school I have gotten myself caught up with some BSU requirements. So that has been nice ☺ We will see what happens tomorrow with school…. Some Muncie area schools are already closed for Friday, 6 day weekend for them! We had some sunshine today and that helped melt some snow but there are supposed to be extremely low temps tonight and everything might freeze over again??
February 4, 2011
Our first day back at school since Monday! We had a delay so the day flew by and we had so much to cover. I taught the whole day and the classes flew by. We were barely able to get much done and everything is pushed back. This week was my first week doing a lot of planning and trying to teach the whole week, but life doesn’t always go as we plan ☺ I am learning that lesson in a few different areas of my life right now.
So this was technically our 4th week of school and I have missed a total of 5 days, so I have missed a week of school. Because we are student teaching and we follow Ball State’s schedule, those are missed days that I will not be making up. Which kind of stinks because that is a week of experience and time in the classroom I wont be getting back this semester. I am getting ready to watch the Super Bowl (mainly for the commercials ☺) and work on some school stuff for this week.
So far our only day of school this week was Monday, thanks to the blizzard! Although on Monday I did teach the entire day by myself (for the second time). We were in the language lab on Monday and we continued working with the preterit for Spanish II and vocabulary with Spanish V.
Once again, first period was pretty rough. I wrote a few comprehension questions about a song we listened to for Spanish II and they ended up being too opened ended for the students. Thankfully, second period is a prep and John and I were able to make some changes to the activity to make it easier for the kids to follow. We gave them options to choose for the comprehension questions. The same lesson went MUCH smoother the rest of the day. In the language lab at CHS we use a program called Virtuoso and everyone wears headsets and they hear me talk to them and I can display what we are working on with the projector. With the program, Virtuoso, I can put the students into pairs so they can hear and talk to another student. I can also launch files, like the song we listened to, to each of their PCs. It is a really neat program and I am getting more and more comfortable using it.
On Monday John stayed in the classroom for the first two periods but he felt comfortable enough to leave for the last three and work on something else in his classroom. I think that it is a good sign that he is feeling confident with my teaching and allowing me more time to work on my transition into being the main teacher. He and I are still doing a lot of collaborating with planning, which I am very thankful for!
I love working with the Spanish V kids. They are a small group and they are in the advanced level because they enjoy and care about Spanish. They are able to hold lengthier conversations and discuss opinions about things. They understand jokes in the language and enjoy playing back. Spanish V does a conversation journal and I have taken those over. Each student has a notebook and we take turns writing a page or so to one another. The teacher gives a prompt and the students respond. Prompts could be about a topic we are currently studying, it could work with a grammar structure we are working with, or relate to current events etc. It has been fun for me because it allows me to get to know the students on a more personal level and through writing.
While I have had my three days off of school I have gotten myself caught up with some BSU requirements. So that has been nice ☺ We will see what happens tomorrow with school…. Some Muncie area schools are already closed for Friday, 6 day weekend for them! We had some sunshine today and that helped melt some snow but there are supposed to be extremely low temps tonight and everything might freeze over again??
February 4, 2011
Our first day back at school since Monday! We had a delay so the day flew by and we had so much to cover. I taught the whole day and the classes flew by. We were barely able to get much done and everything is pushed back. This week was my first week doing a lot of planning and trying to teach the whole week, but life doesn’t always go as we plan ☺ I am learning that lesson in a few different areas of my life right now.
So this was technically our 4th week of school and I have missed a total of 5 days, so I have missed a week of school. Because we are student teaching and we follow Ball State’s schedule, those are missed days that I will not be making up. Which kind of stinks because that is a week of experience and time in the classroom I wont be getting back this semester. I am getting ready to watch the Super Bowl (mainly for the commercials ☺) and work on some school stuff for this week.
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