Unit 5 Reflection

Reflection: Unit 5

            My students had been asking me for the weeks leading up to October 31^st why Halloween was considered to be an “evil” holiday according to Christians. A few of them have relatives or close friends that don’t celebrate the holiday because they view it as a pagan celebration of sorts. My students were confused, and they asked if I could possibly bring an explanation into their lessons. On another note, this week is composed of three half days and early outs plus orientations, short blocks, and rallies, so it has been a nightmare trying to get everyone grounded and on task. Leading up to these days, I assessed my lesson planning and schedule and made sure that I could fit in a lesson on Halloween origins. I fit one! It is short, but it is a concise way to answer their questions until the rally that afternoon.

           

            I rarely use PowerPoint presentations because I think that I tend to put too many words on the slides, and sometimes the students get a little sleepy because of the darkness in the room; however, on this occasion, I used PowerPoint, and I think it worked well. The visuals of the pictures and being able to see unusual words like druid, Samhain, and mumming and guising were good for clarification. Some of the words they had heard before, but may not have been sure of their textbook definitions. As much as I searched for legitimate photos of Samhain rituals, they don’t often take place, so finding visuals was harder. I did find a few pictures of altars and divination relics that served as nice background pieces. The students asked if I could put the PowerPoint in our class drive so that it could be shared with their friends as explanations behind the back-story of Halloween and why it has evolved as a holiday, so I was pleased in that regard. I also liked that they were seriously intrigued and happy to understand this information.

While some of the academic language was different with the Celtic words and translations, they were still hooked, and I think that I explained the information thoroughly, but not to the point of exhaustion. Since the classes were only thirty three minutes or something like that, I tried to fit as much material in, but I also tried not to make it a strictly historical or religious presentation. It wasn’t overwhelming, and it wasn’t underwhelming, and the students were pleased to finally have their questions answered. The information was easy to deliver, and I think I did it well and at a pace that was reasonable considering the length of the class, their attention spans during this wacky week, and the description of the material. It is something I find interesting, and I think that helps with the delivery. I also enjoyed that they contributed some of their more local musings to the conversation once they were comfortable with the material. I know a good bit about Day of the Dead, but how they related it back to Samhain was a good cross cultural reference that I was impressed with.

Although I liked the PowerPoint idea with showcasing this material, I am also aware that it is an easy way to fall into a void without follow up questions or activities. As this was the kind of slideshow meant for fun and answering previous questions, I did not create nay worksheets or any ways for the students to illustrate their comprehension. Part of me thinks that I should have done a follow up activity, but the classes were short, and there was a wacky schedule so I justified not doing an activity and showing movie clips from a popular Halloween film. I think if I had a longer amount of time to work with and could have done a follow up activity, then I would have had them write ghost stories or do social media profiles based on made up Celts preparing for Samhain. Maybe I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

Another part of me thinks that I still put too much information on the PowerPoint as I basically copied and pasted my notes, but it was meant for answering lingering questions and doubts. PowerPoints are not familiar territory for me seeing as how I have taught foreign language and theology, and neither really requires PowerPoint. Spanish is all about practice and practice. Theology is all about storytelling. As a result, it is difficult to find a way to fit PowerPoints in the lesson plans.

Week #4 Video, Reflection

Reflection on Week #4 Video

When I knew that this week consisted of working a lesson that maximized instructional time, I was both glad and terrified. I was glad because I am pretty dang good at talking. In fact, I excel at lecture style teaching, and sometimes, I find it hard to break the mold on that kind of instruction. I have been working on flipping the classroom and having the students fill in the blanks on what we are doing in class that particular day, but it requires a lot of preparation on my part to plan for a teaching style that is still semi-unfamiliar to me. That being said, I am working on giving the students more responsibility, but I also love lecture style classes because they are so simple for me to plan. I was terrified because I was worried that my students’ roles wouldn’t be well represented if I was the one “maximizing instructional time”, but I have some pretty opinionated and intelligent young ladies. I think that today was a regular day in my classroom: I taught with the big items and had them fill in the details as best they could with no prior reading. It was a “cold” class.

After watching the video(s), I realized that I really like how I have kind of tried to adopt a vague daily objective. I have been trying over the past few weeks of the clinical to become aware of the fact that a short outline of the class, either verbally or by the topics on the board, really erases any and all confusion of what is going to be achieved that day. When the students know what the goal is for the day, they tend to be invested in what we are covering, and they understand the purpose of the lesson. I think for this week’s concentration, I was quite happy with how well I did bringing the students back to the conversation when it started to stray a little bit. I also think that they truly understand their role of being the ones in charge of volunteering answers and information when asked. They have completely adopted an “it’s alright to be wrong as long as an educated guess is made” approach to the class, and I very much appreciate that. They understand their role as those being educated and are eager to input their knowledge by answering questions and participating in discussions or to further their knowledge by asking questions.

After watching the video(s), I realized that I don’t always involve the students. Sometimes I feel like I am just talking AT the students with little participation or engagement on their part. They might answer questions when prompted or when I engage them in discussion, but rarely do they initiate the questioning or the discussion. I don’t really know how I feel about that. I would like them to feel the ability to speak their minds freely about a topic that surrounds the day’s materials, but at the same time, brings a new spin on the subject being discussed. I haven’t found a way to get them to perform at that level, or at least, at a level that isn’t completely off topic. They have plenty of questions that they ask unwarranted, but they might not be appropriate to the day’s material, or they are interesting but so far off base. Where can I push them to be single minded but not to the point of inappropriateness? Currently, they are interested in the material because I try to make it relevant to their circumstance, but how can I get them to put together the material and its modern day relevance by themselves?  

Week #3 Video, Reflection

Reflection on Video, Week #3

            For this week, we had to portray a classroom that was supportive and learning focused, and I would like to think that kind of classroom is what is developed within the first few moments of the students walking through the doors on the first day of school. As teachers we are to make certain our classrooms are places where mistakes can be learned from and messing up is okay as long as it is fixed. We have to allow for that kind of mindset because perfection isn’t always going to be a possibility. We also have to make certain that we advocate imperfection because how else are we going to learn? Even as teachers, we were once students, and we have to keep that in mind. There was once a time when I didn’t know “everything”, and I had to have someone instruct me, and you know what, that is fine! Without that instruction, I wouldn’t have learned what I did, and I wouldn’t have known that it is good to make mistakes because it means I was working my way towards fixing them. Support is so important, and as a teacher, I try to maintain that attitude in my classroom, even on the hardest of days. It’s good to always have the answer, but the better part is watching the students figure out the answer on their own.

           

            From watching my video, I would say that I try to be supportive when my students have a wrong or right answer. Taking the risk to even volunteer is good, even if all the information isn’t present. Some correct information is better than no information. Taking a guess is fine because it indicates that the student is involved and wants to participate, even if he or she may not know the exact material. For example, when one of my girls is talking near the end of video about Moses’ sister having leprosy, the student didn’t know the sister’s name, but she did know crucial material for the question being asked. It was the exact correct information; it just wasn’t all the way complete. I’d rather have an educated guess or incomplete answers as opposed to no answers or no participation at all. She still put her wisdom out there, and it was all good and useful stuff!

           

            From my video, I would also say that we are a learning based classroom with a touch of sass. It’s an all female environment; therefore, certain parts of the class are going to be received in certain ways that might differ were it a coed school. For example, when we talk about the Israelites being lost in the desert and eating the same food, we call it leftovers and talk about that for a hot minute more than necessary, but it is still imperative to my students. They want to know this information even if it is just a little detail. I want to allow them that freedom to pay attention to the details or other aspects that they find amusing and can bend to seem more relevant to modern times. I’m sure Moses wasn’t calling day old food “leftovers”, but it helps them to understand the concept a little more. School is meant for learning, but it can also be fun if you have a good rapport with your class and your material.

            On the other hand, I do believe that I could do better with academic language and less modernization of the material. While it is always a grand old time to make school and learning fun, it is also imperative to remember that students are here for an education. Not everything can be a game or can be a quick fix. I have to keep in mind that there is a level of achievement that I want my students to reach, and I need to be constantly pushing them to that level in improving their vocabulary and use of proper English in and out of the classroom. In a classroom, it is difficult to find that balance between hard core academia and hard core partying. It is still a delicate medium that I am searching for, and while I realize that I am an educator and not an entertainer, I also want my students to be invested in what we are discussing in class. The way I have figured out how to do this is via modernizing the language and making the material more accessible and relative to the students. How do I meet in the middle of the scale? This is something that I am still working on…

           

            

Week #2 Video Reflection: Objective Driven Lesson

Reflection on Week #2 Video

                I went into this lesson without my students having previously read any of the information about the material for the lecture that day. I am doing this on purpose because they have a project where they are going to research certain parts of the Exodus story and teach the class via videos; therefore, each day, we have a mini-lesson about the tale of the Exodus from Egypt and its consequences. I am both regretting this decision and enjoying it at the same time because some of the students are well informed from previous teachers and some of the students have never had this subject. It’s a mish-mash of high and low level of theology. Regardless, they are enthusiastic, and they are always interested in what we are doing, and I think my rapport with them is the “culprit” behind keeping their attention.

                From this observation, I can fully acknowledge that while theology may not be the ultimate subject, I can make it as such by my relationship with my students. They are open to what I have to say because I try to make it as entertaining and fun as possible. I know that teaching isn’t supposed to be fully about putting on a show for the students, but I don’t think that having a good relationship with them is putting on a show. I know what they like and what they don’t like. I understand their wants and needs, and I am confident that they would be able to ask any question or raise any concern without being judged. Some days they come and chat with me after class about whatever, and it makes me feel that even though I am not teaching a core subject for their “life skills”, I am still making an impact by taking the time to get to know them.

                From this observation, I can also fully understand that I probably should have had my students read a little bit of information about the material before the lesson. It would have given all of them an equal footing when it came discussing the information in class. I also believe that this lesson was fairly rushed, but that is also my purpose because the students will be the ones doing the in depth explanations of certain Exodus events to the class, and as a result, in depth wasn’t my goal with this particular lesson. However, I do believe that in the future, I should have them at least scan the material beforehand, if only for the purpose of class participation. Once we got rolling, they were ready to take measured guesses, but I think they were a little bit self conscious due to the filming. I would also, perhaps, tell them the objective from the offset. They knew via their online learning portal that we were going to be discussing Moses and the Exodus (and also they knew from their previous notes), but I think that I should have directly stated the objective. I did have the topics on the board, which was difficult to see, but I didn’t actively tell them what was going to transpire from the day’s lesson.

                All in all, I think that this lesson went well. The students were participating, even if they were just guessing, and they weren’t ashamed to get the answer incorrect because they know that is how they learn. I believe that due my good relationship with my students, I am keeping their attention fairly well, but I also think I could have done more to have them better prepared for the lesson. I also think I could have told them what we were going to be doing, so that they would understand the direction in which we were going.

Case Study

Case Study: Adrien

Background Information:

            Adrien is a fifteen year old sophomore from Salinas, California. She lives outside of town on a ranch with her brother and grandparents. Her mother abandoned her family when Adrien was young, and her father isn’t in the picture at all. Adrien is of Hispanic background, and she speaks English in school but Spanish while at home. Sometimes at school, since I am fluent, she will speak Spanish to me if she doesn’t want anyone else to understand what she is asking. She doesn’t like to read, but spends a good deal of time on her iPad and smart phone looking at social media. She cares a great deal of what her peers think of her as her actions show that she is socially conscious and confident in particular situations.

            Adrien isn’t learning disabled, and if she is, she hasn’t been diagnosed. She participates in class sometimes, and other times, she copies the notes from another student after the block has ended. I haven’t spoken with her about this, but she continues to do it anyway from time to time. Her younger siblings do not attend the school, so I have no way to compare their family responses to schooling. In the classroom, Adrien is responsive when she wants to be, but some days she has no desire to participate. Her erratic approach to her studies is disheartening because I know she can do well, but she chooses the days that she is going to excel. She isn’t consistent.

Informal Test Results:

Adrien has voiced before that she believes the material that we cover in class to be difficult to understand due to the high level of the textbook. As the textbook is challenging to her, she sometimes chooses not to fully read all the pages because the higher level of reading brings discouragement. As a result of this lack of reading the material, she tends to give up easily when it comes to reproducing the material during assessments. She can participate in class if directly asked a question, but more often than not, if she doesn’t understand something, she will not ask for an explanation. When doing on group work, Adrien tends to pick up the slack if the project has to do with personal opinion or creative measure; however, if the group work is more to do with answering factual questions or using academic language for class sharing, she clams up. She also only really wants to work with her friends if they are allowed to choose their own groups. Her friends are not on a higher level of learning either, and they tend to not pay attention in class. Their homework completion is sporadic, and their assessment grades fluctuate between low B’s and failing grades. Adrien’s mirror this range as well.

When it comes to assessments, her spelling isn’t great, and her writing skills are not up to the level that she should be at for her grade level. I think that she might have problems with recalling words and word grasping because her biggest problem with completing assessments is being able to recall certain vocabulary. If she has to answer a question that is “semi-vague”, then she tends to do better than if she had to give a concrete definition. For example, if I ask my class to summarize the story of being kicked out of Eden, she would be able to describe all the main points, but she wouldn’t be able to give specific names of people, places, or things. She wouldn’t be able to name Adam and Eve as protagonists or Satan as the antagonist. Also, I believe that she isn’t sure of herself in the classroom even though she is sure of herself everywhere else.

   Adrien’s home situation affects her ability to read and study for class, and I know this because she has reported this dilemma previously. I have no idea how to solve this problem because her home life isn’t a bad or abusive one; she just has a lot more responsibilities than most fifteen year old girls do. Currently she is preparing for the PSATs, and she is doing this by visiting the college counselor for tips. She is preparing in depth in hopes that she will be ready for the SATs next year and receive a scholarship for college that involves sports and academics. Since her grades aren’t overly amazing, she is heavily relying on a sports scholarship; however, she is still aware that she needs to have decent grades to achieve this possibility. I believe this is why she tries half the time and sits out the other half.