Jeremy Blake Post 4

I have found that questioning has been the best method for this class and myself. Cooperative learning has not worked well, but often the class can get into heated and useful discussion if I ask the right questions. The bellringers have become more of a beginning discussion board than an activation of prior knowledge, but students are becoming interested in the rest of the lesson because of it. When I asked them when a global plague would be a good thing, the entire class got into a heated discussion about overcrowding, hospitals, and even how people could make money off of a sickness. Though some students seemed a little too into it, every student was excited and prepared to discuss the Black Plague and the Middle Ages. I'm not sure that my supervising teacher loved that idea, but it seemed to work. Engaging students sometimes requires a little controversy. Unfortunatly (or perhaps fortunatly), this occured just days before the Swine flu scare, otherwise it could have been a totally different environment.

Jeremy Blake Post 3

I have found cooperative learning to be the most difficult thing classroom management wise. Whether it is for a simple reading activity or a class project, almost every exercise that requires students to group together results in loud talking about everything but social studies. I try to be helpful for any one with questions, but they never seem to have questions because they are not working on their assigned reading or project. I knew that cooperative learning required a different classroom management style, but I fear that the students are not used to this and I spend most of the class quieting them and telling them to return to work instead of actually helping them learn. The students have lookouts in their group who make a noise or say something whenever I am in earshot to alert others to stop talking and look at their books. Last week was a very long week, as I spent as much time redirecting students as I did teaching them.

Jeremy Blake Post 2

Getting my students to do homework is like pulling teeth. I would prefer to have students read for homework and do activities in class, but there are not enough books for each student so they cannot take them out of the room. When I assign homework, it is usually a short writing assignment. Even though there are consequences to no doing their homework, at least 30 % of the class does not do it. I find myself in the role of the office manager, asking for completed assignments and making lists over and over again of those who have not turned them in.
This has been by far the must frustrating part of teaching. Students never seem to get their assignments turned in on time and generally are far from remourseful about it. Between students being absent and just not doing work, I find myself waiting sometimes a week before all students have returned their work. Marzano's chapter 5 mentions that there have to be certain expectations for homework, and I do not think I am assigning much, but despite getting into trouble for not having their work done, they do not seem interested in finishing it.

amanda conrad post 4

I guess I should write about something positive my teacher does instead of always writing bad things. One good thing I have noticed is how quickly she provides feedback to her students. I think it’s a good thing when she has papers graded and ready to give back to her students the next day, and sometimes immediately. This way, the students know exactly how they stand in her classroom at any given time. Also, if they do poorly on an assignment they are allowed to have time to re-do it with her if they want. She gives them time to come in to her classroom during lunch or before school or after school so she can make sure they understand the assignment. This is good because Marzano says that the best feedback appears to involve an explanation as to what is accurate and what is inaccurate in terms of student responses. Marzano also says that asking student to keep working on a task until they succeed appears to enhance achievement. I like the fact that she will work one on one with a student until they know exactly what they are supposed to do on an assignment and I think it improves the students overall behavior in the classroom also because they know what they are doing. I’ve found that if students do not know how to do something they will just goof off during class and distract other students in the process.

amanda conrad post 3

I’ve noticed in my classroom that the students rarely get homework. If the students do get homework they complain about it, don’t bring it in the next day and then the teacher will sometimes give the students time to do it even though they were supposed to have finished it already. Homework is definitely not used as a tool in the classroom, and I do not think the teacher is letting it help students at all. She uses homework as a punishment often times and I think that it shouldn’t be that way. Marzano says that the more homework students do, the better their achievement. Studies have been done that show that when students do a little bit of homework every night their over all GPA goes up. Maybe the teacher I am with should be using homework to help her students instead of using it as a punishment tool when they are behaving badly during class. When I have my own classroom I will try to establish a homework schedule and policy and stick to it. I know that if I assign homework one night and the kids didn’t do it I will not give them more time to finish it like this teacher does. In order for these students to take homework seriously the teacher should tell them why they are doing the homework because the purpose of homework should always be identified and articulated. She should establish a homework policy and provide feed back as quickly as she can, and let students know that mastering a skill requires practice.

amanda conrad post 2

I don’t want this to be a bash session on the teacher I am working with but I can’t help but notice another problem I have with the way she runs her classroom. She has been doing a lot of group work and activities lately, and I have a huge problem with the way she puts her students into groups. First of all she has no seating arrangement, so the students they are doing awful academically sit in the back corner, the students who are doing well sit in the front, and there are a few special education students that sit somewhat in the middle. The special education students get made fun of a lot and I absolutely can not handle it. I feel so badly for them and I just want to yell at the kids who make them feel so badly on a daily basis. Anyway, the teacher announces that they are going to do some group work today and then she just says to get into groups of three. Obviously the cliques come out and it leaves about five outsiders looking around and wondering who is going to want to be their partners. I felt awful for these kids and so I suggested to the teacher that maybe she should put students into groups so the kids don’t feel so bad about themselves….well she said to me that that was too much work for right now and she didn’t have the time. I was appalled….there is no way that I would let those kids stare around the room and have their feelings hurt because no one wants to be their partners. It is not hard at all to have pre-made groups, and if anything…just say who you want in a group out loud, it doesn’t necessarily have to be on paper. Shoot, I was mad and I will never forget it. I’ll always put my students into groups for them. Not to mention, doesn’t it help with learning styles, study skills, and cooperation? Hello?? Is this lady clueless or what?

amanda conrad post 1

I saw for the first time a couple of days ago how the teacher I am working with likes to have her students take notes. I saw this before while I was in her class and it actually wasn’t that bad, but the second time she had her kids take notes was awful. I guess she does this all of the time too, which makes me feel sorry for the kids. At first I thought it was a joke, I didn’t know what to think about her process. To me, it is so off the wall and I know for a fact that none of the kids get anything from it. I’m telling you, this lady is a little crazy. From what I have observed she has not taught them how to properly take notes, so obviously they aren’t good at it and it is very clear that the students hate taking notes. They always groan and complain any time they have to take notes, and they are always concerned about how many pages it will be.
Okay so I walk into the classroom and sit down for some observation, and the teacher tells me that they will be taking notes today. Immediately the kids start asking how many pages it will be and the teacher assures them that it is short. Anyway, they all get out their notebooks and she simply turns on the overhead and puts a one page typed paper up and tells the kids to start copying! That’s it! Then she went to her desk and started doing something on the computer. Now, tell me if I’m crazy but is that not the worst possible way you can make your students take notes? I wanted to shove Marzano in her hands and make her read it, or tell her how I would like to do things. She gave no instruction, no explanation, no anything…just put the paper up and said start copying. Hopefully I can try to be a little more engaging when I have the students take notes, and hopefully I can teach them a little bit on how to properly take notes. Maybe the teacher will learn something from me?! Who knows…wish me luck!