I was very surprised when I learned I would be teaching a digital imaging class. I guess I shouldn't have been, but I think that any computer applications classes would be hard to teach using the Marzano strategies. I am supposed to start teaching on Monday, and I am a little concerned that I won't be able to display my teaching abilities in a very effective way while teaching photoshop.In the class that i am observing I sometimes struggle to see any Marzano strategies, except the very obvious one--the teacher really has a good grasp of offering kinesthetic ways to learn. She had some of the students play basketball while others took digital pics of them in order to study the effect of shutter speeds during action. The chapter in the book was dedicated to just that, and included many examples and pictures, but they weren't really paying attention, so she decided on this energizing activity. It went over well, and the students did well on the learning survey at the end of the period. Oh, and by the way, I also will be having a clinical 1 student observing me. can they do that?
Adria Johnson

My first full week in middle school

I must say that this week has been an eye opening experience. I have a supervising teacher that does not seem to like children very much or at least not very many of them. One of the things that I find interesting is how these kids know that. I had the opportunity to share my first week with a student teacher and to watch the way the children respond to her and the way they responded to my supervising teacher. These kids believe that the student teacher wants them to succeed and they believe that she cares about them. They want to work for her and do well. Students that do not even bother to turn in work are now turning their work in and getting A's. It is amazing!! You always hear that the kids will succeed and do great things for those who want them to and just the opposite will happen if you show no interest. To see this right in front of you is something else. The student teacher left on Friday and the kids are upset. I am hoping that they respond to me as well as they did to her. As far as instructional strategies are concerned, the supervising teacher is pretty much a lecture, notes, worksheets, and test kind of instructor. I have seen her use a graphic organizer once in her discussion of WV in the Civil War. She has supplied detailed notes to the students but makes them give them back at the end of class. The notes seem to be for students to use when they are working on their assignments in class. The Golden Horseshoe is coming up and the teacher seems to be very focused on that. I have witnessed the supervising teacher use similarities and differences in classroom discussions and she used a comparison essay question on the last test. There seems to be homework a several times per week and it is usually worksheets that the students do not finish in class. The readings this week focus on effort and recognition. I would love to see these kids put forth more effort. I feel bad for saying this but I do not see the teacher giving them any recognition that is positive, at least the kids who really need it. They have already said that they are aware that the teacher does not care whether they do well so why bother. It is incredibly frustrating but at the same time it reinforces what I want to do. Teachers can and do make a difference in the lives of children. Sometimes a positive attitude, a smile, and a listening ear is all it takes. On a final note, I had my first lockdown this week. That was a tad intimidating because the drug dog actually came into the room that I was in. I am not normally nervous around German Shepards but this dog looked mean. We never had drug dogs come into school when I was growing up. My how times have changed.
Until next time,
Anisa

Matt Perry strategy journal 2

I have just finished doing chapter 4 in the Marzano book and a huge lightbulb went off over my head. First off I want to make it crystal clear that I adore my teacher she has helped me so much working with these younger students because I am accustomed to 7th and 8th graders not 5th graders(I am in Ohio 5th graders are in middle school). The one thing that stands out to me where she needs improvement is how she rewards and praises her students. I am there for the first two classes of the day. The first period class is middle to high functioning and they do quite well in class. When we are going around playing a trivia game or working together on a map or something she will hand out treats or stickers or something like that for getting an answer correct. This seems perfectly fine to me and according to Marzano she is doing an alright job when it comes to this class. The problem occurs when the second period class starts, the children are low functioning and they struggle at times in the classroom. Instead of just giving out treats or other rewards when they get an answer right she will give them both verbal and treat rewards when they come even close to the correct answer. According to Marzano this is detrimental to both the students who get the answers correct and the students who answer incorrectly. It hurts the students who got the answer correct because they see that they no longer have to try their hardest to get the question right because they see that giving it the ole college try will get them the same reward. The students who answer incorrectly are reinforced for their incorrect answer so they try just the same or even a little less. Hopefully after reading this chapter I will be able to implement a reward system when I run my classrooms that fosters a determination in my students to do the best job that they can at all times.

2nd Post, First "real" journal entry

I finished my unit this week. It was 10 lessons (5 days) of Poetry. I went over Rhythm, Melody, Imagery and Form. Some of the lessons were just awful. The kids got confused, I got confused...disaster!!! But, others were wonderful. The students understood the concepts and were able to apply then to their own poetry. One strategy I used this week was Feedback. Every poem that they turned in, I made specific comments about what they had done. I offered suggestions on how to make the line more Iambic, or give another word that would rhyme better. It seemed that after I did this the first time, the kids trusted me more. They had confidence in me as their teacher and felt like they could trust what I had to say. They asked more questions and they felt more comfortable in saying that they didn't understand something. Granted, writing comments on every paper was time consuming, but the payoff was worth the time!! I also made sure that their poems were given back to them the next day. Of course they were responsive to that. I always hated to wait for a teacher to give back an assignement. I also made sure I kept the feedback specific. For the first part of the week, the poems were assigned to them according to a particular skill: rhythm, melody, or imagery. I made sure to comment on their attempt at the skill. I also made sure to give positive feedback about whatever kind of creativity they incorporated in their poem. They have been assigned a Sonnet for Monday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that poems are Iambic Pentameter. The students had so much trouble getting the "beat". They could recognize when the beat was wrong. For example: carOL or matTHEW. But when it came to trying to find the beat in a line of poetry, they went brain-dead. I compared poetry to music all week. I talked about how the rhythm is like the backbone of the poem just like the drum beat is the backbone of the song. They would understand that part, but when it came to application, they just couldn't do it. I think it is going to take practice. This is an Honors class, so they will get it eventually. For some people rhythm comes naturally, others have to really work at it. But, I am confident that once the lightbulb comes on, it will be as natural as reading. The category they seemed to understand the most was Melody or Sound Effects. They did great at finding Assonance, Alliteration, Consonance, Onomatopoeia, etc. They even incorporated these elements into their own poetry quite nicely. Imagery was a little more difficult. Words like Metonymy, and Synechdoche confused them a little, but after many, many examples they started getting the hang of it and could recognize when the elements occurred in other poetry. Form was pretty easy for them. Finding the rhyme scheme seemed to be second nature. Like I mentioned earlier, they are supposed to write a Sonnet for Monday. The only strict criteria they were given was that it had to be 14 lines of Iambic Pentameter. I told them they could follow the Shakespearian or the Italian form, and their rhyme scheme could follow Shakespeare or Frost. I encouraged them to use Imagery and take advantage of Melody in their Sonnet, but it wasn't necessary. I am really anxious to read what they come up with. This past week has been a lot of fun. When I was prepared to the nth degree the lessons were better. I am so glad I read the chapter about Feedback. It really helped me gain a raport with the students.

Chandra Ely --- Strategy Journal 2: Marzano Ch. 6 Non-linguistic Representations

So this was my second week in my clinical and the end of the 6 weeks. The students in the 6th grade Social Studies class got to do a couple of non-linguistic representation (NR) activities this week. One of the activities that they did was for homework. The NR used was generating mental pictures and was accompanied by a linguistic representation. The activity was titled IMAGINE. On one side the student's had to imagine that they were a factory worker at work and on the other side they had to imagine that they were a factory worker at home. Then they had to use their five senses and write down what they: see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Then they had to explain why. I thought it was a great way for the students to put themselves in history, in the industrialization. The second NR activity that students did was a graphic representation. The students created a pie graph on the "Percentage Distribution of the Worlds Manufacturing Production in 1870." It was a guided practice type of activity. The students colored in the graph based on the percentage of manufacturing for a specific country, from a list that was provided by this teacher. Next week Mr. Williams plans for the students to a pie graph similar to this one but instead of for 1870 it will be for 1913. He also plans for them to do a bar graph of "Population in Millions by Region" for the years 1800, 1850, 1900, and 1950. He will also be showing the students how to creat these graphs using the computer.

The students also took a test today using Multiple Choice and Matching. But the afternoon classes tend to have a problem with talking and listening. They do too much talking and not enough listening.

An interesting note about the tests is that Mr. Williams makes two tests with all of the same information on it, in order to cut down on cheating. He also makes a special, shorter version of the test for his special education students.

My clinical advisor visited the class today. I'm so glad that she came because I had know idea what to do for my clinical. I wish that all the stuff we were supposed to for the clinical had been better explained. I think that those in charge tend to forget that we don't know what we're supposed to do if they don't tell us!!

Hey about last Monday

Hey as we all remember last Monday was by far the worst class we have had all semester. My best advice for the sanity of all of us is to just simply go with the flow. I know my social studies buddies and I all hate the UBD but you have to do what you have to do. My advice is that you go see your clinical supervisor to clear up any questions about what they want from you when they go and see you teach the teacher's lesson. Other than that stop bitching do the UBD to turn into Dr. Cartwright and lets have good classes from here on out ok?

Clinical Observations #1
I began my clinical observations last Wednesday in one of the local middle schools. I was assigned to one of the two physical education teachers that handle the three grades in forty five minutes periods. The classes are integrated into one large class with each teacher having a set amount of students to whom they are responsible for. The classes run in size from a group of 20 to around 40 at the most. During my first three days of observation the students were involved in a charity event called “Hoops for Hearts”, which required each student to shoot and make as many free throws as they could in one minute. During this time period it was very evident that the teachers were using a couple of Marzano’s teaching strategies, the first being “Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition”. Each student was reminded that their effort would directly relate to their participation grade for the day. The one strategy that will be a running theme for me in these writings will be Marzano’s “Non-linguistic Representations”. This strategy is built into my content area by the daily use of engaging in kinesthetic activity, even though it is at a somewhat limit basis in these classes. After the first three days of hoops for hearts the following Monday the class began the FITNESSGRAM. The first measurement was the “sit and reach”, which for most classes took about fifteen minutes to complete. Of course there is always that one class that is an anomaly and takes two days to complete because of the size. After the first couple of days the class activity was centered on catching any absentees to complete the task. During the down time, after and during the testing, the class broke into informal groups and participated in playing some form of basketball. If not playing basketball they were either sitting in the bleachers talking, leaning on the walls talking, or kicking the soccer ball or volley ball at each others heads. So by definition the use of Marzano’s “Cooperative Learning” strategy was in play during this time as it was implemented by the students in their playing of what ever game they decided upon.
With those three strategies in place and being actively used I still find the class boring at the very least. There appears to be no discipline at most times, even with the procedures that are implemented. Most of the activities I have witnessed so far only engage one to two students at a time. I would have made sure that even during these testing moments I had an activity ready to get the rest of the class up and involved in something else. I believe a good game of Frisbee golf or ultimate sponge ball would have worked. These kinds of activities would keep the class focused more on movement then sitting around. As of right now, this class takes on more of a babysitting service then a classroom. I have even noticed that when the kids stretch at the beginning of class they still use antiquated techniques that have been laid to rest long ago. So as the students in this class run about and act like they’ve lost their minds, I see why and can’t blame them much. Their current view of a physical education class is going to play havoc for their future high school P.E. teachers. Of course that’s only if the next teacher in line takes a more proactive view of teaching the subject matter and doesn’t perpetuate the current strategy being used.

Danielle Pauley - Nonlingustic Representations

My clinical has been a little different experience than I thought it would be. My teacher has been out on leave for the past two months because she had knee surgery. Therefore, she is trying to find out what her students know, as well as where the subs left off. It seems that it would be very frustrating but it is just one of those things that life throws at you. All week, the students have been working on a powerpoint project on a specific organelle in eukaroytic cells. The students were divided up into groups and each group was given a different organelle. Today, the students presented their powerpoint presentations on the organelles. So, I believe the strategy that best fits the powerpoint presentations is the nonlingustic representation strategy. I can really see the utilization of this strategy for students by watching them work on their powerpoints, as well as presenting their powerpoints. The powerpoint that each group did definitely helped them to elaborate on their knowledge of the cell and its organelles. Not only did each student learn about their own organelle, but they also learned about the other groups' organelles just by listening to and watching their presentations. I really believe nonlingustic representations are a great way for students to learn material, especially when it comes to science! :)

Clinical Lesson Plans

Hi, guys. I spoke today with Dr. McCain and Dr. Maynard. We are all now in agreement on the following:

1. You must have a typed lesson plan of your own on ALL days that you are teaching, even though it may be modified from your teacher's lesson plans.
2. The lesson plan format of this class is UBD. Your clinical supervisors will accept and expect your lessons in this format. All of the lessons on the Teach 21 website are in this format. We agree that this experience utilizing this format will best prepare you for your future careers in WVDE.

I hope this helps provide some clarification. Dr. McCain and your clinical supervisors will be in our class next Monday (March 9).

Dr. C

Strategy Blog 1

Hi, I finally got to start my clinical yesterday in a high school level Accounting course. The teacher has never had a teacher student before but seems kind of excited. She said since I am still taking classes I am "up" on the latest methods and she looks forward to seeing what I can show her. The pressure is on!!! She is very organized as she has already given the students packets/Word documents with their assignments for the entire semester. She has also completed her Grade Quick headings by transferring them over from previous semesters so I want to work within the structure she has already established. However, I think I can try some new instructional strategies during "lecture" time and maybe throw in a few "daily" activities that are related to Marzano strategies. Like I said, I have only been there for 2 blocks but I think there are some areas where what we have learned in class would make things better if implemented. Although, those particular areas are tied so closely to the teacher's personality that I am not sure I will be "pushing" them on her during this 9 week clinical. (Yes, I said nine weeks as the only time it is feasible for me to be there is her first 90 minute block. After that is planning, lunch and some self-paced computer courses with multi-level students.) Now that I have that off my chest, back to the topic....she has students collect their work for an entire unit (aka chapter) in a folder. She asks them to turn it in after they have completed the test. I think this is in direct contradiction to Marzano's feedback strategy. The students do not really have a chance to improve based upon teacher feedback because they are on to a new skill by the time they get it back. Also, I noticed that several students were finished while others were lagging behind. I asked if there were any extended activities or enrichment for the students who are finished. The text provides some great resources. She said she doesn't feel it is fair to give them more work than the others, so she rewards them by allowing them to play games, surf the net and listen to music w/headphones. (yes, it is against school policy in case you were wondering). The principal walked in and caught one student on the net and scolded him. There appeared to be an "understanding" to not implicate the teacher. For the record, he wasn't even close to finished. Should be an "interesting" experience.

Note-Taking Skills

I am student teaching in a seventh grade Language Arts class at Hurricane Middle School. The teacher that I have been assigned to is wonderful! She keeps her students engaged in the learning process, and they adore her. At the start of my student teaching experience last week, the class was finishing reading the text, "The Watsons Go To Birmingham," for Black History Month. The teacher had broken down the sixteen chapters into sections of four chapters each. After each section was read, students were expected to take notes. The teacher had pre-made various styles of note-taking templates. I was surprised to see how receptive the students were to this process. Instead of simply telling them to take out a sheet of paper and take notes, the teacher had set them up for a win-win situation. Even those students who were more reluctant to take notes, seemed interested. Many times the pre-made templates had pictures on them. They were never boring to look at, and they usually had different shapes that students could write in. Chapter three of Marzano specifies the important of good note-taking skills. The chapter illustrates many different frames that can be used to achieve this. While this teacher did not use any of the frames that Marzano suggested, she kept the attention of the students nonetheless. I guess that goes to show that even the most simple diversion from the everyday norm in a classroom will get your students involved. I am excited to be working with this teacher. She is a seasoned teacher that has a lot to offer!

Strategy Journal 1

I am doing my Level II Clinical at Spring Valley High School. I'm already a full-time sub there so I've been teaching all year, but this is the first opportunity I've had to teach in my field. Mrs. Patricia Adkins is the teacher I am working with. She is fantastic. She has such control over the classroom. She is very organized. She told the kids onthe first day of the new semester (it's a block class) where everything was and she has never had to repeat herself. I think it helps that this is a Freshman Honors class. The kids are really focused and interested in their education.
The second day I was with Trish she had the kids do a writing assignment. She told them it wasn't for a grade. It was, instead, an assessment for them and for her to see if everyone was understanding the material so far. That sounded just like what we had read in our books.
I start teaching my unit today. It's going to be on Poetry. She's having me teach both periods of the block, so I'll finish my unit in one week instead of two. Wish me luck!!!!

Amanda Conrad- Strategy Journal 1

My first day at Huntington Middle was a bit surprising because the "science" classroom was nothing of the sort. They have no lab equipment, no sinks, no tables, and a tiny white board. I must say that I was a little disappointed but Mrs. Bright, the teacher, told me that because of some kind of consolidation with another school they ripped out all of the science rooms and now there isn't one science room in the whole building. I think that is absolutely unacceptable. I'm with the eighth grade students and from what I have observed they are a pretty decent group, I think I will like working with them. I found it interesting that the students were working on their note taking skills on my first day there. After our semi heated and wonderful class discussion on the four corners of note taking, interestingly enough, the students were all given a very brief guided outline of what they were supposed to be focusing on in their notes. I asked the teacher about it and she told me that brief guided notes are the best way that she has found to get the students to pay close attention to the lecture.

Mrs. Angle and Her comparing lesson. Matt Perry. Strategy Journal 1

Right now at Chesapeake Middle they are all in an achievement test freakout mode. So they are going over material that they know will be on the achievement test. In 1st and second periods on Thursday they were doing an activity about the difference between a right and a responsibility of citizens in the United States. This left many of the 5th graders confused; I feel that they had a very poor understanding of the differences. So Mrs. Angle whipped out the ole overhead and did a nice comparing exercise with the entire class that I think did a good job of explaining Marzano chapter 1. She presented the students with two little phrases like " serving on a jury" "going to church" The students were then to figure out which on was a responsibility of an United States citizen and which one is a right. The students struggled at first but with the use of little devices like right means you get it and responsibility means you do it the students got the jist of the differences. This was a very simple and easy to do exercise that hopefully will help the students do well not only on the achievement test but do well in the class because this area was a source of great confusion for the class.