September 27, 2013

Use of alternative assessments. So far this semester I have only used one alternate assessment other than tests. I used a prezi assignment to assess my students on their knowledge of the Spanish American war. The students had to create a timeline on prezi including events that happened before, during, and after the war. The students had to have comprehensive information and images to improve the effectiveness of their prezis. The students had to also cite sources for their information. This assessment assessed the students research abilites, citing abilities, and their knowledge of the Spanish American war. I liked the way that this assessment came out. The students really enjoyed the assignement, and it was a welcome break from what he had done in class before. This assessment was very comprehensive and it took over two entire class periods to complete it.

September 20, 2013

Rapport with students I think that I have a very good rapport with the students in my classes. I have gotten to know all of their names and some things about each of them. I often have students come into my class to each lunch, and many times students will open up to me and tell me about their problems always on the teacher student level. The students feel comfortable around me, but they respect my position and listen to me in the classroom. I feel like a teacher this semester more so than in other semesters becuase I am here everyday and I have had the time to get to know my students. I feel like I have been able to establish myself in the classroom and also in the school community. This has been a great semester so far. I have students stopping by just to say hello, and often coming to me when they need help and asking me to help them.

September 13, 2013 Reflection

Reflect on my mentor teachers classroom management practices. My mentor teacher is very different from myself in how he manages the classroom. He is very loose in what he chooses to enforce and what is allowed in the classroom. For instance at the beginning of every class he lets the students discuss the news with him. During this time there are a few that acutally partipate in the discussion. The rest simply talk or play on their cellphones for the entire time. I would stop the discussion until I had all the students attention and then I would continue the discussion when everyone was paying attention to what I was saying. Also when there are assignements given out the students can put their earphones in and listen to music as they work. This is not such a bad idea since this keeps the students from talking to each other, but it can be a distraction when you are trying to explain something that the class is not understanding. The only time he wants full attention and quiet is when he is using direct instruction. I want to be able to call the class together at any second. On tests he lets the students put in their earphones and take the test. I dont like this idea either because I think that hearing the music in another persons headphones would be distracting.

September 6, 2013

What child do I think that I influenced most this week. I have a student that has failed several classes over the last two years and has given up on trying to learn and excel in the classroom. He is incredibily intelligent, but doesnt use his intelligence for his betterment. Today at lunch he asked if he could stay in the room and talk with me instead of going to the cafeteria. I didnt care so he stayed and we talked. He was very down on his confidence and thought that he was just going to drop out soon. I talked to him and went over a lot of his work with him asking him questions. He bagan explaining the material that we had learned and having a very intelligent conversation with me about it. He said that it is just because he likes history, but I told him that he could do it in his other classes also. When he left he said that he was going to try and do better in all of his classes. I feel that he will to. I think that today I may have had the opportunity to change someones entire outlook on eudcation and their future and that is amazing to me.