Reflection of Practicum Experience
Journal 1Journal about the school context. Where is the school located? What is the composition of the student body and staff (gender, race, SES)? What was your first impression of the school?
For my practicum this semester I have been placed in Glade Spring Middle School in Glade Spring, Virginia. The school is relatively small for a middle school, consisting of only 310 students. The makeup of the school’s race demographics is stated, as 97 percent of all students are Caucasian and only 3 percent of students are of a race considered a minority. In all four of my classes combined, I have only three children who would constitute being called a minority race out of nearly 75 total students. I also have only two students in all of those classes with IEPs (Individualized Education Plans), though they are both high-functioning individuals and seem to do well in what would be considered a standard level course. The number of instructors is also low, as there are only 52 total staff members, including aides and part-time employees. In the eighth grade (the grade in which I am currently observing/teaching), it is entirely possible that every student taking a certain subject may have the same teacher, as there are some subjects in which that teacher is the only one in her discipline for that grade. The same is true of the sixth and seventh grades as well. There seems to be a variance of socioeconomic backgrounds, but as I found out earlier today, 48 percent of all students at Glade Spring Middle School are on assisted or free lunch, meaning that a great percentage of students at the school are likely coming from households that are struggling to make it. While I am far from done at the school and have only just begun to teach, I have made a dent in my hours and am encouraged by the feedback I have received so far from teachers, administrators and students. Journal 3Journal about the ways in which the teacher or you determines children’s prior knowledge about an idea, topic, or concept. How is this prior knowledge used to plan instruction?
One thing I have noticed, both as an unconventional student in my last year of undergraduate classes and as a teacher, is that there is a generational difference between the children of my generation and the children of the 1990's and 2000's, in that those children seem much more timid to answer a question. I don't know if the reason for not answering is for fear of being wrong, or a socially constructed imperative that says, "it's not cool to participate in class." But for whatever reason, children have not been encouraged to answer questions and when they do not, the teachers' reactions have conditioned them to think that is an acceptable classroom dynamic. As a teacher, and one who has recently been a student at two universities, seeing teachers handle this differently at both, I am aware of the problem and am devising and practicing ways to combat it. One thing that I have done in class is to press for answers. If a student is reluctant to answer for fear of being wrong, I encourage them to take the leap and that there will be no consequences for a wrong answer. I also encourage them by suggesting that they know the answer if they seem like they are unsure of their answer. If they are unable to give the correct answer, or are close, I ask them to tell me more about what they know. By doing this, they may lead into the answer or create a relevant discussion amongst other students. Lastly, if I get the dreaded silence from the classroom, and even after pressing do not have any willing respondents, I will assume the students did not understand the way the question was worded and begin to rephrase the question or simplify it. The point of this is that it is imperative to know what your students do and don't know prior to your instruction, or you might be feeding them information that will not stick. If students have a shaky base of information that you are unaware of as a teacher, it is important to know this so that you can craft your instruction to meet them on their level and their abilities. Journal 5Journal about instructional technology in your classroom. How is it used?
The main means of instructional technology in our classroom is the Smart Board, Elmo and projector combination that allows us to project paper-based notes or worksheets onto the board behind us in full view of the classroom. The Smart Boards are actually not new technology, as Washington County Schools began to implement them in 2005, when I was a junior in high school. As such, and to a degree, as was always the case, the technology does not work as it is designed, often failing to orient to the touch of the user or failing to maintain orientation. So any project in which we make use of the Smart Board usually requires a computer connection and the intended user to instead operate the board by the computer mouse. There are several computer labs throughout the school, but the good ones are usually reserved weeks if not months in advance, so teachers have to know that they will need them in their lesson planning prior to reserving a lab. The library also has computers, but there are classes for other grades that actually receive instruction in there at various times throughout the day, so sometimes that is not a viable option. There are also mobile computer labs that allow entire classrooms to access laptop computers, but these also must be checked out and are unfortunately, frequently only used for students to play internet-based "education" games during Smart Block. In my lessons to date, I have attempted to utilize more computer technology in the instruction, adding photos and video clips of significant locations and relevant supplemental material to the lesson into PowerPoint presentations to familiarize the students with culture and context that they might not receive otherwise in written notes. Additionally, in the use of the Elmo, I have been able to better display maps and various book pages to enhance the students' experience. Journal 7Journal about the classroom management strategies you observe in your placement. How do classroom, teacher, and school expectations affect classroom management? How are classroom rules established? Do students have input? How are positive behaviors reinforced and how are inappropriate behaviors dealt with?
During my two months at Glade Spring Middle School, I have observed several different strategies of classroom management in action and have paid close attention to see what seemed to work and what was not as effective. The first thing I noticed about my mentor instructor's classroom is that there are assigned seats. On occasion, variation is allowed when students are permitted to work in groups or on projects, but otherwise, students sit in their assigned seats each day. Additionally, as we often have many more desks than students in our classroom, students are assigned seats in the front rows of the classroom. I believe this to be paramount to our success, both in keeping the students' attention and preventing distractions caused by friends sitting next to one another, talking and disrupting class. On the occasions in which students are permitted to work in groups, sometimes my mentor teacher will separate disruptive students or forewarn them that they will be separated if they should act up. If this occurs, she also will not let this pairing/group work together the next time they break into groups. Our SmartBlock class, or study hall, is the one class without designated and truly adhered to seating arrangements. In fact, the number of students who are in our class varies from day to day, as students can request to work on an assignment or on a computer in another teacher's room. Additionally, we do not have a roll sheet for this period. As such, I do not know exactly who is assigned to be in our classroom, only a vague idea based on the students who are often in our room. Positive behaviors are reinforced by myself and my mentor teacher by giving vocal praise to the student. When a student participates in class or asks a question that relates to the subject and might open up a different facet or discussion, we always make sure to reward them by saying, "Good! Let's talk about that." When a student exhibits negative behavior, my mentor teacher raises her voice and tells the students to be quiet. If they should disrupt again, she does the same thing, only more stern than the first time. On the third instance, she usually threatens the students with silent lunch, but the students are allowed to earn their way out of the silent lunch punishment with good behavior. Given how chaotic the switching of classes is, at least in the eighth grade hall, I am not surprised by this fact. As for detention, I have yet to give or see a detention given to one of my students in our class. My mentor teacher did, however, leave me with a list of disciplinary forms should I need to write any students up while she was on vacation. Journal 9Journal about the physical layout of your classroom. How does it affect teaching and learning in the classroom?
My placement classroom has a rectangular shape with about twice the width as there is depth. That width allows us to comfortably fit six rows of desks across the classroom with adequate walkways in between, a mobile computer lab against the near wall and to have two sets of lockers for our homeroom students. The set on the side, however, inhibits the flow of traffic in and out of the classroom. The set behind the door is divided by a counter, but also is around electrical and heating components and water pipes, which create a less than safe environment for the students and give the classroom a dingier and dated feel, whereas in newer buildings those components might not be exposed. They also don't make very good use of classroom space. The size of the classes that I teach influences the seating arrangements, as students are grouped towards the front of the classroom. As no class has more than 21 students, and with the average size just over 15 students, we can comfortably put students in the first three rows of the seats. This also helps for instruction on the Smart Board, which is against the back wall of the classroom and not central to the desks. It is also directly behind where the teacher has to sit to operate it. |
Journal 2Journal about what kinds of assessments (formal and informal) are used in your classroom. How do these assessments inform curriculum and instruction?
In my 8th grade world geography class, we use several types of assessments to determine a student's understanding of the instructed content. Firstly, for most of the note taking, we provide students with worksheets with which to fill in notes in the blank spaces. In this way, we achieve uniformity, as long as the students correctly take notes. We can determine this by doing periodic notebook checks, which we have done once a week since my student teaching/observing began. When my mentor teacher and I team teach, I have been able to go around the classroom to check in with students to make sure they're understanding and getting the correct or desired answers. Additionally, we have used several review games on the laptop computers to determine students' understanding. In doing these games, we randomly assign states and capitols to students, so as to prevent them from only answering the questions they want to and avoiding ones they may not know. In addition to quizzes and tests to check for comprehension, we are supposed to conduct a certain amount of SOL benchmarks per semester, but we have yet to administer one. Journal 4Journal about a lesson you observed. How did the teacher introduce and teach the lesson?
A lesson I observed my instructor teach was to hand a blank list of terms and vocabulary words out to the students and use the Elmo projector to write in the definitions for the students to copy. The students would chime in when she asked what the word or term meant and if correct, she would add that to the blank sheet. She would then provide additional context about the term, including what she wanted them to know and what they had to know for the S.O.L.s. Unfortunately, outside of asking the students and answering any questions they might have if they raise their hands, there were no assessments, and there is no guarantee, outside of notebook checks that would occur weeks later, if the students had actually taken the notes. While taking notes as a class in this fashion does help to get many different perspectives and solicits different students for different terms, I think it's a practice that could be improved by adding some more concrete assessments, formal or informal, and providing students with the ability to think extemporaneously and expand more on the term or word on their own, without prompting or having to conform to the S.O.L.s' definition and context only. Journal 6Journal about the opportunities children have to work cooperatively in groups to solve problems or to work on projects/assignments. How is the learning documented?
In the class I am currently observing a teaching in, our students are about to undertake a project that requires them to work together to create a map of a state on a poster board. Each student will be responsible for one part of the project, whether it is gathering information about the state (which each student will have to do to some degree), finding relevant photos or texts to attach to the board, making a cutout of the state or labeling its major cities and capitol, each must play his or her role to complete the assignment. While this is a good example of how to get students in groups to work together, and it's interactive and hands on components are good for middle schoolers, ordinarily it would be hard to gauge whether or not students are really working in concert to achieve this project's completion. But because the our classroom will have two teachers, I will monitor the group dynamics and remind the class that each student must bring in his or her part of the project for homework. That way, we are sure that each student is participating. The learning in this project will be documented in two ways: 1. the success or relative failure of the poster board, which gives students some latitude about what to include, and 2. having already tested their knowledge of states and capitols, using this project to revisit that instruction and do some review questions and games before moving on. Additionally, the first tenet, that will involve the information they choose to put on the poster board, will inform us of what information they thought important to seek and perhaps their strengths and weaknesses regarding that state or what they think they should know compared to what they should know and what the S.O.L. mandates they know. Journal 8Journal about how the needs of inclusion and ELL students are met. What special accommodations and support are available to these students?
I am not aware of any ELL students in my classroom, but there are several students whose reading level is significantly below what it should be at their age and require attention in that department much like an ELL student would, only rather on a remedial basis. With one of our inclusion students, an aide sits through class with her and helps to make sure she is understanding the material. She helps with processing the reading and comprehending the information. Another student, who is likely autistic, works with a speech therapist to improve his communication skills and work on his lisp. He also speaks regularly with a guidance counselor regarding his feelings and his adjustment to the area (he moved from California to Glade Spring this school year). Two inclusion students I can think of, one of whom is in my class, that have physical impediments, receive varying levels of support from the school. One student is fully blind, requiring the use of a walking stick to help him navigate the hallways and classrooms. He spends much of his day outside of the core classes with a specialized instructor that helps him one-on-one. As for the other student with a physical impairment, he cannot walk and uses an electric wheelchair. I don't ever see him outside of his core classes, but I do not believe that he has a specialist to work with him, outside of the school counselor who helps him to work on his anger issues. Journal 10 Reflect on and journal about your practicum experience. What are the many roles a teacher has to play? Were any of these roles not apparent to you before the practicum? What ideas/learning will you take with you into your student teaching? What was the most positive and the most negative thing you experienced in your classroom experience?
One of the things I learned most from my practicum experience was how much a teacher has to look into the welfare and well-being of all students, including being the person who students feel comfortable to tell things to. This was perhaps the best thing about my mentor teacher as, because of her personality, many students would go to her to open up to her or explain a problem they were having. Instruction is of the utmost importance, but without understanding (or at least trying to understand) and helping students with problems that they're having, instruction might be completely ineffective, as students might be dealing with issues that trump schoolwork. For certain, teachers have to wear a lot more hats than I perceived going into my practicum placement. The most positive thing I experienced was either the reaction of the students to my teaching or the response of the students when I challenged them. I have had several students approach me throughout the semester and compliment me on my lessons or the visual aids/activities that I used. That basically made my day every time that it happened, because it showed a student's willingness/eagerness to learn and opening up to the content/material because of how it was being presented. When I first stepped into the classroom, I felt like the students were so far behind and were not going to be able to learn the material based off of my initial interactions with them. But after a while, shortly after I began teaching, I learned that when I challenged them, most of them were capable and stepped up. They were able to The most negative experience I encountered in my practicum classroom experience was either the inability for the school to provide/keep working technology in the classroom, or the way that teachers talked about one another when the teacher in question was not present. I've written about the technology issues, and I think they present a huge problem for instructors, who have to contend with these issues daily and adjust their entire lesson plan on a moment's notice, but also the students, who have to sit through lessons with failing technology, which might prevent them from experiencing what they otherwise would have with the proper working technology. I heard in both practicum class and at the B.G. Raines forum to stay out of staff break rooms, and I now understand why that is, even if some of these conversations can spill over into other areas of the school. |