Parent Override Forms

This morning, I observed my teacher's Geometry CP class for an hour and a half. I got to school early and was talking to my teacher when one of his Algebra II Honors students came in to get extra help working on problems. He told me that the student's parents filled out an override form to get him into the honors class, but that he really should not be in that class because he is very behind and struggles a lot. It takes him much longer to work on problems, so even though he comes to school 20 minutes early, they are only able to go over one problem. He told me that it will only end up hurting the student in the end, which is really sad to me. The student seems so willing to work hard to catch up, but he is so far behind that he may not be able to be at the ability level of his peers while in this class. For that reason, this topic of conversation was really interesting to me.

Talking to my teacher about that really made me think. I'm sure that at some point in my teaching career I will have a student placed in one of my honors classes because parents signed an override form. As a result, the student will probably be a bit behind the other students and will struggle a little bit more. I will have to make decisions about how that student's understanding affects the pace of the class--especially if all of the students understand things. Like my mentor teacher, I will be willing to help students who come into school early by working on problems and talking about concepts with them, but that required effort on the part of the students. What do I do if the student cannot come to school early or stay late? I would be willing to work with the student during lunch if that was possible. One thing that I have learned in my math methods class is the importance of creating activities that challenge students of all ability levels. I think that will be a key factor in helping that student succeed, but I am not sure how to go about creating activities like that. Thus, I will try to consult many other teachers and look at technology resources for guidance. I really want to help all of my students succeed and plan to do everything I can to help students to learn.

First Time Teaching

On Monday of this week, I taught for the first time in my school. I taught a lesson on parallel and perpendicular lines in my teacher’s Algebra I B class of third year high school students, all of whom are only freshmen or sophomores by credits. I observed the class for three school days prior to teaching so that I would have a really good feel for where they were in terms of the information they had covered. The class lasted for an hour and a half, and I taught the whole time. At first, that seemed a little daunting, but I actually ran out of time and did not get to do everything that I had planned. I found it hard to plan for how long activities would take, so I did not write out the amount of time I wanted to spend on each activity. Next time, I think it would be helpful to at least guess and give myself a range of times so that I can make sure we get to do all of the topics I have planned.

Overall, I think the lesson went fairly well for my first time teaching. However, there were several behavior issues that I had no idea how to handle. I found myself getting a little frustrated with myself while I was teaching because I didn’t know what to do about it. I would say that that was probably the only major problem I encountered while teaching though, which was encouraging. My mentor teacher took notes the entire time I taught, including both good and bad things, and most of the bad things dealt with classroom management. He said I did a very good job about getting students involved and not giving up on them when they were struggling to come up with concepts. I wanted the students to come up with the idea that the slopes of perpendicular lines are opposite reciprocals so that it would be more meaningful to them than if I just told them that. I asked them questions for several minutes and thought that I was going to have to end up telling them the relationship, but they eventually discovered the concept on their own, even using correct terminology—which was very exciting to me. He also told me that I did a good job of praising students for good ideas that they voiced. He had the students write a few sentences about how I did and most of them said that I did a good job, but several students said I was too quiet. That is something that I will try to remember the next time I teach.

Reflecting on teaching, I think I did pretty well for my first time and that I was very comfortable with the content. Also, I tried to include different activities that required the students to come up with examples and solve problems on their own and then show their answers on the board. In general, all of his students love coming up to the board to show their work, even volunteering to do so when my teacher doesn’t ask them to do that. I wanted to be able to keep the students engaged in the same way that he does, and I did so fairly well. I am still a little disappointed about the classroom management aspect of my teaching, but my teacher told me that it is something that comes with time. To improve my ability to deal with situations, I plan on paying closer attention to how my teacher handles issues and to ask him about certain situations that arise about which I have questions. This teaching should be a learning experience, and I look forward to improving as I reflect on the comments made by my teacher and by the students. Teaching on Monday was a little nerve racking, but it made me excited to have teaching as my profession.

Lesson on Classroom Management

On Wednesday I observed my teacher’s Algebra I B class for an hour and a half. I normally observe his Geometry CP class, which has a very different dynamic. This class talked a lot more and seemed to be a bit more disruptive in the sense that at least half of what they were talking about was not completely related. My teacher told me that all of the students in that class are in their third year of high school but are still in that class and that two of them had just gotten out of jail over the summer. His Geometry class stays on topic and is very quiet while working on problems, but this class talked a lot more and had trouble staying on topic. There were even some students walking around the classroom for a little bit (though they weren’t distracting other students). At the end of the class, he and I were discussing the differences in classroom management between normal upper middle class classrooms and minority classrooms. He told me (and I agree) that minority students are a lot more verbal and joke a lot more. As a result, he does not constantly hush his students but often jokes with them and tries to get them back on topic when they digress too much. He told me that the last thing he wants is for one of his students to drop out of school and end up on the streets, so he has to adjust the way he deals with his classes to keep them in school. His students are still eager to learn and frequently volunteer to write their answers on the board.

I told him that I feel nervous about next year because I do not believe that my education at Clemson will thoroughly prepare me to deal with a classroom full of minority students. He told me that he felt the same way and that his first year was very painful, but he has learned to approach things differently with his students. He constantly asks his students during class if they are doing okay. From this I have learned the importance of building relationships with students so that they will feel like you genuinely care and know that you are there to help them, not torture them. My teacher told me that he has learned a lot about dealing with minority students from doing lots of reading about it, so I plan on trying to do the same. I have learned that I will probably not have a cookie cutter classroom in which all of my students behave perfectly, but that you have to meet your students where they are at to help them learn. When I am a teacher, I will keep this in mind and prepare myself by knowing that my classroom of minority students will be a little more rowdy than other classrooms. I have learned that it is very important to evaluate how the strategies you use work with your students and to know that I will probably need to do things differently than my current classmates.