Advice for Student Teachers...

Be there to learn and absorb as much as you can from your students. Understand that your students are your best teachers. They are the ones that will let you know if your lesson connects, if you need to explain or re-teach a lesson. They are the true mirror of your teaching skills. Enjoy them, talk with them and allow the students to talk. You will learn so much from them if you hear and understand them.

Give the students the respect that you expect from them. If you want to have a classroom that is mannerly, then use manners when talking with them. Say "thank you," "excuse me" and "pardon me" when talking with them. It will go a long way. They will appreciate the respect and give it in return.

Have fun! You are embarking on a new profession that deals with people. If you don't have fun with this experience and your classroom then you may want to consider another profession. Enjoy it as you will find that it passes quicker than you can imagine!

Wake up, dress up, and show up! No matter how you feel, no matter how prepared or unprepared you are, wake up, dress up, and show up every day. Each day in student teaching is a learning experience. Sometimes it is the days that we are the least prepared for that we learn the most from during student teaching.

Relief, joy and laughter...

Relief, joy and laughter... these were the most valuable aspects of this week! My students are sweeter, funnier, and even more willing to work knowing that I only have a few days left with them. I think my co-ops are even feeling how quickly the transition is approaching. I have been busy making sure that everything is graded and current so that my co-ops have a smooth transition and that they look back on this experience and have as fond of memories as I will. I have truly enjoyed my time with my students and co-0ps. Every day was a learning experience for me, every student a pleasure (ok, almost every student!) Some students challenged me more than others and the students that challenged me made me grow and learn even more.

A Fine Garden

The most valuable aspect of this week was in seeing how a couple of students seem to have grown and flourished before my eyes. Yes, I know it sounds like I'm writing about my flower garden and in some ways I do liken these students to my garden. I've spent a lot of time encouraging and praising them to get to where they are now. When I started, this particular class had several IEP students that were very disruptive. Most times they were not on task and spoke out whenever they wanted to with whatever crossed their minds. I was never quite sure what was going to be said or how wound up the class was going to be. But very shortly after taking over this class, I recognized two students as the leaders and would make sure that I encouraged them and that they were on task. I also noticed that a little praise went a long way with them. After all, they want to be the leaders of the class and therefore like recognition. Over the past couple of months, I have watched them go from being disruptive to leading activities. This realization came to me when I asked the class to open the PowerPoint document we were working on and I said, "Now where did we leave off?" and one of these students proudly told me what page and even what step number. Wow, I threw the question out there hoping to get a response to the effect of we just put in a table. Instead, I get the exact step! I truly feel like I am watching these students grow and bloom and I couldn't imagine a finer garden!

If there was anything that I would change about this week it would have be an Accounting class where the students were lethargic and unresponsive. This was an easy chapter and I think most of the students were bored but it was as though they never even heard of the basic accounting equation. I realize that should have figured out a better approach to this chapter and tried to make it more interesting for them. On this particular day, I had a slight touch of laryngitis and my voice was sporadic. So after asking a couple of questions and getting no response, I told them that since they were not paying attention to me, I was going to save my voice for the next class. I gave them their assignments and sat down and graded their folders. It was so quiet in that room that you could have heard a pin drop. I have never raised my voice in any of my classes and I don’t intend to. This was very effective because the students knew that they were now responsible to learn this section. Again, it was an easy section. The next day, I began my lesson as though nothing ever happened and the students were attentive and responsive. While I believe this method worked, I would have changed the initial lesson so that I never had to use this method at all.

Give a man a fish...

This week was very uneventful. I believe the students were as ready for a break as the teachers were so everything was quiet and the students were agreeable and working on whatever they were assigned. I believe the most important aspect of this week was understanding the level to which the students want to participate. I started using an online classroom a little more than a week ago in one of my classes and I talked with my co-op about using it in other classes. There are one or two major issues with using an online classroom in a couple of classes that I have. First of all,the students do not have email addresses assigned by the school district and secondly in one of the classes over fifty percent of the students have IEPs and I wasn't sure that this group could handle creating a login and my co-op didn't think they could. I posed it to the students as this is something positive that we can do for the environment and we will save paper and ink. And when I gave them the instructions it was phrased that I would like you to go to this website and create a login. Again, I can not require that they do if they don't have an email address as I can't direct them to yahoo or gmail to create one. With that said, all but two students were able to create a login and even upload an assignment! I was so happy and they seemed to be very proud of this too. I guess the lesson is to maintain high expectations and remember, you'll never know until you try.

If I could do anything differently this week it would have been to help or guide a student early in the day and not wait until the end. I have this particular student in first period and seventh period and in our first period class he mentioned that he didn't know what he was going to do as he needed to mail out two letters of recommendation that day and the teachers he asked to write them forgot. I told him to write the letters and that I would talk with my co-ops about signing them. The co-ops were glad to help him as he is a good, conscientious student and gets good grades. When I told him to write the letters, he seemed confused as to what to write so I told him to check on line for sample letters and write one that pertained to him. I didn't realize he was so lost until late seventh period (there was 10 min. left in the day) when he asked the co-op to sign a piece of paper with a couple of paragraphs on it. He didn't have addresses, a date, a salutation, or a closing! Oooops! So, I did something that I shouldn't have but it was my holiday present to him... I took his paragraphs and turned them into two well written letters of reference. The major change I would have made is that I should have had him bring them to me mid-day so I could see how he was approaching this and where he needed help but I assumed that he would have been able to create a simple business letter. This was a very good lesson for me. I realized that business letters were probably not covered in his class as he is a good student and he would have known what was expected, at least in regard to formatting. This could have been a great lesson for him on learning how to write a business letter if he would have had more guidance. Instead, I assumed he knew how to do it and when I saw that he didn't, I did it for him. He was very grateful and I hope this helps him to get the scholarship that he was applying for, but I think I could have taught him how to do this which he could have used the rest of his life. "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for life."

Time and Patience

The most important aspect of this week was learning a new level of patience with the students and giving them extra time to turn in their work. Since I began this placement, I've always thought that my co-op affords the students too much time and too many opportunities to complete their work. This week was the end of the third quarter and grades need to be in shortly. I had put together a spreadsheet on the class work that the students should have completed with their grades on it and handed these out last week so that they would have had ample time to complete any work that they missed. We reviewed this in class and they were given time to work on anything they were missing from their folders. In my mind that was it; what they had in their folders on the last day of the quarter was what they would be graded on for the quarter. These students are in high school and should be responsible enough and care enough about their grades to finish any work on their own that they needed to complete. But that was not it. My co-op suggested that we give them the final day of the quarter to clean up their folders. He reminded me that in some classes, over 50% of our students have IEP's and that they could use the additional time. I agreed with him but was still thinking that they've had plenty of time and they're not going to do any more than what they've already had the opportunity to do. Well, his years of experience proved me wrong and I'm so happy they did! What may have seemed like chaos to some, was actually a productive session where students completed assignments and brought their grades up quite a bit. A couple of students that had nothing in their folders actually had the work done and just needed to print out what they had saved. I was shocked. I had already given them a period the week before to do this. Maybe they were waiting until the last day of the quarter to get their work in? I believe some were but others actually needed the extra time and individual attention to complete the work. I was elated that so many of the students that I thought were going to fail the quarter, actually will be fine. So, reflecting on this week, I think time and patience are valuable gifts for any teacher to give. I want the students to do well and some just cannot complete the work as quickly as others. My co-op is very patient and has taught me a great deal in this area and I have the utmost respect for him.

If I could change anything about this week it would be to have additional work for students that had all of their assignments completed. I need to have some fun work or challenges in my back pocket at all times for those students. In today's all inclusive classes, it is difficult to keep all of the students at the same point. This was a very good lesson for me in differentiating instruction where students that are more advanced need extra challenges. If I make these fun and give them extra credit points, they will be more engaged and enthused during the class.

Respect and Camaraderie

The most valuable aspect of this week was the realization that I have very few days left in this student teaching assignment and how much I have grown to enjoy my students. At some time this past week I looked at a calendar and thought, "Wow, I don't have much time left here" and that was the point when I started to look at my students differently. I now appreciate the ones that are vocal, the ones that whine about every assignment, the ones that need help no matter how many times we've done the same thing, and even the ones that are quiet and will patiently wait their turns with their hands up while the demanding students ask question after question. The realization of how little time I have left with these students made me also think about how much we are all alike regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. We all want to fit in and enjoy the people around us and that is what is happening in my classes. The students have taken a liking to me and as you can tell, I like them too. I believe this comes from a mutual respect that I have tried to foster from day one. I firmly believe that learning will come much easier in an atmosphere of respect and camaraderie than in an authoritarian environment and that is what I've strived for in all of my classes. Fortunately, for me and my students, it seems to have worked. I must admit that I have small classes ranging from 13 to 23 students and the smaller class size lends itself more readily to an open, engaging, and respectful environment. The students know that when we have a class discussion they can readily speak their thoughts and not wait to be called on by me. They do not speak over each other but will wait for one another to finish speaking. I never set up ground rules for the class discussions but instead, I've tried to act as a moderator and may have made comments to the effect of 'one at a time' if two students were talking at the same time. As I reflect on this, I realize how special these students are that they have shown me as much respect as they have and it has made the entire experience a pleasant one. I will miss them. Until now, I never realized how close a teacher becomes with the classes and how much each class has its own personality. There's one class in which I have so much fun and look forward to it every day. I think the thing I need to take from this is that I need to strive to develop that feeling with all of the classes.

If I could change anything about this week it would be to have come up with a better review for an accounting class. I was sick this week and took the easy way out using some of the same slides and overheads to review with that I used to teach. I've done much better reviews in the past and the class was dull and bored with the review. I hope they do well on the upcoming test!

Senioritis

The aspect that I learned the most from this week was how seniors actually shut down at a certain point in the year. One of my co-op's mentioned that they will do this if they think that they have the grades to pass. He actually calls it "senioritis" which now makes sense as the seniors seem to have inflated or swollen egos and think that they are much better than they are scholastically. Also, if the seniors are going on to college then they typically have been accepted at this point and think that their grades don't matter any more. The class I'm referring to is an Accounting I class, yes, an elective, that is 80% seniors. The previous week they were given time to complete a practice set which involved each step of the accounting cycle for a business. The class was given an entire week to complete this. What was handed in was a complete farce. Half of the class did very well getting 90% or better. The other half of the class didn't even complete the initial work i.e. worksheet, general ledger, but had the nerve to hand in a post-closing trial balance. They weren't even aware that we knew they were copying if they had a post-closing trial balance and didn't post! Aaaaaagh! But the truly amazing thing was that they were upset over their grades! They all should have failed but we gave them the benefit of the doubt, they did not get points for the post-closing trial balance unless they posted. So, they were graded on what was completed. There was a score of a 24, a 42, a 55, and the rest were under 65. But again, my amazement came with how incredulous they were to get their grades. What did they expect?! We were kind! I am beginning to believe that teaching is partly showing, partly telling, partly encouraging, partly coaxing, partly disciplining, and partly just plain old putting your foot down and that they will get the grades they deserve. There seemed to be a feeling that they somehow should have earned more than what their work reflected based on their previous work... wrong!

This week was PSSA testing again and if I could have done anything over this week it would have been to work harder with the students that were in class even though at times, half or more of the class was missing. In mixed classes it just becomes lost time for all because when the juniors are out testing, the seniors or sophomores expect a free period. While I don't like to go too far ahead with the class, I should make sure that they really grasp the material covered that day. They can be my assistants to teaching the juniors that missed the class due to PSSA's. I'm thinking about when I have my own classes coming up with a way that I may be able to have teams so that when one student is out, the other(s) is responsible for covering the material with that student before the student comes to me. I think and have observed students learning much quicker from each other than from me and it will also create a sense of responsibility in the student that is in class instead of a feeling that 'hey, it's a free day, she'll have to go over it again anyway!'