In the Field

I'm loving my field placement at Lancaster Catholic! At first, I was a little disappointed, because I really want to teach middle school and thought I wouldn't like high school.

My co-op teaches 9th grade academic (college prep "track"), 11th grade academic, and senior honors English. She's very traditional in her teaching styles and classroom management methods. Overall, she's very "no nonsense" and has a fairly strict manner of running her classroom. It's taken me some getting used to, but I respect what she does. Sometimes it's nice to step outside of your comfort zone, even in classroom management techniques.

I'll be teaching a lesson on A Doll's House on Tuesday. My teacher already has questions prepared, so I'll be facilitating discussion. (My strategy: some discussion with your "elbow partner" and some full class!)

Her ninth graders are a bit rowdy, but I like that. They're very energetic. I also really like her senior honors class---I thought it might be hard, especially since the students and I are so close in age, but so far I'm enjoying getting to know them. The juniors are cool, too. One group of boys asked me to coach their rec basketball team. I declined.

I can't wait to head back to LCHS on Tuesday.

In the field!

As you all know, I received my placement late and I was worried I'd get the "bottom of the pot" as far as cooperating teachers go. But I've got to give credit to whoever found my co-op! She's awesome. I'm at Lancaster Catholic, along with a few of you guys, and I absolutely love it. Today was my first day and I spent from 7:30am-3:30pm there. I'm completely exhausted, but so excited to go back and to it again tomorrow! I have to say, as I as driving to school this morning, I felt insanely nervous. It was any normal first day jitters, but as soon as I arrived, all my fears were quelled. The faculty and staff are so welcoming and wonderful, that I almost felt like I belonged there; like I wasn't the new stranger in the back of the class. My co-op is a lot like me in a lot of ways, so it's really neat to learn from her as she's been doing this for the past 16 years or so. I'm excited to learn a lot from her and all the other amazing teachers there. The kids were also awesome and extremely welcoming. Thankfully, they respected me right away and I was able to help them with some of their work. The only thing that worries me a little is classroom management because my co-op has so little of that. I'm hoping they'll be easier on me. I guess I'll have to learn fast!
Honestly, the only disappointing thing about this experience is that I'll have to teach British lit, which is probably my least favorite thing! I rather teach grammar, haha. Regardless, I'm excited for the challenge it will provide me. I already know I'm going to be teaching a lesson on The Canterbury Tales right before Thanksgiving! (If anyone has any advice, please let me know!)
I hope the rest of you are having equally amazing experiences this week and I can't wait to read about all of them here! Good luck to you all in the field :)

First Day in the Field

So, I started my field experience today at Lancaster Catholic High School. My teacher got back to me last minute with a response and I was worried about my proposed schedule, but it seems to have all worked out in the end. I should be finished with everything prior to Thanksgiving break, which will be a blessing in terms of completing work.

My cooperating teacher felt a little scattered at first, but as the first day progressed, she turned out to be really great. She keeps her classes student-centered and caters to different learning styles. She also wants me to get very involved, so I'm looking forward to teaching a few lessons. Most of her students are sophomores, but she does have a few freshmen classes as well. I really enjoy being at a private school. Everything feels more relaxed and conducive to learning. If you see my last blog post, I'm starting to think private schools are the way to go....I never thought I'd be saying that!

Taz

A Quick Glimpse

I went in today during my cooperating teacher's planning period to chat about the class, break the ice, and iron out the schedule and requirements. I left the school really excited, knowing that my first day with the students is tomorrow. Now I am not sure it wouldn't be better to come down with mono or something. All joking aside, I am a little hesitant about how things will go. My English classroom is actually a research and analysis class that prepares student's for their senior projects. It is really exciting to be doing something I thoroughly enjoy, that being research. I am intimidated by the fact that it has nothing to do with the unit I have created and the online publication for tech class are not useful. I am tired and overwhelmed and am sure things will be awesome tomorrow and I will know exactly what direction I am going in and how I will get there. Things will look better tomorrow (:

Day One

I just spent a full day at my field placement. It was very interesting; I finally got to see behind the curtain of public school teaching. I graded 5 sets of exams, formatted an answer key for ScanTron, ran results, observed, asked lots of questions, and learned a lot about different tracks & ability levels. My mentor teacher has to teach the curriculum chosen by the school. I am hoping to learn UbD well enough to craft engaging lessons based on the school’s requirements. I was intimidated by the volume of work; however, by the end of the day, I felt like I could handle it. My mentor teacher told me that “official observations” require the submission of lesson plans. I’m glad we’re working on that now; I know I have my work cut out for me.

They have 80 minute blocks; this gives the teacher a large amount of flexibility for getting things done. The students have to use school laptops; they turn them in after each use. We are lucky at Millersville to have such easy access to computers and technology. They have to take turns and plan ahead for technology use.

I was surprised that I enjoyed the rhythm of the day so much. I thought 80 minute sections would drag. It was actually quite productive to be able to work on a few main tasks in depth. The students were pretty cool. I especially enjoyed the honors English class; their responsiveness and participation was great. The lowest ability level track (I hate using that word) was challenging, but they were respectful. They needed direction and reminders to stay on task.

A great first day: I look forward to the coming weeks; it looks like I will be getting the opportunity to facilitate a Shakespeare discussion.

Good luck to everyone; I hope you enjoy your field experiences.

John

Drive, and why I love it...

Amid all the school work, jobs, and socializing that college students do, it is easy to lose sight of the big-picture stuff when it comes to our major. Now deep in the planning process of our units, I have found myself needing to be reminded frequently why this is important. It is something that I have not completely conditioned myself to yet, though I am working to make it a habit. Drive emphasized such importance when it illustrated the ways that alternative schools have been encouraging student learning.

I remember an earlier article that Dr. Shea asked us to read in which a school's tech department functioned as an engineering firm. That idea was so cool to me- it made the information relevant and realistic; students did not need to ask, "Why do I need to learn this?" The answer was inherent: "Because this is how real life engineering firms do it!" I feel that all of these schools handle their curriculum in a similar manner. They make the learning real by having students actively contribute to both their classroom and their community. As these sorts of schools become more and more successful, I wonder if we will eventually see public schools shift to such a method? Obviously this would take a huge change in education policy and take the focus off of high-stakes testing (Heaven forbid!!), but if the result is that our students become more than kids "doing school" and instead become learners, it is so worth it.

I would encourage all of us as future teachers to keep these schools in mind as we create our own classrooms and our own identities. As I mentioned before, I really struggle sometimes to keep my activities and information relevant- I have to check myself on everything I do and make sure that I can answer the dreaded, "Why do I need to know this?" question. If we can frame our units and lessons in the real world and make those connections that are so obvious that we take them for granted (such as a class functioning as a real company), I think we will be really successful. It will take a lot of conditioning and faith in our students to convince them that it's okay to take control of their learning, but I believe it will ultimately be worth the effort.

Drive

This week’s reading proposed many challenges for me. I agree with some of the ideas: offering student autonomy over how and when to complete a task and a focus on progress instead of grades. However, I’m concerned about how the focus on improving education appears to be a bottom-up process. For example, how do we remove the emphasis on grades without shortchanging our students? College admission boards aren’t playing by the same rules. We can talk about the importance of progress over product, but at the end of the day, college entrance requirements are highly competitive. To complicate matters, more students are going to college, and that trend is likely to increase. A college education has become the equivalent of a high school diploma. So, if students’ grades slip because we they are becoming more process focused, how do we balance the equation? Colleges are setting the standards. This is why the focus on grades is so crucial to students and parents.

For me, this stood out as a real challenge. How do I help my students learn the most and still get the highest possible grades? I guess I will have to structure my assessments in unconventional ways. Contracts seem like the best route. I wonder if my future school district will allow me to assess this way? It will be interesting (when I go out into the field) to find out how progressive things are in the real world.