I think one of my most memorable moments here at Akins is the first day I walked in and met my cooperating teacher, Coach Salazar. She is a very intimidating woman that commands respect from the moment she walks in a room. I lated discovered she wasn’t completely aware that she does this, but is a little pleased that she does, I think. I wasn’t sure what to say to her or how to act, it felt like she wasn’t very happy to have me, but the next time I went to see her it was much better. She is a very caring, very independent, intellignet woman who I’ve really come to admire. Watching her with her athletes, it’s obvious how much they respect her and how much she cares for them. She gets on to them like a mother would and treats them like family. I plan to remember all the things she told me, because I’d love to be the type of coach she is. She knows her athletes know they can come to her and they don’t want to disappoint her. That says a lot about her as a coach and a woman in general. I’m very greatful to have been her intern and hope to work with her in the near future.

 

Thank you Dr. Bond!

I completed my second video teach this past Monday. I was really nervous, more nervous about this one than my first because pe and athletics are my passion. However, it went so much better than I thought. It was even better than the first teach.

I could really see the students having fun and participating. I feel like I got them thinking about some important things. I am feeling a lot more confident now about being in front of a classroom. Also, I did have to deal with a little classroom management, the girls were very chatty because of the lesson I did. I had to remind them to focus and ask them to listen, but they did as soon as I asked. I learned that some chatter is ok as long as it’s on topic and that was a nice thing to see.

The whole semester I was dreading these teaches and I actually really learned a lot and enjoyed these opportunities.

Last week I completed my 1st video teach. I was a little nervous, but my colleague, Holly really helped me out. I appreciate her help and all her kind words.

Mr. Izor’s class is pretty well-behaved and so I didn’t have to deal with any serious classroom management issues, which was nice, but I did do some redirecting that seemed to work.

I had them play board races and I think they really liked getting up and working in groups, trying to win. I think that checking for understanding by using a fun activity gets everyone excited about learning.

My next teach is next week and I’m hoping I do even better this time around. I am doing a lesson with the girl’s softball team and hope that I can get them to have some fun too! At least I know there won’t be any classroom management issues since they are disciplined athletes!

Today is the day I’m doing my first video teach. I’m doing it in a geography class with Mr. Izor. He is an incredible teacher and has a great rapport with his class, so I’m hoping some of that works in my favor.

I know a few of the kids and hope they participate to make things run a little more smoothly.

I hope they enjoy the games I hve planned and learn something from me.

 

The guest speaker we had today was amazing!! she was SO nice and I really enjoyed the conversation I had with her.

During my block this semester I’ve observed several classes and the one that sticks out as the best was a teen leadership class instructed by Ms. Garcia. She’s a very calm, yet energetic teacher that the students seem to really respect. Everyone participated in the activities and stayed on task  pretty well. She used an activity for a warm up in the beginning of class that had anyone who wanted to volunteer tell the class something good. So several students raised their hands and shared stories of things going on in their lives, like a family member who is feeling better or a track meet coming up. More than half the class shared something and at the end, Ms. Garcia shared a story too. She told the class she may be distracted today because she was worried about her boyfriend because he had an accident the day before. SHe asked the class to help keep her on task that day and everyone seemed genuinely concerned.

I think this class participated and worked so well because the teacher has a great rapport with her students. Not just one or two students… all of them seem to like her. I’m not sure what it is she’s done since the beginning of the year, but I’d like to ask her. I know one of the things she’s done that I  think probably contributed to their behavior is that she got with each class and asked them what THEY wanted their classroom rules to be. SO, on the wall, each class has a big sheet of paper with lists of words and phrases describing behavoir from both the students and the teacher, then every single student AND the teacher signs their name to the paper, binding the agreement. I think that really helps the students feel like they have more power in their classroom. If they helped come up with the rules, then it seems that they’d be more interested in following them, especially since the signed them, agreeing to do so. Ms. Garcia has respect for  her students, you can see that and she’s made her lessons relative to her students’ lives. I think these few things are a giant reason she has the type of classroom atmosphere she does.

I plan to ask her how she implemented these strategies and see how long it took to get the kids comfortable and to a level close to what they are now. I’d like to know if they were reluctant or if they really took a chance. I plan to use the rule idea with my classes, I’d like them to have a say in what their rules should be in their classroom. I’d also like to start the day by telling each other positive things. It helps you ghet to know your classmates and care, as well as start the class off on a positive note.

Ms. Garcia is Genius.

Last week I observed a P.E. class and was really surprised because it was the first I’ve been to this semester. The teacher running it is the boys head director and he is an awesome guy. I spent a lot of the class talking to him about the bad rap that P.E. gets from not only the students but from the other teachers as well. He’s been teaching about 18 years and believes P.E. is important, as do I. As we talked I watched the class and realized some of the students were pretty skilled and others were really behind in certain skills. Most of them were playing basketball and the rest were sitting in the bleachers. He told me that most of the kids had probably been in athletics in junior high and then dropped it when they got to High School and those I saw playing really showed some athleticism. There were a few who really had poor mechanics but were still playing. As we talked a student came up and handed the teacher a note and told him he was leaving and they began to get into a bit of an arguement. The kid felt that because he was late he shouldn’t have to be there at all. The teacher told him he could stay or go and he left. I don’t think the teacher expected that though and went after him. However, the kid just walked away and left the building. I’ve had this kid in other classes and he presents the same behivior.

I really started thinking about consequences in my classroom and in class we ran through a list of things like, standing near them, giving them a verbal warning, seperating them from the situation, talking to them alone, sending a note home and so on. My concern is that there are some kids that are phased by none of this. They may not have parents who care if they get a note home or a phone call, they may not even have parents. So, when the child doesn’t care to be in class, doean’t care about any consequences, what are you to do? You shouldn’t be sending them to the principal every day, but in every class I’ve seen him in, he leaves, is either sent out or just walks out. It will look like you can’t handle the student if you send him away, but if they choose to leave or he has to leave as not to disrupt the class, what are you supposed to do?

I will ask the teachers I know the kids sees in class and see what they do. I will ask Dr. Bond and maybe research some behavior tecniques online.

This semester during my block at AHS, we have been given an English Language Learner to work with. We are there to help them with their English as well as any subjects they may be needing help in.

We met our ELLs this past Monday and I was given two because a colleague was absent. Right off the bat one of them didn’t seem very interested. She listened to her IPod while we were talking and wouldn’t answer my questions sometimes, instead asking me questions. I’d answer them and then ask mine again and noticed that even when talking to the other student. the first one would interrupt and talk over us. I then found that the first student would talk to the other in Spanish, but not really to clear anything up, just to talk. I told them I didn’t know much Spanish and that they were WAY ahead of me because they can speak two languages. I told them I wanted to learn from them and hoped they’d help me. They were more interested in talking about my animals on my Me poster and about whether or not I went out to bars on the weekends. I think once it settles down with just me and my parenter it’ll be easier to handle. I do look forward to getting to know my student.

I think that instead of just waiting while they spoke to each other, I should have asked what they were saying and why they were speaking in Spanish, to see if it was just comfort, or habit… or if they needed to understand something better. I want to learn more about my sstudent because we both learned a lot about the other at the last session. I plan on asking more questions of my student this time and then going to observe her in a classroom next wednesday. I think my student was pretty comfortable with me, she said I didn’t seem old…. which I guess is a good thing. She seems like a sweet girl and I plan on helping her any way I can.

Describe:

This semester I’m enrolled in a class called a Block. This is something you do before you student teach. It involves being at a school and in this case, I’m at Akins High School in South Austin. You are in a classroom with a professor that basically teaches you how to teach. In this class you are given time to go observe teachers in their classrooms and see what goes on before you are assigned a permenant cooperating teacher. For my first observation I went out with a girl named Katie and we asked a science teacher if we could observe him.

Analyze:

When we first walked into the room, the students were talking and getting ready for class and before we even sat down we heard one girl in particular who was swearing loudly with her friends at her table. This struck me as odd right away because I come from a small town and no one would really swear loudly where the teacher could hear them. Class began shortly after and all the students began working on some paperwork. Throughout the entire class this one girl talked out loud, still swearing, laughed and moved around. She was only called out once by the teacher and all he said was,” I can still hear you talking”. At that point, it wasn’t actually her talking, for the first time. They then went over their answers where some kids just yelled out answers and other said nothing. During this, I noticed almost everyone yelling out their answers, including the loud girl, got them right. I also noticed during this class that the students had no assigned seating and they seemed to segregate themselves by race. It was an interesting thing to see because at my high school, we only had white and hispanic kids. I was just very surprised by this teachers lack of classroom management. I was wondering what would have happened had the principal walked in?

Reflection:

I am glad I saw this and not a class that was well behaved and quiet. I know I will have students and classes that will be a challenge to keep in rder and I’d love to learn ways to combat that. I want to be prepared for those situations so that if my principal were to walk in, they would see a class that was at least on task. It was a great experience to see and I look forward to more observations.