So far, my middle school experience has been pretty great. Beth Wheeler is so fun and I love her sense of humor. She’s also so good at taking advantage of every single moment in the classroom. I am so impressed with how she can begin a sentence, tell a student to pay attention, pick the sentence back up, ask a student to repeat what she said, and finish the sentence without losing her train of thought! She also epitomizes what we discussed in our last few classes – she says directions a hundred times and sets timers (which she swears by.) She’s been super helpful so far in explaining what she’s doing and showing us the reality of teaching at Woonsocket with students who rarely show up or complete anything at home. My observations the last two days have definitely made me reconsider a lot of my ideas about homework – I never planned to use it very much but talking to Beth made me realize that relying on it at all is sometimes a ridiculously idealistic notion. Also, I never gave much thought to the problem of absenteeism before observing here but am realizing that having students who are consistently absent or late is a huge hindrance to moving forward and I am trying to pick up some ideas about how to deal with that. We spoke to Beth today about some of the issues she sees in the classroom and she told us that a lot of kids go through the school repeating each grade twice – she had a 14 year old in her 7th grade class and said that is not a rare occurrence. It seems so challenging to teach to different levels within one age group but then to deal with kids who are older (and two years at that age makes a huge difference) and to try to ensure some basic foundation of learning seems really difficult to me. Other than the teaching aspect, middle school is just so funny to me. Some of the things I have overheard make it so hard for me not to laugh and I love how sneaky the kids think they are, even though Beth seems to be aware of everything that is going on. I also am amazed at the kids who will sit there for the entire class period and just stare at the wall instead of doing any work – don’t they know that time will go by much faster and be much less boring if they just do what they’re supposed to?! I’m not a huge fan of how structured everything needs to be and how they have a very similar schedule everyday – I realize how important it is for the students but am definitely happy with my secondary ed. decision. As funny as the kids are though, they also talk like truck drivers and discuss things I would never even talk about now! Being in the class definitely makes me think about my 12 year old sister and what she could be doing at school…
I've only been to the school once so far (yesterday) but I am going tomorrow for the whole day. I will post to this blog tomorrow night or Thursday, after I get another day in!
But I did have fun yesterday...Erica Berek is pretty cool.
I went to middle school for a few classes on Monday and Tuesday, then all day today. So far I am loving it! Erica is great! I don't have time right now to really write up a reflection because I have a midterm to study for tomorrow. I will post a more substantial update over the weekend. I just wanted everyone to know that I miss you!!!!!!!!!!
Before I even went to Woonsocket Middle School, I was nervous - not because of going to a new school and meeting new students and teachers, but because of driving on the highway, by myself, early in the morning. I've done all right so far, but my heart pounds the whole time. As for the school, I love how structured everything is. I think that's what I've always liked best about school: everything is scheduled and precise. Mrs. Wheeler really knows how to keep her students focused. She constantly repeats directions, preemptively and even after students ask what they have to do. Like Kathryn said, she can be in the middle of helping one student, reprimand another, give directions, and then finish her thought with the first student. My head would be spinning! Mrs. Wheeler's classroom is awesome: it's spacious and organized. She has folders for separate activities for each student, a document camera for doing grammar examples with the students, and a surround sound system for when students read aloud. I hope that I can have such technology in my classroom. The difference between two sixth grade classes' writing is amazing. One class's narratives were very imaginative but not on par with what sixth graders should be able to do. In the other class, the students used some amazing similes and expressive language and even wrote about some complex topics, like the destruction of ecology. I was impressed with both, but still amazed at the differences in the levels of writing. I'm looking forward to helping out in the class and also teaching either of the sixth grade classes I observed (neither of them are not as advanced as the class that had the well-developed narratives). I'll see what the next observations bring.
Thank you for your thoughtful reflections, folks. I am pleased that you're paying attention to the teacher's behaviors, her presence and her voice. What she's saying is just as important as HOW she's saying it. I'm also glad to know that the crew at WMS is having a positronic experience so far. The teachers you are observing have conquered a couple BIG challenges: 1. They've figured out who they want to be as teachers (not as easy as it may seem); and 2. They manage to keep smiling despite every reason not to. I hope you are appreciating those qualities as well. Looking forward to hearing from the Ricci folks--where are you?
It has been great being in the classroom this week. I am thankful that Jill was there with me. Right from the first day, Erica had us reading with one of the students during reading class. On Wednesday, Jill and I worked with students on their ending projects for the Egyptian themed café they are finishing. It is interesting how some students are really open and seemed excited to work with a new person while others were reluctant at best. Erica said we could jump in whenever we felt comfortable, so Jill and I were like, “I will if you will!” After a minute it felt comfortable and I started having fun. The students were very different in their range of enthusiasm and ability.
During the reading classes, the students are reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I am interested in how Erica changes the way that they read the book several times each class period. The first day, she started with a “round robin” type reading where each student would read a paragraph and then “pop” to another student of their choice. They read one chapter this way. They talked briefly during the reading, making predictions and reacting to the text. Next, they got into groups to read two more chapters. Erica told them to stop and talk about the text whenever they felt like they should. They had the rest of the period and part of the next class to finish the two chapters. When they met again they finished their group reading then talked about it as a class. Next Erica read out loud having them read the first sentence of each paragraph with her. She did this for a page or so, and then hit a dialogue heavy section. The kids were reading it all, out loud together, since dialogue includes so many paragraph breaks. It was slightly chaotic. Erica picked up on the problem (I think she hadn’t anticipated the dialogue problem) and gave them a break from their out loud part. She read the rest of the chapter to them, stopping to discuss along the way. After the chapter was done, they had a class discussion as a group. I did notice Erica starting the discussion with some “so what happens in this chapter” kinds of questions, then going on to the “why” and “what do you think will happen next” questions.
(The blog made me break my comment into two again so here is the second part...)
Speaking of this, it reminds me to mention how good Erica is at reacting to things that are hard to know how to react to. While discussing the book, Erica had asked where the students where Stargirl and Leo might go on their first date. One boy, totally serious, said, “To pick out their wedding cake.” Erica said, “They’re only in high school, do you think that they are going to get married any time soon.” He said, “Well my Mom got married when she was twelve.” Erica didn’t skip a beat before asking him where his mom grew up and helping him to think out the differences between her culture and American culture-where kids don’t normally get married when they are twelve. She did all of this quickly without making judgment on which custom was the better one. Another example of great reactions from Erica were responding to a free write where a student was mad at a teacher from a previous class (Erica somehow responded by sympathizing without being disloyal to the other teacher and by helping the student to figure out how to avoid the situation that caused the trouble the next time.) One last example is how she responded to a heartbreaking free write from a boy who wrote about seeing his mom cry when she couldn’t help falling because she was in recovery from a surgery. He talked about how sad she looked, how much he loved her, and how he knows now that he has to take care of her to make sure everything is okay. Basically, he spilled his guts to the whole class. It was heartbreaking to me, yet Erica stayed composed and responded in an appropriately sympathetic yet not pitying way. It was perfect. I guess that if I saw all of these things in just three days, Erica must have seen it all by now and gotten much practice on responding just right. I think seeing what comes up in the classroom and how Erica handles it will really help me to be better prepared for these situations on my own.
Wow, I have really gone on and on, haven’t I? Sorry! I’ll sign off for now. I hope everyone is enjoying Spring Break! I miss you all! How is it going over at Ricci? There isn’t some kind of Vortex zone over there that has sucked you both in I hope!!!
Hello,I really am enjoying being in Teri Martin's class. She is fun and positive and she thoroughly enjoys her job. She is constantly laughing with (and sometimes at) the kids. There are some serious behavior issues in her inclusion classes but she handles them extremely well. I am learning that teachers must pick their battles when it comes to students. It is a fine line between maintaining classroom management and alienating the kids. They just seem to crave attention and Mrs. Martin knows how to give them just enough to satisfy them without losing any control over the class. I love being in there, it is rewarding to be in the classroom and actually interacting with the students. I can finally see where I'm going and I'm excited about it. It is good and bad that a great deal of my schedule falls with the opportunity to be in the Social Studies classroom with Mrs. Martin. It is great to see that teaching across the curriculum does truly exist but I wish I could concentrate more on the English classes. That is all I have for now! I miss you all!! Lol Tracy on the vortex comment! See you all soon.
Hi everyone! Hope you all had a nice spring break. I could use another two weeks, but oh well.
Anyway, I just wanted to touch base (I finally have the time!) and say that I really enjoy my cooperating teacher. Tracy has already touched on some of the things that I have noticed too, so I won't repeat what she's said. But I just want to say that I really like Erica's relatively soft-spoken personality. She gives off such a great, laid-back energy, and the students respond very well to it!
The kids are allowed to get up and move around while they are working in the classroom (last week they were finishing up their culminating Egyptian Writing Cafe projects) and were allowed to roam freely--to talk to peers, or research on the computers, etc.--as long as they were talking/doing their projects. Not once did it get out of hand! It was great.
I am an Associate Professor of English and Secondary Education at Rhode Island College, where I am also the Director of the Rhode Island Writing Project.
So far, my middle school experience has been pretty great. Beth Wheeler is so fun and I love her sense of humor. She’s also so good at taking advantage of every single moment in the classroom. I am so impressed with how she can begin a sentence, tell a student to pay attention, pick the sentence back up, ask a student to repeat what she said, and finish the sentence without losing her train of thought! She also epitomizes what we discussed in our last few classes – she says directions a hundred times and sets timers (which she swears by.) She’s been super helpful so far in explaining what she’s doing and showing us the reality of teaching at Woonsocket with students who rarely show up or complete anything at home. My observations the last two days have definitely made me reconsider a lot of my ideas about homework – I never planned to use it very much but talking to Beth made me realize that relying on it at all is sometimes a ridiculously idealistic notion. Also, I never gave much thought to the problem of absenteeism before observing here but am realizing that having students who are consistently absent or late is a huge hindrance to moving forward and I am trying to pick up some ideas about how to deal with that. We spoke to Beth today about some of the issues she sees in the classroom and she told us that a lot of kids go through the school repeating each grade twice – she had a 14 year old in her 7th grade class and said that is not a rare occurrence. It seems so challenging to teach to different levels within one age group but then to deal with kids who are older (and two years at that age makes a huge difference) and to try to ensure some basic foundation of learning seems really difficult to me.
ReplyDeleteOther than the teaching aspect, middle school is just so funny to me. Some of the things I have overheard make it so hard for me not to laugh and I love how sneaky the kids think they are, even though Beth seems to be aware of everything that is going on. I also am amazed at the kids who will sit there for the entire class period and just stare at the wall instead of doing any work – don’t they know that time will go by much faster and be much less boring if they just do what they’re supposed to?! I’m not a huge fan of how structured everything needs to be and how they have a very similar schedule everyday – I realize how important it is for the students but am definitely happy with my secondary ed. decision. As funny as the kids are though, they also talk like truck drivers and discuss things I would never even talk about now! Being in the class definitely makes me think about my 12 year old sister and what she could be doing at school…
I've only been to the school once so far (yesterday) but I am going tomorrow for the whole day. I will post to this blog tomorrow night or Thursday, after I get another day in!
ReplyDeleteBut I did have fun yesterday...Erica Berek is pretty cool.
I went to middle school for a few classes on Monday and Tuesday, then all day today. So far I am loving it! Erica is great! I don't have time right now to really write up a reflection because I have a midterm to study for tomorrow. I will post a more substantial update over the weekend. I just wanted everyone to know that I miss you!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBefore I even went to Woonsocket Middle School, I was nervous - not because of going to a new school and meeting new students and teachers, but because of driving on the highway, by myself, early in the morning. I've done all right so far, but my heart pounds the whole time.
ReplyDeleteAs for the school, I love how structured everything is. I think that's what I've always liked best about school: everything is scheduled and precise. Mrs. Wheeler really knows how to keep her students focused. She constantly repeats directions, preemptively and even after students ask what they have to do. Like Kathryn said, she can be in the middle of helping one student, reprimand another, give directions, and then finish her thought with the first student. My head would be spinning!
Mrs. Wheeler's classroom is awesome: it's spacious and organized. She has folders for separate activities for each student, a document camera for doing grammar examples with the students, and a surround sound system for when students read aloud. I hope that I can have such technology in my classroom.
The difference between two sixth grade classes' writing is amazing. One class's narratives were very imaginative but not on par with what sixth graders should be able to do. In the other class, the students used some amazing similes and expressive language and even wrote about some complex topics, like the destruction of ecology. I was impressed with both, but still amazed at the differences in the levels of writing.
I'm looking forward to helping out in the class and also teaching either of the sixth grade classes I observed (neither of them are not as advanced as the class that had the well-developed narratives). I'll see what the next observations bring.
Thank you for your thoughtful reflections, folks. I am pleased that you're paying attention to the teacher's behaviors, her presence and her voice. What she's saying is just as important as HOW she's saying it. I'm also glad to know that the crew at WMS is having a positronic experience so far. The teachers you are observing have conquered a couple BIG challenges: 1. They've figured out who they want to be as teachers (not as easy as it may seem); and 2. They manage to keep smiling despite every reason not to. I hope you are appreciating those qualities as well. Looking forward to hearing from the Ricci folks--where are you?
ReplyDeleteIt has been great being in the classroom this week. I am thankful that Jill was there with me. Right from the first day, Erica had us reading with one of the students during reading class. On Wednesday, Jill and I worked with students on their ending projects for the Egyptian themed café they are finishing. It is interesting how some students are really open and seemed excited to work with a new person while others were reluctant at best. Erica said we could jump in whenever we felt comfortable, so Jill and I were like, “I will if you will!” After a minute it felt comfortable and I started having fun. The students were very different in their range of enthusiasm and ability.
ReplyDeleteDuring the reading classes, the students are reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I am interested in how Erica changes the way that they read the book several times each class period. The first day, she started with a “round robin” type reading where each student would read a paragraph and then “pop” to another student of their choice. They read one chapter this way. They talked briefly during the reading, making predictions and reacting to the text. Next, they got into groups to read two more chapters. Erica told them to stop and talk about the text whenever they felt like they should. They had the rest of the period and part of the next class to finish the two chapters. When they met again they finished their group reading then talked about it as a class. Next Erica read out loud having them read the first sentence of each paragraph with her. She did this for a page or so, and then hit a dialogue heavy section. The kids were reading it all, out loud together, since dialogue includes so many paragraph breaks. It was slightly chaotic. Erica picked up on the problem (I think she hadn’t anticipated the dialogue problem) and gave them a break from their out loud part. She read the rest of the chapter to them, stopping to discuss along the way. After the chapter was done, they had a class discussion as a group. I did notice Erica starting the discussion with some “so what happens in this chapter” kinds of questions, then going on to the “why” and “what do you think will happen next” questions.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(The blog made me break my comment into two again so here is the second part...)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of this, it reminds me to mention how good Erica is at reacting to things that are hard to know how to react to. While discussing the book, Erica had asked where the students where Stargirl and Leo might go on their first date. One boy, totally serious, said, “To pick out their wedding cake.” Erica said, “They’re only in high school, do you think that they are going to get married any time soon.” He said, “Well my Mom got married when she was twelve.” Erica didn’t skip a beat before asking him where his mom grew up and helping him to think out the differences between her culture and American culture-where kids don’t normally get married when they are twelve. She did all of this quickly without making judgment on which custom was the better one. Another example of great reactions from Erica were responding to a free write where a student was mad at a teacher from a previous class (Erica somehow responded by sympathizing without being disloyal to the other teacher and by helping the student to figure out how to avoid the situation that caused the trouble the next time.) One last example is how she responded to a heartbreaking free write from a boy who wrote about seeing his mom cry when she couldn’t help falling because she was in recovery from a surgery. He talked about how sad she looked, how much he loved her, and how he knows now that he has to take care of her to make sure everything is okay. Basically, he spilled his guts to the whole class. It was heartbreaking to me, yet Erica stayed composed and responded in an appropriately sympathetic yet not pitying way. It was perfect. I guess that if I saw all of these things in just three days, Erica must have seen it all by now and gotten much practice on responding just right. I think seeing what comes up in the classroom and how Erica handles it will really help me to be better prepared for these situations on my own.
Wow, I have really gone on and on, haven’t I? Sorry! I’ll sign off for now. I hope everyone is enjoying Spring Break! I miss you all! How is it going over at Ricci? There isn’t some kind of Vortex zone over there that has sucked you both in I hope!!!
Hello,I really am enjoying being in Teri Martin's class. She is fun and positive and she thoroughly enjoys her job. She is constantly laughing with (and sometimes at) the kids. There are some serious behavior issues in her inclusion classes but she handles them extremely well. I am learning that teachers must pick their battles when it comes to students. It is a fine line between maintaining classroom management and alienating the kids. They just seem to crave attention and Mrs. Martin knows how to give them just enough to satisfy them without losing any control over the class. I love being in there, it is rewarding to be in the classroom and actually interacting with the students. I can finally see where I'm going and I'm excited about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is good and bad that a great deal of my schedule falls with the opportunity to be in the Social Studies classroom with Mrs. Martin. It is great to see that teaching across the curriculum does truly exist but I wish I could concentrate more on the English classes.
That is all I have for now!
I miss you all!!
Lol Tracy on the vortex comment!
See you all soon.
Hi everyone! Hope you all had a nice spring break. I could use another two weeks, but oh well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I just wanted to touch base (I finally have the time!) and say that I really enjoy my cooperating teacher. Tracy has already touched on some of the things that I have noticed too, so I won't repeat what she's said. But I just want to say that I really like Erica's relatively soft-spoken personality. She gives off such a great, laid-back energy, and the students respond very well to it!
The kids are allowed to get up and move around while they are working in the classroom (last week they were finishing up their culminating Egyptian Writing Cafe projects) and were allowed to roam freely--to talk to peers, or research on the computers, etc.--as long as they were talking/doing their projects. Not once did it get out of hand! It was great.
Anyway, that's all! Miss you guys!