Microteaching II

All right folks, comment away!  :)

- Jamie

Observation #4

For this assignment, I used the same class observation as Observation #2 (submitted by e-mail).  The lesson that day covered propaganda techniques, as they had just finished Animal Farm by George Orwell.  Students will be able to define propaganda techniques, and differentiate between them as they identify the use of them in the novel (knowledge & comprehension).  This will be assessed in a 10-minute quiz consisting of three short answer questions.

Name: _______________________________ Date:__________________________ Period:_______________

Propaganda Techniques in Animal Farm

This is an open-book quiz.  You will have 10 minutes.

Find three different types of propaganda techniques that appear in Animal Farm.  In each space below, list the technique, a brief definition of the technique, and your evidence from the text (with page number).

Each one is worth 5 points.

__________________________________________________________________________________

1)   Technique:

Supporting Evidence:

2)   Technique:

Supporting Evidence:

3)   Technique:

Supporting Evidence:

KEY

Supporting evidence may vary, which is why students must provide page numbers.

Techniques

-       Bandwagon:  An appeal to be part of the group – everyone else is doing something, so you should to, or you will be left out.

-       Testimonial:  An important figure or famous person endorses a product or idea.

-       Transfer:  A symbol that carries respect, authority, sanction, and prestige is used along with and idea or argument to make it look more acceptable.

-       Plain Folks:  The speaker presents him or herself as a common person who can understand and empathize with a listener's concerns.

-       Glittering Generalities:  An emotionally appealing word or phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason.

-       Emotional Words:  Words that stir up a strong feeling (positive or negative).

-       Fear:  Building support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population.

-       Name Calling:  Attacking an opponent personally, rather than their argument or idea.

Example Answer

1)   Technique:

Fear - Building support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population

Supporting Evidence:

“Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty?  Jones would come back!  Yes, Jones would come back! … Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?”  (page ____)

Observation #3

For this observation assignment, I am actually going to use the final class that I observed, as it was noticeably different from the others.  This was evident from the beginning, as I could tell the teacher was much more traditional in his methods.  I find myself wondering if this contributes to the attitude and resistance he was met with that day, which I understand was not a unique occurrence.  All of the desks were arranged in straight rows, facing forward, where the teacher placed himself at a makeshift lectern.  It was a 12^th grade English class, and they were studying “The Rape of the Lock,” a mock heroic narrative poem by Alexander Pope.

The students filtered in noisily, and took their time about finding their seats.  He got their attention in order to quickly introduce me, and as I sat down he made his first correction of the period, threatening a student that he would take her phone if she didn’t put it away.  He then asked who did not have their books, and as he handed out a few class copies, he commented that it was going to be the last time he did and that they needed to be responsible for their materials.  As it is already November, I found myself wondering how many times he had threatened that it would be the last time he loaned out books.  He may have taken attendance as he did this, but if he did, it was quietly, and escaped my notice.

Before getting into the material, he asked a student to apologize to the class for an outburst that had occurred the previous day—though what the outburst entailed was not mentioned.  As the student apologized, a group of guys at the back continued to chat.  The teacher separated the group, making one of them move their seat.  He noisily got up, dropped his backpack at the new seat, and griped loudly as he did.  The teacher then commented to the class that he knew they had senioritis, but if they didn’t cooperate and participate, he would load them up with work.  “I will make your lives miserable,” he said.

He finally moved into the material, briefly reviewing notes on satire and characteristics of epics that they must have covered the previous day.  As he talked and wrote on the board, many of the students spaced out or doodled.  This disengagement continued throughout the class.  As he stood at his lectern, he then began asking individual students to read small segments aloud, which they would then discuss.  However, each student he called on had a mouthy response to having to read (it was kind of strange to watch).  After the third student, a girl, was called on and complained—“Why should I have to read?  I read yesterday, make someone else read”—he stopped them and instructed the class to read the rest of it silently, and come up with 10 questions and answers (about plot or any thematic element), which would count as a quiz grade.  This, of course, drew protest.  He told them that he had warned them that he would give them work if they didn’t cooperate, and he did follow through with that.

One particular student continued to complain, so the teacher moved him to the corner of the room.  As the student continued to mutter and complain, the teacher warned him that he would throw him out, to which the student replied, “I’m just trying to fix my chair, holy sh*t!”  The teacher let that one go.  As this student continued to complain in his new seat (“How am I gonna write questions about something I don’t even understand?  What the f***?”), the teacher chose to ignore him.  Eventually the rest of the class quieted, though only half of them truly seemed to be working, as the rest stared off into space or doodled on their notepaper.  About five minutes before the bell, a student asked if it was homework.  He thought for a moment, and then said that because they had been working quietly, he would give them time to finish it on Monday.  At this point, the rest of the class took this exchange to mean class was over, and began packing up, standing up, and chatting.

I was able to chat with the teacher for a few minutes after the class had departed.  He apologized for their behavior, but commented that he thought it was good for me to see, because this sort of thing “is a part of it.”  I’d have to agree.  Even though I didn’t get to observe a lot of teaching, it was definitely a lesson in student behavior. The teacher mentioned that behavior management was a daily thing with this particular class, and more than half of them have IEPs and 504s.  That definitely makes it a challenge.

While he eventually succeeded in achieving quiet in the classroom (mostly, anyway), and followed through on what he said he would do, I’m not sure how much learning actually happened in that class period.  I am curious to know how things went the following Monday, which is the next time that class was going to meet.  Did they finish their work?  What kind of questions did they come up with?  Did he stick to making it a quiz grade as he said he would?  How did the discussion go?  Were they better behaved, knowing that he would pile on work like that?  Did they all have their books?  I wonder.

Promising Practices

On Saturday, November 2^nd, I attended Rhode Island College’s 16^th Annual Promising Practices conference.  This year, the focus was Civic and Community Engagement.  Following the opening remarks, the conference got underway with the Plenary Session—a panel discussion between Susan Follett Lusi (Superintendent, Providence Schools), Anthony Maione (President & CEO, United Way of RI), Neil Steinberg (President & CEO, Rhode Island Foundation), Mayor Angel Taveras, Nancy Carriuolo (President of RIC), Donald Farish (President of RWU), and Mim Runey (President of JWU).  I felt the discussion got interesting when the moderator asked, “How do we break the link between the socioeconomic status of the parents and the success of their children?”  Mayor Tavares responded by saying that we can’t use poverty as an excuse, and we can’t have different expectations for those students because of their status.  I think this is very important, because any and every student has the potential to achieve.  I also noted how Mayor Tavares said that there needs to be focus on birth to age 5, because too frequently when a low-income child begins kindergarten at age 5, they are already behind and will only continue to fall behind.  At the time I’d wished he had gone into that more, though I realize now that he was likely alluding to the universal Pre-K program he proposed just last week.  The speakers also discussed how poverty is a factor but not a destiny, low-income families need additional support from schools (extended school days, summer programs, etc.), poor education and poor reading levels have a great affect on life outcome (make or break the cycle), and that the progress of a student needs to be taken into account in any kind of evaluation – not just grade level.  Mr. Steinberg added that the best and brightest college students need to be incentivized to become teachers, and that we need to engage parents and inspire students to achieve the positive educational outcomes.

After the Plenary Session, I headed off to the first session I selected, which was Citizenship I: “Children in Central American Migrant Families: Lessons Learned from a University-Community Collaboration” & “Building an Architecture of College Inclusion for High School Language Minority Students”.  I found this session to be very interesting.  The first presenter was Prof. Kalina Brabeck.  She discussed research on deportations of undocumented immigrant parents its effects on the children (eating & sleep changes, depression, anxiety, academic decline, developmental delays), and the effects of living in undocumented status on children (low social support, stress, psychological distress, low access to services, low rates of care, cognitive delay by as much as 3 years).  The children are affected both personally and academically, and become stuck in a cycle that is tough to break free from.  What I got from this part, as a future teacher, is that it is important to understand the potential challenges that some of your students may be facing that can have an effect on their performance in school.

The second part of the presentation discussed Project ExCEL here at Rhode Island College.  It is a program that offers college access to students who performed well in high school, but are generally discouraged from attending four-year universities because of their lack of mainstream English courses.  The option for these students is usually dropping out, or a remedial community college education.  Prof. Ramirez, one of the presenters, said that these high rates of drop out or remedial community college occur when ESL students are mainstreamed without access to studying in their home language.  Project ExCEL offers supporting courses to bilingual students to encourage a sense of community and academic success.  As a future teacher, I couldn’t believe the story told about a student who did incredibly well in school, but was discouraged (by either a teacher or guidance counselor) from applying to colleges because of their lack of mainstream English courses.  It is important for us to encourage our students to strive to do their best and meet their personal goals, and part of that is being aware of programs like Project ExCEL, so that we can let our students know that there are options.

The second session I attended was “Engaging Students in Anti-Bullying Efforts”, with presenters Rebecca Ferry and Joseph Pirraglia.  The presenters showed us the anti-bullying program they developed at Barrington Middle School.  The presenters commented that kids can’t achieve if they don’t feel safe, and no learning will happen.  So they worked within their teams to create an environment where students feel safe and comfortable sharing and discussing.  They did this through team building activities to create a culture, and by really listening to kids in the halls and at lunch to pick up on what’s going on, so that they could address the issues.  It started small, but the students embraced it and ran with the activities, including a pledge, video, song, skits, and more.  As a result, the students are better connected to each other, there is improved academic success, and the kids are standing up for one another and are aware of social issues that they see pop up.  I am a big supporter of anti-bullying efforts, and while it was great to see the effort these two teachers put into their team, I believe it can also start in your own classroom.  It is important to create a safe environment for your students where they feel comfortable, and to build a culture of acceptance, understanding, respect, and communication among your students.  This begins in part, as the presenters noted, with really listening to what is going on in the halls and cafeterias to understand issues present in your own school.

The final session I attended was “The Central Falls School District and RIC School of Social Work Collaborative: Engaging Students in the Achievement of Academic Success”.  The panel discussed the collaboration that puts Social Work students into Central Falls High School as interns, offering additional support to at-risk students.  Prior to this collaboration, the high school had only ONE social worker for up to 800 students.  I don’t know if this is a common practice, but it seems crazy to me!  What a work load for that social worker, particularly in a school with so many issues with substance abuse, homelessness, teenage parents, and domestic violence.  One thing I made note of is that the Vice Principal of CFHS said that attendance at the high school is a challenge, and that it is a community issue.  The social worker, interns, teachers, and even the VP himself have gone on home visits to reinforce the importance of regular attendance to the student and to their family.  While this session felt more directed to social workers than classroom educators, it still let me know that there is support available within the school.  As a teacher, if you need help with a student or are aware of issues that a student may be dealing with, you can reach out to the support staff.

In hindsight, even though the sessions I selected were interesting, I wish I had selected some of the other ones.  Having heard about a few of them from others, I think there were ones that I may have enjoyed more.  The “Star Power” game explores social stratification and sounded like an interesting experience.  Also, the Advocacy II: “Creating Caring and Committed Anti-bullying Classes” & “Trans*Action: Tools for a Transgender Ally” both sounded like great and informative presentations in that final session!  Ultimately though, I feel that the conference was a beneficial experience for me to have as a future teacher.

Observation Assignment #1

            It was a bright and very early Friday morning when I headed off to Warwick for my day of observations.  I was a little nervous as I entered the school, as I had set it up so that I would observe four different English classes in one day.  I wasn’t sure how it would go, but by the end, I was glad that I had the opportunity to do it that way.  I was able to see how the majority of a school day progressed in this high school, and four very different classrooms, which I think was a beneficial experience for me.  I arrived a little before the school day started.  The main office was bustling, but I was greeted by a pleasant secretary who got me signed in, and directed me to the classroom of the first teacher I was to observe.

As I moved through the halls, I couldn’t help but feel reminded of the two high schools I attended some ten years ago.  The school population is predominantly white and middle class, as mine had been, and which was reflected in each of the classes I observed.  The school was likely built in the 70s, and combined with the murals and awards on the walls, display cases with student projects and other things, and the students moving in the halls (some in football jerseys), it wound up feeling somehow familiar even though I had never been.

The teacher was warm and welcoming, and I entered just as she was setting up an LCD projector that she was borrowing from another teacher in the department.  The teacher she was borrowing it from was in the room and introduced herself, and her class was going to be the next that I observed.  As they set up the projector they explained that not everyone has one so they share on occasion.  I noticed throughout the day that while each classroom was equipped with a single computer for the teacher, as well as a traditional overhead projector, technology was largely absent.  In fact, each room still had chalkboards (I’m so used to seeing whiteboards!).  At a point later in the day, I was shown the computer lab, where teacher have to sign up for time slots to be able to bring their classes in.  In the corner of the computer lab was a cart of laptops, like the ones in HB at RIC.  The teachers had a chuckle as they told me the computers were new, but remained in the cart, because the school is not equipped for wi-fi.

The first class I observed was a 9^th grade Honors class, which proved to be an interesting way to start the day, as I compared the rest of the classes to it.  As they began to file in, they collected their journals from a crate by the door and began chatting with each other and the teacher about their thoughts on the end of Animal Farm, which they had completed the night before.  Before the bell even rang.  This proved to be an indicator for how the rest of this class would go, as it wound up being the most energetic and engaged class I observed.  Whether it was because they were 9^th graders, or because it was an Honors class, or because of the teacher’s style, or the make-up of the group of students… or some combination of these factors, it was interesting when compared to the rest of the day.  This also wound up being the largest class of the four—25 students, though only 7 of them were boys.  The rest of the classes averaged around 15, with a pretty even split between genders.

I chose to use my observation of that 9^th grade class for the 2^nd observation assignment though, so for this one I will focus on the next class I observed.  As I mentioned, I had already had the chance to meet this teacher before school began, which made entering her room much more comfortable.  She directed me to a seat at a large table off to the side.  The students’ desks were arranged in a horseshoe around the three sides of the room, facing forward.  This was the same set-up I saw in three of the four classes.  The teacher stood at the podium as she took attendance and checked off who had completed the homework assignment.  There were the usual posters you might imagine when you think of an English classroom (grammar and such), as well as some student-created posters on themes from Of Mice and Men, which they must have finished recently as it was not the current unit.

As she checked off the homework, it became clear that at least half of them had not done the assignment.  “See now, you’ve messed up my lesson!”  She exclaimed.  But she moved a student desk to the center of the horseshoe and sat down, getting the conversation going by asking to refresh everyone’s memories of what some of the issues were that they had discussed the previous day.  She asked leading questions and was great at wait time, and eventually someone would volunteer an answer each time.  This was much different from the energy of the first class I had observed.  These seniors were much more subdued, quietly clutching iced coffees.  They then began discussing the homework assignment, which was to briefly research a global issue.  She called on each student who had finished the assignment, asking them to share.  The last one to share had looked into the typhoon in the Philippines, and the teacher used this topic to begin asking probing questions like, “Besides death and illness, how else will the people of the typhoon be affected?”  and “What other global issues will this result in?”  She was guiding the discussion towards poverty, and how the poor will be even poorer in the wake of the destruction.  The students’ answers led her there.

While I listened, I was trying to figure out where this was leading.  A research paper?  Something else?  After the discussion, the teacher handed out worksheets, instructing the students to pair up and answer the questions based on what they know, have heard, or think they know.  She encouraged them to think and talk it out, and as the students moved into pairs, she brought me a copy of the worksheet.  It was on Poverty in the World, with questions like, “At least 80% of the world’s population lives on less that $_________ a day.”  I listened as the students began to liven up, chatting and making guesses as what the answers could or might be.  The teacher moved through the room to keep them on task and ask probing questions.  As they worked, she came over to chat with me.  She explained that she was getting them to think about poverty and what stems from poverty.  They were then going to get into human trafficking, including here in the US and in RI, which was ultimately leading into the novel Sold.  She explained that she was actually borrowing this unit from the first teacher I observed.  It was nice to see that they share lesson and unit ideas, as well as their technology, to support each other.

The students were engaged in the worksheet and curious to know what the answers were as they began to share.  Many of them were way off in their guesses, and were surprised by the answers.  She then gave out a second worksheet for homework (and told them it would count twice, so don’t blow it off like the last one!).  This assignment was an exercise in cost-of-living expenses, so they had to sit down with a parent or guardian or someone who pays bills to get an idea of what a monthly/weekly/daily budget might look like.  From these assignments and from what she explained to me of how the unit was going to go, I think it’s a great way to get the students to think about real world issues, and understand the effects even close to home in the US and RI, before launching into a novel about such issues as they happen somewhere far away in the world.  From the students’ interest in the worksheets that got them to liven up, I think they will wind up finding it to be interesting too.

Microteaching I

Here's a post for your comments on my Microteaching 1 lesson!

- Jamie :)

Teacher Evaluation

(Image found using Creative Commons, just to test it out! :) )

    Ultimately, if there was a perfect solution to the ongoing debate of evaluating teachers, it would likely have been posed if not already implemented.  The fact that there are many opinions and ideas of the “best” way to evaluate, each one plagued with inadequacies and further questions, suggests that there is no easy way to tackle this issue.  For example, take the current situation surrounding standardized text scores as a means of measuring a teacher’s performance.  What if the student is not a good test-taker?  Does the test count for the student in any way?  If not, how do we know they are giving their best effort?  Does the test content align with the standards and goals of the teacher’s subject, or is he/she forced to spend time “teaching what will be on the test”?  Does a good score on the test indicate that a student has grown and developed over the course of the year?  This method, as I know many teachers have said and will continue to say, is flawed.

    Before we can evaluate a teacher, though, we need to decide what it is that we are trying to evaluate.  What result would indicate that a teacher is “doing their job well”?  High test scores?  High rates of graduation?  Engaged and productive students?  Happy parents?  To me, the trouble with choosing one single method of evaluation is that it only produces one result that is not representative of the larger picture.

    While I can’t say that I have a solution to this, I think could be a step in the right direction would be incorporating a few (or even several) different assessments into a sort of teacher portfolio or profile.  Some things that could be included might be: evaluations from students in each class, peer reviews (from other teachers within the same department), administrator evaluations, a self-reflection done every quarter/semester/year, surveys or written comments from parents at the end of the each semester/year, and hey -- maybe even standardized test scores.  If those standardized test scores aren’t at the ideal level, there is more material in the portfolio to reference to determine if this is really the result of poor teaching, or something else.  This way, no one particular thing would be representative of a teacher’s overall performance.  The portfolio helps to illustrate that bigger picture.

    That’s just one more idea to add to the fray, anyway.