Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Action Research
I am working along side a colleague at North Marion High School, while I am placed at Clay-Battelle High School. A common theme that we noticed in observations at our schools is the lack of student engagement and interest with texts. Our interest of study is focused on improving twelfth grade student performance as well as engaging students in British literature texts through stimulating their curiosity and creativity. Throughout our internships, we will research how we can most effectively implement digital media to enhance the learning process for students at the secondary level. As prospective teachers, we want to ensure that we employ the best teaching techniques in order to maximize productivity and increase student success rates within our classrooms. I will blog about the occurrences of each day...
9/8/09 - I conducted student surveys regarding to student interests levels and knowledge of Anglo-Saxons prior to Beowulf. Surveys showed that, on average, students weren't excited about reading Beowulf, nor were the students interested in British literature. I collected and saved all surveys for later references. Students weren't enthusiastic about reading the introduction to Anglo-Saxon period.
9/9/09 - Students still showed no interest in the Anglo-Saxon period. When introducing Beowulf, however, they seemed to be intrigued of the action of the epic.
9/10/19 - Students began reading Beowulf today. The students read "The Monster Grendel" and "The Arrival of the Hero". They seemed interested. The notes guide seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/11/09 - Students read "Unferth's Challenge" today. They still seemed interested. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/14/09 - The students listened to the audio version of "The Battle with Grendel". All students were actively engaged with the audio version. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/15/09 - The students read "The Monster's Mother" today. They also related Gardner's Grendel to Beowulf. The students were interested in to comparison between the two point-of-views. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/16/09 - Students started to read "The Final Battle" today. The students showed strong interest and knowledge of Beowulf. They acknowledged the element of foreshadowing at the beginning, and they were not happy to hear that this would be Beowulf's final battle. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/17/09 - Today, students finished reading "The Final Battle". The students were very upset when the epic hero, Beowulf, was killed in battle. Students worked on the end of story questions in class.
9/18/09 - We went over the answers for the questions for the story. Students had strong responses to most of the questions. I introduced the Digital Media Projects. The students stressed STRONG interest in creating Digital Media Projects related to the 6 sections of Beowulf. The students were eager to pick groups and sections. They also told me how "exciting" it was "to be creative and re-do Beowulf from their eyes." They discussed ideas with their groups. From just overhearing their conversations, I am very excited to see their final products!
9/21/09 - Today, we worked in the computer lab. Students were using technology to create their own "Modern Day Beowulf" story. The students showed strong interest in creating a modern day Beowulf. This was only the beginning of their tales, but I am very excited to see what they come up with!
9/22/09- We continued to work in the computer lab today. The students finished working on their "Modern Day Beowulf" stories. The students seemed to be very interested in creating modern versions of Beowulf and Grendel.
9/23/09- I gave the students their study guides for their tests today. Also, the students began practicing and filming their digital media projects for recreating Beowulf. I gave them two flip-cameras to use for the project. The students worked in their groups on making props for their skits while they practiced, as well. The students showed strong interest in filming their parts.
9/24/09- The students worked in their groups on their digital media projects. They continued practicing, making props, and filming. The groups that finished gave me their video recordings to compile in a final movie.
9/25/09- The students worked in their groups on their digital media projects. They finished practicing, making props, and filming. The groups that finished gave me their video recordings to compile in a final movie. As a class, we went over the answers for the study guide. All students seemed to know all the answers.
9/28/09- The students took their test on Beowulf.
9/29/09- The students watched both classes' versions of Beowulf. They filled out evaluations for the digital media project. They evaluated their contributions, their group member's contributions, and the over all experience. The classes loved the videos. They asked when they could do it again. The students also filled out a post-survey regarding Beowulf. The surveys showed that digital media helped encouraged the students in reading Beowulf. On average, they really enjoyed reading Beowulf. One student even asked, "If you give us a lot of homework, will that allow us to do another digital media project sooner?" I was highly excited by this response. Students were asking for more homework so they could do this kind of assignment again.
10/7/09- I conducted student surveys regarding to student interests levels and knowledge of the Middle Ages prior to reading the Canterbury Tales. Surveys showed that, on average, students weren't excited about reading the Canterbury Tales, nor were the students interested in British literature. I collected and saved all surveys for later references. Students weren't enthusiastic about reading the introduction to the Middle Ages. The students got into groups that I picked to read the information on the Middle Ages on pages 116 - 129. The students were asked to write down the important information.
10/8/09- The students got into groups again to finish their summaries of the Middle Ages. One by one, each group wrote down their summaries on the board for the other groups to copy down into their map notes.
10/9/09- The students got back into their groups for a final day to copy down each of the other group's summaries for their sections.
10/12/09-The students followed along as I lectured to a Ballads PowerPoint. The students learned about the structure of ballads and their history. The Ballads PowerPoint included modern ballads. For example, Taylor Swift's "Love Story" was a favorite among the classes. The students mentioned how they loved ballads.
10/13/09- Today, the classes learned about the life and works of Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales. The students filled in a worksheet that followed along to a PowerPoint on Chaucer. At the end of the PowerPoint, the students learned about the upcoming activities for the Canterbury Tales. The students were excited when they saw that they were going to write their own tales, as well as that they were going to create digital media projects again.
10/14/09- We began reading the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. As a joke, I played the Old-English version that I had on tape and asked them to follow along. Instantly, they got confused with what was going on in the prologue. Then, I had the class read the more modern version. They were confused in parts, but seemed to enjoy the rhyme.
10/15/09- I gave the students a list of vocabulary words that they are going to have a test on this coming Tuesday. We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/16/09- We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/19/09- We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/20/09- The students took their test on the vocabulary words. They read silently after the test and worked on filling in their character chart.
10/21/09- We continued reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/22/09- We continued reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/23/09- We finished reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, the students finished filling out the chart that told about each character in detail. The students were told that they are having an open-notes test on the characters of The Canterbury Tales on Monday.
10/26/09- The students took Part 1 of the Canterbury Tales character test.
10/27/09- The students took Part 2 of the Canterbury Tales character test.
10/28/09- The students were given the "Pilgrimage to Canterbury Writing Assignment" that they spent the entire class working on. In the assignment, they were to create a new character to be included in the Canterbury Tales. The creation needed to be in the format of the Canterbury Tales. There was also the requirement of having a drawn picture of the new character. Students worked diligently.
10/29/09- The class read "The Pardoner's Tale" and completed questions that followed.
11/2/09- The class began reading "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and completing questions that followed.
11/3/09- The classes finished reading "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and completing the questions.
11/4/09- The students started writing their Cee-Bee Tales, the tales about the students in the class. Each student was given another student, and they wrote a poem about him or her. The poem had to include their name, physical characteristics, and be creative and appropriate. The length requirement was only 8 to 10 rhyming lines.
11/5/09- The students finished writing their Cee-Bee Tales. (I typed all the tales into one story.)
11/6/09- I shared the finished product with the students. They laughed and enjoyed hearing the tales about their classmates. They told me they enjoyed the Cee-Bee activity.
9/8/09 - I conducted student surveys regarding to student interests levels and knowledge of Anglo-Saxons prior to Beowulf. Surveys showed that, on average, students weren't excited about reading Beowulf, nor were the students interested in British literature. I collected and saved all surveys for later references. Students weren't enthusiastic about reading the introduction to Anglo-Saxon period.
9/9/09 - Students still showed no interest in the Anglo-Saxon period. When introducing Beowulf, however, they seemed to be intrigued of the action of the epic.
9/10/19 - Students began reading Beowulf today. The students read "The Monster Grendel" and "The Arrival of the Hero". They seemed interested. The notes guide seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/11/09 - Students read "Unferth's Challenge" today. They still seemed interested. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/14/09 - The students listened to the audio version of "The Battle with Grendel". All students were actively engaged with the audio version. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/15/09 - The students read "The Monster's Mother" today. They also related Gardner's Grendel to Beowulf. The students were interested in to comparison between the two point-of-views. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/16/09 - Students started to read "The Final Battle" today. The students showed strong interest and knowledge of Beowulf. They acknowledged the element of foreshadowing at the beginning, and they were not happy to hear that this would be Beowulf's final battle. The notes guide still seemed to help the students keep track of the characters and plot.
9/17/09 - Today, students finished reading "The Final Battle". The students were very upset when the epic hero, Beowulf, was killed in battle. Students worked on the end of story questions in class.
9/18/09 - We went over the answers for the questions for the story. Students had strong responses to most of the questions. I introduced the Digital Media Projects. The students stressed STRONG interest in creating Digital Media Projects related to the 6 sections of Beowulf. The students were eager to pick groups and sections. They also told me how "exciting" it was "to be creative and re-do Beowulf from their eyes." They discussed ideas with their groups. From just overhearing their conversations, I am very excited to see their final products!
9/21/09 - Today, we worked in the computer lab. Students were using technology to create their own "Modern Day Beowulf" story. The students showed strong interest in creating a modern day Beowulf. This was only the beginning of their tales, but I am very excited to see what they come up with!
9/22/09- We continued to work in the computer lab today. The students finished working on their "Modern Day Beowulf" stories. The students seemed to be very interested in creating modern versions of Beowulf and Grendel.
9/23/09- I gave the students their study guides for their tests today. Also, the students began practicing and filming their digital media projects for recreating Beowulf. I gave them two flip-cameras to use for the project. The students worked in their groups on making props for their skits while they practiced, as well. The students showed strong interest in filming their parts.
9/24/09- The students worked in their groups on their digital media projects. They continued practicing, making props, and filming. The groups that finished gave me their video recordings to compile in a final movie.
9/25/09- The students worked in their groups on their digital media projects. They finished practicing, making props, and filming. The groups that finished gave me their video recordings to compile in a final movie. As a class, we went over the answers for the study guide. All students seemed to know all the answers.
9/28/09- The students took their test on Beowulf.
9/29/09- The students watched both classes' versions of Beowulf. They filled out evaluations for the digital media project. They evaluated their contributions, their group member's contributions, and the over all experience. The classes loved the videos. They asked when they could do it again. The students also filled out a post-survey regarding Beowulf. The surveys showed that digital media helped encouraged the students in reading Beowulf. On average, they really enjoyed reading Beowulf. One student even asked, "If you give us a lot of homework, will that allow us to do another digital media project sooner?" I was highly excited by this response. Students were asking for more homework so they could do this kind of assignment again.
10/7/09- I conducted student surveys regarding to student interests levels and knowledge of the Middle Ages prior to reading the Canterbury Tales. Surveys showed that, on average, students weren't excited about reading the Canterbury Tales, nor were the students interested in British literature. I collected and saved all surveys for later references. Students weren't enthusiastic about reading the introduction to the Middle Ages. The students got into groups that I picked to read the information on the Middle Ages on pages 116 - 129. The students were asked to write down the important information.
10/8/09- The students got into groups again to finish their summaries of the Middle Ages. One by one, each group wrote down their summaries on the board for the other groups to copy down into their map notes.
10/9/09- The students got back into their groups for a final day to copy down each of the other group's summaries for their sections.
10/12/09-The students followed along as I lectured to a Ballads PowerPoint. The students learned about the structure of ballads and their history. The Ballads PowerPoint included modern ballads. For example, Taylor Swift's "Love Story" was a favorite among the classes. The students mentioned how they loved ballads.
10/13/09- Today, the classes learned about the life and works of Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales. The students filled in a worksheet that followed along to a PowerPoint on Chaucer. At the end of the PowerPoint, the students learned about the upcoming activities for the Canterbury Tales. The students were excited when they saw that they were going to write their own tales, as well as that they were going to create digital media projects again.
10/14/09- We began reading the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. As a joke, I played the Old-English version that I had on tape and asked them to follow along. Instantly, they got confused with what was going on in the prologue. Then, I had the class read the more modern version. They were confused in parts, but seemed to enjoy the rhyme.
10/15/09- I gave the students a list of vocabulary words that they are going to have a test on this coming Tuesday. We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/16/09- We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/19/09- We continued reading and discussing the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales today. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/20/09- The students took their test on the vocabulary words. They read silently after the test and worked on filling in their character chart.
10/21/09- We continued reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/22/09- We continued reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, I had the students fill out a chart that told about each character in detail.
10/23/09- We finished reading and discussing the characters of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. For each character, the students finished filling out the chart that told about each character in detail. The students were told that they are having an open-notes test on the characters of The Canterbury Tales on Monday.
10/26/09- The students took Part 1 of the Canterbury Tales character test.
10/27/09- The students took Part 2 of the Canterbury Tales character test.
10/28/09- The students were given the "Pilgrimage to Canterbury Writing Assignment" that they spent the entire class working on. In the assignment, they were to create a new character to be included in the Canterbury Tales. The creation needed to be in the format of the Canterbury Tales. There was also the requirement of having a drawn picture of the new character. Students worked diligently.
10/29/09- The class read "The Pardoner's Tale" and completed questions that followed.
11/2/09- The class began reading "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and completing questions that followed.
11/3/09- The classes finished reading "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and completing the questions.
11/4/09- The students started writing their Cee-Bee Tales, the tales about the students in the class. Each student was given another student, and they wrote a poem about him or her. The poem had to include their name, physical characteristics, and be creative and appropriate. The length requirement was only 8 to 10 rhyming lines.
11/5/09- The students finished writing their Cee-Bee Tales. (I typed all the tales into one story.)
11/6/09- I shared the finished product with the students. They laughed and enjoyed hearing the tales about their classmates. They told me they enjoyed the Cee-Bee activity.
Week 1
Week of August 26, 2009
This was my first week in a high school English classroom. It was full of excitement! I mainly observed and used my time getting acquainted with students. I have over 170 students; therefore, I spent my time learning names. I also got to use my time planning for all my lessons that I want to start teaching on September 8th. I was happy to use my time wisely. My first experience at a Clay-Battelle High School football game was on Friday! The game was so exciting! The football team beat rival school, Trinity, 54-0. It was a wonderful feeling seeing my students do so well at the game.
This was my first week in a high school English classroom. It was full of excitement! I mainly observed and used my time getting acquainted with students. I have over 170 students; therefore, I spent my time learning names. I also got to use my time planning for all my lessons that I want to start teaching on September 8th. I was happy to use my time wisely. My first experience at a Clay-Battelle High School football game was on Friday! The game was so exciting! The football team beat rival school, Trinity, 54-0. It was a wonderful feeling seeing my students do so well at the game.
Week 2
Week of August 31, 2009
This week at Clay-Battelle, clubs and organizations met throughout various periods. The other interns and I are the leaders of the Future Educators of America organization at our school, and I feel very honored. We met with the members of our club and discussed ideas for the year. On Thursday, we explored the community after school. It was exciting to experience the surrounding area of the school as well as the delicious food at a local favorite, Twins. Then, that same night, we were given the opportunity to sponsor the 50/50 drawing at the middle school game. We chaperoned the students as they sold the tickets to earn money for their FEA club dues. Also, we watched the middle school football game. I enjoyed watching the game because the students I taught last year were playing in the game and cheering on the sidelines!
This week at Clay-Battelle, clubs and organizations met throughout various periods. The other interns and I are the leaders of the Future Educators of America organization at our school, and I feel very honored. We met with the members of our club and discussed ideas for the year. On Thursday, we explored the community after school. It was exciting to experience the surrounding area of the school as well as the delicious food at a local favorite, Twins. Then, that same night, we were given the opportunity to sponsor the 50/50 drawing at the middle school game. We chaperoned the students as they sold the tickets to earn money for their FEA club dues. Also, we watched the middle school football game. I enjoyed watching the game because the students I taught last year were playing in the game and cheering on the sidelines!
Week 3
Week of September 7, 2009
This week was very eventful, for I took full control of the classroom and started teaching all 6 classes. In English 12, I started my Beowulf unit. In English 10, I started my To Kill a Mockingbird unit. In Honors English 10, I started my A Separate Peace unit. In Creative Writing, I started my semester-long unit on Multi-Genre Projects. It was very overwhelming to start teaching all 6 classes at once. However, I was highly prepared. I came into this week with 4 weeks of lessons planned for each different class. I was extremely nervous, but I believe that I handled it well. I'm not sure how my classes will go, but I have a good feeling. My students seem so well behaved and egar to learn. I'm excited to teach them!
This week was very eventful, for I took full control of the classroom and started teaching all 6 classes. In English 12, I started my Beowulf unit. In English 10, I started my To Kill a Mockingbird unit. In Honors English 10, I started my A Separate Peace unit. In Creative Writing, I started my semester-long unit on Multi-Genre Projects. It was very overwhelming to start teaching all 6 classes at once. However, I was highly prepared. I came into this week with 4 weeks of lessons planned for each different class. I was extremely nervous, but I believe that I handled it well. I'm not sure how my classes will go, but I have a good feeling. My students seem so well behaved and egar to learn. I'm excited to teach them!
Week 4
Week of September 14, 2009
This week I learned the importance of accommodating student learning needs. My students were struggling in reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Therefore, I bought the audio version of the book and started playing some chapters for them. This helped the students understand the text in a more advanced way. This also allowed me to approach the book in various ways. They are now reading silently, as a class, in small groups, and listening. The students progress with the novel showed to improve with the addition of this teaching strategy.
The Multi-Genre Project seems to be popular among the students. Each student keeps telling me that they like writing about themselves because that's what they know the most about.
Beowulf is slowly but surly growing on students. They seem to love the action.
The Honors 10 class has got used to the workload. They stopped complaining. They seem to enjoy the novel. It just took a little getting used.
I'm happy with the progress among my 6 classes. I'm no longer intimidated with my classes or the workload of teaching full time. The weeks seem to fly by, and before I know it, I'm afraid it will be the end of the semester! I'm having so much fun. I don't want this to end!
This week I learned the importance of accommodating student learning needs. My students were struggling in reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Therefore, I bought the audio version of the book and started playing some chapters for them. This helped the students understand the text in a more advanced way. This also allowed me to approach the book in various ways. They are now reading silently, as a class, in small groups, and listening. The students progress with the novel showed to improve with the addition of this teaching strategy.
The Multi-Genre Project seems to be popular among the students. Each student keeps telling me that they like writing about themselves because that's what they know the most about.
Beowulf is slowly but surly growing on students. They seem to love the action.
The Honors 10 class has got used to the workload. They stopped complaining. They seem to enjoy the novel. It just took a little getting used.
I'm happy with the progress among my 6 classes. I'm no longer intimidated with my classes or the workload of teaching full time. The weeks seem to fly by, and before I know it, I'm afraid it will be the end of the semester! I'm having so much fun. I don't want this to end!
Week 5
Week of September 21, 2009
This week the collaborating special education teacher and I learned team teach very well. In first period, we started using the computer to take notes. As I was going over readings and discussing with the students, the collaborating teacher would assist in typing notes up on the whiteboard. This helped eliminate time of discussing then typing. It allowed for the students to get the best environment for learning about Beowulf. In second period, we tried the same technique. It really proved to be successful across grade levels. Having a visual for the discussions allowed students to stay on task and absorb the novel in a more efficient manner.
In English 10 Honors, we approached different reading techniques. I allowed the students to vote on how they wanted to read and discuss the novel this week. They voted on reading and discussing the chapters in small groups. I facilitated their reading and group discussions by roaming around the room. This approach proved to work successfully among the students. Student understanding and the discussions were very strong.
In creative writing, we covered a wide range of genres, such as letters, diary entry, birth certificates (and other formal documentation), bumper stickers and customized license plates, and songs. The students expressed strong interest in learning new genres every day. They liked that I keep them on their toes.
Overall, I learned many useful teaching techniques to use in the wide range of classes that I teach. I learned that various approaches work better based on the class needs.
This week the collaborating special education teacher and I learned team teach very well. In first period, we started using the computer to take notes. As I was going over readings and discussing with the students, the collaborating teacher would assist in typing notes up on the whiteboard. This helped eliminate time of discussing then typing. It allowed for the students to get the best environment for learning about Beowulf. In second period, we tried the same technique. It really proved to be successful across grade levels. Having a visual for the discussions allowed students to stay on task and absorb the novel in a more efficient manner.
In English 10 Honors, we approached different reading techniques. I allowed the students to vote on how they wanted to read and discuss the novel this week. They voted on reading and discussing the chapters in small groups. I facilitated their reading and group discussions by roaming around the room. This approach proved to work successfully among the students. Student understanding and the discussions were very strong.
In creative writing, we covered a wide range of genres, such as letters, diary entry, birth certificates (and other formal documentation), bumper stickers and customized license plates, and songs. The students expressed strong interest in learning new genres every day. They liked that I keep them on their toes.
Overall, I learned many useful teaching techniques to use in the wide range of classes that I teach. I learned that various approaches work better based on the class needs.
Week 6
Week of September 28, 2009
This week was a short week because there was an ISE day on Friday. During the ISE day, teachers learned about the acuity testing that we are to perform in the near future. Also, we had a faculty meeting where we were told of all the important events and dates that are upcoming in the near future. The teachers discussed topics of concern, as well. It was during this time that I realized how important these kinds of days are for teachers. During a normal work day, teachers are generally too busy to get together and talk about these things. It's nice that they set aside a specific day for these activities. My host teacher also used this day as a housekeeping day because we caught up on lesson planning, grading, and posting grades.
This week was a short week because there was an ISE day on Friday. During the ISE day, teachers learned about the acuity testing that we are to perform in the near future. Also, we had a faculty meeting where we were told of all the important events and dates that are upcoming in the near future. The teachers discussed topics of concern, as well. It was during this time that I realized how important these kinds of days are for teachers. During a normal work day, teachers are generally too busy to get together and talk about these things. It's nice that they set aside a specific day for these activities. My host teacher also used this day as a housekeeping day because we caught up on lesson planning, grading, and posting grades.
Week 7
Week of October 5, 2009 a.k.a. "Spirit Week"
I learned a lot about school spirit this week. Each day had a different dress type. Monday was "Decade Day", and I dressed up from the 80's. Tuesday was "Crazy/Duct Tape Day", and I dressed up as a birthday present because it was also my birthday. Wednesday was "Career Day", and I dressed up as a "Career Barbie". Thursday was "Rock Star Day", and I dressed up as a rocker from Hannah Montana. Friday was "Cee-Bee Pride Day", and I dressed up in all my Clay-Battelle gear. My students loved that I dressed up every day. The yearbook photographers came and took pictures of me every day. The newspaper also took my pictures and interviewed me on my school pride. In 7th and 8th periods on friday, there was a pep rally for the Homecoming game. They announced individual winners for each day's theme. I won for "Crazy Day". I was so honored to be a part of Clay-Battelle's Spirit Week for Homecoming. If felt great to be a part of the spirit of the school and to be so involved!
I learned a lot about school spirit this week. Each day had a different dress type. Monday was "Decade Day", and I dressed up from the 80's. Tuesday was "Crazy/Duct Tape Day", and I dressed up as a birthday present because it was also my birthday. Wednesday was "Career Day", and I dressed up as a "Career Barbie". Thursday was "Rock Star Day", and I dressed up as a rocker from Hannah Montana. Friday was "Cee-Bee Pride Day", and I dressed up in all my Clay-Battelle gear. My students loved that I dressed up every day. The yearbook photographers came and took pictures of me every day. The newspaper also took my pictures and interviewed me on my school pride. In 7th and 8th periods on friday, there was a pep rally for the Homecoming game. They announced individual winners for each day's theme. I won for "Crazy Day". I was so honored to be a part of Clay-Battelle's Spirit Week for Homecoming. If felt great to be a part of the spirit of the school and to be so involved!
Week 8
Week of October 12, 2009
This week is the halfway point of my student teaching experience. I can't believe it's already halfway over! It's so sad how fast time flies when you're having fun! By this time in the semester, I know all 170 students VERY well. I know each student's hand writing, their learning styles, and their multiple intelligences. I feel so privileged to pick up on all of those special things for each student. I've realized that it's important to know each student's hand writing when it comes to grading assignments and tests. Just in case they forget to put their name (it happens more often than I used to think), it makes it easier to decipher whose assignment is whose. It is important to also understand learning styles and multiple intelligences of students when planning lessons and activities. In fact, it may be the most important thing about teaching! I try to plan lessons and activities around the various learning styles and intelligences in my classes. Each class varies; therefore, all of my lessons constantly vary.
This week is the halfway point of my student teaching experience. I can't believe it's already halfway over! It's so sad how fast time flies when you're having fun! By this time in the semester, I know all 170 students VERY well. I know each student's hand writing, their learning styles, and their multiple intelligences. I feel so privileged to pick up on all of those special things for each student. I've realized that it's important to know each student's hand writing when it comes to grading assignments and tests. Just in case they forget to put their name (it happens more often than I used to think), it makes it easier to decipher whose assignment is whose. It is important to also understand learning styles and multiple intelligences of students when planning lessons and activities. In fact, it may be the most important thing about teaching! I try to plan lessons and activities around the various learning styles and intelligences in my classes. Each class varies; therefore, all of my lessons constantly vary.
Week 9
Week of October 19, 2009
For 10th graders, this week contained a lot of testing, for they were given the acuity/benchmark tests. Two days were used out of the week for lengthy tests. I also spent a lot of time this week reteaching commas. In a previous assignment, I noticed that the students were struggling with using commas and other proper punctuations. I retaught the grammatical rules for commas and punctuation prior to the test taking. Multiple students told my host teacher and I that going over the commas and punctuation really helped them on their tests. I was happy to know that I helped them on their tests.
In creative writing, I had my students participate in a high school writing contest. The contest was called "Drunk or Orderly? Life is about Choices". I thought it was a topic that is extremely prevalent within high schools. The contest asked students to describe how using alcohol can influence your choices and your future. The students came up with really creative ways to portray the writing assignment. I had all students share their writing assignments. Then, we voted on the best one. All the stories were so good. I was so proud of my students.
For 10th graders, this week contained a lot of testing, for they were given the acuity/benchmark tests. Two days were used out of the week for lengthy tests. I also spent a lot of time this week reteaching commas. In a previous assignment, I noticed that the students were struggling with using commas and other proper punctuations. I retaught the grammatical rules for commas and punctuation prior to the test taking. Multiple students told my host teacher and I that going over the commas and punctuation really helped them on their tests. I was happy to know that I helped them on their tests.
In creative writing, I had my students participate in a high school writing contest. The contest was called "Drunk or Orderly? Life is about Choices". I thought it was a topic that is extremely prevalent within high schools. The contest asked students to describe how using alcohol can influence your choices and your future. The students came up with really creative ways to portray the writing assignment. I had all students share their writing assignments. Then, we voted on the best one. All the stories were so good. I was so proud of my students.
Week 10
Week of October 26, 2009
In English 12, the students took an open-notes test on the Canterbury Tales characters. I had to modify the test, for it was too difficult for students. It was important for me to meet the needs of students.
In English 10 and Honors English 10, we went over the history of the Black Plague before reading "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe. This story fit in well with Halloween being Saturday.
Creative writing students worked on writing and telling scary stories. Students enjoyed this activity. They even brought in props and costumes in order to make their stories scarier. I'm not going to lie, I was very scared by the stories!
English 10, Honors English 10, and English 12 studied Urban Legends on Friday. I showed the students the history of Urban Legends and videos of popular and unpopular legends that they may or may not have known. I even taught the students on Local Legends. These were very popular with the students because they had many local legends in this area. The most popular local legend of Blacksville, West Virginia is that of "The Witch's Grave". The students enjoyed reading, learning, listening, and watching legends, the popular literary genre.
In school on Friday, almost all the students wore pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The cheerleaders sponsored awareness day to raise money to support breast cancer. Those that wore pink were allotted extra time at lunch. Also, in order to wear hats for the day, the students paid $1. The proceeds went to breast cancer research. I was proud of the Cee-Bee students who supported breast cancer.
At the game Friday night, the crowd was encouraged to wear pink to continue supporting breast cancer awareness. I went to the game that was against Notre Dame, and I wore pink. The game was a close one! I was so nervous the entire game. The Cee-Bees ended up pulling out a victory against the Fighting Irish. I was proud of my students that played in the game!
In English 12, the students took an open-notes test on the Canterbury Tales characters. I had to modify the test, for it was too difficult for students. It was important for me to meet the needs of students.
In English 10 and Honors English 10, we went over the history of the Black Plague before reading "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe. This story fit in well with Halloween being Saturday.
Creative writing students worked on writing and telling scary stories. Students enjoyed this activity. They even brought in props and costumes in order to make their stories scarier. I'm not going to lie, I was very scared by the stories!
English 10, Honors English 10, and English 12 studied Urban Legends on Friday. I showed the students the history of Urban Legends and videos of popular and unpopular legends that they may or may not have known. I even taught the students on Local Legends. These were very popular with the students because they had many local legends in this area. The most popular local legend of Blacksville, West Virginia is that of "The Witch's Grave". The students enjoyed reading, learning, listening, and watching legends, the popular literary genre.
In school on Friday, almost all the students wore pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The cheerleaders sponsored awareness day to raise money to support breast cancer. Those that wore pink were allotted extra time at lunch. Also, in order to wear hats for the day, the students paid $1. The proceeds went to breast cancer research. I was proud of the Cee-Bee students who supported breast cancer.
At the game Friday night, the crowd was encouraged to wear pink to continue supporting breast cancer awareness. I went to the game that was against Notre Dame, and I wore pink. The game was a close one! I was so nervous the entire game. The Cee-Bees ended up pulling out a victory against the Fighting Irish. I was proud of my students that played in the game!
Week 11
Week of November 2, 2009
In my English 10 classes, we spent the week learning phrases--preposition, gerund, participle, and infinitive. I started out the week with a PowerPoint that had an overview of phrases, prepositions, appositives, gerunds, participles, and infinitives. The students were to follow along closely to the notes and activities. Each day following was devoted to a specific verbal. Friday concluded the lessons with a game. This is where I really noticed that the students learned what we discussed all week. The game consisted of the students getting into groups. Each group had 3 colored pieces of construction paper--green (for gerund), purple (for participle), and white (for infinitive). The students were to take turns passing around the construction paper within their groups. I read them sentences. Then, the first student to hold up the right coordinating paper got the first chance to tell me what the gerunds, participles, and/or infinitives were. If they were correct, they got a point for their team. In the end, this game showed that the students were basically experts. I was proud of how well the students understood gerunds, participles, and infinitives and how they are used. It was important to show students how grammar can be fun with the use of the game!
Honors English 10 started studying William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar. They seemed pretty excited about the topics covered. I was nervous to start the unit; however, the students made me feel very comfortable.
In creative writing, this was one of my favorite weeks! We spent the entire week focusing on different forms of poetry. The students really enjoyed writing all the various forms of poetry. We covered a wide array (at least 11 different types).
In my English 10 classes, we spent the week learning phrases--preposition, gerund, participle, and infinitive. I started out the week with a PowerPoint that had an overview of phrases, prepositions, appositives, gerunds, participles, and infinitives. The students were to follow along closely to the notes and activities. Each day following was devoted to a specific verbal. Friday concluded the lessons with a game. This is where I really noticed that the students learned what we discussed all week. The game consisted of the students getting into groups. Each group had 3 colored pieces of construction paper--green (for gerund), purple (for participle), and white (for infinitive). The students were to take turns passing around the construction paper within their groups. I read them sentences. Then, the first student to hold up the right coordinating paper got the first chance to tell me what the gerunds, participles, and/or infinitives were. If they were correct, they got a point for their team. In the end, this game showed that the students were basically experts. I was proud of how well the students understood gerunds, participles, and infinitives and how they are used. It was important to show students how grammar can be fun with the use of the game!
Honors English 10 started studying William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar. They seemed pretty excited about the topics covered. I was nervous to start the unit; however, the students made me feel very comfortable.
In creative writing, this was one of my favorite weeks! We spent the entire week focusing on different forms of poetry. The students really enjoyed writing all the various forms of poetry. We covered a wide array (at least 11 different types).
Week 12
Week of November 9, 2009
This week was full of interruptions! It was club week, and students met during various periods throughout the week for their meetings. Wednesday there wasn't any school, for it was Veteran's Day. Thursday there was a FFA field trip that had a ton of students out of school. I had to make MAJOR adjustments to my lesson plans to revolve around all the interruptions. I basically had to cut them in half! I guess that is one thing teachers have to deal with on a regular basis. Teachers always have to be able to change and adjust their plans at a moments notice. I do believe I handled the adjustments to my lessons well.
All of the classes besides Honors English 10 adjusted to the interruptions pretty well. It was too hard to keep students engaged in Julius Caesar with all of the students not in class. I'm afraid this will make me lose their attention and interest in the coming weeks.
This week was full of interruptions! It was club week, and students met during various periods throughout the week for their meetings. Wednesday there wasn't any school, for it was Veteran's Day. Thursday there was a FFA field trip that had a ton of students out of school. I had to make MAJOR adjustments to my lesson plans to revolve around all the interruptions. I basically had to cut them in half! I guess that is one thing teachers have to deal with on a regular basis. Teachers always have to be able to change and adjust their plans at a moments notice. I do believe I handled the adjustments to my lessons well.
All of the classes besides Honors English 10 adjusted to the interruptions pretty well. It was too hard to keep students engaged in Julius Caesar with all of the students not in class. I'm afraid this will make me lose their attention and interest in the coming weeks.
Week 13
Week of November 16, 2009
An important lesson I learned this week was appealing to student interest in lesson planning. It makes the students want to learn! Throughout my semester at Clay-Battelle, most of my students have been talking about how excited they are for the movie release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon on November 20, 2009, based on Stephanie Meyer's New Moon. Therefore, I wanted to design my lessons to appeal to student interests in this novel/movie. I started the week off by introducing literary trends that have occurred throughout history. Through my PowerPoint presentation, I described the trends in a visual manner. Then, I introduced the most popular trend at this point in time--Vampires. I described the time line of vampire trends throughout history from the 1600s to present day. I included all literary pieces written. The students were amazed with the history included within vampire folklore.
After large discussions of vampires, I showed the video, Vampire Secrets, from the History Channel. The video showed the history of vampires and how they were included in literature. It over viewed all the popular accounts of vampires in literature, movies, and television shows. All of the students were on task throughout the entire unit. They came into class eager to learn about vampire literature. Through this, I learned that if you pick lessons that appeal to students, they will be more eager to learn.
In creative writing, the big Multi-Genre Projects that we've been working on all semester were due Friday, November 20th. The students worked diligently all week on compiling their portfolios. I was proud of how hard my creative writing students worked to complete the assignment. Some students even told me how excited they were to compile their work for the semester in a portfolio because it showed how much they've done and how hard they've worked.
Thanksgiving Break is all of next week. I can't wait to see New Moon and to grade the Multi-Genre Projects!
An important lesson I learned this week was appealing to student interest in lesson planning. It makes the students want to learn! Throughout my semester at Clay-Battelle, most of my students have been talking about how excited they are for the movie release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon on November 20, 2009, based on Stephanie Meyer's New Moon. Therefore, I wanted to design my lessons to appeal to student interests in this novel/movie. I started the week off by introducing literary trends that have occurred throughout history. Through my PowerPoint presentation, I described the trends in a visual manner. Then, I introduced the most popular trend at this point in time--Vampires. I described the time line of vampire trends throughout history from the 1600s to present day. I included all literary pieces written. The students were amazed with the history included within vampire folklore.
After large discussions of vampires, I showed the video, Vampire Secrets, from the History Channel. The video showed the history of vampires and how they were included in literature. It over viewed all the popular accounts of vampires in literature, movies, and television shows. All of the students were on task throughout the entire unit. They came into class eager to learn about vampire literature. Through this, I learned that if you pick lessons that appeal to students, they will be more eager to learn.
In creative writing, the big Multi-Genre Projects that we've been working on all semester were due Friday, November 20th. The students worked diligently all week on compiling their portfolios. I was proud of how hard my creative writing students worked to complete the assignment. Some students even told me how excited they were to compile their work for the semester in a portfolio because it showed how much they've done and how hard they've worked.
Thanksgiving Break is all of next week. I can't wait to see New Moon and to grade the Multi-Genre Projects!
Week 14
Week of November 30, 2009
In English 12 and 10, I started studying Christmas traditions with the students. I felt that they needed to open their eyes to other cultures. I started the week of with presentations. Then, I had the students practice their presentation skills by holding class discussions on the holiday season. The students really got into these activities. Then, I had the students to begin researching specific countries and their traditions. They started preparing speeches and posters to present to the class.
In Honors, we finished reading Acts IV and V. The distractions were finally over, and the students were able to get into the text. The students finally showed a great appreciation for Julius Caesar and William Shakespeare. It made me happy that they got into the plot, themes, characters, and so on. During this week, I had my favorite lesson of the semester. We did a Facebook lesson dealing with the many characters of Julius Caesar. Each student was assigned their own character at the beginning of Julius Caesar, and they created a Facebook for that character. This lesson really helped the class see the relations between characters. Another teacher heard about how well my lesson went from the students, and she came to ask me if she could use it in her class with Greek Mythology. (I was very humbled.)
In Creative Writing, I started something new. I wanted everyone to practice collaboration in writing instead of independant writing. The students were really energetic about this type of writing.
In English 12 and 10, I started studying Christmas traditions with the students. I felt that they needed to open their eyes to other cultures. I started the week of with presentations. Then, I had the students practice their presentation skills by holding class discussions on the holiday season. The students really got into these activities. Then, I had the students to begin researching specific countries and their traditions. They started preparing speeches and posters to present to the class.
In Honors, we finished reading Acts IV and V. The distractions were finally over, and the students were able to get into the text. The students finally showed a great appreciation for Julius Caesar and William Shakespeare. It made me happy that they got into the plot, themes, characters, and so on. During this week, I had my favorite lesson of the semester. We did a Facebook lesson dealing with the many characters of Julius Caesar. Each student was assigned their own character at the beginning of Julius Caesar, and they created a Facebook for that character. This lesson really helped the class see the relations between characters. Another teacher heard about how well my lesson went from the students, and she came to ask me if she could use it in her class with Greek Mythology. (I was very humbled.)
In Creative Writing, I started something new. I wanted everyone to practice collaboration in writing instead of independant writing. The students were really energetic about this type of writing.
Week 15
Week of December 7, 2009
This was the saddest week of my life! I hated that these were the last moments with my students! They made me feel that they really appreciated me!
In English 12, we finished up studying various Christmas celebrations around the world. They finished making presentations of their countries. Their communications skills showed threw. The presentations were very interesting!
In English 10, we finished up studying various Christmas celebrations around the world. They finished making presentations of their countries. Their communications skills showed threw. The presentations were very interesting!
In Creative Writing, the students presented their plays. They were so creative! I was so proud of the hard work that they put in that I recorded the performances. They were so pleased with their peers as well!
In Honors, we finished up Julius Caesar. The students presented their memorized lines. I was very pleased with the quality the students presented them in. This exercise really helped the students with their speaking skills, for they worked hard on presentation aspects as well.
Overall, this was a week of finishing things up; however, I am so glad it ended on a positive note like it did! I will really miss these kids, and I can't wait to go back next semester to visit with them!
This was the saddest week of my life! I hated that these were the last moments with my students! They made me feel that they really appreciated me!
In English 12, we finished up studying various Christmas celebrations around the world. They finished making presentations of their countries. Their communications skills showed threw. The presentations were very interesting!
In English 10, we finished up studying various Christmas celebrations around the world. They finished making presentations of their countries. Their communications skills showed threw. The presentations were very interesting!
In Creative Writing, the students presented their plays. They were so creative! I was so proud of the hard work that they put in that I recorded the performances. They were so pleased with their peers as well!
In Honors, we finished up Julius Caesar. The students presented their memorized lines. I was very pleased with the quality the students presented them in. This exercise really helped the students with their speaking skills, for they worked hard on presentation aspects as well.
Overall, this was a week of finishing things up; however, I am so glad it ended on a positive note like it did! I will really miss these kids, and I can't wait to go back next semester to visit with them!
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