Notes from the field
1. This is my second semester at Norman High, and unlike last semester when I was at working with upperclassmen, I am now working in the Freshmen Academy with Mr. Wes Barnhardt. My first impressions of his teaching have been relatively good - he seems to be firm in his classroom management and practices and more flexible with assessment and content structure. I think we will get along well this semester. The students have been very different than the students I worked with in the past and even last semester. Many of them have a desire to work and learn, but a handful have very little motivation and (it seems) would rather not be in school at all. This is actually exciting for me because I have yet to work with similar students - most of my field experiences have all had generally well-behaved students. Being in the classroom every day I can tell will be a lot more exhausting, and yet more rewarding than going every week or so because it allows me to build a stronger relationship with the students. I’m excited to begin teaching - Mr. Barnhardt has given me permission to take over my first class period in a couple of weeks.
2. This semester, I would like to a) give my students a new appreciation for mathematics in at least some small way, but hopefully to spark a lifelong interest, and b) I would like to transition into the teaching career while still holding on to a desire to deepen my knowledge of math myself. I think that this is important for teachers to keep throughout their career - they should continue to learn and grow in their content area even if they already know all of the material they need to teach because if you want to teach something you should enjoy learning whatever it is you teach.
b. My teaching has improved this week by simply helping me get into a more disciplined routine of going to the school every day. I have also searched for different ways to learn students' names - I haven’t really come up with anything other than going around and talking to individual groups and introducing myself. Maybe I’ll try to look at a class roster soon so I can learn them better. I’m not great with names so this is probably something I’ll be working on for a while.
c. I think the InTASC standard I will try to focus on between now and next week is instructional practices. We are doing an inquiry-based project for geometry students, and some groups have come up with some great research so far. It also seems like many of them are a bit hesitant to explore without some more guidelines. A few groups asked me for help, so I tried to give some suggestions on where to begin their search. Hopefully by next week I will have a better grasp of how to implement an inquiry based approach - especially for students who don’t seem to be very motivated.
Thanks for your thoughtful reflection, Aaron. I am really curious about the differences you have already observed from last semester to this semester in reference to students. As you are planning on taking over your first class, how are Mr. Barnhardt and you going about deciding on the class? For example, is the choice based on number of students? Time of day? Most typical make-up of class?
ReplyDeleteI really appreicate goals in which we, as teachers, are thinking about how to extend the love, interest, or understanding of content/subject are beyond the classroom. That being said, April has a related goal of students thinking more deeply about mathematics - it will be interesting for you to discuss these commonalities.
Mr. Barnhart and I have decided for me to begin teaching 5th hour, because it has only 18 students as opposed to 28 (the 2nd smallest class) or 34 (the largest class). The time of day was also a deciding factor because it is right before Mr. Barnharts planning period, so he will be able to offer some feedback.
DeleteSounds like you are feeling confident with you placement. I reall am happy to see how passionate you are about helping students see how interesting mathematics can be.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if you have any specific strategies you're thinking about trying to help you implement an inquiry based approach? What resources could you use to help you?
I think the biggest lesson I learned from assisting with this inquiry based lesson is to encourage students and keep the end goals of the unit in mind. Many of our students, after the first days of this unit, had not explored any math at all. I think this is a result of the instructions being a bit too open-ended. I dont quite have any specific strategy I think I would use, but I do know that inquiry-based learning requires a lot of encouragement and just the right amount of direction.
DeleteAaron, it sounds like things are going well so far. I love that you want to implement ideas/strategies for helping make mathematics more intriguing for your students. I'd love to hear more about that and what you have in mind!
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing is for me to remain intrigued by it myself - from that desire to learn math I will find a number of engaging ideas to share with my students.
DeleteI really like what you said "if you want to teach something you should enjoy learning whatever it is you teach." This is a good way to remind teachers that when we get bored or tired of teaching the same content, then we need to try something new and do some research. I think when teachers are excited about teaching the content, then students are more likely to be engaged to learn.
ReplyDeleteFor learning students' names, my teacher gave me her school's login username/password which allows you to access the attendance/grades/etc, so I would suggest you ask your teacher for yours if you haven't already. This will also allow you to access the roster of each class which has a profile picture of each student attached to their name. This is how I have been learning students' names:
-I learn students' names two class periods at a time (preferably the class you think you will be taking over soon). I will use the roster to learn the names with their profile picture.
-When I go to class, if Julie needs help with passing back papers I will pass them out to test myself. If I make a mistake, students will correct me and I get instance feedback!
-Once I mastered all the students' names for those two class periods, I learn two more class periods and repeat the same process.
-Throughout the day when I am helping students, I do make a effort to get to know students who I don't their names, because it give me a chance to know "something" about them which makes easier for me to learn their names.
-Lastly, don't stress too much about learning your students' names all at once. You will learn their names, it just takes time.
Thanks, Jenn! I have access to a roster with pictures and that has helped me learn a lot more names than I could before.
DeleteAaron, I am so glad that you are having a good time so far! You mentioned Mr. Barnhardt having good class management skills. I was wondering what specifically does he do to keep his classes "managed"? Does he allow them to talk at all? Does he imply and type of discussion in his classroom?
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to know if you have noticed anything so far in your time there that you would do differently in your class?
Thanks, Becca. I hope yours is going well too!
DeleteSome specific things I have noticed are a couple of sign-in sheets Mr. Barnhart keeps at the back of the room. If students are either tardy or leave during class, they have to sign in/out. Their hall pass is his faculty ID. He does allow students to talk - there are no specific rules against it - but when he is guiding them through the lesson for the day they are usually very attentive. I am curious to see if it will be any different once we finish our inquiry based unit and he begins to speak to the class more. The type of discussion he is encouraging is, for me, a bit too open-ended. Some students are having a hard time connecting their inquiries to our topic - ratios, proportions and similarity.
In my class, I think I would focus my rules/norms more on things like discussion and respect for others and probably a bit less on things like whether students wear hats/hoods and the sign-in sheets, etc. Those things can impact learning but I dont know if it is worth all the time and energy.