Student Data/Outcomes: This week, we worked on a major project that students enjoyed. For the most part, students did very well on it – they were charged with selecting a college and researching statistics on it regarding admissions, student life, financial aid, etc. They then converted all the statistics to fractions, decimals, and percents; they created a poster and then presented their material to the class. A lot of students did well – some have to finish due to absences or whatnot.
Student Action Progress/Prioritized Student Action to Change: I want to still focus on my developing students to become well-rounded students as a whole. Based on action steps detailed last week, students completed a “pre-test” on their opinion of their education/classes based on effort and behavior. They also completed a self-evaluation I developed of their MAPS test progress throughout the year, and they wrote a letter with the prompt “I am ready for 7th grade because…” All of this was used at conferences this week.
Teacher Action to Change: We have a short week this week (field trip Thursday, no school Friday) so I want to use my “religion” time Monday-Wednesday to develop some lessons another TFAer and I have been talking about. I will be crafting mini-lessons for this week on time management, study skills, and self-accountability to be given Monday-Wednesday.
Plan for Development/Solution: My plan for these mini-lessons is to include Do Now, Strategy Session, Group/Class Discussion, and Individual Reflection for them. They will not be longer than a half hour but we will hit on these skills so students continue to get in the mindset and belief that they are becoming college ready everyday.
Anticipated Change in Student Data/Achievement Outcomes: I think students’ behaviors and outcomes will continue to improve with this type of discussion. I want them, most importantly, to take these skills to other classes for the remainder of this year and to classes in future years.
Tom Schalmo
-Student data/ outcomes- Science students began work on a slinky-wavelengths experiment. Their expectations were to conduct the experiment in their groups without much teacher direction, log the data, and analyze. Upon observation and review of their worksheet, students were executing the experiment correctly and making proper correlations and evaluations. However, the lab report they have to write will be more difficult. They have not written a lab report this year.
-Student action progress/ Prioritized student action to change- I will model lab report writing in class prior to their independent work. Specifically, I will make sure to show them how to restate the questions, evaluate their hypotheses, and make correlations between the data and the physics of waves. Students will be expected to describe their findings as well as connect their work to the material.
-Teacher action to change to impact student action- The modeling will need to be very clear and concise. My expectations and standards will have to spelled out in order for the students to include them in their lab reports.
-Plan for development/ solution- Modeling in class and reflecting on the effectiveness. I will review their lab reports and correct them with the students in about a week to show them strong examples of classmates' lab reports as well as parts that were missing.
-Anticipated change in student data/ achievement outcomes- Students will be more familiar with the scientific method and comfortable with writing lab reports.
Michael Nguyen
I think I have come down with a case of SPRING FEVER. I love to be outside and be active, so it was really difficult this week to feel locked up inside my classroom from 7 am - 5 pm everyday. This helped me be more sympathetic for my students and their needs, especially on a nice day. The structure of my school requires my students to remain in my classroom for the entire day. They do not have any specials and eat lunch in my room - as an adult, the lack of variety and movement is difficult for me. With this realization I built in more opportunities for my students to get up and move around the room this week, either during their guided practice time, or their independent practice. I have seen huge jumps in daily exit tickets and mastery - I don't think I can say it is a direct result of incorporating movement into my lessons, but I definitely believe it has influenced their attitude and commitment to complete their practices.
-Chelsea
This week I changed up our management system. As the Dean of Students at my school put it, I have a volatile group of boys this year. Moving down their cards on the card chart was resulting in talking back, shoving furniture, and ending with them writing 25 "lines" or being sent out of the room. During a math lesson on subtraction, we were pretending to purchase items for college and somehow got into a brief discussion of how hard work can not only get you into college but can also get you scholarship money to help pay for things like your books, etc. From the conversation was born, scholarship dollars which quickly got shortened to scholar dollars. Students receive them through out the day just like they previously did with stamps, but now it's a lot easier for me to simply ask for one back or remove from a scholar's desk if they make a wrong choice. For large infractions, I still got to the card chart or if they run out of scholar dollars to take. I think it was good morale boast for a lot of my students, especially those boys who frequently find themselves without recess and a phone call home. And, taking a scholar dollar doesn't usually result in major protests. That said, we've only been using scholar dollars for 3 days, and as we all know, I'm sure the novelty will wear off in a few weeks. But, I'm hopeful that the additional chances for correction that scholar dollars provides will be successful.
- Sarah Vester
I have come to the realization that my classroom is really centered around long-term projects, and that this has happened a bit by accident this year, but as a response to my students' enormous capacity to think creatively and desire to research and create things. I have been inspired by my students and would like to be a teacher who encourages a lot of projects and group work, but it does take an ENORMOUS amount of energy. I am hoping that as I teach year after year, I can recycle ideas and resources, and that I grow to be better at defining parameters that meet different students' needs. Outlining what students can and can't do given a project has proven a huge challenge. I spent the weekend planning our science fair project (designing the most efficient wind turbine blades) and our next expository writing project (students will research and write about the habitats, adaptations, life cycles, and nutrition of various animals). It was a LOT of work, but it does make it exciting to head into the week and see what my students come up with. Here's to hoping the directions I've planned and resources I've so carefully collected and prepared are adequate!
-Aran Nulty
This week was really short. Thursday and Friday I was out with field trip to the Urban Ecology Center. Everyone seems to have spring fever. I know I have those days where I do not feel really motivated to do anything so I can empathize with my students. The reality is that there is not a lot of time left in the school year and I am really feeling the pressure to get a lot of things done. Everyday I experience reminders of how much teaching is a learned experience. Countless people gave me suggestion on how to do Science Fair, all of them were different ways. I created a way that would work best with my situation and my students, I'm realizing how much of it is a learned process though. I'm realizing a lot of really important things now about management and planning, and I feel really frustrated because a lot of my experiences from last year helped me out, but I feel like with completely new experiences this year I've learned so much more. Somethings I'm able to change and adapt but some of it is just a "for next year" kind of thing. So this week I've just realized how much I still have left to do and how little time I have to do it in, which means no time can be wasted. We did a reinvestment day Monday, it went over pretty well and we have a pretty good week. Its the start of a new unit and a new quarter so I'm hoping we can really push toward success. My new saying in class is 4 in 4. Which means 4th quarter we are all going to get 4's in science.
- Emma Bradley
Sorry this is late!
Last week I had a really good week-- we didn't have much morning instructional time because of Terra Nova testing, but I feel like that gave me an opportunity to interact with my kids in a different way (during breaks, during test time, etc.) and I was able to build up positive relationships. Our science unit also got much more interactive because we are now doing mass, weight, volume, and density, so there's a lto of measuring and hands-on work. This seems to be making the kids a lot more interested in the material, and has given them an opportunity for some good practice time. I also found I was having more fun teaching when I was able to do more demonstration and lab style lessons. I will have to think about some ways that I could alternate between reading science content about things like volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., and how I could do some more interactive labs that would be hands on, but not just for the sake of being hadns on.. things that would have actual meaingful connections to their learning.
Stephanie
Last week started off very difficult. My dad was in town over the previous weekend, and the more detailed planning I usually get done over the weekend definitely took a back seat. It felt a lot like last year when I was constantly planning day to day and things were changing at the last minute. The plan was to review throughout the week in all three classes for our Interim Assessment. Reviewing can be an easy thing to plan for, but if you half-"butt" it, it can make for a difficult week with no clear focus. I felt in my 7th and 8th grade I hadn't clearly thought through my review days and it showed. The class throughout the week lost focus and there were many behavior problems. After the test we are starting a new quarter, with three brand new units in it. This can sometimes be refreshing, as I have a fresh set of objectives and a clearer purpose ahead of me. I recently acquired the PowerPoint discs that come with my curriculum which was very helpful in planning this upcoming week. I am able to manipulate them, change up problems, and copy the slides to make guided notes for the students. I was able to get my entire week planned over the weekend, and I hope this will get the class back on track and more focused.
Student Action Progress/Prioritized Student Action to Change: I want to still focus on my developing students to become well-rounded students as a whole. Based on action steps detailed last week, students completed a “pre-test” on their opinion of their education/classes based on effort and behavior. They also completed a self-evaluation I developed of their MAPS test progress throughout the year, and they wrote a letter with the prompt “I am ready for 7th grade because…” All of this was used at conferences this week.
Teacher Action to Change: We have a short week this week (field trip Thursday, no school Friday) so I want to use my “religion” time Monday-Wednesday to develop some lessons another TFAer and I have been talking about. I will be crafting mini-lessons for this week on time management, study skills, and self-accountability to be given Monday-Wednesday.
Plan for Development/Solution: My plan for these mini-lessons is to include Do Now, Strategy Session, Group/Class Discussion, and Individual Reflection for them. They will not be longer than a half hour but we will hit on these skills so students continue to get in the mindset and belief that they are becoming college ready everyday.
Anticipated Change in Student Data/Achievement Outcomes: I think students’ behaviors and outcomes will continue to improve with this type of discussion. I want them, most importantly, to take these skills to other classes for the remainder of this year and to classes in future years.
Tom Schalmo
-Student data/ outcomes- Science students began work on a slinky-wavelengths experiment. Their expectations were to conduct the experiment in their groups without much teacher direction, log the data, and analyze. Upon observation and review of their worksheet, students were executing the experiment correctly and making proper correlations and evaluations. However, the lab report they have to write will be more difficult. They have not written a lab report this year.
-Student action progress/ Prioritized student action to change- I will model lab report writing in class prior to their independent work. Specifically, I will make sure to show them how to restate the questions, evaluate their hypotheses, and make correlations between the data and the physics of waves. Students will be expected to describe their findings as well as connect their work to the material.
-Teacher action to change to impact student action- The modeling will need to be very clear and concise. My expectations and standards will have to spelled out in order for the students to include them in their lab reports.
-Plan for development/ solution- Modeling in class and reflecting on the effectiveness. I will review their lab reports and correct them with the students in about a week to show them strong examples of classmates' lab reports as well as parts that were missing.
-Anticipated change in student data/ achievement outcomes- Students will be more familiar with the scientific method and comfortable with writing lab reports.
Michael Nguyen
I think I have come down with a case of SPRING FEVER. I love to be outside and be active, so it was really difficult this week to feel locked up inside my classroom from 7 am - 5 pm everyday. This helped me be more sympathetic for my students and their needs, especially on a nice day. The structure of my school requires my students to remain in my classroom for the entire day. They do not have any specials and eat lunch in my room - as an adult, the lack of variety and movement is difficult for me. With this realization I built in more opportunities for my students to get up and move around the room this week, either during their guided practice time, or their independent practice. I have seen huge jumps in daily exit tickets and mastery - I don't think I can say it is a direct result of incorporating movement into my lessons, but I definitely believe it has influenced their attitude and commitment to complete their practices.
-Chelsea
This week I changed up our management system. As the Dean of Students at my school put it, I have a volatile group of boys this year. Moving down their cards on the card chart was resulting in talking back, shoving furniture, and ending with them writing 25 "lines" or being sent out of the room. During a math lesson on subtraction, we were pretending to purchase items for college and somehow got into a brief discussion of how hard work can not only get you into college but can also get you scholarship money to help pay for things like your books, etc. From the conversation was born, scholarship dollars which quickly got shortened to scholar dollars. Students receive them through out the day just like they previously did with stamps, but now it's a lot easier for me to simply ask for one back or remove from a scholar's desk if they make a wrong choice. For large infractions, I still got to the card chart or if they run out of scholar dollars to take. I think it was good morale boast for a lot of my students, especially those boys who frequently find themselves without recess and a phone call home. And, taking a scholar dollar doesn't usually result in major protests. That said, we've only been using scholar dollars for 3 days, and as we all know, I'm sure the novelty will wear off in a few weeks. But, I'm hopeful that the additional chances for correction that scholar dollars provides will be successful.
- Sarah Vester
I have come to the realization that my classroom is really centered around long-term projects, and that this has happened a bit by accident this year, but as a response to my students' enormous capacity to think creatively and desire to research and create things. I have been inspired by my students and would like to be a teacher who encourages a lot of projects and group work, but it does take an ENORMOUS amount of energy. I am hoping that as I teach year after year, I can recycle ideas and resources, and that I grow to be better at defining parameters that meet different students' needs. Outlining what students can and can't do given a project has proven a huge challenge. I spent the weekend planning our science fair project (designing the most efficient wind turbine blades) and our next expository writing project (students will research and write about the habitats, adaptations, life cycles, and nutrition of various animals). It was a LOT of work, but it does make it exciting to head into the week and see what my students come up with. Here's to hoping the directions I've planned and resources I've so carefully collected and prepared are adequate!
-Aran Nulty
This week was really short. Thursday and Friday I was out with field trip to the Urban Ecology Center. Everyone seems to have spring fever. I know I have those days where I do not feel really motivated to do anything so I can empathize with my students. The reality is that there is not a lot of time left in the school year and I am really feeling the pressure to get a lot of things done. Everyday I experience reminders of how much teaching is a learned experience. Countless people gave me suggestion on how to do Science Fair, all of them were different ways. I created a way that would work best with my situation and my students, I'm realizing how much of it is a learned process though. I'm realizing a lot of really important things now about management and planning, and I feel really frustrated because a lot of my experiences from last year helped me out, but I feel like with completely new experiences this year I've learned so much more. Somethings I'm able to change and adapt but some of it is just a "for next year" kind of thing. So this week I've just realized how much I still have left to do and how little time I have to do it in, which means no time can be wasted. We did a reinvestment day Monday, it went over pretty well and we have a pretty good week. Its the start of a new unit and a new quarter so I'm hoping we can really push toward success. My new saying in class is 4 in 4. Which means 4th quarter we are all going to get 4's in science.
- Emma Bradley
Sorry this is late!
Last week I had a really good week-- we didn't have much morning instructional time because of Terra Nova testing, but I feel like that gave me an opportunity to interact with my kids in a different way (during breaks, during test time, etc.) and I was able to build up positive relationships. Our science unit also got much more interactive because we are now doing mass, weight, volume, and density, so there's a lto of measuring and hands-on work. This seems to be making the kids a lot more interested in the material, and has given them an opportunity for some good practice time. I also found I was having more fun teaching when I was able to do more demonstration and lab style lessons. I will have to think about some ways that I could alternate between reading science content about things like volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., and how I could do some more interactive labs that would be hands on, but not just for the sake of being hadns on.. things that would have actual meaingful connections to their learning.
Stephanie
Last week started off very difficult. My dad was in town over the previous weekend, and the more detailed planning I usually get done over the weekend definitely took a back seat. It felt a lot like last year when I was constantly planning day to day and things were changing at the last minute. The plan was to review throughout the week in all three classes for our Interim Assessment. Reviewing can be an easy thing to plan for, but if you half-"butt" it, it can make for a difficult week with no clear focus. I felt in my 7th and 8th grade I hadn't clearly thought through my review days and it showed. The class throughout the week lost focus and there were many behavior problems. After the test we are starting a new quarter, with three brand new units in it. This can sometimes be refreshing, as I have a fresh set of objectives and a clearer purpose ahead of me. I recently acquired the PowerPoint discs that come with my curriculum which was very helpful in planning this upcoming week. I am able to manipulate them, change up problems, and copy the slides to make guided notes for the students. I was able to get my entire week planned over the weekend, and I hope this will get the class back on track and more focused.
Robby