We are now more than halfway through Institute - which means there is only 1 week left for my students before they take their test that will determine if they are going to high school next year. It is a stressful time for me and them, and you can tell in our classroom that everybody is starting to become a lot more serious.
Last week I learned the importance of developing a partnership with the parents of my students. I had to make one phone call home because a student was misbehaving and then looked at all the numbers in front of me and started to wonder what would happen if I just called them all... (I only have 11 students, so it wasn't an unreasonable mission). The responses I got from parents just blew me away. When I told one mother that her son received the highest score in our class on his midterm assessment, she started crying and was so thankful. She was asking what else she could do to help him and make sure he was on the right track. A father told me that he makes his son study for at least an hour every night, so I needed to make sure he was taking notes in class. When I told another mother that her son was consistently late for class, she physically walked him to school holding his hand the next morning to make sure he was there on time. Since those first phone calls I have seen a renewed dedication from my students every day in class.
Last week we received the surprise "TFA Day" which stands for Totally Free Afternoon. We were able to leave our school when the students get out (usually we have sessions for about 3 1/2 hours after they leave) and come back to Georgia Tech. It was wonderful to have a free afternoon in the middle of the week to relax, regroup, and get to bed early.
I feel like I am starting to get the hang of this teaching thing, and that some of the life lessons I am trying to implement are sinking in too. Today when my students were working on an activity I saw one student trying to cheat off another student's already complete activity. When the second student saw this he said, "Man there is no need for you to cheat. Come on. I will show you how to do this." At which point he proceeded to work through several problems with the struggling student, and when I checked later the student who tried to cheat understood the concept. I was so proud of my helper.
This week is our "nose to the grindstone" week, meaning I give the students an extra 8 pages of homework that are actual questions taken from previous CRCT tests (this is the test they need to pass next week). We are now having a competition for who can bring in the most homework, which includes this extra homework, for a prize at the end of the school year - hopefully this will be a good enough incentive to ensure that they are all studying and practicing every night!
With one week left I am finding myself spending more and more time planning and trying to find creative ways to keep students engaged during my lessons. As I get to know each and every student better, I know exactly why they need to go to high school next year and why I need to push myself to ensure it happens. Hopefully it will be enough.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
One week in.
I have now completed my first week as a teacher. My first three days suprsisingly went without very many problems, and then Thursday came along. The students were upset because one of their classmates had been expelled during an earlier block for confronting the teacher, and they were definitly in a defiant mode. By the time it was my turn to teach them they were so out of control that even when I was handing out warnings, phone calls home, etc. I felt like I was being a very ineffective teacher. Right before lunch I gave them a chewing out stating that their behavior was unacceptable in my classroom and that they had now lost all priviledges to sit and work in groups and when they got back the class was going to work in silence. This was my first time having to deal with major misbehaviors from the class and it was certainly a difficult situation. However, when they got back from lunch each student was silent and worked individually without too many issues, so I guess my speech did mean something to them.
Friday morning, the 3 partner teachers and I decided that we needed to do a total discipline crackdown. When the students walked in the classroom their desks were no longer put togther in groups, but they were in rows, facing forward. We then had each student write an essay answering the following questions: 1) why are you in summer school? 2) What do you want to accomplish at the end of the summer?) and 3) who do you want to be proud of you when you accomplish it? Our hope was that they would refocus and begin to understand how their behavior in the classroom is going to affect many things in total. The rest of the day showed that they had started to think about this concept, because we had very little misbehavior issues that day. I even had some time to re-teach a few of the concepts that they had missed out on yesterday.
All together, I am really proud of my students already. Even in the short week that I have been teaching them they have shown a ton a growth in their mathematic academics. There are a few students who will catch onto a new concept pretty quickly, and then are willing to help me by teaching it to the struggling students. There is one student who is more behind than the rest, which the class is very aware of. Yesterday, he answered a pretty difficult question correctly in front of the class and everybody turned around and congratulated him, one kid even gave him a high five. Their support for each other is amazing.
They all understand the importance of their hard work too. I have started handing out extra homework that I tell them I will not grade and it is not required, but then explain that it is extra practice and thus beneficial for them to pass the test. The next day, at least half of the students consistently bring it back to me, with questions on some problems that they need answered. Some of my students have even taken to showing up half an hour early in order to get individual tutoring help. Considering we have a full hour in the morning when we give individual tutoring, their dedication to get to school even earlier blows me away.
Next Wednesday they take their mid-term, this is going to give us a measure of how much they have already taken in of the objectives we have taught thus far. This makes me excited to see how far they have come, but also nervous to see how much farther they have to go. Each of my students has amazing goals for their lives, one wants to be an engineer, one a psychologist, another a teacher, etc. I have been working so hard to make sure they pass the test at the end of the summer and it scares me that I only have about 12 more days to teach them all that they need to know. Even though it means a lot of late nights for me, as I learn more about each student individually I challenge myself to work harder and harder to make them understand.
Friday morning, the 3 partner teachers and I decided that we needed to do a total discipline crackdown. When the students walked in the classroom their desks were no longer put togther in groups, but they were in rows, facing forward. We then had each student write an essay answering the following questions: 1) why are you in summer school? 2) What do you want to accomplish at the end of the summer?) and 3) who do you want to be proud of you when you accomplish it? Our hope was that they would refocus and begin to understand how their behavior in the classroom is going to affect many things in total. The rest of the day showed that they had started to think about this concept, because we had very little misbehavior issues that day. I even had some time to re-teach a few of the concepts that they had missed out on yesterday.
All together, I am really proud of my students already. Even in the short week that I have been teaching them they have shown a ton a growth in their mathematic academics. There are a few students who will catch onto a new concept pretty quickly, and then are willing to help me by teaching it to the struggling students. There is one student who is more behind than the rest, which the class is very aware of. Yesterday, he answered a pretty difficult question correctly in front of the class and everybody turned around and congratulated him, one kid even gave him a high five. Their support for each other is amazing.
They all understand the importance of their hard work too. I have started handing out extra homework that I tell them I will not grade and it is not required, but then explain that it is extra practice and thus beneficial for them to pass the test. The next day, at least half of the students consistently bring it back to me, with questions on some problems that they need answered. Some of my students have even taken to showing up half an hour early in order to get individual tutoring help. Considering we have a full hour in the morning when we give individual tutoring, their dedication to get to school even earlier blows me away.
Next Wednesday they take their mid-term, this is going to give us a measure of how much they have already taken in of the objectives we have taught thus far. This makes me excited to see how far they have come, but also nervous to see how much farther they have to go. Each of my students has amazing goals for their lives, one wants to be an engineer, one a psychologist, another a teacher, etc. I have been working so hard to make sure they pass the test at the end of the summer and it scares me that I only have about 12 more days to teach them all that they need to know. Even though it means a lot of late nights for me, as I learn more about each student individually I challenge myself to work harder and harder to make them understand.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Ms. Koos - 8th Grade Math Teacher!
Yesterday was my first day of teaching! Aside from a few minor mishaps, the kids were relatively well behaved. I think I was moving through the material at a much quicker rate than they were expecting, which cut down on a lot of behavior issues. Of course, when I gave my assessment at the end it showed that maybe I went a little too fast for them, because they were only at 20% mastery of our skill, which was simplifying square roots using the Greatest Perfect Square Factor. However, I assured them that we would continue to review this topic the next day during all of our lessons.
Apparently, they needed a day to let the lesson simmer, because today as we were working on the division of square roots and whole numbers, they were all able to at least start to simplify their expressions and most of the students got it right! However, in the process of our lesson today, I realized that our students didn't really know what square roots were. This is basic math they should have learned a few years ago, so I took a step back for 10 minute and did a mini-square roots lesson, before I had to attempt to finish my lesson for the day.
For one hour in the morning the three other teachers who are teaching my class and myself are in the room with the students at the same time. During this hour, we split into ability groups to work on basic math skills using some fun math games. I sadly discovered that our students are lacking in some very important areas such as adding and subtracting time, ability to give change and how to calculate a percent. This certainly presents a challenge for me in my future lesson planning, as I push them forward to be able to pass their 8th grade math test I need to find creative ways to incorporate these basic math skill lessons also.
Speaking of lesson planning, I feel as though that is all I am doing nowadays. Because I am still new to the task, each lesson plan takes me a minimum of 3 hours to learn how to teach it, write a lesson plan, craft sample problems, homework, and an end of class assessment. This has lead to little sleep at night and a severe lack of communication to friends and family at home, for which I apologize. However, it is worth it as I see my students engage in the lesson, volunteer to write their answer the board to be analyzed by the class, and ask meaningful questions.
For the most part my class is relatively behaved. Granted, they are 8th graders so there will be a little squirelliness once in a while, which I have come to accept. We do have a few students who unofficially keep the class in check. After lunch the students have to walk in a straight and quiet line from the lunchroom back to the classroom. Before we can enter the class room one young lady in my class will stand and look at the line and wait for everybody to be straight and quiet. Once the line is acceptable to her she looks at me and says "We're ready." Meaning I should open the door and they are reading to begin class again. Surprisingly her critiques of them means more to my mostly male class than any instructions or warnings I give, so I let her police this part of the day. Additionally, once I give one student a warning he/she is always very eager to make sure that I am fair with my consequences and if they see something they think breaks the rules they say, "Ms. Koos, they should get a warning." It helps me out when my back is turned.
I am finding myself stating a lot of clique teacher phrases such as "Remember this is independent work. I want to see what you can do, not what your neighbor can do," or today when a female student was gently shoved by another student and I gave her a warning too, she complained that he shoved her and I told her "well, it wouldn't have happend if you weren't out of your seat." I had no idea how much you all were influencing me, but thank you to all of my Kaneland teachers, it is definitely working in my favor now.
Well I must get going if I am going to get any sleep tonight (I'm averaging between 4 and 5 hours a night). Let's see what the third day in the classroom will bring!
Apparently, they needed a day to let the lesson simmer, because today as we were working on the division of square roots and whole numbers, they were all able to at least start to simplify their expressions and most of the students got it right! However, in the process of our lesson today, I realized that our students didn't really know what square roots were. This is basic math they should have learned a few years ago, so I took a step back for 10 minute and did a mini-square roots lesson, before I had to attempt to finish my lesson for the day.
For one hour in the morning the three other teachers who are teaching my class and myself are in the room with the students at the same time. During this hour, we split into ability groups to work on basic math skills using some fun math games. I sadly discovered that our students are lacking in some very important areas such as adding and subtracting time, ability to give change and how to calculate a percent. This certainly presents a challenge for me in my future lesson planning, as I push them forward to be able to pass their 8th grade math test I need to find creative ways to incorporate these basic math skill lessons also.
Speaking of lesson planning, I feel as though that is all I am doing nowadays. Because I am still new to the task, each lesson plan takes me a minimum of 3 hours to learn how to teach it, write a lesson plan, craft sample problems, homework, and an end of class assessment. This has lead to little sleep at night and a severe lack of communication to friends and family at home, for which I apologize. However, it is worth it as I see my students engage in the lesson, volunteer to write their answer the board to be analyzed by the class, and ask meaningful questions.
For the most part my class is relatively behaved. Granted, they are 8th graders so there will be a little squirelliness once in a while, which I have come to accept. We do have a few students who unofficially keep the class in check. After lunch the students have to walk in a straight and quiet line from the lunchroom back to the classroom. Before we can enter the class room one young lady in my class will stand and look at the line and wait for everybody to be straight and quiet. Once the line is acceptable to her she looks at me and says "We're ready." Meaning I should open the door and they are reading to begin class again. Surprisingly her critiques of them means more to my mostly male class than any instructions or warnings I give, so I let her police this part of the day. Additionally, once I give one student a warning he/she is always very eager to make sure that I am fair with my consequences and if they see something they think breaks the rules they say, "Ms. Koos, they should get a warning." It helps me out when my back is turned.
I am finding myself stating a lot of clique teacher phrases such as "Remember this is independent work. I want to see what you can do, not what your neighbor can do," or today when a female student was gently shoved by another student and I gave her a warning too, she complained that he shoved her and I told her "well, it wouldn't have happend if you weren't out of your seat." I had no idea how much you all were influencing me, but thank you to all of my Kaneland teachers, it is definitely working in my favor now.
Well I must get going if I am going to get any sleep tonight (I'm averaging between 4 and 5 hours a night). Let's see what the third day in the classroom will bring!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tomorrow I lose my first name.
This past weekend was my first time to relax a bit this week. The Teach For America Corps in St. Louis already has a kickball league set up, and they are challenging us to a match when we get back. Obviously, we need to beat them so we spent a few hours brushing up on our kickball skills yesterday afternoon. I probably haven't played kickball in the last decade, but it was a lot of fun to get outside and exercise and be able to forget about lesson planning and calendaring and assessments for a little while.
Today is a beautiful day in Atlanta, perfect for another kickball game, yet I am preparing to be inside for most of it as I begin my transformation into Ms. Koos - 8th grade math teacher.
Tomorrow is my first day teaching students, and while I am very excited for it, I realize that I have a lot of work ahead of me. My objective that I am teaching tomorrow (simplifying square roots using the Greatest Perfect Square Factor) is a particularly challenging one for the students, as not a single person got it right on their diagnostic pre-test in the beginning of the summer. Additionally, the way the school schedule is set up my block for teaching is only 40 minutes, rather than 55 minutes like the rest of the teachers. Yet, I have to accomplish just as much during this time. I would like to rely on my ability to talk really fast - yet I don't think that will be the most effective considering I am teaching (they always told me to speak slow when public speaking) and I am in the South where people naturally speak a little slower. Drat. So I am spending my day trying to squeeze a minute here and there from 15 different places in my lesson. It is taking a lot of creativity and I plan on practicing it many times.
That is all for now - I am off to practice, practice, practice!
EK
Today is a beautiful day in Atlanta, perfect for another kickball game, yet I am preparing to be inside for most of it as I begin my transformation into Ms. Koos - 8th grade math teacher.
Tomorrow is my first day teaching students, and while I am very excited for it, I realize that I have a lot of work ahead of me. My objective that I am teaching tomorrow (simplifying square roots using the Greatest Perfect Square Factor) is a particularly challenging one for the students, as not a single person got it right on their diagnostic pre-test in the beginning of the summer. Additionally, the way the school schedule is set up my block for teaching is only 40 minutes, rather than 55 minutes like the rest of the teachers. Yet, I have to accomplish just as much during this time. I would like to rely on my ability to talk really fast - yet I don't think that will be the most effective considering I am teaching (they always told me to speak slow when public speaking) and I am in the South where people naturally speak a little slower. Drat. So I am spending my day trying to squeeze a minute here and there from 15 different places in my lesson. It is taking a lot of creativity and I plan on practicing it many times.
That is all for now - I am off to practice, practice, practice!
EK
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I'm starting to feel like a teacher.
I arrived in Atlanta on Saturday with the caravan, stayed in a hotel and then headed over to Georgia Tech (where we will be training for the summer) on Sunday morning. This started my quick-speed "learn how to be a teacher" lesson. I have heard it compared to standing next to an open fire hydrant with your mouth open, there is no way you can take it all in. Thus far, I am doing okay, but we do have long days.
I have been assigned to work at Parks Middle School teaching 8th grade math to a class of 12 students who have to re-take the state test in order to make it to the 9th grade. I observed my class for the first time on Monday, which brought on the sudden realization that my work this summer will be affecting the rest of their lives. That's a lot of pressure for a first time teacher.
My days are filled with sessions. We have sessions on how to write lesson plans, how to interpret literacy differences in the classroom and incorporate literacy lessons into our math lessons, how to create assessments, and more. It has been a lot, but I am feeling more and more confident as I prepare to go into the classroom next week.
We are teaching in teams of 4 and are on a set schedule where we have 1 hour in the morning of homeroom, we call it Math/Lit Hour, where we can review topics and work with students on things they didn't understand the day before, go over homework etc. I am the third teacher to enter the classroom in a day and I will have 45 minutes to teach a lesson to my class. While it seems a little hectic, I am hopeful that my students are going to learn a lot this summer.
Don't forget to e-mail/message me! I would love to know more about what is going on back home!
I have been assigned to work at Parks Middle School teaching 8th grade math to a class of 12 students who have to re-take the state test in order to make it to the 9th grade. I observed my class for the first time on Monday, which brought on the sudden realization that my work this summer will be affecting the rest of their lives. That's a lot of pressure for a first time teacher.
My days are filled with sessions. We have sessions on how to write lesson plans, how to interpret literacy differences in the classroom and incorporate literacy lessons into our math lessons, how to create assessments, and more. It has been a lot, but I am feeling more and more confident as I prepare to go into the classroom next week.
We are teaching in teams of 4 and are on a set schedule where we have 1 hour in the morning of homeroom, we call it Math/Lit Hour, where we can review topics and work with students on things they didn't understand the day before, go over homework etc. I am the third teacher to enter the classroom in a day and I will have 45 minutes to teach a lesson to my class. While it seems a little hectic, I am hopeful that my students are going to learn a lot this summer.
Don't forget to e-mail/message me! I would love to know more about what is going on back home!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Leaving Tomorrow
This is my fourth day in St. Louis and we are getting to leave for Institute in Atlanta tomorrow! TFA has been inundating us with information this week about the program, with the intention of informing and getting us jazzed up for the next two years. While I was apprehensive at first about being placed in St. Louis, the city is definitely growing on me and I am getting very excited to be part of the movement here. The St. Louis community is totally on-board with the TFA mission - which is not always the case in TFA locations. The other night we had dinner with the CEOs of Energizer and Build-A-Bear Workshop, both located in St. Louis, because they are both huge advocates of the organization. Additionally, Energizer offered batteries if we ever need them - which I might to fill the calculators of all my future mathletes : ).
I went house-hunting with two other corps members who I will be living with yesterday. While we didn't find anything that fit our needs, we still have tomorrow to find a place. We have a long list and an open day - so we have our fingers crossed that our dream house will appear at the perfect price!
Today I had an interview at a great school called Soldan High School. It is a Magnet school in the city with a focus on International Studies and I would LOVE to teach there. At the beginning of the interview, the vice-principals had to warn me that currently there are no positions open for a high school math teacher, but it was likely that there will be. So, I probably won't find out if I got the job or not for a few weeks.
Tomorrow is our last day in St. Louis and then we begin the trek down to Hot-lanta. There are several of us who will be caravaning our way down south, so we decided to make a stop in Nashville! We will stay there for Friday night and Saturday during the day before going the rest of the way to Institute. Nashville here I come!
I went house-hunting with two other corps members who I will be living with yesterday. While we didn't find anything that fit our needs, we still have tomorrow to find a place. We have a long list and an open day - so we have our fingers crossed that our dream house will appear at the perfect price!
Today I had an interview at a great school called Soldan High School. It is a Magnet school in the city with a focus on International Studies and I would LOVE to teach there. At the beginning of the interview, the vice-principals had to warn me that currently there are no positions open for a high school math teacher, but it was likely that there will be. So, I probably won't find out if I got the job or not for a few weeks.
Tomorrow is our last day in St. Louis and then we begin the trek down to Hot-lanta. There are several of us who will be caravaning our way down south, so we decided to make a stop in Nashville! We will stay there for Friday night and Saturday during the day before going the rest of the way to Institute. Nashville here I come!
Monday, June 1, 2009
And so it begins...
I graduated yesterday at approximately 3:00 less than 24 hours later I am sitting in my room at Washington University in St. Louis, MO ready to start my two years with Teach For America. After dozens of hours of readings, reflections and classroom observations (some of which have yet to be finished...) myself and almost 80 other Corps Members are ready to begin our two years of teaching in St. Louis.
We are starting in St. Louis this week to begin the training and we leave this weekend to begin Institute (where the learning really begins) on Sunday, June 7. I am excited and nervous as I embark upon this new adventure ... Wish me luck!
We are starting in St. Louis this week to begin the training and we leave this weekend to begin Institute (where the learning really begins) on Sunday, June 7. I am excited and nervous as I embark upon this new adventure ... Wish me luck!
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