Reflection on Learning

What can you add to your knowledge of you and of your knowledge of teaching in your content area?

Over the course of this class I have learned a tremendous amount about myself. Specifically how I my personality traits and desires effect the way I teach Social Science. I recognized many important factors to the way my personality traits affect my teaching style for the positive and the negative, I’ll share two examples of this. The first one I’ll call time managed and focused, the second example I'll call plan, stick to it and be open to adapting.

Time Managed and Focused

I have found that as I worked through the warm up and lesson plan field experience I held steadfast to the time line I had prepared. This was detrimental to my students because I then rushed through areas they I should not have in order to get back on the time schedule after we had strayed off. I feel as though I need to build a lesson plan that is not so ridged and reliant on time. Removing the number of minutes from each stem in the lesson plan may help with this. Also as I become more comfortable with teaching and the structures of the classroom I think this area will resolve itself.

Plan, stick to and be open to adapting.

The other area I felt was affected by my personality trait to plan and complete everything planed was the lesson plan in general. As I worked through my lesson plan there were many distraction and elements that took time out of the class period, which caused me to not get through my whole lesson plan. This initially frustrated me. And to be honest it still kind of does. But I realized that things happen and I won’t always be able to get through the whole lesson. My personality traits are to plan and stick to and not deviate from the plan. I’m a planner. However there will always be times when the plan has to be changed and reworked. Recognizing this alleviates a lot of unnecessary stress, and improves the learning environment. I’m working on this.

Technology Standards Self-Assessment

For this discussion I was asked to evaluate my self against the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for teachers.

I have achieved the following NETS-T standards (list by number and letter = 1a, 3b, 5d, etc.):

1a,b,d; 2a,b,c,d ; 3c; 4a

I still need to achieve the following standards (list by number and letter = 1a, 3b, 5d, etc.):

1c; 3a,b,d; 4b,c,d; 5a,b,c,d

My long-term plan for achieving all of the standards:

        First and foremost my goal for achieving all of the ITSE NETS-T (Teachers) 2008 Standards is to successfully complete this course over the next four weeks. Successfully completing this course will allow me to learn the skills and acquire the resources I need to effectively implement the standards into my teaching philosophy and eventual classroom. Secondly, I hope to practice and hone the skills I learn in this class that pertain to the standards through practice in my current position as an instructional assistant. Because I am not yet a teacher with my own classroom to implement these standards into, I will look for opportunities in my current position as an Instructional assistant to implement and practice the ITSE NETS-T (Teachers) standards. In an attempt to successfully implement these standards in to my philosophy I can utilize the list of standards, as a checklist of areas that I can improve on. Using the standards in this way will allow me to increase my use of technology in the classroom, which will allow me to eventually meet each standard in preparation to having

my own classroom in which to fully incorporate and implement them.

Unit Plan Lesson - Field Experience

For this field experience activity, I was asked to teach a lesson to a group of students, after teaching the lesson I was asked to review and evaluate my teaching experience. The lesson I taught was a wrap-up and review lesson for the unit on poetry. The class was made up of twelve 10th and 11th graders, in an SGI (Small group Instruction) 10th grade Common Core English class. The class period is 120 minutes. The students have been working on the poetry unit for the last two weeks and are ready for a formal assessment on the unit.  But before they test I like to hold a review session. Today’s review session will be in the format of a game of Jeopardy.

The class began with the normal check-ins, where we discuss the students’ progress towards their monthly goals. This month they each set goals for a number of units to complete in all their classes. We discuss their progress and ways to pick up the pace or address any issues they may be having. Following the check-in, the students were given time to work independently to catch up on any of the incomplete assignments that were due before the test. During this time I move around the room checking in with each student on their progress in the class. Students who are caught up with the work complete or review their study guides, which are allowed to be used on the test. I allow handwritten study guides on the test because it forces students to attempt to study, and I reward this attempt by allowing the use of them during the test.

Following the independent study period, we begin the game of jeopardy, the class is broken up into three teams (randomly by counting off 1-2-3) and given a clicker, and each clicker makes a unique sound and records the order of responses. Like the TV game show, students are given the answer to a question and must respond in the form of a question. The categories for today’s game are vocabulary, grammar, literature, and Night (questions from Eli Wiesle novel). The students are then rewarded we a small piece of candy for each correct answer. As the game begins the students show little interest in the game, but as they see the other students being rewarded with candy they soon take interest and are excited to participate and try.  After each question, I answered any questions and clarified the correct answer if need and move on. By the end, all the students have gotten some candy, been rewarded for their participation and had another chance to study for the test.

Following the game, students return to their seats and straighten the tables in preparation for testing. I again ask if there are any questions before we begin the test. I answer a few of them go over our class testing procedures and distribute the tests. The test is a multiple choice test with an essay component. I figure it should take between 30 to 45 minutes. The students begin testing.  As they test, I move around the room providing any assistance and answering any question that may arise.  As the students complete the test they are given a ¼ sheet of paper on which they evaluate the test, by answering three questions.  1. Was there anything you didn’t know on the test? What area did you feel like you did well on? 3. What area was the toughest? This is usually completed the last 5 minutes of class, but on this day it was done during as they completed the test because I wanted to leave time for discussion on the day’s lesson and learning activities.

During the final ten minutes of the class, I engaged the class in a discussion around the day’s lesson. I asked them to think about how they felt the lesson went; I asked whether or not the Jeopardy game was helpful to them in preparing for the test.  I got lots of responses, but the common theme seemed to be that it was a fun activity, and it did help with the test, many of the students thought that we should have done the same activity the day before, so they could take notes and study them the night before the test. For the most part the lesson was successful, and the grades on the test were higher than the previous unit. Also, the test surveys seemed to suggest that the student’s felt it more prepared for the test. I am excited to continue to try fun ways to present materials as well as prepare for tests. The student’s enjoyed it and it was a good break in normal class structure.

Week Three Assignment - Assignment 3A Field Experience

For this assignment, I field tested a video on the Missouri-compromise. I explained to my students who are in the 9th grade that I had the assignment to complete for my school that required me to practice an assessment on them. As soon as they heard the word assessment they began to moan and groan. I then had to explain why in our English class we would be studying History and the Missouri compromise. After fielding and answering the many question offered up by my students, I began asking questions.

I began my assessment by asking probing questions to the students. Questions such as, what is the meaning of the word compromise? Can you think of a time when you had to compromise? Can you think of a time when you didn’t want to compromise or of a time when you felt like someone else should have compromised? How did it feel? I hoped that these questions would allow the students to begin thinking about what it may have been like to hear the debates over western expansion and expanding the number of free and slave states in 1820. After a brief discussion, I did ask if any of the students knew what the Missouri compromise was and what is did. While none of them knew specifically what it was one student said, “I think it has something to do with slavery.” I congratulated her and told her and the other student to watch the video see what it had to do with slavery. 

At this point, I played the six-minute video on Hennery Clay and the Missouri Compromise. I asked the students to watch for and take notes on what the Missouri Compromise had to do with slavery.  And that we would discuss it after the video. The video can be seen at the following link: http://study.com/academy/lesson/henry-clay-and-the-missouri-compromise-of-1820.html

Following the video clip, I asked the students to turn to their elbow partner and share with them what the Missouri compromise had to do with slavery. As they did this, I moved around the room and listened in to their conversations. I tried hard not to answer any questions they had tried to confirm or refute theirs or there partners answers, and thoughts. After a few minutes of this and after I had spent time listening to each group I brought the class back together and asked if we could come to an agreement on that the Missouri Compromise had to do with slavery. In the end, we agreed that the Missouri Compromised was a series of congressional acts that attempted to limit the extension of slavery.

After the discussion, I talked with the students about how they felt about this assessment. The first comment I got was that they felt it wasn’t an assessment, and wondered why I called it one. This gave me the opportunity to explain that teachers are always assessing students, and that this type of assessment was to determine their previous knowledge on the subject as well as prepare them for the lecture and learning activities that would follow.  I asked them what they thought of the video and if they felt like it provided them with enough information in a way they were easily received. They responded that the video was little too “low tech” to keep their interests.  That they felt like a video from the History channel in the format of a documentary would be better. The student did feel that the video provided a lot of information and helped them understand the Missouri Compromise much better.

In the end I feel the experiment was a success, it allowed me the opportunity to practice presenting and working through a pre-assessment activity with my students. This activity also allowed me to get a better understanding of how my students think about the video I chose and how the information was presented. I enjoyed having a conversation with my students on how they felt I was as a teacher; it gave them a chance to see that I am serious about being a good teacher for them, as well as them to see that I, their teacher, am still interested in learning and actively improving.  It was a positive experience for all of us.

Hello, I am Tyrone. I am currently enrolled in National Universities’ Single Subject teaching credential program well as the Masters in Educational Leadership program. I currently reside in the Northern California area, in the Sacramento region. I completed my undergraduate studies at California State University, Sacramento where I majored in history. My most current research as revolved around the educational systems in World War II Japanese Incarceration Camps.  In my free time, I enjoy sports, particularly baseball (#BEAT LA) and college football (GO DAWGS!). I also enjoy traveling and spending time with my family.

I chose the field of education because I enjoy working with youth and hope to help young adults prepare for and succeed in college. I am a firm believer that EVERYONE is “college material” and can develop a passion and love for learning if provided with the right opportunities.  As a teacher, I hope to provide my student with the opportunities necessary to develop this passion and love for learning.

I currently work as an intervention teacher at a charter school, where I can assist struggling students to correct course and progress towards graduation and life after high school.  Through my work, I can spark the flames of learning and education as I work with students who have had very little success in school. We stoke theses sparks as we set and work towards goals, and focus on the future beyond this period of life called high school.

For a recent professional development activity at work, my employer had us all take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment test. The results were interesting as I discovered my preferences were ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging). None of these preferences were a surprise and as I attempted the personality test recommended through this class the results were very similar. Looking at the results and their effect on my decision to become a Social Science teacher it is easy to see the correlation. According to the test, I learn best in a concrete sequential style and prefer to learn things that have practical applications that are useful now.  I also prefer to get things done steadily and on schedule and enjoy having things at the right place at right time. To me this all screams history, I love to work with historical documents and events trying to relate them to today. It is my hope to get my students to do the same. 

I recognize that my personality and learning styles will have a tremendous effect on my students. However, I feel that my personality will not hamper my students from learning.  Because as I develop lesson plans, lectures, and activities it is my student’s personalities and learning styles are considered and applied to the lessons. As I become better and better at preparing learning and lesson plans, I suspect and hope that my personal learning styles and personality will adapt to the most effective style for my students. I know this is a process but, I feel it is a process I will enjoy.