Assignment 4

Liza Drellack

ED 4800 Standards of Effective Practice

Assignment 4

Dr. Kathryn Smith

 

 

In the review of my original goals which were the following:

 

·       Make my presence known and know my students and fellow faculty.

 

·       To better understand the diverse culture I will be teaching in.

 

·       Improve my classroom management techniques

 

·       Expand my own personal teaching materials and resources.

 

·       Adapt and Adjust my technique whenever needed.

 

I believe after my twelve weeks at Cass Lake I accomplished what I set out with my original list of goals and so much more.

 

Make my presence known and know my students and fellow faculty

While at Cass Lake I made my presence known to my faculty by volunteering to chaperone school dances and assist with the 8^th grade science fair.  I was a contact person with the Cass Lake Times newspaper (where the photos on my blog came from).  I made sure that information was communicated accurately from the 8^th grade team meetings so the community as well as the students/parents would be aware of what was going on.  My cooperating teacher Mrs. Susan Eichstadt was very helpful in my accomplishing this goal.  She was nice enough to introduce me to most of the staff in my beginning weeks at the middle school.  If by some chance we missed someone, she made me welcome enough that I could ask her who they were or by that time I was confident enough to go out of my way to introduce myself.  I made sure to know everyone’s name and I was the teacher in the hallway greeting the students when they walked by with a “good morning” and a smile to start the day.

 

To better understand the diverse culture I will be teaching in

              Starting in a community that is comprised primarily of a Native American population I did my best to understand the culture of my students.  There were activities like drum circles and talking circles and the tribe was always a resource available to the students/teachers for assistance.  My students served as translators and ambassadors to a culture I am not a member of, and I am very grateful.  I learned words and greetings.  I learned of the respect you have for the elders of tribe and the wisdom that came a long time before my students and I.  The students give honor to their past and reflect their culture in modern settings like the pep fest they had for the boys basketball team that went to the state tournament.  At the pep fest they had the drum circle with the chanting and at the state tournament they had costumed dancers, and I am not talking cheerleaders.

 

Improve my classroom management techniques

              I entered a classroom with little to no classroom management experience.  I entered a tense environment on shaky legs and with wavering confidence. Through out my time I operated with a mantra of “Kill’ em with kindness” and “don’t let them see you sweat.”  My cooperating teacher reminded me of something I already was very aware of “I don’t need 8^th grade best friends” and on the flip side I don’t need 8^th grade enemies.  My students were pleasant in the beginning and after about 3 weeks they started to “test” me as Mrs. Eichstadt would say.  When my legs started to shake less and I didn’t back down things actually run much smoother.  I held expectations that my students were capable of anything and I didn’t accept excuses for anything to the contrary.  I varied my instruction so all could learn and made myself accessible whenever students had questions or needed assistance.  I didn’t back down when they “tested” me and I always gave respect but expected it in return.  My legs stopped shaking and the students stopped testing as an end result.  At the end of my time the students deemed me the meanest teacher in the 8^th grade so I knew I did something right.

 

Expand my own personal teaching materials and resources

              I started with little and ended with many graphic organizers, websites, and binders of resource for my future teaching placements.  I also developed a teaching relationship with my cooperating teacher where she added materials to my resources and I added to hers as well.  I left Cass Lake knowing that I could call on her for assistance anytime I needed.

 

Adapt and Adjust my technique whenever needed

              I was the education chameleon, I varied my instruction to keep things fresh and retain my students’ attention.  With a variety of technology accessible for me to use at anytime my lessons were able to be presented in many formats.  When one didn’t work I took note from learner feedback and changed it for the next class.

 

Personal Experience Note

              Now Cass Lake was not my 1^st choice I will admit that.  People around me would talk about how hostile the environment was, so yes I was scared a bit.  But once I got control of myself and my legs stopped shaking I got to know my students and they got to know me.  Yes there is truth to the gang activity and to the environment, but these students are human and have needs.  Now they may not get those basic human needs satisfied at home but to me school was to be a safe place for my students as well as for me. 

              There was a time when one of the local gang members spent lunch in my classroom instead of ISS and he wanted to talk about music.  Now before I got myself in the education program I got a degree in writing at BSU.  So when talking about rap I was familiar with many of the artists he was talking about and some I would admit unfamiliarity with.  When this student asked me about ICP (a music group that has gang affiliation) I told him it was noise and he reacted by getting so far in my face my eyes crossed because his nose was so close to mine.  A normal person might have thoughts he would have hit me, the thought actually crossed my mind, but I stood my ground.  I didn’t let him see me sweat.  When I didn’t flinch and when he backed down laughing I knew I was going to make it as a teacher.  It was in that moment that I gained a renewal in my abilities as a teacher and I got a boost in confidence that carried me through my time at Cass Lake.  I always continued to open my classroom to anyone who wanted to have lunch in their and I even pulled students to make up work.  I will probably continue my lunch time practices into my future teaching placements.   That boy, I believe will continue to give visitors of the school a hard time and I will always appreciate what he did for me.

Assignment 3

Liza Drellack

Assignment 3

ED 4800 Standards of Effective Practice

Dr. K. Smith

 

1.    The unit I developed to teach with The Outsiders contributed well to my education of my eighth graders. Through the course of my student teaching assignment, I was able to recognize satisfaction of 8^th grade benchmark standards like word recognition, analysis and fluency when the students were using inferential context clues to find the meanings to their vocabulary words.  What was nice about our daily vocabulary activities was the students were utilizing these techniques in their everyday Accelerated Reading activities.  Vocabulary Expansion was an end result of all of our reading.  Along with context clues, students completed word maps routinely and one of the parts of the word map was the origin of the word as well as the Greek or Latin roots.  Students utilized these tools when we got new vocabulary words like the prefix “in” students were able to tell me how if you tagged that to a word it meant “not.”   With my creative Bio Poem exercise the students were accomplished writing in a different type of writing being that of poetry.  The students were expressive and creative in the process.  The students also worked on the Handwriting and Word processing.  The Bio Poem started out as students hand writing their answers on a template and ended with them word processing as well as integrating graphics to reflect their own style.  The general story line of The Outsiders with the lead character being about 14 was positive in the fact that the students were able to relate with the characters as well as with the rural setting so I believe this helped in the student learning.

 

 

2.    I did not have any set in stone expectations of my students other than “learning” I figured that with the diverse and different learners each student would find a different aspect of the lesson to their liking.  With all my lessons, especially the Bio Poem, I believe the students were able to be more engaged with the use of technology.  I utilized the overhead and the smart board whenever I could.  Having an example on the board and being clear in my communication as well as having paper for the students to touch and fill out with them in my opinion gave the students the best ability for success.  I don’t really believe their was any failure or un-success if you will but every time the students were a bit confused like with the level of diction I used with the question writing activity I was able to gauge from the student response and adjust my presentation as the day would go by.

 

 

3.    I guess an instructional material I enjoyed was the use of the smart board.  Having a lap top permanently connected to the smart board with the internet access let me expose the students to companion materials like YouTube videos as well as music genres that allowed the students to understand the 60s better before they entered the actual novel.  I used it for its interactive elements having the kids do some underlining of text. I used it as a projector when I showed the kids The Outsiders movie. I played music and YouTube videos.  Now, not everyday did we have a functioning internet access, I just adjusted and always came with a back up plan like one day I hooked the computer up to my phone and played 60s music I had on my phone.  I had a great group of kids and as long as I didn’t take too long in getting them working they kept on task and were able to adjust when I did.

 

 

4.    In the student work I accompanied with Assignment #2 I had both high achieving work and low achieving work.  With the high achieving work the students definitely put effort and time into their assignment.  I think they enjoyed getting to share information about themselves with their fellow students as well as with myself.  There was no set right or wrong answer you just had to try and if the students had problems I made myself available during class as well as spent my lunch time in the classroom to help anyone that needed assistance. With all my assignments I gave the class I always was flexible in matters of extra credit or the chance of a retake.  With he low achieving students they opted not to fix or adjust their assignment to the benefit of their grade.  It was at the end of the trimester and they focused on assignments that were a little “heavier” like tests and assessments.

 

 

5.    The assessment tool I used the most was that of the rubric.  My teacher showed me the wonder of Rubistar.  I liked the use of a rubric because it had consistent set of criteria that the students needed to meet as opposed to the curve because there a student might not do well and then it might seem as they did just in relation to how other students were graded. I gave the students copies of the rubric I used for the assignment so they knew how they needed to approach their work to get the best grade they could strive for.

Assignment 2

Here is assignment 2. Created on Google Docs. I used the creative writing assigments of "Bio Poem" and "Question Writing Activity."

Pictures

Assignment 1

Liza Drellack

Assignment #1

ED 4800 Standards of Effective Practice

Dr. Kathryn Smith

 

 

I am currently student teaching in Cass Lake-Bena Middle School.  The school is located about two miles south of Cass Lake.  I am in the 8^th Grade Language Arts classroom under the supervision of Mrs. Susan Eichstadt.  I am in a highly Native American influenced community. Many of the students are raised by extended members of the family (ex. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, etc.) The histories of the tribe and the elders in the community have involvement in the education of the students.  Ojibwe is an offered class elective in the school.

 

I would like to think that my best asset for student teaching is my ability to adapt fast and a high level of understanding for the human condition.  I come from a small town and I have been in the classroom/education in one way or another for long time. 

 

My Classroom #806 is that of a normal classroom.  There is not much color on the walls except that of educational posters or work of the students.  There are eighteen desks tightly placed on the carpeted area in the room.  The first class of the day, which the teacher calls the “top end” group has the best record for attendance having all the desks occupied by students.  The other classes lack in attendance as can be witnessed by my photos.  I am not quite sure if it is because of the family influence or the lack of interest by the student.

 

During student teaching I hope to further expand my understanding of education.  I hope to continue to gain experience that will help me succeed with my student teaching and provide me with the tools to help me with my own future classroom.

 

List of Goals (in progress)

 

·       Make my presence known and know my students and fellow faculty.

·       To better understand the diverse culture I will be teaching in.

·       Improve my classroom management techniques

·       Expand my own personal teaching materials and resources.

·       Adapt and Adjust my technique whenever needed