Fridays, 7th period

We have seven periods in our school day. 7th period on Fridays wraps up our week which can make it one of the most difficult periods for me to focus through - especially when I have 7th graders! As much as I love teaching middle school, 7th period on Friday is a lot to ask. For me and for them. So I'll be honest, I began to dread 7th period on Fridays.

But today was different. After a couple of conversations with other teachers, I had resolved to better address inappropriate behavior in general, but specifically with this class of 7th graders. Today, I announced at the beginning of class that each student had 20 participation points; I explained that any occasion when I had to get on to them, whether for talking out of turn or being off task, they would lose a point. Immediately, one student started arguing with me and I told him that he lost a point. And repeat previous sentence, haha. This student (although wrong) set the tone for how serious I was. Most students quickly took note and adjusted their usual behavior.

I loved this system! Because I had decided on a clear plan before class, I was more attentive to little issues that arose. I was also more willing to be firm because it was easier for me to be fair with every student. I made it clear when it was an appropriate time for students talk and when it was not. And you know what? We had a great day!

I don't plan to use this particular plan every day, but I do plan to be more firm. I want to make expectations clear and then hold my students to that. They deserve it (and so do I).

Mrs. G versus Students

A couple of weeks ago, a student called me out on a mathematical mistake during class. I don't remember what the situation was exactly, but I was inspired by the way this student caught my mistake and then clearly articulated their correction. (For the record, I make mathematical mistakes all the time, but this particular situation sparked the following reflection.) So I began thinking about a way to reward this student and any other student who catch my mistakes.

During this time, I was also becoming increasingly frustrated by the number of irrelevant questions that my students were asking. Middle Schoolers are AWESOME at distracting themselves and others around them and even me... everything from "I like your hair" to "What's for lunch today?" They truly have a talent! In a close second to these types of questions are questions that should be irrelevant. "Please turn to pg. ___ and look at #___," I often say while I'm also writing the appropriate page and problem number on the board. **30 second pause** "Mrs. Gosnell, what page are we on?" **Insert groan.**

These two thought processes are what led to our new game! Right now I'm just calling it "Mrs. G versus Students." Please lend me any creativity you have to offer! Here are the rules:
--I (Mrs. G) score if a student asks an irrelevant question (including a question that I have answered in the past 5 minutes).
--The students score if they catch me in a mathematical error.
I keep a tally on the whiteboard divided by class. I'm winning in most classes, but my 9th grade Honors Geometry class is currently beating me by two or three points... I hope to quickly remedy that situation ;) We haven't decided what the reward will be for any class that beats me. I'll probably do ice cream sundaes or a pizza party at the end of the year, of course that is IF they beat me :)

My only issue has been that, in some classes, I apparently wasn't clear about what sort of "error" they get a point for. As soon as I stumble over a sentence or reword something, some students cause a scene trying to say they deserve a point. I point out that it's not mathematical and have even told a few students that they won't be allowed to continue playing if they use the game to distract from class time. Overall, it's been a success! The students are really on the lookout for me to make a mistake and they're getting better about catching themselves before asking an irrelevant question. We think it's fun!

What do you think? Any ideas for a better name?

Replying to a Wrong Answer

I recently discovered the mathtwitterblogosphere... you know, because I have nothing else to do ;) Anyways, through their site, I found this blogging initiation. I'm too late to join in on the actual initiation, but I decided to read through their prompts to get ideas. One of the options from week one was to take a picture of something in your classroom that you're proud of and then write about it. Clearly I don't have a picture, but I am proud of myself for thinking through this issue and finding a productive way to improve my teaching style.

When a student raises their hand in class, they're taking a risk. Whether they're asking a question or answering one, there is the potential that their classmates will think them particularly smart or particularly dumb. I've often struggled with how to respond to students in particular situations, but one that bothered me recently was what to say when a student answers incorrectly. I don't want to emphasize their wrong for fear of embarrassing them, but I'm obligated to make a point of clearing up any misconceptions.

So what's a teacher to do? Turn to google, of course. These are results of my search or results of my thought process that the search invoked. The most helpful reference was here.

When a student answers incorrectly...

• Emphasize any part of their answer that is correct: "I really like that you remembered to subtract first, but can someone else help us with what comes next?"
• Accept answers from other students: "Ok, thanks! Did others have a different response?" The idea here is to have several students answer and by the time I affirm the correct answer, the students have mostly forgotten about the original wrong answer.
• Affirm their thought process: "That's not quite what I'm looking for, but I understand why you think that." Sometimes I explain the misconception here, others times I move on to give a correct answer. It usually depends on how "popular" I think their misconception may be.
• Lead them to a correct response: "Are you remembering that trapezoids have only one pair of parallel sides?"

These have been immensely helpful to me and my students have benefited as well. I love discovering ways to be a better teacher! This idea will definitely be something I continue to mull over and seek to improve.

Back to School: 2013-2014 School Year Goals

This is my attempt at goal setting for the new school year. I saw this form on another blog. You can see her version here: Sarah Educating.

Stop

• Second guessing myself. Especially during lesson planning, I wasted a lot of time flipping my decision form A to B back to A again! This year I'll try to just stick with something :)

• Stressing about "finishing the material" - my new school uses a Math Mastery program that I think will help me focus more on my students' understanding and less on "Oh my gosh, I have to finish chapter 3!"

Continue

• Loving students! I can't wait to meet "my kids" for this year!!!

• Bellwork. (My kids named this "Energizer Bunny Work" last year; I can't wait to see what this new group will name these assignments.) These assignments helped my routine tremendously. And this year, I plan to focus these assignments mostly on past concepts that students should have already mastered.

Start

• Math Notebooks - Most of my students had a notebook for notes and assignments, etc, but I never looked at them or held them accountable for it. I'm really excited to get more involved this year and to have students use them more actively during class!

• More consistent parent communication... Ideally, I'd like to e-mail the HW assignments out at the beginning of the week, so parents can help hold their students accountable. That's a perfect world though; we'll see how it pans out.

• Structuring my test writing process. Again, I think the Math Mastery program will help with this. They're fairly strict about what my tests should consist of.

Abba, please be with me and each of my students as well as all teachers and students this school year. Thank you for providing this position to me and gifting me with the ability to teach. May You be glorified every step of that way!

Lesson Planning

***I've discovered Slideshare and I'm really excited about it! I can now upload documents or slideshows and then post them to my blog. I figured out the uploading on my own and then my sweet husband helped me to post it here. Super cool!***

During college, lesson plans became the bane of our existence as Education majors. We spent many hours throughout those four years griping about the department's format, whining about the purpose of writing 500 of them (I'm exaggerating a little :)), defining and redefining "Extensions" (I still don't know what those were supposed to be!), "helping" each other "make up" material, etc, etc. A few of us coped by copy-and-past-ing sections from previous plans written; others re-invented methods and madness for each new plan.

Lesson plans are part of life as a teacher. Perhaps you consider them a necessary evil or your "teaching bible" for the day. Maybe you write out a daily script or your plan is a list with steps 1, 2, 3, and 4. Some teachers write their plans and never need to look at them again; others have it with them throughout the entire lesson. No matter how you slice it or dice it, you have some sort of plan. (I understand that sometimes that plan is "WING IT AND PRAY", but we're going to ignore that option for the sake of the blog topic!)

I've decided that learning to write lesson plans in college is a "You've got to know the rules to break them" philosophy. We practice including LOTS of details in a lesson plan. We expose ourselves to state standards and even national standards. We learn the rules.

Now I like to think I'm out in the real world and I can break the rules! I still write a pretty detailed plan for every lesson, but I created my own format and it works for me. With time, I hope the details will decrease. As my teaching style grows, I expect the format to change and that's okay. I'm taking this teaching gig one day at a time! Here's the format that I'm using currently...

Lesson plan.template from Rebecca Gosnell

What They Can't Teach You About Teaching

Teaching is exactly what I pictured and yet very different at the same time. I cannot begin to count the times I have thought "I have no idea what I'm doing..." or "No one told me how to handle this!" or "I just made 95% of that up on the spot and I'm not sure it was right." I hope I'm not the only one :)

I feel that I have been taught much more than I have taught this year. My principal is incredible and he often says, "I think you're getting better every day!" But there are many days when I think "You might not say that if you had been in X period." Nevertheless, I can say that I am not the same teacher or even the same person that I was on our first day of school last Fall.

I have come to believe that there are aspects of being a teacher that simply cannot be taught. My professors tried to warn me of this in their own way, but living it out can be somewhat shocking! These are a few things that I think you cannot teach someone about teaching.

• Discipline ... Oh sure, people give you ideas and help you write your "Expectations and Consequences," but no one can truly prepare you for the first time a student lies to your face or challenges your authority in front of the class, etc, etc.
• Writing and Grading Quizzes/Tests ... Is this question worth 2 points or 5? How much do I count off when a student rounds to nearest whole instead of the tenth as instructed? How long will it take my students to complete a test? If several students fail, did I teach the material well enough or did I make the test too hard? BLAH.
• Conversing with parents ... I have been blessed with mostly supportive parents, but it is never an easy conversation when you must say "Your child is failing math." And no one can dictate your reply when a parent asks "Why does my child only have an 89%?"
• Physical health / Voice training ... Vitamin C and washing your hands won't keep you 100% healthy when you're with kids all day. Trust me, I've tried. In addition, talking/standing for almost 6 hours a day can wear on your body in general if you're not careful, but it's the worst when you're sick. This is not a "suck it up and lay low" type of job.

Finally, no one can fully teach you the amount of love that you will experience both for your students and from them... No one mentions the disappointment you'll feel when they let you down or when they don't perform well. No one can describe the way you'll cheer for them and work for their success. "My kids" (i.e. my students) are wonderful and terrible. They're good and bad, clever and ridiculous... And I love them because they're mine.

Observations

As part of my student teaching, I am observed 4 times by one of my OBU professors and 4 times by my Cooperating Teachers (2 from each). This is a total of 8 times over the course of this semester that someone watches me teach and fills out a detailed "observation form." Although intimidating to know that someone is watching my every move for a whole class period, these observations have been very positive experiences for me. My OBU professor has been extremely encouraging and supportive. She provides criticism only when it is constructive and she quickly follows it by praise for something I've done well. During our meetings, she has consistently asked how she can pray for me or if there's anything she can do for me. What a blessing!!! When we finish, I not only feel more equipped as a teacher but also refreshed as a person.

Today was no exception. I taught all day and Mrs. Pool observed me during my last class of the day. She encouraged me that my math skills are strong and that my activities planned today were effective. But we also talked about being more patient with "wait time" and making more of an effort to bring in EVERY student to participate... Now they're 8th graders. Let's be honest, some of them don't want to be brought in! Haha. But as a teacher, it is my responsibility to reach out to every single one of them. Some of those that you think don't want to be brought in are the ones who need it the most!

As a side note, I LOVE teaching. It can be hard... It's exhausting... It can be frustrating and sometimes repetitive. But I am so thankful that God saw fit to call me here. I am growing as a Christian and as a teacher. He always knows best... Even when I doubted Him. Thank you, Lord, for preparing me and equipping me.

P.S. Feel free to remind me of all this when I'm freaking out during my first year of teaching ;)