Intern Teaching #12

Throughout my expierence here at Bruceton, I have seen and done many things. Students yelling, cursing, being goofy are just 3 things I have seen in my 4 short months as an intern teacher. I have also expierenced students do extremely well on a project then completely bomb the next project simply because, "they did not feel like doing it." I've never understood that. Then, I think to myself, what was I like in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade? The answer is simple... I was the same way! As a young adult, I can easily remeber my teenage years when I was "too cool for school." Sometimes I need to take a step back as a teacher and realize, not every single school day am I going to be able to work my students. I have realized the value of being patient but also being strict to who students are being lazy on a consistent bases. I have noticed this more so in Science class then in Math. The reason being is because we do project-based learning in Science and it allows the students to do this work in groups and independently. I think it is important that this happens in Science because it makes the students feel more accountable for their own work. I have learned so much this semester in my short time of teaching, I can't wait to learn more and more as I become a teacher on my own one day soon.

Internship Teaching #11

Today I am writing in my blog and have become astounded at something. I have recently finished up the results of the "car lab" and have started the interview process with my 8th graders. I am so surprised at some of my student responses to these 5 questions: 1. What’s your favorite subject here at Bruceton? 2. Why do you like this subject the most? 3. I've taught you in both Math and Science. . . What was that concept? 4. What would you say you learned the most in this project? 5. If you were the teacher, what would you change about this project for the next time? The responses I got for this answer were really independent. Each student had their own understanding of what they learned, and also what they would do to change the project for next time. I’ve got to say, I am also surprised to see how some students who i thought would give me a lot of information on the project, simply got shy and didn't speak much. I was also surprised at some students who had little or no work done in their notebook but were able to tell me a lot of information about their car and the concept they learned in both classes. As I finish doing interviews, I am anxious to see if the rest of the students feel the same way as their classmates or if they have their own opinion.

Intern Teaching #10

As I begin to "wind down" in the car experiments and graphs, one thing is clear to me. Students are not the same. Although a group of students may have done a fantastic job doing the project and their car was a success, some students just simply didnt care to write any information at all in their student notebooks. its upsetting to see this because they had really good ideas. On the flip side of this, you also had students who made cars that did not work so well. But these students also showed that they cared enough about the project because they had tons of research about the car and the assignment as a whole. I am anxious to see what is going to happen in the student interviews in the next few days to see what the student can actually tell me they learned in throughout the entire project and also if they can relate to what was being taught in Math class. My hope in all of this is that students got to enjoy the project and actually learned something from it.

Internship Teaching #9

Well into my research and I am experiencing all I want to handle and then some. Working with students (especially twice a day in 2 different subjects). Don't get me wrong, I love the curiosity of my students and I also love working with them in both Math and Science. It has come to a point now though that the students are doing the projects and from day to day, parts to the cars are getting lost, or they are forgetting to bring supplies to class. As the teacher, I try to let some things go, but there are times where my patience runs slim. I find myself getting upset with a few students from time to time because they have such potential, but have days where they lose their focus. I try not to let this bother me daily, but if the problem persists between the students and myself over an extended period of time I will talk to the student about it. I think that many students are enjoying having me as both their Math and Science teacher. The projects and their attitudes seem to portray this. I am enjoying getting to know my students strengths and weaknesses in both subjects. I think it is particularly cool to see how some students can excel in one subject, but not in the other. It's also cool to see how my teaching strategies are different from Math to Science, and to also see how some students react to these teaching strategies. I am anxious to see how the student interviews will go once the students have completed the entire project.

Intern Teaching #8

Well, there comes a point in every teachers career where you've got to say... "It's beyond my control." This week at Bruceton, the week of (10/21/2013 to 10/24/2013) and due to an ISE day on Friday (10/25/2013) I will not have any students tomorrow. Also, my 8th grade students that I am doing my research project with, all had to take testing this week. Monday: students had to take Acuity testing Tuesday: Students did an interest inventory to prepare for the ACT test Wednesday: Students took the ACT Explore exam that tested them on the path they will take in high school. So as you can see, I only had one day of instruction time for my 8th graders that were working on distance, speed, and time. Also, what made it difficult was that the last instructional day in Math that I had with the students was Friday. (10/18/2013) I feel like I spent the entire day today, reviewing old material because students did remember what was studied last week. I will try to pick back up on everything on Monday when students return to school. My hope is that we can get back on track soon.

Internship Teaching #7

For today’s blog post, I would like to describe how my research topic is going. I have many students who are embracing this project and are really going above and beyond what the assignment is asking them to do. For instance, I have students painting their cars pink and putting a white ribbon symbol for breast cancer awareness month. I also have other cars where students are taking a previous idea learned in the class (air pressure) and are using it to power their cars down the hallway. I also have a student who is using a piston and crank to help keep his car moving further down the hall. All these students are working hard on this project, which is making me think to myself: Are the students learning the key principles in this section? Are the students taking the research they are finding on the internet and in textbooks to help them understand what can be used to power their cars? As the teacher, am i letting things get too far from them to where they are not learning anything? I also think it is important to note that I see many "new" students putting forth effort that I have not seen yet this semester. Could it be because they are doing a project that they have to build instead of only doing research? I suppose only time will tell. I am anxious to meet with each of the students in the next few weeks to interview them to see how they felt about doing this project.

Intern Teaching #6

Now that I have been teaching full time in the Science and Math classrooms, I have started noticing different things about teaching that I have now seen before. For instance, in Math class students have been using their "Foldable" to learn the distance formula and also how to manipulate it so that they can solve for distance speed and time. I am noticing that the students are becoming lazy about their work in that they do not want to refer back to the table to help them in doing the next assignment. The students feel as though once they have learned it, they will no longer need to use that information for upcoming lessons. This also applies in the Science room as well. The students begin to think it is ok to "do their own thing" without rederring to the rules sheet that was given to them on the day the project was introduced. The students are within their groups and are not writing down their research and findings in their notebooks. This troubles me because I want them to see the importance of learning how to take good notes so that they may be able to use them later in the future. As the teacher, I am going to try to stress to my students the importance of taking good notes and understanding that the things they are learning today will still be used tomorrow also.