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.

Internship Teaching #5

For this blog post, I believe it is important to talk about how my full time student teaching is going. As of last week, I have started teaching completely on my own in both Math and Science. In the mornings, I teach Math to one section of 7th and 8th grade. Once lunch is over, I then teach 2 sections of 6th grade Science and a section of 8th grade Science. The thing that is important to keep in mind though is that the same 8th graders I see in the morning, I also see in the afternoon for Science. So these students have the luxury (or pain) of having me twice in one day for the same subject. This has (so far) been a great experience for me. The reason being is because my students have seemed to make a connection with me. It may have to do that I am now their teacher in both class and in doing my research study; the classes are coinciding with one another. What I mean by this is that the students are doing distance time and speed in Math class. The students are relating the concept to both classes and it seems to be keeping them engaged for both subjects. The thing I like most about this research is that there are some students who showed little interest in Science but now, they seem to really like doing the projects. This has been a good experience for me. I love that all the students are interested; my only hope is that when this project is complete, they will still look forward to the next project, even if it does not have Math and Science mixed together.