Month: September 2014

Day 6- Reflective Teaching 30 Blogging Challlenge for teachers by @TeachThough

Explain: What does a good mentor “do”?

What does a teaching mentor do? The simple answer is everything possible to help their mentee. Mentors need to be readily available to help when needed. This is often the challenge in education. Teachers are often too busy teaching their own classes to help out in another. Mentors need to set aside time to listen to needs, observe teaching and be observed by their mentee. With out a plan for how to maximize the use of limited amount of time. Mentors need to use technology tools like Twitter and Voxer to keep the flow of communication going when time does not permit  a face to face meeting. 

Ideally Mentors have unlimited time to LISTEN to the needs of their mentee. From my experience the biggest hurtle for mentors to overcome is Judging. Mentors are to HELP new teachers adjust to the job of teaching. Giving advise, being the guide on the side. THEY have to be care in the language they use to NOT offer judgement. When mentees feel judged they stop asking questions and sharing concerns. Effective teaching can look 1,000s of different ways, mentors just need to focus on helping mentees with their needs. 

 

 

Day 5 – Reflective Teaching : 30 day blogging challenge for teachers by @TeachThough

Post a picture of your classroom, and describe what you see–and what you don’t see that you’d like to.

 

This picture represent my classroom. I see students working in a group with spaces provided for them to work collaboratively. Group work is an essential skill for the workplace. Students need to know how to work with others to complete a task. I see problem solving. The students pictures are attempting to find a solution to a problem. There is no right or wrong solution to this problem. Students need to realize that there are many paths to a solution, not just the ones we find on worksheet. I see authentic engagement. The students are working on the task and trying to complete it to the best of their ability because they want to get it done.

Missing from the pictures is technology. I would love to see IPODS, IPADS or any device with a camera so the students can document their progress and write about their learning experiences. Every school should have devices in every room for students to use. Sadly budget cuts have prevented this in our district but we are working to remedy this in the near future. 

Day 4- @TeachThough Reflective Teaching Challenge

Respond: What do you love the most about teaching?

Simply put: The Fire! Taylor Mali says it best: In his poem “I teach for the Fire” 

 

I love seeing students have the fire lit inside them! Seeing students go from not understanding to finally getting get is so powerful. Lighting the fire gives you a sense of accomplishment. Students come back to thank the teachers for lighting the fire! This also means I love teaching because of the students. They make it worth while. They are the reasons I get out of bed. I want to see another students have the fire lit. I want to make sure the fire keeps burning everyday. 

Day 3: Discuss one “observation” area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.

I would like to improve on my use of assessments in my instruction. I feel I need to be more purposeful in planning my assessment calendar for class. Assessments should not be the end of instruction but a marker in the road map of learning. Time needs to be build in to use ALL classroom assessments in a formative matter. I can’t schedule an assessment and then expect to start teaching the next unit the next day. Time needs to be build into my calendar to look at the data an allow student to reflect on their learning. Students need the feedback from assessments to measure their progress towards their personal goals. 

 

I started blogging two years ago as a tool for me to track my reflections on teaching and learning. I felt I needed an outlet for me to release all the thoughts swimming in my head and limiting the amount of sleep my body received. It has been a great journey. This morning Rachelle Wynkoop shared, Reflective Teaching: 30-day blogging challenge for teachers. My first thought was I am too busy and a day late to get going on the challenge. An easy cop out! Rachelle encouraged with a quick tweet saying “Keep it simple, no need to stress!” Followed by a link to her post for day 1. After taking the day to teach and reflect. I really need to take up this challenge. If I don’t have time for quick reflections, I should not be teaching. I need to take at least 10-15 minutes a day to reflect. Thanks to one of my great #michED friends to push me just enough to take action. That is what friends are for!! SO here goes my reflections for day 1 and 2 of the challenge:

Day 1: Goals

Starting the year without goals is like going on a trip without a map or destination. Must have goals in mind every day when teaching.

Goal 1: Put students in charge of their learning: My job is to show the learning objective, give options of how to get there and get out of the way until a students is stuck on the journey. 

Goal 2: Give the classroom to the students: Let them control the learning environment and set the classroom expectations 

Student writing learning expectations for class.

3. Check my emotions and stay positive: Learning happens best when the environment is positive. I need to focus on the positive and not get drawn into the negative that surrounds educations. Focus on what the students learn, not what they don’t, live the mantra: First Attempt In Learning. In the past failures have effected my teaching and classroom, I can’t let it happen. Focus on process not product.

Day 2: Technology Integration

Using Remind with purpose! I have used remind (remind101) in the past but not with a true learning purpose. Using it to remind parents of tests and project is just the tech version of a note home in the agenda. I need to be more productive with the use of remind. I plan on sending out at least 2 weekly messages. First one will include and overview of the week’s learning targets and the second on containing the week’s vocabulary. This will make an electronic recording of learning for each week of the year. Students can look back at messages to see what was covered to review for quizzes and tests. I hope this more deliberate use of an incredible tool will help learning in my classroom. 

Since my goal is for students to own their learning, I also hope to build the capacity in my students so that they will eventually be the ones sending the messages to themselves. I feel handing control over to the students give the messages more meaning and purpose. After I have tried this I hope to blog more about how it works for me in my classroom.