For our Practicum, we are expected to videotape a lesson that we teach. I decided to tape today since I came up with the lesson on my own. It was a pretty good lesson. Today was also the first day that I taught the entire first class and the entire second class. The first class was a little rough because I wasn't used to the kids, they weren't used to me, and I had not taught the lesson before. Luckily I got on track with my second class (which are the ones who I have taught now for six of the seven days of their summer school semester). Between my comfort with them and that I had seen the bumps in my first lesson, the second one went much better. It is also the one that I decided to tape.
We covered percentages, so we talked about how you change percentages into decimals and fractions, and then I brought in some roll call votes from the House and Senate from big votes over the course of the past few years. I think the earliest thing I brought in was the passage of No Child Left Behind in December of 2001. This let me do a little social studies review (branches of government). I had a lot of fun; we didn't finish today, so we'll probably pick this up tomorrow.
I am currently trying to upload the video to my computer so that I can post it online, but I'm not having too much luck at the moment. I also got my cooperative teacher's first assessment of how I'm doing, and she was very complimentary of my teaching for the first week and a half.
I'm heading to Wisconsin for Fourth of July weekend, so don't expect any posts until July 5th at the earliest!! Happy 4th to everyone!!!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
OOOOH! WE'RE HALF WAY THE-RE!! OH OH! LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!
So...that title is thanks to Bon Jovi in case my punctuation was more confusing than helpful.
I got the word that my school ended up making their math hire, which means that they will have one guy taking all the religion classes, and another person taking all the math classes. Which means that the only class preps I will have will be for my three social studies classes. They are also scrapping their double-period of social studies, which means that rather than seeing every student for two 45 minute periods per day, I will only have them once per day.
To fill my afternoons, though, I will be taking the newly-created Intervention Classes. Basically, each class has PE in the afternoons, and I will be given materials by the other content teachers for any students who need extra help with their schoolwork or getting caught up to grade level for them to come in for help on during their PE period. I'm a little sad to see the math classes taken away from me, but excited that I'll "only" have to prepare for three classes per day.
Practicum is going very well. I really like my kids (for the most part) and my teacher is still awesome. My classroom management is getting better. I wait for students to be quiet (and they do), and Friday I had a funny experience. The troublemaker was acting up (as always) and distracting his fellow students. I had made a blanket statement at the beginning of class to let them know that it would be very easy to reassign their seats. With about 20 minutes of class left, this boy pushed his friend out of his seat. I said, "John, that's it. Come sit up here." He mouthed off for a bit, but my cooperative teacher stepped in and set him straight. The reason it was so awesome was because literally for the next five minutes, not a single person in the class made a sound.
Today we headed up to the beach on Lake Michigan. It was great, but very "ACE-ey." We had well over 100 people up there hanging out together. When we got back, four of us went to the new Transformers movie. It was awful, but there were lots of explosions and fights. The storyline, plot, acting, etc. was terrible. Last night we all went out, but for two hours before going out, I just went and sat in Barnes and Noble, got a big mocha from Starbucks, grabbed a book and a couch, and alternated between reading and sleeping. It was very relaxing, and a good way to unwind.
A few of us just got back from a midnight trip to Taco Bell, and I'm heading to bed now. Hopefully I will be able to post as often as I was able to before I started teaching my Practicum. This week should be a little less busy. We're only in class for 3 days, and I don't have any huge assignments due (I had a lesson plan due for class Friday last week).
I got the word that my school ended up making their math hire, which means that they will have one guy taking all the religion classes, and another person taking all the math classes. Which means that the only class preps I will have will be for my three social studies classes. They are also scrapping their double-period of social studies, which means that rather than seeing every student for two 45 minute periods per day, I will only have them once per day.
To fill my afternoons, though, I will be taking the newly-created Intervention Classes. Basically, each class has PE in the afternoons, and I will be given materials by the other content teachers for any students who need extra help with their schoolwork or getting caught up to grade level for them to come in for help on during their PE period. I'm a little sad to see the math classes taken away from me, but excited that I'll "only" have to prepare for three classes per day.
Practicum is going very well. I really like my kids (for the most part) and my teacher is still awesome. My classroom management is getting better. I wait for students to be quiet (and they do), and Friday I had a funny experience. The troublemaker was acting up (as always) and distracting his fellow students. I had made a blanket statement at the beginning of class to let them know that it would be very easy to reassign their seats. With about 20 minutes of class left, this boy pushed his friend out of his seat. I said, "John, that's it. Come sit up here." He mouthed off for a bit, but my cooperative teacher stepped in and set him straight. The reason it was so awesome was because literally for the next five minutes, not a single person in the class made a sound.
Today we headed up to the beach on Lake Michigan. It was great, but very "ACE-ey." We had well over 100 people up there hanging out together. When we got back, four of us went to the new Transformers movie. It was awful, but there were lots of explosions and fights. The storyline, plot, acting, etc. was terrible. Last night we all went out, but for two hours before going out, I just went and sat in Barnes and Noble, got a big mocha from Starbucks, grabbed a book and a couch, and alternated between reading and sleeping. It was very relaxing, and a good way to unwind.
A few of us just got back from a midnight trip to Taco Bell, and I'm heading to bed now. Hopefully I will be able to post as often as I was able to before I started teaching my Practicum. This week should be a little less busy. We're only in class for 3 days, and I don't have any huge assignments due (I had a lesson plan due for class Friday last week).
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Good News!!
Well, a few exciting tidbits of news!! Firstly, my Practicum has gotten off to a roaring start. I successfully woke up on Monday morning, and had a fun morning of observing my cooperative teacher run the classroom. I was impressed by the lack of explicit classroom-management type things she had to do. The kids just kind of came in and knew what they were supposed to do. For the most part, they are all pretty well-behaved. After that late night and early morning on Monday, you would think I would have rested up last night, right? No. A couple of my friends were in town for the night, so we stopped by one of the shadiest bars in South Bend (Club 23). It was a fun night; I was completely under control, but I didn't get back to my room till 3.
After two short nights in a row, I was struggling pretty hard to stay awake during the first class this morning. I freaked out when, between classes today, my cooperative teacher asked me how much of the second class period I felt comfortable taking over. Not being one to shy away from much, I taught the entire second class. It was pretty good - I basically did the exact same thing she had done. In explaining one thing in the way that I thought she had, though, I apparently did a better job of it, because she commented later that it was a really good idea to present it that way. Tomorrow we are planning to do the same thing - she'll do the first class and I'll do the second. I think by the end of the week, I'll slowly start doing more of the first class.
My teacher is awesome - she is absolutely willing to let me do what I want ("It's your experience, so just tell me to get out of your way if you don't want me interrupting you.") I obviously told her that it's her classroom and that she can feel free to interrupt at will. The one thing that I had trouble with today was a little classroom management point. You aren't supposed to talk over kids. Having the loud voice that I do, I just kind of assume I can easily talk over quiet side conversations. She had to stop me twice today to quiet some kids. I basically just need to work on realizing that those conversations are going on and taking the time out to stop them.
The other bit of good news came tonight. Each ACEr has a mentor teacher in his/her school. Mine happens to be the Vice Principal of Heart of Mary, and she is up here this week for the mentor teacher workshop. I met her tonight at mass and talked with her for a while afterwards. Apparently there are some staffing changes going on and they haven't quite been able to fill everything quite like they want. Anyway, to spare the details, it looks like I'll be teaching all the social studies, no religion, and at least a math class or two. Depending on how many math classes they have me teach, I may also teach a "practical what you need to know to survive in the real world" class. The goal of that class would be to get guest speakers from different career fields, teach the students how to fill out a job application, how to write a check and balance a checkbook, etc. Also, she said the basketball coaching job will almost certainly be open, and she was excited that I expressed interest in taking that on. She also mentioned that Sister Nancy (the Principal) has some other things cooking for me. I don't really know what that can mean since it looks like I'll be pretty busy already.
In other news, I have a lot of work to do this week. My first lesson plan is due Friday. The goal of the ACE classes in the first summer is to send us off with one class roughly planned for the year (not completely lesson planned, but at least unit objectives, course objectives...all the broad things to be filled in on the fly with lesson plans). I have been struggling with which course to work on. Civics because that's what I'm most enthusiastic about (and will therefore probably write better plans and have better ideas) or world history, which I don't know as much about and am not as pumped for (since a head start in that class will probably be much appreciated). As I type this post, I have my world history book open to the Alabama Standards pages at the front. I think I'm going to go with this one, which means I need to get my brain in gear for this.
Sorry for the long post. I've had a whirlwind couple of days, and the rest of the week looks to be pretty exciting too.
After two short nights in a row, I was struggling pretty hard to stay awake during the first class this morning. I freaked out when, between classes today, my cooperative teacher asked me how much of the second class period I felt comfortable taking over. Not being one to shy away from much, I taught the entire second class. It was pretty good - I basically did the exact same thing she had done. In explaining one thing in the way that I thought she had, though, I apparently did a better job of it, because she commented later that it was a really good idea to present it that way. Tomorrow we are planning to do the same thing - she'll do the first class and I'll do the second. I think by the end of the week, I'll slowly start doing more of the first class.
My teacher is awesome - she is absolutely willing to let me do what I want ("It's your experience, so just tell me to get out of your way if you don't want me interrupting you.") I obviously told her that it's her classroom and that she can feel free to interrupt at will. The one thing that I had trouble with today was a little classroom management point. You aren't supposed to talk over kids. Having the loud voice that I do, I just kind of assume I can easily talk over quiet side conversations. She had to stop me twice today to quiet some kids. I basically just need to work on realizing that those conversations are going on and taking the time out to stop them.
The other bit of good news came tonight. Each ACEr has a mentor teacher in his/her school. Mine happens to be the Vice Principal of Heart of Mary, and she is up here this week for the mentor teacher workshop. I met her tonight at mass and talked with her for a while afterwards. Apparently there are some staffing changes going on and they haven't quite been able to fill everything quite like they want. Anyway, to spare the details, it looks like I'll be teaching all the social studies, no religion, and at least a math class or two. Depending on how many math classes they have me teach, I may also teach a "practical what you need to know to survive in the real world" class. The goal of that class would be to get guest speakers from different career fields, teach the students how to fill out a job application, how to write a check and balance a checkbook, etc. Also, she said the basketball coaching job will almost certainly be open, and she was excited that I expressed interest in taking that on. She also mentioned that Sister Nancy (the Principal) has some other things cooking for me. I don't really know what that can mean since it looks like I'll be pretty busy already.
In other news, I have a lot of work to do this week. My first lesson plan is due Friday. The goal of the ACE classes in the first summer is to send us off with one class roughly planned for the year (not completely lesson planned, but at least unit objectives, course objectives...all the broad things to be filled in on the fly with lesson plans). I have been struggling with which course to work on. Civics because that's what I'm most enthusiastic about (and will therefore probably write better plans and have better ideas) or world history, which I don't know as much about and am not as pumped for (since a head start in that class will probably be much appreciated). As I type this post, I have my world history book open to the Alabama Standards pages at the front. I think I'm going to go with this one, which means I need to get my brain in gear for this.
Sorry for the long post. I've had a whirlwind couple of days, and the rest of the week looks to be pretty exciting too.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Practicum starts in T-minus five hours...
...so I'm going to head to bed. I need to be up in a little over 4 hours thanks to a very unproductive (but very enjoyable) weekend spent at a friend's graduation party in Illinois. I left right after class Friday and got back this afternoon. I'm definitely glad I made the trip. It was great to see people and get away from campus for the weekend. I also had a very fruitful (and efficient, thanks to a 50% off sale) stop at a Van Heusen outlet store on the way back to really beef up my stock of "Teacher Clothes." The main reason I'm still up so late is that after mass, I was talked into playing 2.5 hours of basketball instead of starting my work then. Oh, well...I needed the exercise desperately.
More to come. Probably very soon.
More to come. Probably very soon.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
End of Week 3 (?!?!?!?)
Well, tomorrow I have just one class (middle school methods). This week was relatively easy - I think the faculty eased off on asking for assignments because most of us started Practicum next week. In order to get used to being on the go from 6:30am (or earlier for some folks) until the end of the class day (either 5 or 8:45, depending on the day), they eased off the workload. That means next week may be a little rough for me since we have a few relatively big projects due at the end of the week and I'll be starting Practicum too.
I played a round of golf here on the 9-hole course - it did not go too well at all. It was fun, but I'm not good. Earlier today, I drove up to Michigan (the state line is only about 10 minutes from here) to help one of my buddies move his couches out of a storage room. It was good to see him again - he's starting a Master's program at Ohio University tomorrow (Friday).
I don't really have much else to share. You can bet that next week I will have better stories, but I may also be too busy to post it all right away.
I played a round of golf here on the 9-hole course - it did not go too well at all. It was fun, but I'm not good. Earlier today, I drove up to Michigan (the state line is only about 10 minutes from here) to help one of my buddies move his couches out of a storage room. It was good to see him again - he's starting a Master's program at Ohio University tomorrow (Friday).
I don't really have much else to share. You can bet that next week I will have better stories, but I may also be too busy to post it all right away.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Plot Thickens...
...a little bit. I just felt like I needed a dramatic title for once.
A few interesting things happened in the past two days. First of all, I was switched from a Language Arts class for my Practicum (yes, I'm teaching Social Studies next year) to a math class. And, that's not the only complication with my Practicum. We all showed up to our school on Monday morning only to discover that the orientation is actually TOMORROW (Wednesday). So, the principal at the school showed us around everywhere and gave us a brief run-down of how the program works. It sounds like it'll be a really good experience. I won't really get to have too much experience with content, but it should be good from a classroom management and "think on your feet" perspective.
In my Social Studies content class today, we were talking about realistic course outcomes for our classes. These are basically a list of the skills that you want your students to be able to accomplish by the end of the school year. For example, one for me might be (probably won't be after today) "Students will be able to (SWBAT) compare and contrast two opposing views in primary documents in a five-paragraph essay." You might spend one unit just having them glean information from documents, another unit working on topic sentences, a third unit on writing a full paragraph, and another unit on writing multiple paragraphs (each unit would be on a different area of history/civics/geography) so that by the end of the class, we would have built up to a full, five-paragraph essay. Unfortunately, I found out that this is wildly optimistic to expect from my students. I will apparently be teaching much more basic things like how to get information from a map, chart, and/or graph. I'm lost now in a new world of much less exciting projects than what I had hoped I'd be able to do. Luckily I have a great mentor teacher who is in his second summer of ACE and faced a similar situation (if not even a little worse than mine) last year.
Also in my Social Studies Content class today, I realized just how big of a nerd I am. Our professor was pointing out that history is simply the vehicle we use to convey skills such as map-reading or paragraph-writing. I am such a nerd that I just think that learning historical facts alone should suffice as a reason to teach/learn social studies. This revelation, taken together with my more realistic expectations, has kind of shocked me out of a lot of things that I wanted to do with my 7th graders. I realized that thinking back to my experiences is not going to be an effective way to measure what to cover. We were writing 5-paragraph essays in Mrs. Slaughter's 6th grade English class. We were pretty much told today that this would not be a very realistic expectation. I guess we'll have to see.
Finally, one more development...apparently the countdown I started on the top of this page does not work in Internet Explorer. It definitely works in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox (I'm not sure about Apple Safari). If you are just dying to see the countdown, I would recommend downloading and using Google Chrome as your Internet browser.
Luckily, my laundry went off without any unexpected complexities. That's about the only domestic chore I have down pat. Good night!!
A few interesting things happened in the past two days. First of all, I was switched from a Language Arts class for my Practicum (yes, I'm teaching Social Studies next year) to a math class. And, that's not the only complication with my Practicum. We all showed up to our school on Monday morning only to discover that the orientation is actually TOMORROW (Wednesday). So, the principal at the school showed us around everywhere and gave us a brief run-down of how the program works. It sounds like it'll be a really good experience. I won't really get to have too much experience with content, but it should be good from a classroom management and "think on your feet" perspective.
In my Social Studies content class today, we were talking about realistic course outcomes for our classes. These are basically a list of the skills that you want your students to be able to accomplish by the end of the school year. For example, one for me might be (probably won't be after today) "Students will be able to (SWBAT) compare and contrast two opposing views in primary documents in a five-paragraph essay." You might spend one unit just having them glean information from documents, another unit working on topic sentences, a third unit on writing a full paragraph, and another unit on writing multiple paragraphs (each unit would be on a different area of history/civics/geography) so that by the end of the class, we would have built up to a full, five-paragraph essay. Unfortunately, I found out that this is wildly optimistic to expect from my students. I will apparently be teaching much more basic things like how to get information from a map, chart, and/or graph. I'm lost now in a new world of much less exciting projects than what I had hoped I'd be able to do. Luckily I have a great mentor teacher who is in his second summer of ACE and faced a similar situation (if not even a little worse than mine) last year.
Also in my Social Studies Content class today, I realized just how big of a nerd I am. Our professor was pointing out that history is simply the vehicle we use to convey skills such as map-reading or paragraph-writing. I am such a nerd that I just think that learning historical facts alone should suffice as a reason to teach/learn social studies. This revelation, taken together with my more realistic expectations, has kind of shocked me out of a lot of things that I wanted to do with my 7th graders. I realized that thinking back to my experiences is not going to be an effective way to measure what to cover. We were writing 5-paragraph essays in Mrs. Slaughter's 6th grade English class. We were pretty much told today that this would not be a very realistic expectation. I guess we'll have to see.
Finally, one more development...apparently the countdown I started on the top of this page does not work in Internet Explorer. It definitely works in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox (I'm not sure about Apple Safari). If you are just dying to see the countdown, I would recommend downloading and using Google Chrome as your Internet browser.
Luckily, my laundry went off without any unexpected complexities. That's about the only domestic chore I have down pat. Good night!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
End of Weekend #2
Well, we had community bowling night last night (Saturday). It was very fun; I was not very good. We called a bar in downtown South Bend earlier in the day and asked them to open that night (they're closed for the summer). They did, so we basically had an all-ACE bar. It was a lot of fun.
Today a group of us went to see The Hangover (a new movie). It was very funny, but definitely inappropriate for pretty much anyone. Then I had to go shopping for some laundry detergent. I tend to put things off for as long as possible, and I was down to my last pair of boxers. As a result, my first load of laundry for the summer is about to be finished drying.
Several of us (5, to be exact) have signed up for a summer intramural basketball team, so we'll be ballin' regularly for the rest of the summer. Many activities throughout the ACE summer mirror events during the regular school year at Notre Dame. Bookstore Basketball is no different. Bookstore is the country's largest outdoor 5-on-5 tournament, and it goes down every spring. ACE's rendition is ACEStore Basketball, so luckily I might be in decent basketball shape after a summer of intramurals.
I have to get up early in the morning to go to my orientation for my summer practice teaching (Practicum). I'll get the books I'm teaching (I'm in a Language Arts class for the summer), and meet the "real" teacher that I'll be helping. We have to leave campus at 8:30, but I have some errands to run before that. Also for class tomorrow, I have prepared my first lesson plan for a religion class. I just finished it. It's about revelation (the thing, not the book). We're starting out with Biblical references (mainly Moses and the Burning Bush), and then moving into how we are all members of the Body of Christ and as such, God reveals Himself through us now. The activity will be to draw ways in which my students can either reveal Jesus through their actions or see Him in their everyday lives. I personally think it's not very good, but I guess I'll see what my teacher thinks!
And, lastly, I got grades from my classes from the first week. I did very well with my classroom management plan and the essay I wrote about the issues Catholic schools have faced in their history in this country. My professor seemed very complimentary of my management plan, so hopefully that means I am thinking along the right lines for that.
I'm off to get my laundry for now!
Today a group of us went to see The Hangover (a new movie). It was very funny, but definitely inappropriate for pretty much anyone. Then I had to go shopping for some laundry detergent. I tend to put things off for as long as possible, and I was down to my last pair of boxers. As a result, my first load of laundry for the summer is about to be finished drying.
Several of us (5, to be exact) have signed up for a summer intramural basketball team, so we'll be ballin' regularly for the rest of the summer. Many activities throughout the ACE summer mirror events during the regular school year at Notre Dame. Bookstore Basketball is no different. Bookstore is the country's largest outdoor 5-on-5 tournament, and it goes down every spring. ACE's rendition is ACEStore Basketball, so luckily I might be in decent basketball shape after a summer of intramurals.
I have to get up early in the morning to go to my orientation for my summer practice teaching (Practicum). I'll get the books I'm teaching (I'm in a Language Arts class for the summer), and meet the "real" teacher that I'll be helping. We have to leave campus at 8:30, but I have some errands to run before that. Also for class tomorrow, I have prepared my first lesson plan for a religion class. I just finished it. It's about revelation (the thing, not the book). We're starting out with Biblical references (mainly Moses and the Burning Bush), and then moving into how we are all members of the Body of Christ and as such, God reveals Himself through us now. The activity will be to draw ways in which my students can either reveal Jesus through their actions or see Him in their everyday lives. I personally think it's not very good, but I guess I'll see what my teacher thinks!
And, lastly, I got grades from my classes from the first week. I did very well with my classroom management plan and the essay I wrote about the issues Catholic schools have faced in their history in this country. My professor seemed very complimentary of my management plan, so hopefully that means I am thinking along the right lines for that.
I'm off to get my laundry for now!
Friday, June 12, 2009
2 Weeks Down, 6 To Go: 25% Finished!
Well, I'm a quarter of the way through the summer, and I still feel like I'm learning more about how unprepared I am than how to actually teach. I think that's going to change this week, though. We are going to start having lesson plans due, microteaching in classes, and my Practicum starts in a week. Although I can't say for sure, I think that 25% of my time here may be complete, but much less of the work than that is behind me. I'm expecting things to pick up considerably in the next two weeks.
We are having "community bowling" tomorrow. That should be fun. Unfortunately, I get to start the day tomorrow by taking the Praxis test, which is basically a standardized test to make sure I know enough social studies content to be able to teach it. I took a sample test, and it seemed easy enough. I guess we'll see tomorrow. I've glanced through some world history stuff, and there are some behavioral sciences that I need to glance through really quickly before I head to bed.
Classes finished up OK for the week. I think the most interesting (and entertaining) development happened on Thursday in my social studies content class (which is the last day of the week for that class - it's just Tues-Thurs). Apparently Thursday is "spousal abuse garment" day, and we all go to class wearing wife-beaters (which are those very thin-materialed, thin-strapped undershirts) and then go to Legends (the on-campus bar) afterwards. We also got paired with a mentor teacher in the year older than us. My mentor teacher is teaching middle school social studies at a school in DC. That class is going to be pretty fun, and I think I'm going to learn a lot too - from talking with him and from the class.
By the way, I'm sure you noticed the newest addition to my blog. The countdown at the top of the page is counting down until I have to report to Heart of Mary for the first day of school in August. We will have new teacher orientation and faculty development days, but this countdown is for the morning of August 17 - my first day of school with classes. Because I figured this countdown out, I'm going to stop posting the countdowns in each blog post.
We are having "community bowling" tomorrow. That should be fun. Unfortunately, I get to start the day tomorrow by taking the Praxis test, which is basically a standardized test to make sure I know enough social studies content to be able to teach it. I took a sample test, and it seemed easy enough. I guess we'll see tomorrow. I've glanced through some world history stuff, and there are some behavioral sciences that I need to glance through really quickly before I head to bed.
Classes finished up OK for the week. I think the most interesting (and entertaining) development happened on Thursday in my social studies content class (which is the last day of the week for that class - it's just Tues-Thurs). Apparently Thursday is "spousal abuse garment" day, and we all go to class wearing wife-beaters (which are those very thin-materialed, thin-strapped undershirts) and then go to Legends (the on-campus bar) afterwards. We also got paired with a mentor teacher in the year older than us. My mentor teacher is teaching middle school social studies at a school in DC. That class is going to be pretty fun, and I think I'm going to learn a lot too - from talking with him and from the class.
By the way, I'm sure you noticed the newest addition to my blog. The countdown at the top of the page is counting down until I have to report to Heart of Mary for the first day of school in August. We will have new teacher orientation and faculty development days, but this countdown is for the morning of August 17 - my first day of school with classes. Because I figured this countdown out, I'm going to stop posting the countdowns in each blog post.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Diversity...Woot Woot!!!
I'll be honest. I've never been one to be very culturally sensitive. Tonight changed that quite a bit. We had a seminar on how to be a culturally aware teacher because studies have shown for a couple decades now that when lessons are geared towards the students' cultural background, they learn more and are higher achievers. Tonight we heard from a nun who is originally from New Jersey but who has been in Mississippi for quite a while in predominantly African-American schools. She talked about her experiences, the culture shock she experienced, and told us how to approach the new experience. I am looking forward to the added challenge with even more excitement and anticipation now. I really hope all this enthusiasm is sustained beyond my first few weeks of school!!
Nothing very earth-shattering in classes today. We had our first community dinner tonight in the dining hall. We have a pretty good community - we all seem to get along (for now - we'll see what happens when we're co-existing in even closer proximity for a longer time). It sounds like last year the community was not very strong. They didn't seem to fight much, but it was from a result of apathy to the rest of the community, not from a genuine love for each other. So, the ACE 16ers in the house have the task over the coming days and weeks of coaxing the stories out of our ACE 15 housemates. I will keep you posted.
Classroom Countdown: 68 days until my first day of school
Nothing very earth-shattering in classes today. We had our first community dinner tonight in the dining hall. We have a pretty good community - we all seem to get along (for now - we'll see what happens when we're co-existing in even closer proximity for a longer time). It sounds like last year the community was not very strong. They didn't seem to fight much, but it was from a result of apathy to the rest of the community, not from a genuine love for each other. So, the ACE 16ers in the house have the task over the coming days and weeks of coaxing the stories out of our ACE 15 housemates. I will keep you posted.
Classroom Countdown: 68 days until my first day of school
Tuesday, June 9th
Well, I've now been introduced to the classes I'll take for the rest of the semester. For this week, my technology in the classroom class (which was 8-10pm last week) is from 10am-12noon. Yesterday afternoon, I had a Practicum meeting in which we got our assignments. Practicum is our practice teaching experience for the summer. After that was "Teaching Religion in Catholic Schools." Today was my Middle School Methods course and my Social Studies Content Area class.
Practicum is something that is faced with a fair amount of (deserved) trepidation by most first-year teachers. We are placed in Catholic and public schools around the South Bend area in summer school programs. Our students are typically as close to the age we'll be teaching next year as possible, and the subject tends to be related too. The class has a "real" teacher who we observe for a day or two, and then we start to take over bits of the lesson, and maybe the whole thing by the end. Most people's Practicum starts next week. I'm lucky in that I don't start till the following week (which leaves me free next week until 1:15 or so). I was placed in a public middle school that is very supportive of the ACE teachers (which isn't necessarily always the case), and I also have another ACE teacher in the class with me. The downside: I'm in a Language Arts class. Apparently many of the students will also have identified learning disabilities, so that will add an interesting challenge as well.
My Teaching Religion class has me freaked out. I think mainly because I have never taken a religion course in a gradeschool (CCD doesn't count), I don't really know how to approach it at all. Luckily, the class is completely practical, and we'll cover lots of topics, prepare lesson plans for each, and actually teach one of our lessons.
Middle School Methods basically address the unique needs of middle school-aged kids. The class has all the ACE 16 teachers who will be in middle schools (all content areas). It'll be pretty interesting, and it will be where I learn how far I can reasonably push them (I'm still planning on an approaching-high-school-level class), and how to minister to them as people. Apparently it was popular up until the 80s and 90s to think of this age as "miniature high school kids who need to be prepared for that setting." Hence the name "Junior High" rather than "High School." Now the pedagogy recognizes physiological differences as a result of the different stages of development (read: I have to deal with hormones).
The Social Studies content area class is great. It's all middle and high school teachers (both ACE 15 and 16). The 15's are relaxed and funny, our professor is very laid back, and we've just got a great group of people in there. Over half of us are teaching in Texas, so there were lots of jokes about having to teach Texas History. As the only true Texan in the room, I think it's going to fall to me to set them straight from time to time.
Not too much work yet, but I can definitely see the potential to feel really over-worked and stressed at some point of the summer. In at least three classes, I will be preparing lesson plans and giving sample presentations of parts of those plans (not to mention the prep I'll have to do for the Practicum when that starts). Also, my content knowledge test - the Praxis - is this weekend. Basically, I have to take it to prove that I know enough social studies to be able to teach it. It's focused on US History and World History, with other concentrations in geography, economics, government, psychology, and sociology. I'm solid on US history, economics, and government. I'm pretty much going to wing the rest and hope that I have enough knowledge at this point in my life to pass a test geared towards testing mastery of middle school social studies.
Classroom Countdown: 69 days until my first day of school
Practicum is something that is faced with a fair amount of (deserved) trepidation by most first-year teachers. We are placed in Catholic and public schools around the South Bend area in summer school programs. Our students are typically as close to the age we'll be teaching next year as possible, and the subject tends to be related too. The class has a "real" teacher who we observe for a day or two, and then we start to take over bits of the lesson, and maybe the whole thing by the end. Most people's Practicum starts next week. I'm lucky in that I don't start till the following week (which leaves me free next week until 1:15 or so). I was placed in a public middle school that is very supportive of the ACE teachers (which isn't necessarily always the case), and I also have another ACE teacher in the class with me. The downside: I'm in a Language Arts class. Apparently many of the students will also have identified learning disabilities, so that will add an interesting challenge as well.
My Teaching Religion class has me freaked out. I think mainly because I have never taken a religion course in a gradeschool (CCD doesn't count), I don't really know how to approach it at all. Luckily, the class is completely practical, and we'll cover lots of topics, prepare lesson plans for each, and actually teach one of our lessons.
Middle School Methods basically address the unique needs of middle school-aged kids. The class has all the ACE 16 teachers who will be in middle schools (all content areas). It'll be pretty interesting, and it will be where I learn how far I can reasonably push them (I'm still planning on an approaching-high-school-level class), and how to minister to them as people. Apparently it was popular up until the 80s and 90s to think of this age as "miniature high school kids who need to be prepared for that setting." Hence the name "Junior High" rather than "High School." Now the pedagogy recognizes physiological differences as a result of the different stages of development (read: I have to deal with hormones).
The Social Studies content area class is great. It's all middle and high school teachers (both ACE 15 and 16). The 15's are relaxed and funny, our professor is very laid back, and we've just got a great group of people in there. Over half of us are teaching in Texas, so there were lots of jokes about having to teach Texas History. As the only true Texan in the room, I think it's going to fall to me to set them straight from time to time.
Not too much work yet, but I can definitely see the potential to feel really over-worked and stressed at some point of the summer. In at least three classes, I will be preparing lesson plans and giving sample presentations of parts of those plans (not to mention the prep I'll have to do for the Practicum when that starts). Also, my content knowledge test - the Praxis - is this weekend. Basically, I have to take it to prove that I know enough social studies to be able to teach it. It's focused on US History and World History, with other concentrations in geography, economics, government, psychology, and sociology. I'm solid on US history, economics, and government. I'm pretty much going to wing the rest and hope that I have enough knowledge at this point in my life to pass a test geared towards testing mastery of middle school social studies.
Classroom Countdown: 69 days until my first day of school
Sunday, June 7, 2009
First Weekend
Friday night = Backer. It is possibly the grossest dive bar ever, but it's really fun, and the ACErs basically took it over Friday night.
Tonight I stayed in and played some board games with some people. Taboo is lots of fun, and one of my housemates owns it, so that's promising. I also went out and played some sand volleyball with a bunch of people I didn't really know too well (non-ACE people). All-in-all a fun day.
Didn't do too much work (oops!), but I did piece together and revise most of my classroom management plan. There are just a couple sections of that that I need to clean up and finish up tomorrow. I also have a paper due Monday that I am about to bang out right now. It's not really that long of an assignment, and it's mostly going to be regurgitation of a bunch of information that we were taught in class last week.
A lot of ACE 15 got here yesterday and today. The rest of them get here Sunday (ACE 15 is the group who just finished up their first year of teaching and are getting back for their second summer of classes). I was told by one of my friends in ACE 15 today that I need to prepare to hear some pretty cynical and jaded stories about ACE. They all say it's worth it and nobody really regrets it...it's just rough. I'm not really surprised about that - I won't pretend that I'm ready for my first year of teaching, but I do know it's going to be really hard.
Guess that's it for now. Week 2 is approaching...
Classroom Countdown: 73 days until my first day of school
Tonight I stayed in and played some board games with some people. Taboo is lots of fun, and one of my housemates owns it, so that's promising. I also went out and played some sand volleyball with a bunch of people I didn't really know too well (non-ACE people). All-in-all a fun day.
Didn't do too much work (oops!), but I did piece together and revise most of my classroom management plan. There are just a couple sections of that that I need to clean up and finish up tomorrow. I also have a paper due Monday that I am about to bang out right now. It's not really that long of an assignment, and it's mostly going to be regurgitation of a bunch of information that we were taught in class last week.
A lot of ACE 15 got here yesterday and today. The rest of them get here Sunday (ACE 15 is the group who just finished up their first year of teaching and are getting back for their second summer of classes). I was told by one of my friends in ACE 15 today that I need to prepare to hear some pretty cynical and jaded stories about ACE. They all say it's worth it and nobody really regrets it...it's just rough. I'm not really surprised about that - I won't pretend that I'm ready for my first year of teaching, but I do know it's going to be really hard.
Guess that's it for now. Week 2 is approaching...
Classroom Countdown: 73 days until my first day of school
Friday, June 5, 2009
Another Day Down...
The week has been pretty long so far. I just finished my first lesson plan - as homework due tomorrow. I came up with a pretty cool project (I think so, anyway). Towards the end of my government class, I will introduce the Westminster system (Parliamentary system) of democracy. I am going to lecture about the topic and have them fill in a blank graphic organizer that sorts out all the offices and positions, etc. At the end, I will split them into groups of four. Each group is going to take a baggie that has the filled-in pieces of the graphic organizer that they just made themselves, except the completed one I give them is going to have each piece cut out. They are going to put each piece into a blank graphic organizer of the Presidential system (the one we have). So, for example, the Queen (Head of State) and the Prime Minister (Chief Executive) would both be placed in the President's place since he fulfills both roles in our system.
Not sure if that makes much sense, or if it works, but I guess we'll see. I got my classroom rules back. They were not quite as well-done as the procedures, apparently. I am a bit frustrated with the feedback I've gotten so far - it is pretty clear that no procedure is perfect and no set of 3-5 rules is going to capture everything. I guess I just don't like that the comments coming back act like there is a way to be all-encompassing and perfectly efficient. I know it's just their trying to be sure I've thought of every angle and considered every possible consequence of my rules and procedures, but my gut reaction is that I have a long way to go to perfect them even though I know perfect is not practically possible. I'm going to have quite a job ahead of me this weekend to revamp all those assignments and streamline them a bit nonetheless. We also have a project for my technology in the classroom class that I want to get finished up this weekend, and a paper to write for another class.
This weekend is Reunion Weekend at ND (all the multiple of 5 classes are here - those whose 5th, 10th, 15th, etc reunions are this year), and each class make a contribution to a program or department on campus at the 50-year mark. The class of '59 chose to donate to ACE, so we had a lunch with them today. After our afternoon class, we met up for mass with them. It was a very powerful mass - between those of us who were spending our first week in training and those of us who were returning to ND after graduating 50 years ago, there was a lot of energy in the room. Then, after my night class tonight, a fellow Fisher RA and I went over to our old dorm and had mass with Father Rob and Father Warner. It was very satisfying to have such a small, intimate group of people gather at the end of the day.
Another revelation: the discussion I had at home last week about ground turkey meat instead of hamburger in dishes seems providential. One of my housemates does not eat any kind of red meat, so it looks like we're heading to turkeytown for the next two years!!!! (I figured it would easier to make that considerable concession than to try to re-learn a whole new set of dishes...everything I can cook - which isn't too much - involves ground beef or steak!)
The ACE 15 teachers (the ones entering their second summer of classes this summer) are beginning to move in. They start class Monday. It's going to be weird to have twice as many ACErs around - we're just starting to get comfortable with our group of 90.
Classroom Countdown: 74 days until my first day of school
Not sure if that makes much sense, or if it works, but I guess we'll see. I got my classroom rules back. They were not quite as well-done as the procedures, apparently. I am a bit frustrated with the feedback I've gotten so far - it is pretty clear that no procedure is perfect and no set of 3-5 rules is going to capture everything. I guess I just don't like that the comments coming back act like there is a way to be all-encompassing and perfectly efficient. I know it's just their trying to be sure I've thought of every angle and considered every possible consequence of my rules and procedures, but my gut reaction is that I have a long way to go to perfect them even though I know perfect is not practically possible. I'm going to have quite a job ahead of me this weekend to revamp all those assignments and streamline them a bit nonetheless. We also have a project for my technology in the classroom class that I want to get finished up this weekend, and a paper to write for another class.
This weekend is Reunion Weekend at ND (all the multiple of 5 classes are here - those whose 5th, 10th, 15th, etc reunions are this year), and each class make a contribution to a program or department on campus at the 50-year mark. The class of '59 chose to donate to ACE, so we had a lunch with them today. After our afternoon class, we met up for mass with them. It was a very powerful mass - between those of us who were spending our first week in training and those of us who were returning to ND after graduating 50 years ago, there was a lot of energy in the room. Then, after my night class tonight, a fellow Fisher RA and I went over to our old dorm and had mass with Father Rob and Father Warner. It was very satisfying to have such a small, intimate group of people gather at the end of the day.
Another revelation: the discussion I had at home last week about ground turkey meat instead of hamburger in dishes seems providential. One of my housemates does not eat any kind of red meat, so it looks like we're heading to turkeytown for the next two years!!!! (I figured it would easier to make that considerable concession than to try to re-learn a whole new set of dishes...everything I can cook - which isn't too much - involves ground beef or steak!)
The ACE 15 teachers (the ones entering their second summer of classes this summer) are beginning to move in. They start class Monday. It's going to be weird to have twice as many ACErs around - we're just starting to get comfortable with our group of 90.
Classroom Countdown: 74 days until my first day of school
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 2
Finished up the second day of classes. Same class schedule as yesterday. In the morning we discussed what message we wanted to send in our classroom. I came up with "Strive to always see the good in others." After personal reflection on that, we split into groups to discuss how we would handle a range of difficult situations that ACE teachers have faced over the past 15 years. One was funny, difficult, and eye-opening: How to handle a student with a crush on you who drops a note on your desk declaring her love for you. Apparently that happened once.
This afternoon we turned in our class procedures (homework from last night) and discussed creating rules and consequences (positive and negative) for breaking the rules. I'm going to turn that in tomorrow and hopefully get the procedures back. I have no idea if I'm going about these things in the right way, but I guess that's what we're working on them now for!!! During my break today, I completed my rules and consequences along with my short response to a question about the most significant stressor that the Catholic School System in this country has faced over the past 200 years. Since I'm doing my work during the day (where was that for the past 17 years???), I was able to go for a little jog tonight. Little is the operative word. I'm planning to build from tonight though - the goal is to be in good enough shape to be taken seriously by my basketball team next year.
I'm off to finish moving in and then to bed!
Classroom Countdown: 76 days until my first day of school
This afternoon we turned in our class procedures (homework from last night) and discussed creating rules and consequences (positive and negative) for breaking the rules. I'm going to turn that in tomorrow and hopefully get the procedures back. I have no idea if I'm going about these things in the right way, but I guess that's what we're working on them now for!!! During my break today, I completed my rules and consequences along with my short response to a question about the most significant stressor that the Catholic School System in this country has faced over the past 200 years. Since I'm doing my work during the day (where was that for the past 17 years???), I was able to go for a little jog tonight. Little is the operative word. I'm planning to build from tonight though - the goal is to be in good enough shape to be taken seriously by my basketball team next year.
I'm off to finish moving in and then to bed!
Classroom Countdown: 76 days until my first day of school
Monday, June 1, 2009
First Day of Summer Classes
Was up at 7:15 this morning to get ready for class (including breakfast!) at 8:30. Was in class until lunchtime, and then was in class again in the afternoon from 1:30-4:45 and from 8-10. Luckily (somehow), I managed to force myself to do all of my homework (except the reading) during my dinner break. I just finished reviewing that homework assignment and doing my reading for tomorrow.
The classes were not too bad today, but the pace at which things are assigned is a bit startling at first. Since the classes this week are finishing on Friday, we have a short essay due tomorrow at midnight, another longer one due next Monday (based on all the classes this week), and my classroom management plan is also due next Monday. Even though it's a lot of work piling up, it is all constructive and useful. For example, today's assignment was to write up all the classroom procedures that I plan to have in my classroom. I turn in the (4-page single spaced) rough draft tomorrow, and will get feedback on it before I have to turn in my final draft on Monday (we are doing a rough draft version of each section of the management plan this week).
The work, while not the most stimulating or interesting, is engaging because (1) I will use what I am working on (not the theory or the practice making procedures, but the actual procedures) when I start teaching in less than two months, and (2) it is making me get into an "adult," "teacher," or "real person" mindset rather than the attitude of an undergrad who will be making this transition some time in the future.
Classroom Countdown: 77 days until my first day of school
The classes were not too bad today, but the pace at which things are assigned is a bit startling at first. Since the classes this week are finishing on Friday, we have a short essay due tomorrow at midnight, another longer one due next Monday (based on all the classes this week), and my classroom management plan is also due next Monday. Even though it's a lot of work piling up, it is all constructive and useful. For example, today's assignment was to write up all the classroom procedures that I plan to have in my classroom. I turn in the (4-page single spaced) rough draft tomorrow, and will get feedback on it before I have to turn in my final draft on Monday (we are doing a rough draft version of each section of the management plan this week).
The work, while not the most stimulating or interesting, is engaging because (1) I will use what I am working on (not the theory or the practice making procedures, but the actual procedures) when I start teaching in less than two months, and (2) it is making me get into an "adult," "teacher," or "real person" mindset rather than the attitude of an undergrad who will be making this transition some time in the future.
Classroom Countdown: 77 days until my first day of school
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