Sara Jane

Wow! Trying to teach poetry and its elements to 8th graders is really hard. I realized that the students need a lot of scaffolding just to understand the basic meaning of the poem, let alone the deeper meaning(s). I found this to be very frustrating, but I’m assuming that once I become a better teacher I will know how to help the students understand better. On Tuesday we read “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and we had to read the poem twice just for the students to get what was going on. Cheryl, my supervisor, was there that day and she said that I should try to do more stuff before we jump right into the reading. I thought this was a great idea. She said that sometimes if your having to help students with comprehension after the story it means you didn’t spend enough time before the story. She suggested I do some prediction activities based on the readings title and cover art. I thought these were great ideas. I am going to try this in the future and see if I have more success. Happy Halloween.

Thursday night was parent-teacher conferences at Fern Ridge Middle School. For some reason I, the most nervous person in the world, wasn’t uncomfortable about the thought of having to talk to parents. So what I noticed about conferences is that, for the most part, only the parents of the kids who already have good grades come. It was nice to talk to these parents and tell them that their children are fabulous hard workers. It was also pleasant to get to meet the parents of some of the students. So that part was great it’s easy to tell parents their children are excelling. The part that was not so great was not being able to talk to and meet the the parents that I felt I really need to talk to. There are many students who are recieving ds and fs and I really want to see that the parents care about that. I mean I can still call these parents and talk to them on the phone but it’s nice to see them put out the effort sometimes.

So now I have a little story about what one of the parents said at conferences. The mother of a boy, who is a good language art student, was talking to my mentor teacher about putting her son into Adv. English when he gets to the high school. The boy said it might be too hard and maybe he wouldn’t get an “A.” The mother then said that it would be more important to think harder and learn more and get a “B” then to be unchallenged and get an “A.” I just thought that this was amazing! It’s obvious that this mother cares about learning. It was really refreshing to hear a parent say something like this.

Now let’s talk about the classroom briefly. This week, for the first time, I had to hold one of my classes a miute after the bell. They were suppose to be working quietly on a project and that didn’t happen. I always use the one minute thing as a threat and they usually stop, but not this time. So I had to do it. Maybe now they will know I am serious. We’ll see.

Best,

Sara

So I’m going to write about how annoyed I got this week at the students. Me and my classes were going to the library one day this week to research authors. I gave all the students the handout that they would need in class and told them that they would be completing the handout in the library. Well while we are in the library about half of the class comes up to me at different times and tells me that they don’t have a pencil. After about the third person I was getting really annoyed. I didn’t show my annoyance (what would be the point) and let the students go back to the classroom and get their pencils. So I was kinda scared that I got so annoyed from the kids. So I decided to ask my mentor teacher if it was normal to get irritated by the students. She said yes. Alright, that made me feel better. I felt uncomfortable with myself for becoming so annoyed. I was worried because I didn’t go into this job because I like kids. I went into this job so that I could give back to my community and all that other stuff. Basically, I was scared that I was a psycho and someday going to go crazy and tell a student to “shut up.” But since my mentor teacher said that she gets annoyed I feel better. In conclusion, I reminded all of my other classes that day that they will need a writing utensil in the lab. Amazingly, I had far less instances of pencil forgetfullness. Maybe I should have been annoyed at myself for not being clear enough. Sorry for using the word “annoyed” so many times I couldn’t think of another word to use.

Best,

Sara

This week I tried something new. I didn’t like the way class discussions were going-only a couple students raising their hands to answer questions-so I decided to do something about it. I have these note cards with each students name on them and now I use them in discussion. So I tell the students beforehand that I will be using the cards and whomevers name comes up needs to answer the question. At first I really didn’t like this idea. I don’t like calling on kids who don’t want to be called on because it makes me uncomfortable. I think that some students really don’t like the attention or pressure of answering questions in front of the class. But I got over that and used the note cards. It actually went well. It was really nice to hear other students opinions, thoughts, and ideas. I believe class and discussions get boring when there dominated by a few voices. So I think I might keep doing the note card thing. It makes students responsible for the material we are covering and it keeps them on their toes.But to get here I had to realize that it’s not about me and what makes me uncomfortable, it’s about the students.

This week I also took the students to the library to pick out free choice novels and it was crazy. Some kids we here and others were there. It was pretty hard to manage them in the library. So if your’e planning to go to the library be prepared. I think the students thought it was like a field trip.

Well that’s what I got for this week. Hope everyone is well.

Best,

Sara

Well, during class and in our readings we (me & the students) come upon many interesting topics. So sometimes something from my past comes to me related to the topic and I tell a funny little story. I think this is a good idea. I believe it lets the kids get to know me and allows for some fun. The only drawback is is that all the students then want to tell a story about a time when….. fill in the blank it can be about anything. So this is not really a problem because I let a couple people tell a short story and then get the students back on track. I just think it’s funny.

Also this week I had a parent come in whose child is not turning in work. The kid is always in class and always a pleasure. So his mom came in to see what was going on. We got everything figured out but she said something interesting. She said that while walking around the school she realized how much help kids have with organization and homework at this school. It’s true all the classes have agendas on the board that tell the students what we are going to do that day. The woman said that in her time no one reminded you to do your homework. I thought it was funny because I think we do remind the students a lot about everything. So it’s nice to hear that parents see it that way because it seems like students still forget no matter what. You start to think am I being clear enough? Anyway, it was interesting.

That’s all the news I have for today. Hope everyone is well.

Sara