My Successes in Parallel Co-Teaching

I have been co-teaching at Carlsbad High School for about 8 weeks now. I have read blogs from my classmates, such as Chris Dolnik's "The Descent of a Man" blog. He wrote in March that "Preparation allows for better fluidity, direction, and purpose in my lessons." And this is no doubt been evident in my student teaching as well. While I still need to learn better preparation and lesson planning, I have had to incorporate co-teaching strategies into the mix. I have done so with encouraging results.

I have found great use and appreciation for parallel co-teaching strategy. From Villa, Thousand, & Nevin (2008) A Guide to co-teachng: Practical tips for facilitating student learning, "Parallel co-teaching is when two or more people work with different groups of students in different sections of the classroom. Co-teachers may rotate among the groups; and, sometimes there may be one group of students that works without a co-teacher for at least part of the time...Key to parallel co-teaching is that each co-teacher eventually works with every student in the class.


In one of my classes, Geometry, there is only one big white board at the front of the room. Instead of having us split up into to groups in the same room, my cooperating teacher and I have one group stay in the class with one of us to go over a topic, while the other half goes outside to do an activity where a white board is not necessary. In my other class I am teaching, Algebra II, I have a white board on the front and back walls of the class. Sometimes we take half the class outside, and other times we make proper use of the back board. When you have classes of 35 or so students, there is a huge difference between working with only half of those students at a time.

To those whom are co-teaching, what has been your experience with this method? Is it your favorite? What has worked best for you?

The "F" Word You like to Hear in your Class

Today in the Algebra II class I am student teaching, I heard one of my students (whom is usually the one spacing out) say "This is fun. Lets do more."

It was a great thing to hear. I hear so much these days from students in the public schools that they hate math. And my class I am speaking of is no exception. This class is an intermediate Algebra class with students whom have struggled with high school math for 2+ years. Its a little tougher to get through to them than other students, but days like these can prove it worthwhile.

And I don't mean to sound like my class has been the antithesis of a "fun" class; I've employed a fair share of strategies to make class engaging. When you hear that "F" word though, you know you're doing okay.

Reflection on my Digital Reflection

This blog post was inspired by Carl Maas' Reflection on the same project, of which I completed late last night.

In the making of my digital reflection presentation, I was able to add new aspects to my PLN. For example, my presentation was created on Prezi, the first such time I used this software. I feel like the extent to which I took advantages of Prezi's features was much less than its potential. I used Sangit to record my presentation and upload it to YouTube. I discovered this software in my perusing of digital reflections of semesters past, and am definitely grateful for that.

I also love reflection projects because it makes me reflect. Its really as simple as that. One of the things we learn in our credential program is the value of reflection. I have come to realize its potential over the past year, and this project did its job in allowing me to look back on and absorb all that I have accomplished in this semester-long course.

There was a struggle to get going at first, but I have crossed the line of being a complete "visitor" of the Internet world into at least a part-time "resident." My question to the #csusmedu peeps: should we give up the csusmedu hashtag to the next group of cohorters? If so, what should our new hashtag be so that we can continue to network in the future?

Visit to El Camino HS - March 12 - Reflection

On Monday March 12, I, along with other Single Subject Teacher Candidates, attended a visit to El Camino High School in Oceanside, CA, in order to see how iPads have been implemented into the general classroom. Although I was excited to learn about how iPads could enhance the learning process, I got home that day with many questions still unanswered.

1. How was technology integrated into the curriculum?  Do you feel that it promoted student learning?
   - In Dr. Nank's classroom at ECHS, each student had an iPad that they could use individually. The iPads were attached to the desks so that they wouldn't get "lost." That day, all math classes were preparing for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), so I was unable to witness them being used to teach new material, which I was more interested in learning about. The students were working on an assessment through Moodle on their iPads, and most of the students had a pen and paper out to work the problems by hand.
   If I were to make a hypothesis, I would say that iPads have a tremendous opportunity to promote student learning (if used properly)
   
2. Is there anything you saw that makes this classroom/school unique?
   - The school had a great feel to it, a great sense of community. The classroom I observed in was part of a new-looking math and science building. The layout of the school was open and welcoming. I was very impressed. If you were to ask me about the students in the classroom I observed, I would say they seemed to be used to, and comfortable with, the use of iPads in the classroom. they were not off task (eg playing Angry Birds, or checking FB).
   
   
3. What did you learn and how does it relate to the class questions?
   -I learned that the use of iPads to assess students is awesome. Dr. Nank showed us how he is able to randomize the questions he asks on the tests, so that he is comfortable with letting a student who fails a test relearn the content and retake it, without worrying that all he/she did was memorize what questions were on the test previous. I still have questions about how you can teach students new content effectively using iPads. I have many ideas, but I would like to witness it first hand. Thus, I would be more than willing to visit El Camino high School again sometime when they are not practicing for a bloody standardized test!!
   

EDSS 530 Digital Reflection

Attached to this post is my Digital Reflection Presentation created on Prezi. I had a fun time making it; being able to reflect on all that I have learned, and to realize of how much I have yet to learn. Cheers!

EDSS 531 Reflection

              My experience in this class, The Reflective Professional, has been one that allowed me to realize the importance of reflection upon events and individual students as a means to meet students’ needs and continually grow at a teacher. What I learned throughout the course this semester, in addition to the significance of reflection, is that it is important to understand my own beliefs and biases and to increase student creativity and right-brained thinking through different teaching models such as synectics.

              We started this course with a journal which allowed me to reflect on my first clinical practice experience, in which I put myself in the shoes of my students. In this journal, I described what it is like for them to be students in my class and to move through classes in a day at my school site. It was a great way to start this course and remind myself that it is my duty as a 21^st century educator to try to eliminate the “shuffling” that goes on in public high schools these days.

              In the 3^rd week of the course, both the night and day cohorts participated in an online dialogue in which we responded to the following prompt: “What are your biases and how do you mitigate your behavior when working with students?” This was one of the highlights of the course for me, because it synthesized an in-class activity with an online-based assignment. Many of the assignments I had this semester were open to interpretation because there wasn’t much class-time for discussion. This particular assignment had an entire class devoted to this topic and it resulted in a very rich experience for all involved.

              I also had a great time with my model presentation assignment. My group had a lot of good preparation on the assignment, and got help from Jannis well before our assignment was due. I thought synectics was the coolest of the different models presented and thought we did a good job of explaining its aspects and benefits. I have yet to try this model out in my clinical practice yet, but I will keep it in my back pocket until I have the right need for it.

              I know I might be going over the one-page requirement , but I wanted to note the appreciation I have for you reminding us that writing down our thoughts and being creative through writing poetry  or participating in games such as Two Truths and a Lie are fun ways to create experiences that will endure in my memory. In addition, I realize that this was semester with an experiment, and the cohorters were “guinea pigs;” but I appreciate all you guys did to understand our situation. Being a teacher means being flexible, and you all emulated that fact. I hope you don’t take it personally when some students attack the way this semester went. To me, to be that upset shows a lack of flexibility.

531 Journal 5 - CPI Reflection

Q: Looking back at your teaching last semester, what did you discover about the needs of your students in your classes? What kinds of "needs" surfaced that surprised you?

A: Last semester I realized that my students needed remediation on fundamental mathematical skills that are crucial to progress in higher-level mathematics and in the material I was required to teach. This need certainly surprised me in that it was so widely prevalent in my class.

Another need I discovered about my students was the fact that many did not have the trust in their abilities to  "get" the right answer. On many occasions, I would help a student with the steps in completing a task, only to have them ask me at the end if their answer is correct. The first few times I was asked this question I was surprised. but I found out that many of my students have the same insecurities. I have no doubt that the fault here lies with the way in which my students have been taught mathematics up until that point in their lives. My students have been taught that there is usually only one "right" way to do math. Over time, after being told that they have been "wrong" over and over, my students feel dumb, end up hating mathematics, and completely distrust their own abilities in the subject. A colleague of mine working at High Tech High North County wrote a great blog on the issue recently (see Bryan Meyer - Putting the Cart before the Horse).

On top of all this, the majority of my students need tremendous help with organizational skills.




Q: To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students? How wide is the "gap" between them and you?

A:  See Journal #3




Q: What might have surfaced in the reading or in your teaching (about the realities of students' needs) that triggered a negative response in you? Try to identify why this response was triggered and how it relates to your biases.

A: The fact that my students are unable to organize their work in my class definitely triggers a negative response in me. Having many of my students asking for materials that were passed out and lost by my students is really frustrating. It is a waste of time for me to have to make up guided notes handouts for every lesson. Because of the expectation that the students won't take notes without graphically organized handouts makes the teaching profession a lot more tedious and time consuming. This relates to some biases I have in that I feel that many of my students today are less independent and held less accountable for their learning than when I was in school.