Teaching Economy in 4th or 5th grade

I am not a licensed elementary teacher. Subbing this year has shown me so much about the workings of the lower grades. I have tried to piece together how teachers work with state and national standards, and it's a bit confusing. One aspect is teaching financial and economic literacy. In several classes I have been in, part of the reward/consequence system involves "payment" and "fines."

Here are the methods I have seen in action:
Method Ja
background: This is a fifth grade class with GLAD influence.

• students have jobs they get paid for. Some jobs are paid better than others (teaches that resources are allocated differently)
• Students make wallets where they keep their money.
• Students are fined for misbehavior and not turning in homework. They must take home their fine and get it signed and then pay the teacher out of their wallets. 
• Students may buy privileges from the BANKER (one of the classroom jobs) 
• examples include comfy toes, teacher chair, teacher desk, seat bump, computer time, etc.
• loans can be given and interest is collected. 

Method Je

background: This is a fourth grade class with GLAD influence. 

• students start with 5 fuzzies. They can be taken away for misbehavior.
• Fuzzies can be turned in for raffle tickets.
• raffle tickets buy objects students may need (pencils, spiral notebooks, emergency bathroom passes, etc.) or want (sharing time, extra recess, homework pass, lunch with teacher, etc.) (teaches the difference between need and want at a financial level.)
• students are responsible for their own tickets, BUT teacher has set up baggies in each cubby to hold tickets and fuzzies. 

At some point during the school year, students should be prompted to write about their experience with the fuzzies or job scenarios. This would likely be done without the students even knowing it was an assessment for economy standards. 

A GLAD 4th grade 9 (J)

I subbed two days in a row in a fourth grade class that is probably 1/2 bilingual. She runs her classroom with heavy GLAD influence.

Observations from her class:
1. Fuzzies. She uses fuzzy balls to reward students for good work. I LOVE this. They are fun and fun to say.
2. She has baggies pinned to the inside of each cubby for students to hold fuzzies and raffle tickets that they can then use to buy different things in the classroom, either privileges or objects.
3. Her reading time is set up basically as a rotation. They have the choice to read to self, read to someone, word work, listen to reading or free write. They have to do a variety of options throughout the week.
4. She has taped reminders to each of their desks, the names with the multiplication chart, ruler, etc., talk moves, and their group number (GLAD component).
5. She has a list of week assignments for students to be working on at all times. This includes items like scholastic news, etc. for automatic filler.
6. She has a cork board with pushpinned sticky notes alerting students to what hw is missing. I love this because I do it anyways!

Reading Groups

Spending time in elementary classes has given me a much needed education on elementary curriculum. One of the most interesting things I have observed from the teacher side is the reading groups. Every 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade class I have been in has some sort of reading groups where a group of kids meets to read with the teacher each day. While the students are not with the teacher, they are working on other tasks like reading packets, silent reading or vocabulary.
If I was to teach one of these grades, I want to write out my ideas on the subject. If you are a teacher and have other unique reading group ideas, please share!
- Read chapter books together??
- Read scientific articles together
- Group students by interest, science vs. animals vs. space, etc. to help students read what they like.
- Individualize non-group times.

#Sublife

So I've been consistently subbing for 4 weeks now. I've really enjoyed almost every minute of it. Over the next few days/weeks I will be posting my observations of different schools and different ideas I've picked up from various classrooms. To kick off, I want to talk for a second about the life of a sub.

Subbing at the high school level is incredibly boring. Teachers (myself included when I ran my own high school classroom) leave a worksheet for students to complete independently or a movie they can watch. High schoolers also have this thing where they want to show their independence whenever they can.... having a sub in their class is ripe with opportunities for high-schoolers to show they don't need someone to tell them what to do.

Thank God for the elementary classroom. You walk into the room and most students have instant respect for you simply because I'm over a foot taller than most of them and therefore an adult (#kidlogic). Not only is there a level of respect from the students, but the teachers as well. Teachers at the elementary level leave actual lesson plans for subs. Granted, they may be watered down, but you actually get to do some teaching! My mom and I were talking and she made a good point. She mentioned that fifth-graders do a LOT of learning. Teachers reach them because they are still in elementary school but they are also starting to build the foundation for the rest of their education career... including college. Something to think about.

And then there is middle school. I haven't spent a ton of time in middle school classrooms, but so far I have really enjoyed the awkwardness that is middle school. They still respect adults, they are learning some cool things, and the work is close-ish to high school level.

I've worked in four different districts and two different counties and so thankful for this opportunity to test drive each grade.

Teaching Note-taking

So far, my two main goals of teaching have remained the same. 1) Expose students to a variety of topics in an effort to lead them to what they are passionate about. 2) Give students study tips and life lessons to make post-high-school life easier.

A great tool to give students is note-taking skills.  The following is how I could teach note-taking.

This video. Is awesome.

http://collegeinfogeek.com/lecture-notetaking-systems/

show at the beginning of the year and explain that we will be taking all the different types of notes throughout the year. Plus, it gives students a way to see that I'm cool- I love Streetfighter, especially Blanka!

Use different lessons to outline the strengths of each style of note-taking. At the end of a lesson using  a different style of note taking, have students write an exit ticket on how they would compare the style of notes to other ones they have used before.

Also, a quick note on Cornell notes, the same idea (exit ticket points) could be given for having students complete the Cue and Summary sections of the Cornell notes before leaving class.

If I ever have to teach math again...

The following was written on 1/1/15, after a break from teaching math and before I began teaching science again. 

"oofta. Math is not my thing. I learned a lot, though. Here are some things:

1. must teach what you believe in.

2. getting bogged down in the details does NOT allow me to keep the bigger picture in mind.

3. my resolve crumbles in the moment.

4. having clear expectations on grading is VITALLY important.

5. signing off on work works.

6. removing distractions works.

7. there must be a way for small groups to run."

H3- Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning.

H3.- Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning. Teacher-candidates implement calssroom/school centered instruction, including sheltered instruction that is connected to communities within the classrom and the school, and includes knowledge and skills for working with others. For students to really learn, the classroom must be a place where students are encouraged to work together. When students work together grappling with a difficult concept, a classroom community is formed. The job of the teacher is to foster that community in a healthy way. During the unit I taught on cells, I had students present their cell analogy projects to the class. They were allowed to work in groups, but each person had to be part of the presentation. While presenting, I made notes about both the presenters and the audience. I was likely the most excited audience member. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the creative ways my students talked about cells. The next day, I came to class with individualized comments for each student. They were celebratory in nature, but a few of them did have suggestions for increasing their success at presentations. by offering students compliments on their work as presentors, my goal was to enhance the learning environment and encourage students to share in their learning together. Typically there are papers strewn everywhere when my biology students leave for the day, however no comments were left in the room, indicating that the comments were important to the students. I learned through this experience that students appreciate praise for the learning they do in class. They respond to a learning community when the community is accepting of various opinions. Student learning will increase due to the positive nature of the classroom, alongside the high-level thinking that occurs. In the future, I could have students write comments to each other as a way to show that students have the power to make a difference on their peers and their learning environment as well.

Fifth Period Cell Analogy Evals- no names

H1- Honor student diversity and development

H1.- Honor student diversity and development. Teacher candidates plan and/or adapt learner centered curricula that engage students in a variety of culturally responsive, developmentally and age appropriate strategies. Each student is vastly different from the next. As a teacher, it is so important to see "the student" as an individual versus "the studentS"  all blurred together. One way to honor student individuality is to offer activites and projects that allow indiviudality to shine through. Each student is in a unique stage of life. Giving them the opportunity to express their own thoughts is critical to the high  school population. One way to honor student individuality in Biology involves project-based work. I assigned my students the "cell analogy project" (figure 1) to complete with their table groups.

[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignleft" width="257"] Figure 1. Handout/rubric for cell analogy project.[/caption]

This project is based off of an article I read outlining various ways student diversity may be honored in the science classroom (attached as "Culturally Relevent Teaching in Science"). This project is great for all age and developmental levels because it leaves room for excelling students to go deeper and other students to gain an understanding without as much work. Through this project I was able to gauge student understanding of the central focus (cells) and give them an opportunity to relate what we were learning in biology class to their own lives. From this project I learned several things about classroom culture. Students were able to choose both the analogy they based their project off of as well as the way they presented their analogy. I found that students were engaged with the other presentations because I made sure all presentations were different. Not only was student individuality honored, but I as the teacher was in control of classroom engagement. Students worked intimately with the various components of cells and gained a well-rounded understanding of how the cell works. As an audience, students were asked to write down three things they learned from the presentations. I read through these comments when I graded notebooks after this unit so I had physical evidence that students were learning during the presentations.

In future years, I would be interested to work out a way for each student to do an individual project. Although table groups were effective for this project, I would be interested to see if individualized projects would impact students (and their grades) differently while still working out logistically.

culturally relevent teaching in science

E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice.

E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice. Teacher candidates develop reflective, collaborative, professional growth-centered practices through regularly evaluating the effects of his/her teaching through feedback and reflection. E1 encourages a reflective teaching practice that includes building a professional community fostering collaboration and reflection on ones practice.  As part of the undergraduate certification process, I am required to observe practicing teachers. Several of these observations can be found here, here, here and here. During these observations, I found myself to be incredibly reflective on my own practice. I am fortunate to be placed at a school with excellent teachers. The above observations are all of teachers who love to teach and are in the field to expand their practice. The teachers I observed were all very different but each one was able to relate to students in a unique way. One of the observations I did was of my own mentor teacher. I taught the same class earlier in the day and he gave me specific feedback about how I did. I asked to watch him teach the same lesson later and he agreed. It was great to see how I handled the class and the content similarly, as in I covered the same material in the same general order, but differently in my approach and rapport with students.  Through watching various teachers and the various techniques used, I am beginning to narrow-down the type of teacher I strive to be. For the majority of my life I have jotted down various teaching techniques I appreciate about teachers in an effort to compile teaching characteristics I hope to adopt. Now, as I watch others teach, I am able to discern whether the teaching traits I see are something that would work for me, or not. The traits that don't work for me are not bad, I appreciate that others can utilize various tips and tricks, but I am no longer bogged down by having to strive to do every cool thing I see other teachers do. Students in my own class will benefit from the reflections I have made of myself through this process because I will be able to play to my own strengths and therefore serve my students in a more natural and holistic way. In my remaining time at my placement school and throughout my career, I hope to take advantage of any observation opportunities I have. I enjoy watching others teach and find that not only do I always learn something (about content or teaching itself) but I am constantly analyzing my own practice when I watch others. Scheduling regular observation times will keep me reflective and fresh as a teacher.

Teacher Observation: Chemistry

Yesterday I taught electron configurations and atomic orbitals to my chemistry students. My mentor teacher and I spent a long time going over various aspects of the lecture and how it was going to go. I felt good about my teaching, despite the varying response from students. Many were frustrated by the new language they were learning. One student came up to me after class and said "I think you did a great job, they're (the other students)  just crazy." I was interested to see my mentor teach this same lesson for several reasons. First, I haven't seen him lecture a whole lot and felt I could benefit from watching him do so. Second, I wanted to compare what I did to what he did. So I observed my chemistry mentor teach during sixth period, a class I have never interacted with.

ML opened the class with a warm-up that was part of his notes but he had them fill out in their warm-up sheets. I like the way he elicited prior knowledge about the topic he was covering and I think the students benefited from this exercise. He then used a mix of questioning techniques to hear answers to the warm-up. He both randomly called on people and asked for volunteers to answer. Once the students were through the warm-up, he posted announcements for the students to write down and while he passed out a handout to the class. This was a great use of disrupted time as the students needed to copy down the homework and it gave him an opportunity to pass out something the students needed. One classroom management technique I observed ML use was the power dynamic he set up at the beginning of class. I'm not sure if it was the words he used or the way he said it, but there was a tone set that he was in charge of the next fifty minutes and the students were to follow his lead.  At various points throughout the lecture he reminded them of this by saying things like, "will you let me finish?" "hold your questions for a second," etc. As far as instruction goes, I know that ML does not lecture very often. There are scattered lecture days among many work days, work sheets, drills, labs, web explorations, etc. The lecture days are used primarily to get a concept across so the students can then interact with that concept and master it. Electron configuration charts must be taught because of the abstract nature of the drawings. Asking students to come up with how to do that would be extremely time-consuming and unrealistic. However, ML uses the time following lectures to give students a chance to interact with the concept and explore different patterns they may see. Towards the end of the lecture, ML encouraged students to try the new material on their own or in their groups using white boards. Although not highly technical, white boards are essential to chemistry classrooms so students can interact with the abstract concepts they learn.

There were several differences between ML's lecture and mine. I think several of the differences are just in our personalities. Additionally, he has been doing this for so long and is so comfortable with the material that he is able to free the mental space to expand his teaching repertoire. One way he does this is with many different analogies. I need to use more analogies to explain the chemistry concepts. Chemistry is so abstract that models and analogies are necessary to master the concepts. I thoroughly enjoyed observing my mentor teacher in this informal way with a set of students I have no responsibility for. It was a good experience and gave me an even better understanding of the chemistry class at my placement school.

Teacher Observation: Biology

Today I thoughtfully watched my Biology mentor teacher (MI) as she taught our students about plant nutrition. Now that I know MI a bit better, I was excited to pay attention to the details of her teaching style with some teaching experience under my belt.

Students were expected to participate in the routine warm-up (projected on the Smart Board) as they entered the classroom. MI then took some time to go through the warm-up by asking for volunteer answers. She wrote the answers that students supplied by the corresponding questions on the SmartBoard.  A variety of students answered from high achievers to not so high achievers. Then she moved on to the "main course" of the day which was a few notes and then a handout the students worked through. MI is really good about creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere for students while still expecting all eyes to be on her and for students to be quiet while others are talking. I have seen her use other questioning techniques such as popsicle sticks, etc. but today she must have felt alternative questioning techniques unnecessary.

From my observations, I find that MI uses several different techniques for classroom management. She definitely expects students to be quiet while others are talking and enforces this by standing by chatting students and shushing those who are speaking. She also frequently stamps off on student homework which allows her to interact with students one on one frequently. Another strategy she often employs is lots of time for students to talk with each other. MI gives students chances to talk with each other during notes, while they work on handouts and at many other times during the day. Not only is this a classroom management technique, (giving students time to speak and communicate as they want to) but also an instructional strategy so students are speaking, listening and writing the material they are learning. I have also noticed that MI rarely utilizes closing activities. It may be a stretch to categorize the lack of closers as an instructional technique,  but this seems to be instructionally relevant because the lessons often build off of one another and therefore a closer activity in between lessons wouldn't necessarily make sense. She encourages students to work up to the bell and many students will. Some won't, but that will always be a constant battle. Overall, I find MI to be a very well-rounded teacher using questioning techniques and technology to her benefit and having a hold on the classroom as a whole. I enjoy working with her and expect to learn a lot about myself and the workings of a successful classroom from this obviously successful biology teacher.

Classroom Management Interview

One of my assignments for EDU 3250: Secondary General Methods I: Planning and Classroom Management, was to conduct an interview with a teacher I respect. I chose my high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Tom Nichols. Attached is the interview as well as the summary I compiled in response to the interview.

Classroom Management Interview