Thursday, August 28, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Podcast
History minute - 5 minute podcast discussing the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton and the consequences there of.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
EDT 660 Blog - Week One
This video is a reenactment of the Gettysburg Address, performed by actor Jeff Daniels. Great as a discussion starter, opening to a lesson or a unit.
Friday, May 30, 2014
One of my biggest concerns and areas of improvement for myself as an educator is the confidence to know that I am not horribly screwing up at every stage of the process. I have been reminded, coached, teased and hassled but I still have a perfectionist approach to things that can drive me nuts. I will sit and tweak a word, a sentence or a phrase for an hour at the expense of an evening that I'm sure the wife would prefer was spent with her. I have the desire to make sure that I am being the best that I can be in the position but I need to temper it with an acceptance of the results that I am able to produce. It is unrealistic to expect to be comfortable and confident with zero experience so I need to learn to let go of that.
In teaching in my content area, I feel confident in my knowledge of the content. Where I will need to focus is the creation and following of a curriculum, timing my lessons and my units to hit the timelines I will need to hit and making the process work for me. I have been warned by almost every teacher I have observed that the first year or two will be rough and uneasy. My hope is that I land at a site that has a decent amount of support so that I am not pulling my hair out (prematurely).
In teaching in my content area, I feel confident in my knowledge of the content. Where I will need to focus is the creation and following of a curriculum, timing my lessons and my units to hit the timelines I will need to hit and making the process work for me. I have been warned by almost every teacher I have observed that the first year or two will be rough and uneasy. My hope is that I land at a site that has a decent amount of support so that I am not pulling my hair out (prematurely).
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Field Experience Reflection
For my field experience, I chose to teach the CATCH
reading/annotating demo that was listed from day 2 of my five day unit plan. As
the lesson is flexible and can be used with any reading material, this was the
best fit at this point in the school year. The lesson was viewed as something
of a refresher or a different take on a way to annotate reading as many of the
students had been through similar lessons at various stages through the school
year.
I began my lesson by opening a discussion with the class on
what would be good ways of breaking down a difficult text. As a history class,
this class was very familiar with the concept of approaching a historical
document, a newspaper article or a particularly wordy textbook that could give
anyone problems so I asked what would be some good things to do to start off
your reading. I was standing at the board ready to write out the techniques or
strategies that were given. One of the students raised their hand and suggested
that I should “do soapstone like (teacher) has us do.” Although I had observed
this classroom previously and interacted with these students, I asked them to
explain it to me like I had never heard of it before. The student recited the
meaning of the saying, Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject and Tone.
As he went through each, I wrote it on the board next to my section. I thanked
the student for his input but suggested that we were going to discuss a
different method that the class could use in conjunction with the method he had
described.
I wrote out the word CATCH on the board and offered up the
option for anyone to guess at what I might mean by this. No one had any correct
guesses so I continued on and wrote out what each part of catch stood for and
gave a brief description of what that section meant. I explained that this
method is a great way of tackling any sort of text and is actually a good way
to approach filing out their soapstone prompts. In order to identify the
different parts of soapstone, students need to be able to work through the
parts of the text that were unfamiliar and bring out the important parts. I
gestured over to the wall where last month’s projects were hung detailing issues
related to the Iroquois Confederacy. I reminded students that if you were
unsure on who the Iroquois were or what a confederacy was, that could be a big
stumbling point that they would have before they were able to pull the main
idea out of the text. Sure, they could hazard a guess that the confederacy was
the subject for their soapstone, but if you didn’t know what that was, could
you possibly misinterpret the purpose? This question did raise some eyebrows
and prompted some nods from around the class.
Now that students had an idea of what CATCH reading was and
how to use it, I had students pass around a short article that the teacher had
in mind for their lesson for the next day. The article itself was not connected
to my initial five day unit plan but as I said, this one section is flexible
and accommodates moving around the curriculum well. I asked the class to begin
reading through the article using CATCH reading. While the students were
working on that, I moved between different desk clusters, asking students what
they thought of the method and to explain to me what they were marking up. Many
of the students had taken out additional sheets of paper that they had written
out blanks to fill for a soapstone but they were using the CATCH methods to
mark up the article itself. When questioned, these students remarked that they
have been using the soapstone for every reading in the class so this was a way
of getting ahead of the classwork by doing it early.
After about fifteen minutes of moving through the class and
getting feedback from the different desk clusters it was time to begin winding
down the class as the bell was going to ring soon. The teacher had given the
go-ahead for me to assign the exit slip of the day so I asked students to
complete my post-assessment from the lesson plan which was to write out why is
CATCH reading helpful and do they expect to use the skill outside of this
class. In reviewing the slips that I collected, I found many of the responses
were comically short. Several of the slips had a single sentence saying
something along the lines of “CATCH is helpful because it helps me read and I
can use it in any class.”
Although I enjoyed the lesson as a whole, I think there were
several aspects that I would tweak if I were to use it again in the future.
Approaching the lesson from the aspect of finding evidence while teaching CATCH
reading feels like pulling students in different directions at the same time.
CATCH reading seems more of a mini-lesson to address general reading skills
while something like soapstone is more suited to the type of skill my lesson
plan is looking to build or reinforce. My post-assessment was lacking in
defined expectations and the answers that I received showcased that. The
students were in good spirits with me and I think they were excited to take a
break from their routine but as a part of my future toolbox, this lesson needs
some fine-tuning.
Pre-Assessments
This post is regarding my field test of one of my pre-assessments from
assignment 2B. For this field test I had a group of 5 students that ranged from
the age of 13-17 that included my younger sibling and her friends from school
and another pair of their friends from down the street from my family's house.
I explained to the group that I was using them for a little while as a way of
testing my lesson design and that they were going to function somewhat like a secret
shopper for me in telling me what worked, what didn't and what they as students
would like to see me change for future uses.
For the purposes of the field test I sat them at a large table and passed out photocopies of an article that I had used in designing the lesson plan leading up to having an evidence-based debate. As the group looked over the article I introduced my normal approach to this part of the lesson by asking them what they would be interested in highlighting or underlining from the article if they were looking to support something. This instruction didn’t come across too clearly, as one of the students asked immediately what I meant by support something. I elaborated that I was meaning how they would go about locating information to use in an argument. I used the example: “If you were reading someone’s journal entry about how they had a bad day, how would you find the parts that told you that the day was bad? How would you mark that information so you could find it later?” This seemed to provide a little more clarification and as I provided more information on what the larger picture of the lesson was intended to do, the intended meaning was clear for all 5.
I asked each one around the table what they would do to gather evidence to support a point while going through the article and I received several similar answers. Students answered that they would highlight or circle the important points. I followed up to this point by asking how they would know that the point was important. This gave the group a pause before one of them answered that they would be looking for “stuff” that addressed the point they were trying to make. I asked the student to elaborate on how they would know what point they were trying to make if it wasn’t given to them. For example, I said, if you were trying to decide whether this article was for or against something, how would you know what evidence went in each column? A different student answered that they would look for trigger words that show which side the article is for. When I asked what she meant by that, she explained that you can often find which side the author supports by the tone of the language they use. A con article might use words with dramatic terms like disaster or something like that.
From here I asked the group to go through the first two paragraphs of the sample article and mark up the parts they felt were important. I gave them five minutes to do so and when I came back I asked them what they had highlighted. We reviewed the parts that they had marked and I had them explain why they had chosen those segments. The more vocal students of the group remarked that the parts they had highlighted were the ones that were the strongest lines for the purpose of the article. As the pre-assessment was essentially complete, I asked the group for feedback. The most consistent response was that the language that I used to explain what I was looking for was vague and that they weren’t very sure what I was looking for. At some points, they explained, it seemed like I was testing with my questions while at others it seemed like I was unsure myself.
In terms of evaluating the validity of my pre-assessment, I tend to agree with the group that worked with me. This stage in my lesson plan is loosely formed and needs a rewrite to be effective. I realized in reflecting on my results that I didn’t have any rubric in place for this assessment at all, only marks to observe the student’s behavior and their responses. It would be difficult to expect much of a positive result in a full classroom of 30 students when getting the results from a group of 5 was nebulous at best.
In order to better accomplish my goals that accompany my pre-assessment I would change future attempts to include a worksheet that students can fill out as part of the pre-assessment. Beyond the discussion on highlighting important elements, I need to have a way of gathering evidence for myself to see where students are in understanding. The worksheet would have a short clip from an article as well as several lines to respond to the questions I previously only asked as part of the discussion. I would have the students mark the reading and then write out why they marked what they did and what it says about the article. This would give me a way of reviewing the data and informing my instruction for the rest of the lesson. The rubric would look something like this:
For the purposes of the field test I sat them at a large table and passed out photocopies of an article that I had used in designing the lesson plan leading up to having an evidence-based debate. As the group looked over the article I introduced my normal approach to this part of the lesson by asking them what they would be interested in highlighting or underlining from the article if they were looking to support something. This instruction didn’t come across too clearly, as one of the students asked immediately what I meant by support something. I elaborated that I was meaning how they would go about locating information to use in an argument. I used the example: “If you were reading someone’s journal entry about how they had a bad day, how would you find the parts that told you that the day was bad? How would you mark that information so you could find it later?” This seemed to provide a little more clarification and as I provided more information on what the larger picture of the lesson was intended to do, the intended meaning was clear for all 5.
I asked each one around the table what they would do to gather evidence to support a point while going through the article and I received several similar answers. Students answered that they would highlight or circle the important points. I followed up to this point by asking how they would know that the point was important. This gave the group a pause before one of them answered that they would be looking for “stuff” that addressed the point they were trying to make. I asked the student to elaborate on how they would know what point they were trying to make if it wasn’t given to them. For example, I said, if you were trying to decide whether this article was for or against something, how would you know what evidence went in each column? A different student answered that they would look for trigger words that show which side the article is for. When I asked what she meant by that, she explained that you can often find which side the author supports by the tone of the language they use. A con article might use words with dramatic terms like disaster or something like that.
From here I asked the group to go through the first two paragraphs of the sample article and mark up the parts they felt were important. I gave them five minutes to do so and when I came back I asked them what they had highlighted. We reviewed the parts that they had marked and I had them explain why they had chosen those segments. The more vocal students of the group remarked that the parts they had highlighted were the ones that were the strongest lines for the purpose of the article. As the pre-assessment was essentially complete, I asked the group for feedback. The most consistent response was that the language that I used to explain what I was looking for was vague and that they weren’t very sure what I was looking for. At some points, they explained, it seemed like I was testing with my questions while at others it seemed like I was unsure myself.
In terms of evaluating the validity of my pre-assessment, I tend to agree with the group that worked with me. This stage in my lesson plan is loosely formed and needs a rewrite to be effective. I realized in reflecting on my results that I didn’t have any rubric in place for this assessment at all, only marks to observe the student’s behavior and their responses. It would be difficult to expect much of a positive result in a full classroom of 30 students when getting the results from a group of 5 was nebulous at best.
In order to better accomplish my goals that accompany my pre-assessment I would change future attempts to include a worksheet that students can fill out as part of the pre-assessment. Beyond the discussion on highlighting important elements, I need to have a way of gathering evidence for myself to see where students are in understanding. The worksheet would have a short clip from an article as well as several lines to respond to the questions I previously only asked as part of the discussion. I would have the students mark the reading and then write out why they marked what they did and what it says about the article. This would give me a way of reviewing the data and informing my instruction for the rest of the lesson. The rubric would look something like this:
|
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Found sufficient evidence, clear explanation |
Found some evidence, clear explanation |
Found some evidence, unclear explanation |
Did not find evidence, no or unclear explanation |
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Day One
Hello All,
My name is Devin and I am currently a teacher candidate at National University, pursuing my single-subject credential in History/Social Science. I am a San Diego native and hold my Bachelor's in Political Science from San Diego State University. Following the completion of my undergrad degree I told myself that I was done with school and ready to enter the business world. Half a decade later I came to the conclusion that I really, truly, deeply did not enjoy the 'art' of sales and the sleepless nights that accompanied it. Far too much of the world is engrossed in how to get a dollar more from someone or how to squeeze that percentile of profit just a little further. Being a decent person and not trying to take advantage of everyone you meet can leave you on the back-burner career-wise and that just wasn't for me.
I came to the conclusion one night that the parts of the jobs that I did enjoy could be found outside of the world of business. Training my new hires, coworkers or even my boss on how things work, why things are the way they are and so forth was enjoyable and even exciting at times. I relished the opportunity to help those around me grow and succeed, even if I didn't enjoy the job itself. I think this was one of the largest factors that led me to consider teaching as a career. My personality tests somewhat support the decision:
I scored a 77% for ISTP:
If your closest personality type is ISTP then you have both a logical and a practical mind and therefore enjoy solving tangible problems. You are very interested in how things work, and may have a tendency to take things apart if you don't know how they work. You may also enjoy using your craftmanslike skills to fix things that are broken, or doing investigative work, collecting facts and clues to find out the truth of what has happened.
and a 76% for ISTJ:
If your closest personality type is ISTJ then you are interested in clarity and knowledge. You like to observe and listen, and have a particular interest in facts which help you to develop as clear a knowledge as possible. You like to know where you stand, e.g. having clear goals to which you are working, and to know that what you are expected to do is achievable. You value your experience, which serves as a strong guide to your decisions.
My personality type reflects in my choice of content area as much of History involves reflecting back on events, analyzing how they happened and dissecting the nitty-gritty details. Students can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the why as much as the how when it comes to my lessons.
My learning style survey shows that I am fairly balanced between active and reflective learning, I lean slightly towards sensing over intuitive learning, slightly towards visual over verbal and I am almost evenly split between sequential and global learning. My teaching style showed high marks in formal authority, personal model and delegator. As none of the surveys show a heavy skew towards one method or style over the other, it is my hope that this means I will be able to provide a well-rounded approach to teaching that will reach a broad number of students. This may be refined over time as I learn my style better but that is my hope, anyway.
I look forward to getting to know my fellow students in this class and growing my skills and knowledge as a teacher candidate.
My name is Devin and I am currently a teacher candidate at National University, pursuing my single-subject credential in History/Social Science. I am a San Diego native and hold my Bachelor's in Political Science from San Diego State University. Following the completion of my undergrad degree I told myself that I was done with school and ready to enter the business world. Half a decade later I came to the conclusion that I really, truly, deeply did not enjoy the 'art' of sales and the sleepless nights that accompanied it. Far too much of the world is engrossed in how to get a dollar more from someone or how to squeeze that percentile of profit just a little further. Being a decent person and not trying to take advantage of everyone you meet can leave you on the back-burner career-wise and that just wasn't for me.
I came to the conclusion one night that the parts of the jobs that I did enjoy could be found outside of the world of business. Training my new hires, coworkers or even my boss on how things work, why things are the way they are and so forth was enjoyable and even exciting at times. I relished the opportunity to help those around me grow and succeed, even if I didn't enjoy the job itself. I think this was one of the largest factors that led me to consider teaching as a career. My personality tests somewhat support the decision:
I scored a 77% for ISTP:
If your closest personality type is ISTP then you have both a logical and a practical mind and therefore enjoy solving tangible problems. You are very interested in how things work, and may have a tendency to take things apart if you don't know how they work. You may also enjoy using your craftmanslike skills to fix things that are broken, or doing investigative work, collecting facts and clues to find out the truth of what has happened.
and a 76% for ISTJ:
If your closest personality type is ISTJ then you are interested in clarity and knowledge. You like to observe and listen, and have a particular interest in facts which help you to develop as clear a knowledge as possible. You like to know where you stand, e.g. having clear goals to which you are working, and to know that what you are expected to do is achievable. You value your experience, which serves as a strong guide to your decisions.
My personality type reflects in my choice of content area as much of History involves reflecting back on events, analyzing how they happened and dissecting the nitty-gritty details. Students can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the why as much as the how when it comes to my lessons.
My learning style survey shows that I am fairly balanced between active and reflective learning, I lean slightly towards sensing over intuitive learning, slightly towards visual over verbal and I am almost evenly split between sequential and global learning. My teaching style showed high marks in formal authority, personal model and delegator. As none of the surveys show a heavy skew towards one method or style over the other, it is my hope that this means I will be able to provide a well-rounded approach to teaching that will reach a broad number of students. This may be refined over time as I learn my style better but that is my hope, anyway.
I look forward to getting to know my fellow students in this class and growing my skills and knowledge as a teacher candidate.
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