Teacher Candidate Weekly Log--Week 15

Teacher Candidate Weekly Log

Name: Dawn Gernhardt                                  Week 15                                                Date: 12/07/12

Date
Tues	2 Support: In the ALD class, students worked in the portfolio workbooks, read an issue from the Issues books, and completed Words to Know and Words to Go, then discussed, listened, wrote, and read about academic language in the context of healthy food and junk food. 4 Planning: We planned for Wed and Friday. I provided several ideas and examples for instruction for the character essays for Of Mice and Men. We reviewed the essay writing packet of information Erika has used in the past. 6 Coursework.
Wed	1 Coursework and prep. 3 Lead: (same as 5 only we did the computer lab at the end of class.) 5 Lead: I planned the session, led the session, worked out the pacing and flow of the instruction, and collected and graded the assessment. It was awesome. We met for one hour in the classroom and one hour in the computer lab. In the computer lab, we finished the characterization chart with chapters 5 and 6. We had only done 1 through 4 previously. After one hour, we returned to the classroom and held the reading minute (students read at the front of class, from a book of their choice, for one minute, each day), class-wide discussion about chapters 5 and 6, completed the reading guide theme and thesis for the chapters and book, and addressed students’ questions.
Thurs	2 Support: The class repeats the same routines and structures week to week. I learned the curriculum is the same in middle and high school. I found that to be alarming. Also, my co-teacher added technology with Ted Talks about food in schools and that was helpful to break up the routines and instruction. The students seemed more engaged and the class time flew by.  4 Planning: We planned for next week. We copied all of the materials we need to step the students through the writing process, including essay examples. I reviewed and revised some materials my co-teacher had used in previous years. 6 Coursework.
Fri	1 Observation and prep. I observed in Jill’s AP English class. 3 Lead: (same as 5) 5 Lead: I planned the session, led half of the session, worked out the pacing and flow of the instruction, and collected and graded the assessment. It was awesome. I created a prezi to help us wrap up the novella and work with plot of the story and character arc. We finished our anticipation/reaction guide, completed a general character analysis discussing how students judge character in everyday life, passed back a mountain of papers, and did Silent Sustained Reading (while I went around and checked off homework).

 Best part of this week

I choose to try to take on as much direct teaching and leading of the instruction and activities as I could this week. I jumped in, with a lot of planning, preparation, collaborating with my co-teacher, and creating materials. It was great. I also worked with the assessments and grading. It’s so valuable to share a learning experience with the students, then see their responses and quick writes and see a measure of their learning in the assessments.  

I felt the class wide discussion I led on Wednesday was engaging, deep, meaningful and full of participation. Students reflected (in writing) on the novel and really seemed to understand the big ideas and themes of the story, which validated the instruction and discussion. They also appreciated using the computers again to complete what we started in the previous week (characterization charts), but for the remaining chapters 5 and 6. The students enjoyed seeing a new presentation program—Prezi. We discussed the software and Of Mice and Men’s plot and character arc. It was nice to finish the book; however, many students in periods 3 and 5, upon my asking, admitted that they didn’t like the novel. A handful of students really liked the story. Most students really only liked the final two chapters, but thought the first few chapters dragged. It’s great to have their feedback. Personally, I think it’s time to start teaching more modern materials. I read the same books we’re teaching these students when I was in high school! It’s harder for the students to connect to the material and muster the interest to see it through.

Biggest challenge this week

Teaching the same material in two classes means I work out the kinks in period 3 and then things go smoother in period 5. So, we’re cruising through the material in period 5 and it’s a bit bumpy in period 3. The good news is that I’m learning as I go and making adjustments that impact my future teaching; however, I feel badly that period 3 has to suffer through some of my growing pains. At the same time, it’s great to fly through period 5 because we have more classroom management issues there. So, period 5’s classroom management is easing, but period 3’s management difficulties are increasing. It makes sense because instruction helps guide the classroom environment.

To work on next week

I will work on being clearer with expectations and anticipating issues and questions. With directions, if there are three steps, I’ll say, “There are three steps, 1…” Then list, 2. Then list, 3. Then list. Also, I’ll work on clarity with my expectations with note taking and presentations.  I used a Prezi today, Friday, 12/7/12 and there isn’t an easy print function for the “slides.” So, having notes for students was challenging. In the future, I’ll need to make more time to print out the notes or prepare cloze notes for students to fill in the blanks. It didn’t work well in third period, but by fifth period, I modeled how students choose the best words to write down and it worked great. Plus, it’s an important skill to be able to listen to and watch a presentation and select the key words. The assessment proved that they got the material because they took great notes based on the modeling my co-teacher and I did to help them through the presentation.

Co-Teaching Models

Co-teaching Model	Planning lead Cooperating Teacher	Planning lead Teacher Candidate	Teaching lead Cooperating Teacher	Teaching lead Teacher Candidate
Supportive	X (ALD)		X (ALD)
Complementary	X	X	X	X
Parallel	X	X	X	X
Team	X	X	X	X
Lead Teacher	X	X	X	X