Final - My Vision

Classroom Discipline Plan

Be Prepared: bring all necessary materials (homework, pencil, paper, book, etc.)
         Students will need to stay after class for every offense that disrupts the learning process, the more times students are unprepared, the longer they will have to stay (1st time 2 minutes, 2nd time 4 minutes, etc.)

Be Respectful:  Treat others the way the way you would like to be treated. This includes no talking while others are talking
          If students are disrespectful, they will need to stay after class and write a letter to whom they have disrespected.

Be on time:  Must be ontime for class and after any breaks
          Students will need to stay after class for the amount of time they were tardy if unexcused. This can occur 3 times before I begin detentions, saturday school, etc.

Appropriate language: We are in an academic setting and should use academic language.  Slang and foul language will not be tolerated.
          There are many different levels of severity to this offense.  The more severe the more drastic.  Swearing or offensive language will result in being sent outside the classroom or to the office.  This will be determined by the number of offenses.  If academic language is not used, the student must share what they actually meant to say using academic language.
        
Properly store electronics: Cell phones, ipods, etc. need to be put away while there is a lecture, class discussion, etc.  ipods may be used during individual or quiet work time.
          If I see them out when they should not be, I will take them and return them at the end of the class period.  they will not get them back even if there is individual work time.
          

Extra Credit Reading Reflection Two - Getting to the Heart of Quality Teaching

I chose this article because this is the reason I became a teacher.  I had a low quality teacher that made me dislike math.  I then had three different teachers who I would say were high quality.  Not only did they teach me math, but they gave me the confidence that I could do whatever I put my mind too.

This article talks about many different aspects of quality teaching.  A few of these include how new teachers are usually placed in the lowest level classes with the hardest students.  Also, many teachers leave the profession causing it hard to have expert teachers in the classrooms.  Causes for leaving the profession include having too little plan time or having too many students.  When teachers get their credential, they are not necessarily a quality teacher.  Quality teachers do things such as get involved in students lives, are activists, hopeful, and critical.  The school, teachers, families, and unions all need to work together to produce and retain quality teachers.

I will use this in the future by making sure that I focus on the qualities that make a quality teacher.  I need to be sure to be critical, involved in student lives, an activist and hopeful.

Extra Credit Reading Reflection One - Teaching's Revolving Door

I chose this article because I am concerened about actually staying a teacher.  I am afraid that something will make me leave the profession such as administration.  I want to try to figure out what I should do to make sure I stay in this profession.

This article gave a personal account of somebody who left the profession due to poor staff and student support.  She had not been prepared for the urban school setting.  She still teaches, but she teaches at the community college level.  There are many teachers who leave the profession every year; only about one-third of those who leave do so for retirement.   On top of those teachers who leave the profession, other teachers switch districts to get a "better" job.  A few urban schools found that residency programs help retain teachers.  Creating residency programs that support new teacher is costly, however they found that it is less costly then constantly recruiting new teachers.  This article also stresses the importance of learning proper classroom management before entering an urban classroom.

I could use this information in the future by making sure I am prepared for all classroom settings I encounter.  I also need to prepare myself for entering a school for with I do not feel as though I belong.  I will need to remind myself why I have entered this profession in the first place.  I will also be sure to ask for support or advise whenever needed.

Week Five Reading Reflection - Transforming Teaching

I chose this article because I feel like the current traditional teaching model needs a little modification.  I do not feel like teaching in this manner meets the needs of enough of the students.  I feel we should teach to the student needs.

The article talks about having teacher led committees on different issues such as multiculturalism and early childhood education.  These teacher committees can run in-services which include workshops for other teachers.  This allowed current teachers to learn from people who were currently still in the classroom.  The district had paid substitutes so the teachers on the committees could go to workshops and conferences else where and bring back what they have learned to share with the other teachers.  The goal of all of the committees was to help create a curriculum where students needs were the focus.  Eventually budget cuts led to most of the committees breaking down.  There was no evidence of how these committees actually affected student learning.

I could use this information as a teacher by doing as much professional development as possible.  This development should come from individuals recently in the classroom.  As a community of teachers we will need to make sure that our students' needs are being met.

Week Four Reading Reflection - Designing Groupwork

Chapter 1
     When working in groups, students should have clearly assigned individual tasks in order to complete the group task.  Teachers need to be sure they are in charge of the class, but not necessarily each group.  If a group feels the teacher is incharge of their group they may ask questions or expect explanations from the teacher.
     When I first used groupwork, I got a lot of questions.  I realized there was little to no group discussion.  I had to teach the students to ask these questions to each other before asking me.

Chapter 2
     For students, groupwork helps them achieve not only content goals, but intellectual and social goals as well.  When all students are working together the group can arrive at standings that no one individual could have ever achieved.  Groupwork causes students to think critically, creatively, and also analytically.  Groupwork situations should be things such as simulations, demonstrations, and debates, where it is required for students to work together.
     I see too many situations where groupwork is not being used properly.  I see students dividing up the work and working individually to complete the task at hand. 

Chapter 3
     There can be many problems when trying to implement groupwork in the classroom.  When working in groups, there is usually one student who dominates the groupwork.  things such as academic or social status help determine which students will talk in the group.  Teachers need to make sure all students are participating.
     Last semester, I had assigned a group project and I had one group of students where one person did almost all of the work and the other two students did not participate much at all.  When I confronted the group, the two students not working on the task said they were happy with what the other group member was doing.  The group member that was doing all of the work was frustrated he was not getting any help even if he asked.

Week Three Reading Reflection - Ethnography Piece

3 things I learned/connected with:
1. I learned that ethnography means writing about the nations.  Before this reading, I was actually not sure what ethnography meant.  I had assumed it would have had something to do with ethnicity, but there is more than that.
2. I learned that it is important to be reflective of your findings.  We need to take our findings and truly look at what we have discovered, and not just state what we have found and be finished. 
3. I learned that the questioner must sometimes suppress their own beliefs.  I would think that if we are trying to come to a conclusion, that it would be okay to leave some findings out that we did not agree with or that disagreed with all of our other findings.  It is actually very important to be objective and share all findings equally.

2 disagreements/questions:
1.Can the questioner not guide the answers desired by asking the proper questions to get the desired results?  I feel like I could ask a certain question to hint at a desired result, only ask certain people, or only share certain information that benefits my study.
2. Becuase there is a lot of information available for ethnographers, how do we decide what is "good" information to use and what is not?  There are a lot of topics to choose from to research, and there is a lot of information for each topic.  I am just not sure how to make my project worthwhile for me and others.

1 thing I would still like to learn:
1. I would like to learn about school ethnographies done in the past and also look at those done today.  I feel that it would be interesting to learn how people felt about certain schools in the past versus the same school as today.  I feel like this might show how the school has or has not moved forward in keeping up with the twenty-first century.

Week Two Reading Reflection - Disrupting Class

3 things I learned/connected with:
1. Everybody learns differently.  This is something I have seen in the classroom and experienced.  I have explained things once and some students understood.  Then when others did not understand I would take a different approach.
2. I learned that approximately 1/3 of a districts budget is spent on educating special needs students.  I had not before realized how much it actually cost to educate special needs students.
3. The students that tend to learn like the teacher succeed, the others do not.  I have experienced many of times throughout my educational career.  For example, I do not learn well on my own and when this is how teachers expect us to learn I do not learn well.

2 disagreements/questions:
1. Why do some teachers feel like saying the same thing over and over helps? I feel things need to explained/demonstrated in a different manner if there is still confusion.
2. Why do we continue to build schools set up for standardization success when this mode of teaching is not successful for most students?  The set up of our schools has been the same way and the results are not changing.

1 thing I would like to learn more about:
1. I would like to learn how to be the teacher that does not just say the same thing louder and slower when a students is confused.  This is one thing that I do not like to see and do not want to ever be like this teacher (even if it is 10 years from now).

Week One Reading Reflection - Rethinking High School

The concept and idea of a small school really resonated with me. I went to what I would consider a small high school, approximately 750 students. I felt like I was actually a part of the community. I knew a little about every classmate and even those older and younger. I knew every teacher, and mostly every teacher was approachable. My experience observing at the larger schools is that the students do not necessarily feel like they belong. The students just go through a day of school by going from class to class, and not really experiencing any other social aspects. For this example, I felt like even though they were aiming for any student to attended their school, they received a certain group of people. For example, they had no football team, swim facilities, etc. Had they had a wider range of activities, I feel like there may have been other students who would have considered this school. Like they stated in the book, they feel like they got the risk takers to enroll in their school.
I feel that most of the Second to None components were touched upon in chapter 1. Both talked about the teacher always reflecting and learning, creating a new schedule for the school, support and encourage all students, create student centered learning, change current assessment practices, and teach students skills that will help them when they leave, not just content. I would like to further investigate the idea of community experiences and relationships. It is important to find something you enjoy even if it is outside of the classroom.