Classroom Management: Cell Phones and Students

The article I read was about the presence of cell phones in the classroom. And, while it points out many things that I would have generally assumed already (by being in the classroom and currently being a student myself), it also pointed out a few interesting ideas that I hadn't thought of before.

First was the disconnect between school rules and individual classroom rules. As can be imagined, each classroom interprets the school wide rules differently. And in some cases, individual classrooms do not follow the school rules at all. Most teachers and students find the school rules to be too strict. In this certain school, teachers are supposed to take students phones when they see them and take them to the office. All of the teachers in the study reported having a problem with that policy and not enforcing it to that extent. Out of the three teachers they spoke to, only one teacher took it so far as to take the phones from the students. In his classroom, if he sees a cell phone, it is taken away until the end of the period, no questions asked. The other two teachers were more lenient  to where they rarely took phones, but asked that phone use was kept to a minimum and only used during work time and especially not when students were supposed to be paying attention to each other or the teacher. The second two teachers had apprehension when it came to taking students phones, their reasoning being that it is something they (or, more likely, their parents) are paying for.

When teachers adapt their own rules to the school rules, this can be confusing for students. It also seems to undermine the authority of the administration overall on the issue. Though, if it's something that most teachers do not feel comfortable with, maybe the rules are worth reconsidering?

Second, students appear to adopt their own rules about using cellphones in the classroom. Most students tend to apply the same rules of etiquette when speaking to a person face to face to their texting habits in the classroom. They noted that if you were talking to someone and having a conversation, you wouldn't pull out your phone and ignore them to start texting. The same seems to go for in the classroom. Most students agreed that it was rude to text while a teacher was lecturing or speaking directly to them. And, beyond that, they also mentioned that when they are texting, its typically not anything terribly important and is not overly distracting from the task at hand. They say it would be similar to passing a note in class or even just a quick comment here and there, which happens in classrooms all the time. So, to some degree, students also have a system of rules for themselves that they abide by when using cell phones in the classroom.

I lean towards the more lenient attitude when it comes to cell phones. If someone is presenting or lecturing, it is important to be respectful. But, as long as it does not become a major distraction, I wouldn't see myself taking a cell phone from a student.

RESPECT MY AUTHORITAAYYYYYY: Assessment Strategies

           The article I chose this week was "Terrific Teaching Tips" by Carol Owles and Donna Herman that was published in the Illinois Reading Journal. It covers interdisciplinary teaching skills for elementary and secondary. For the purpose of this class, I will just focus on the two main strategies presented for the secondary teachers. 

            The first strategy that they propose is getting kids to understand important terms that could be used in multiple areas (English, Science, History, Math). The example they use is the word "sphere" which can be used to explain multiples things in each of the areas. This a term that can be applied to every disciple and used to expand their knowledge of other terms that come along with it. They propose going over the importance of understanding key terms and then, as a class, coming up with a list of vocab that can be used in multiple areas and define them for each content area. Once they have done that, come together and go over them all as a class to allow students to share their definitions and come to a collective agreement in the class. 

            Another strategy they talk about is providing students with a short piece of challenging text and have them underline words that they do not fully understand. Then write all of the words that students struggled with on the board. Note when multiple people picked the same words for misunderstanding. Then go over each word that students didn't understand and define them and look for possible applications to other content areas. 

            The second strategy that they shared was teaching proper annotation to students. And in doing so, allowing students to interact with what they are reading and, therefore, better understand the material. In this method they also encourage the teacher to work with students on a short hand that can be used to make this process easier and more understandable for all students. They suggest short hand like “OMG” when it is something that they didn’t know before, a “?” when they don’t understand something, a smiley face when they get it or find something interesting, “!” when they agree with something, and “*” when they find something important. This should help students become more active readers and better understand what they are learning and reading. 

            Overall, I think this article was extremely helpful in assessing student learning. As an English teacher, I anticipate requiring active reading notes when students are in a novel to assess their understanding and also to ensure that they are in fact completing their reading. It will all be used as formative assessment obviously, but that will hopefully extend to better performance on summative assessments related in the future. 

Weekly Placement Post Update Spectacular! Week 3

Oh, what week! Late September, back in '63! Just kidding. It's the week April 14th, 2013. I have been in the classroom a lot this week and there are so many experiences to choose from! The highlight of my last week would probably be getting to see the students read the play The Crucible. While it is a story that I really enjoy myself, it's great to see the kids starting to get into their roles and really enjoying it as well. At the end of each Act they are going to watch the movie of that act for better understanding. On Tuesday they watched the first Act and one kid was so into the movie, he missed the track bus that was supposed to leave 25 minutes into the period! While I'm sure it wasn't good for him, I was glad to see him getting into the story. And it gave my cooperating teacher and me a good laugh at the end of the day.

Something that made me think differently about school was having a conversation with the history teacher that I hope to work with a little bit this quarter. Hearing his perspective on all of the changes going on in education was extremely interesting. While I don't agree with him on much of his view, he did pose a lot of interesting questions. And pointed out that under all of these new rules he probably would have never been hired as a teacher. His style just would not fit with how we are being taught to teach today. It was just eye opening to get a different perspective on the common core standards.

Something that I have already done and continually see happening in my english placement that I find really effective is doing most of the reading material in class. You can send students home with reading, but the truth is likely less than half will actually do it at the high school level. So taking time to read in class has been extremely valuable. And it also allows for a lot of great question and answer between the students and the teacher. I really do think students get more out of the readings this way.

An issue that I find perplexing on a weekly basis is how to effectively teach and plan a one off lesson that fits well with the current flow of the class. My fear is always that I will try and cover something that has already been talked about or that my lesson will not fit and feel out of place to students. I dont want them to feel like I am wasting their time or that what I am teaching is not important. But planning ahead and good communication with my cooperating teacher has made this fear a little less... fearful?

Context for Learning Assignment

High School Placement Information

• High School- Grades 11 and 12

• As far as I know, there is no major requirements made by the district other than selecting books from the approved list for the literature courses. There are only two teachers in the English department and they are, for the most part, allowed to design and teach their own curriculum. 

• Course Names: American Lit and British Lit
• Course Length: Semesters
• Time: 50 min; 55min
• The only ability grouping has been done in AP courses, which I will not be teaching. 
• So far I have been included in teaching The Catcher in the Rye, The Things They Carried, and part of the Satire Unit. 
• Resources: The classroom has a project and doc camera as well as laptop for each student when necessary. 

• Student Breakdown for British Literature (Seniors)
• >5% Free/Reduced Lunch
• 23 Students
• 9 Male
• 14 Female
• No English Language Learners
• 1 IEP (who is mostly out of the classroom in the resource room)
• 10 to 15 underperforming students

The biggest challenge with this class is that they are seniors. And it appears most of them didn't care much about their education before, so now that they are so close to the end, they care even less. There are about 5 students who I can solidly count on to produce work where it looks like they at least tried. There are many students who regularly turn work in late. Most are doing the minimum it takes to get by and graduate. I have also spoken to most of the students and it seems like not many are headed in the direction of college... or at least not immediately. 

Performance Assessment Response

Having had to use the general TPA format for the last year or so at least, this document doesn't come as much of a surprise. Nor does it seem to be much of a stretch from what we have been required to do in our classes thus far. I remember hearing how ED students were all up in arms about what was required for TPA, but I guess I have never known anything else so it just seems normal.

My only real concerns about this is the fact that we need to send it off to Pearson to grade our teaching. It seems to have a few pros and cons. The major con that believe this system has is that these people don't know us. And they are seeing so little of our work. True, it should hopefully be the best work we have to show, but there is something more personal and seems more thorough about having an advisor who has been with you to watch and decide if you are prepared. It seems like they would have more information and a better idea of what you can do.

Overall, it's the system we have basically been trained to fit into. So, there isn't much use fighting against it. The best we can do is try and fit the mold the best we can!