Dear Brooke Before The Job Search

Dear Ms. Pritchett,

    First of all: take a deep breath. Now, take ten more. Now listen up: I am here to tell you that your student teaching experience will be amazing. You will stress (especially during the final week- the job search is insane!). You will laugh insanely hard because high school kids are hilarious. You will (surprisingly) not cry. You will grow and present yourself with more confidence that you can currently envision yourself ever portraying. You may not always do quite as well as you anticipated but you will always 'do good'. You will be a positive presence in the classroom, if not a particularly experienced one. I feel like I need to chastise you just a little here; why didn't you co-op?!

   We must move ever forward, though. My main piece of advice, dear younger self, is to focus on accepting constructive criticism in a polite and positive manner. Remember that your supervisors and mentor teacher are working to ensure that you are constantly challenging yourself and that they are veterans of your beloved field; they will give you advice and feedback that you need to make progress on both now and in every year of your career. You're not going to receive a nifty golden star at the end of the year declaring that you now know everything there is to know about teaching and though that seems fairly cool in theory, you know deep down that you always want constructive criticism because it means you are still growing as a educator. Forgive yourself for not always being the most active listener but work to rectify the situation in the future. You will learn to implement feedback in an effective manner; don't get upset when it is given to you.


     You didn't think you would get off with just one piece of advice though, right? Of course not! You should really consider visiting 5th hour more during your pre-service student teaching semester. It is a rambunctious and amazing hour and you need to develop a routine with them early on so you're not quite as thrown when a student reacts strongly to having their phone taken away early in the second semester or when two boys attempt to fight. Speaking of the former incident, do not worry too much, dear. You may have to hand out your first detention without having your MT in the room and have your first  not-so positive phone call with a parent, and you may worry about the student returning to class angry the next day, but the truth is that student will cheerfully move on with their life and have a plethora of happy and constructive interactions with you down the line. 5th hour will be challenging but it is filled to the brim with awesome students and you will get a little emotional reading their autobiographies.

    Finally, it's time to address issues outside your placement classroom; we have two to discuss. First, do not stress about the Praxis too much! Study, yes. Prepare to be treated a little rudely on test day and be ready to write a paragraph in cursive stating that you will not share test information with anyone else. Do not worry overly much while you wait for your score, however; do not let it keep you up! You did so well! Secondly, I urge you to build stronger relationships with your peers at Wichita State, girl! Don't be shy; share more and be more straightforward about wanting to collaborate and meet up with people. Be more active as a student instead of just focusing on the teaching aspect of this time in your life.

   Though I did present you with all of that wonderful advice above and if I had a time machine I would surely take all of it, I find it prudent to end the letter with one firm reminder: you survived and you 'did good'. Cheers to the end of the year!

- Ms. Pritchett


 

Creating Different Avenues to Learning

    

    It's time for a confession: the phrase 'differentiated instruction' used to be a source of a not inconsiderable amount of stress for me. Common sense stipulates that each student has unique learning needs and my desire to provide them with individualized resources and the 'right' methods was strong. Planning these wonderful methods out was an intimidating concept, however, especially considering the large class sizes we currently deal with in public schools. When I started my KPTP, my concerns in this area loomed large: how would I concisely but purposefully explain how I differentiated instruction? How much was too much? How much was not enough? What stimulated student progress and what impeded it? What was hovering or hand-holding and what was making accomodations that would help a student flourish? How much time would determining all of this require? It is a tricky area; I believe we can all agree on that. 

   

     In recent weeks, however, I have become infinitely more comfortable with this one vague, unwieldy term. According to Education Consultant John McCarthy, "Traditional classrooms take a whole-group instruction approach because it is a timesaver for lesson delivery. This timesaver is illusory," (McCarthy, 2015). This statement was quite striking to me; of course differentiated instruction requires more planning but it is a preemptive measure that ensures students do not follow behind or lose motivation. Creating effective differentiated instruction, in fact, is the best way to ensure that your classes make their way through the year with the least amount of backtracking possible. When implementing differentiated instruction in my classroom, I have utilized countless methods. After all, now is the time to experiment. I have practiced supplementing the instructions present in a 504 plan with my own modifications to fit a student’s current situation and I have provided artistic students with a chance to include their skills in assignments that may not have originally called for students to utilize those abilities extensively. Creating tiered activities has become a focus; it is simple enough to modify one's expectations between a regular and an honors class; but creating tiered activities within a single classroom is another matter entirely; there has been a decent amount of trial and error involved but I have gained much new knowledge and classroom practices from this endeavor. I have had students that struggle with putting pen to paper share their final overall thoughts verbally after practicing their writing strategies. I have allowed students to read individually instead of with a group if that is their preference. I have allowed students to organize their dialectical journals in untraditional manners as it best fits their learning. I have become more open-minded and a champion of non-verbal cues. 

    I have presented my students with a good deal of freedom in selecting what they learn and how they learn it, especially during my Night unit. Considering that particular unit was the topic of my KPTP, however, and I have blissfully left that behind for now, I want to focus on what first drew my attention to differentiated learning and how it has impacted the current unit I am teaching. First semester, I was excited to find out that the Honors students had the responsibility of picking out their own books and assessment method for their Outside Reading Project. Every nine weeks, we have received exemplary products from these classes; grading products ranging from a giant laminated poster, to an ambitious and complicated board game, to a diorama that catches the eye of every soul, student or instructor, who enters my classroom. However, I found myself wishing that the regular classes had this same opportunity. At this time, it is not completely feasible for them to start an ORP, considering their current projects, but I have worked on differentiating my expectations for the autobiographies my students are currently working on. A student struggling writing a narrative about her troubled childhood in the 'When I Was Little" segment of the project was allowed the chance to express her emotions through poetry. I have coached students one-on-one to help them understand our expectations in regards to the 'personality' section of the project and I have adapted an assignment based on student's superstitions to make students who were against the concept feel welcomed and safe within the school environment while still requiring them to write the same amount, on the topic of traditions. I have implemented flexible grouping and allowed oral learners to share their stories with their small groups when the need arises. Overall, I cannot exactly claim to be the master of differentiated learning but I am well on my way to figuring it out. Please, let me know what ideas you have implemented in your classrooms! This is one of the main areas of growth I want to focus on this month. Thank you in advance!

     Myth-Busting Differentiated Instruction: 3 Myths and 3 Truths. (2014). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-myths-and-truths-john-mccarthy

Finding My Voice: Online Reflection #2

 In the midst of teaching my KPTP unit, I have had to step away from grading a plethora of writing assignments and handling my own near-constant questioning of how I can increase my student's motivation and interest in regards to reading Night  to address one issue that lies almost solely within my sole control: my 'teacher voice'. I have always considered myself to be a fairly loud individual; meekness has never seemed to be my issue and while I do tend to talk quickly when I get particularly enthusiastic about a topic, I have never previously found myself spending too much time worrying about my teacher voice. I could be loud. I could be serious. I have a strange 'accent' but I was just fine, thank you very much. I had it down (or so I believed.) Most of what I thought I would face as a teacher would be about modifying my lessons to fit students needs. I would focus on inspiring my students to become better learners because I was already a great teacher. Of course, I would grow and mature but at least I had the teacher voice down already, right?

     Not quite, it turns out. Luckily, I can address this issue. I just need to step back for awhile and focus on my own needs, so that I can better address students needs in the future. Finding my teacher voice has proven difficult; sometimes the perfect tone for a situation seems terribly elusive; I tend to escalate it all too quickly, a habit that seems to throw off my student. As one kid in third hour so aptly put it "Oh wow, you're mean now, that was fast".

     Was I mean? I wouldn't go quite that far, but I had certainly lost control of the situation and thus had resorted to using a loud voice to 'throw around' my authority abit, rather than using a firm voice throughout my lesson to ensure that I was heard but not seen as suddenly overly harsh. I had made a mistake and my students knew that something was awry.  I had gotten my students attention, but I had also made them balk; their attention wasn't on the lesson it was on me suddenly doing a 180, as  I had gone from joking to almost angry too quickly. I should have instead used a firm voice that demanded respect but also showed that I was not going to 'yell' to get their attention. Instead, I would speak  just loudly enough to be heard and demand engagement, rather than send students on the defensive. Joshua Block, an educator at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia reminded me that "Power and authority are an inherent part of the teacher's role, but respect and engagement don't result from threats or stern voices. Effective teacher voice entails a combination of flexibility and firmness while keenly reading individuals and the pulse of a group ("Reframing Teacher Voice, 2015, 4). Essentially, I need to strive to be an authority figure that demands respect with the teacher voice I use at all times.

Now, I need to work on fixing this issue. When a few of my mentor teachers and several research articles mentioned practicing my teacher voice when I was alone, I filed the thought away, and have since finally put it into practice. It's still in the very early stages and naturally, it does feel a little silly but I think I can already see just the tiniest bit of progress.

That being said, I believe it will take awhile for the students to see that progress, so I must keep practicing. Please, if you have any tips in this area, feel free to share. I would love to hear how you all are handling it!

      Reframing Teacher Voice. (2015). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from    http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reframing-teacher-voice-joshua-block

"I hate working in groups!" : Addressing the common complaint

During our first meeting my mentor teacher informed me that his classroom was project-based, particularly in the second semester. I was quite pleased with this news, as it fit in well with my constructivist ideals and personal preferences. Still, I was fully aware that such a teaching approach also came with a plethora of challenges. Very quickly, I was conjuring up visions, some of such splendor that others would be amazed we had accomplished such a feat with freshmen classes and some that were more worrisome. I knew from the start that there would be a fairly considerable amount of students that would speak out (or grumble quietly) against working in groups; we are a nation that cherishes independence and personal responsibility and while the education field has been focusing more on collaboration in recent decades, a love for group work has not quite yet found space in every child's heart.

Personally, I have a fairly mixed bag of experience with group projects. As a teacher, I have found them to be invaluable. They promote discussion, allow students to learn from one another, and make the responsibility of grading significantly more manageable. As a high-school student, I always found them to be fairly fun; I typically was allowed to pick my groups and while I remember doing 'most of the work' for several, upon reflecting upon those good ol' days now I'm left to question rather I actually did do an unfair amount of labor or if instead my opinion was colored by immaturity and a fairly self-centered focus. At the university-level, group projects became more difficult. Suddenly, the time to work on them in class was gone and I was in a new environment where I had never met my partners before, while in high school I was liable to be at least comfortable with most of my peers and run into them multiple times a day without trying even if we were not particularly friendly. Since the stakes were now higher, I became more stressed and lost view of the helpfulness of collaboration. Thus, when I become aware that my first major solo teaching task this semester would be to kick-off a group project, I set-it up with the intention of  helping my students develop an appreciation for the practice. I wanted to foster a love for group projects, a difficult task indeed. I wanted to give my students the tools to be able to handle such tasks for years to come. I wanted them to have both the 'easier' high school experience of working with some friends, while also being challenged to cooperate with students that they would not have chosen on their own, perhaps, but would assist them on the way to a grade they could be proud of.

My mentor teacher let me know that 3rd and 5th hour, at least needed assigned groups. I suppose that did figure in prominently to how I tackled this project. I was given the freedom to select the groups for those hours. Sixth hour, a more mature class, was allowed to choose their own set of partners, though I did hand out advice there as well. When creating groups, I set out to avoid both conflict and over-friendliness. I did not put best friends together but I also did not put the shyest student in the class in the same group as the loudest. I attempted, to the best of my ability, to create groups that would have similar expectations and different talents. I wanted students to propel each other to greatness without fighting too fiercely along the way.

I ended up altering my seating chart multiple times before class began on the first day of the project. As students filtered in, they saw me holding a sheet with a significant amount of crossed out names and arrows redirecting kids to different groups then originally jotted down, but I felt confident that I had made amazing choices. Everything would come together very well now, surely! I had completed the most difficult part: creating groups that would love the project!

As it turns out, that was not actually the most difficult part. I doubt you're surprised.

About ten minutes into their workshop time, I realized that the most arduous task when it comes to group work is consistently motivating students. They need to be reminded of why their group will work, that they cannot slack off, and that they need to have both personal drive and the compassion to allow others to 'win' and make differing choices on occasion. So, before embarking on day two of this week-long group project, I regrouped. I researched. I decided to modify my instructions, not so much in regards to content of the assignment (it was a well-developed project and altering it now would only confuse the students) but more in the way I addressed it. I found two main pieces of advice that have had a lasting impact on my view of group work.   The Eberly Center of Teaching Excellence and Educational Accountabilty  recommends that instructors "create individual accountability" stating that educators can "combine a group project with an individual quiz on relevant material. Others base part of the total project grade on a group product (e.g., report, presentation, design, paper) and part on an individual submission." (Eberly, 2015, 2)  Essentially, as educators, we need to give students the power to take some personal responsibility. They need to be made to feel that their entire grade isn't dependent on another's potential folly.  

            However, they also need to be aware that part of their grade is dependent on how they interact with others.  There needs to be a balance between personal responsibility and group responsibility. This is not meant to scare them, but simply to prepare them for the 'real world'. No one can operate in a bubble in our society. You have to depend on others, for better or for worse. Students  need to be prepared for this. Thus, teachers need to prepare assignments that create a certain level of interdependence.  One strategy that The Eberly Center suggests is to limit resources, so that students have to share information and can not isolate themselves (Eberly, 2015, 3). They cannot divide the assignment up very easily; they have to come up with a strategy to cooperate and then implement it. Combining this idea with an individual submission makes group work more productive for both the students and the teacher! It is undeniably a method that I will use both with this project and  in my own future classroom.

 What are the benefits of group work? - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation -             Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2016, from             https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/b            enefits.html