This week throughout my placement I started filming for my edTPA and we began preparing the students for PARCC testing that is starting next week.

Preparing and filming for the edTPA is stressful. We have a lot of expectations on our end to uphold, we also want to see the students succeed and do the best they can, but pressure is obviously on when the videotape is rolling. I’ve tried getting the students as comfortable as possible with the recorder. I have kept the recorder out while warning them about it for practice leading up to the real filming for the edTPA, but regardless they are still silly sixth graders who like to seek all attention and giggles they possibly can. The students so far have are loving the projects and assignments we are completing for my edTPA unit. The type of learning and classroom assignments are different than what they have previously experienced in the class. I am pushing for a more student directed/driven unit on the 8 planets, allowing for students to create their research questions and presentations based off of lead-up discussions we have completed as a whole group. I value science, and STEM, a lot when it comes to teaching and with science a lot of what I strongly believe is a part of it is inquiry. Therefore, I am using a lot of the student driven activities (class discussions, students teaching the rest of the class, presentations, and research projects) based off of the large class discussions and collaborations we have in whole group. I have been able to see all the engagement, effort, and comprehension of the materials and can see the large significance it makes in the students learning by completing these types of assignments and projects.

In preparation for the PARCC assignment, it has overall been a lot on the students picked for my edTPA group. We are preparing them for the math and literacy PARCC tests, filming and recording in classes, and overall each section of mine is still competing the same projects and assignments- which can be a heavy work load on their end sometimes. We have had a school meeting where we had the chance to go over the PARCC booklet with the principal and other staff members to ensure the best success for the students, going over when and how students will test, how students will move around the school without distracting others, and participating in raffles for the students to win prizes at the end of the day. I really like the system of prizes at the end of the day for students who are giving their best during PARCC (i.e. staying quiet and focused during the test time). This goes under the schools PBIS system (rewarding students for following the being respectful/responsible expectations, and overall rewarding them for their hard work. Students have the chance to be entered for the raffle during each test that we will be taking over the next 3 weeks. Those prizes consist of food gift cards, staRRRs for the school store, and bulldog pride apparel. Additionally, all students who have shown excellent effort and behavior throughout all seven tests will be entered in a raffle for the chance to win a tablet. This incentive pushes students to excel on their exam and also rewards all the students who are doing a great job. I personally really like this system that the school is trying this year because testing can be a stressful time and these little pushes and reminders allow even the students who often feel they are not exceling or are always in trouble a chance to be rewarded for their good actions and behaviors.

Ms. P

This week was the week of parent teacher conferences and the preparation of those. I must say, after seeing elementary school conferences last semester…middle school ones are even MORE chaotic!

In preparation for P/T conferences each week during team planning period and personal planning period my coop, the rest of the 6^th grade teachers, and I made a priority list of students who each teacher wanted to most definitely conference with. This list was comprised of students who either needed a lot more support behavioral wise or academic wise (at risk of retention). That list, at the end would come down to about 20 students (out of 150) and we would make contact with those parents and create time for a team conference. A team conference is when all the 6^th grade teachers of that student meet, still during P/T conferences, and would discuss what was going on, the next steps, and how to best support to see that student succeed. I’d never seen conferences done this way so it really stuck out to me, and as far as I could tell only the 6^th grade teachers had the idea to complete those conferences in this manor. With all the teachers there in the same room, it allowed all teachers and the parents to discuss together and have everyone be on the same page. Another thing that stuck out to me, and that I thought was handled very well, was that my coop and most of the other teachers did a great job at sandwiching the good bad and the ugly. Regardless of how much you want that student to be the best and do the best, you have to state the facts and data (some that parents do not want to hear whether academic or behavioral wise). The teachers all did great with including as much positive in-between the more support areas the student needed to work on. For every comment that was not the best to hear, the teachers would counter it immediately with good parts (student always turning in homework, student participating in class, student working great with others, etc.) to encourage that student. We came to find out at the end of one conference that the student really just wanted to fit in with his friends, who needed more academic support, and so he began to purposefully flunk his exams and homework assignments because he did not want to seem like a “nerd” to his friends. That incident was handled very well, reminding the student that there is nothing wrong with being smart and succeeding.

Another thing that stuck out to me was how organized you need to be even more the conferences happen, and how quickly you need to move around from room to room. You have 15 minutes to kind of word vomit, but allow enough time to ask questions, answer questions, and discuss anything with the parents and it usually is not enough. There are so many things a parent does not know about (i.e. AIMES web testing, PARCC testing, and other assignments) so the teachers almost need to catch up the parent on the content, then explain the students final grade (as of now) and what is comprised of it. Then after the 15 minutes, there is another parent waiting so the teacher must run around to the next open room to repeat that process again. I’ve learned that some parents really like to chat, and you have to find a balance of making them feel comfortable and not rushed, but you as a teacher need to attend all your conferences scheduled so some must be cut short. I noticed that most of the teachers handled situations like that by going “if you have any other questions please feel free to contact me by email or phone anytime” (which were provided on a handout they gave to parents), so that parents still felt connected with what was going on and not as rushed.

Ms. P

This week was quite the eventful week for me as a student teacher! I have my first formal observation from my supervisor, had the students take their first exam I helped create and prepare them for, and had my first in-service day on Friday.

First thing’s first, my observation. Thankfully my observation went well and my supervisor was pleased with my middle school capabilities, engaging lesson, and dedication…my 150 students were a completely different story that day. I’m fully aware that teaching has its ups and its downs, that goes to say for anything in life but Wednesday I wanted to cry and jump for joy all at the same time…for 2 whole, long hours. My supervisor was supposed to come and observe my 5^th hour class, which from the start of the morning I was pretty nervous about. The students were just ready for their long weekend ahead of them, were on sugar-highs from all the valentine’s snacks they had been exchanging, and 3^rd and 4^th hour gave me a preview of the rest of my day. By the time I got to 5^th hour, my supervisor came in, and the kids came in with all the energy, tension, and silliness enough to share with everyone in the school. Some issues happened at lunch with a few groups of girls and of course those ladies were in my 5^th hour class, some boys were just off their rocker and refused to take part in any activity that was going on or planned, and the rest of the class wanted nothing to do with a review game planned for their exam the next day. Again, I know everyone has their good and bad days and I don’t blame my students for being at a different place than I was Wednesday. I was ready to review and prepare them for an exam, they were ready start the long weekend and want nothing to do with an exam. I had to pause much of the review game and lesson in order to collect my students and give them a pep talk, a respect talk, and a “this is unacceptable talk” all at the same time. I felt like one of those puppet dolls of which each limb is connected by a string, getting pulled in all different directions. I wanted to impress my cooperating teacher and my supervisor since I was so proud of the game I had planned, I wanted to give the students enough time so we could get through as much of the game so I could see if anything needed to be re-reviewed for tomorrows exam, and I wanted to cry at the chaos that they brought in with them. I feel like that was my first real experience trying to keep the class calm and functioning, keep my lesson going for my supervisor, and keep myself from thinking “I cannot do this”. I learned that some days you just have to roll with the punches and stop and talk to the students, figure out what is going on, and make it into a learning experience. I got through as much of the review game as I could have, but most importantly I laid down the expectations for the students, which gave them the chance to see me as a constant authority figure in their lives for the semester. My students finally got to see me equal to my cooperating teacher, and that couldn’t have made me happier to know I earned their respect and they saw mine. Lucky for me the rest of the day gave me a ton of practice with pep talks, respect conversations, and expectation discussions with the students, and more importantly I love the lessons my students teach me that books and videos cannot (i.e. how to handle everything when your lesson doesn’t go as planned due to extenuating circumstances the students bring in).

The in-service day was extremely beneficial. My cooperating teacher got the chance to discuss more what she and the other science teachers want to do with the science curriculum (spiral vs. segmented), and we all got to talk as a school on standards based grading and how to move toward that type of grading. I had the chance to hear both sides, for and against, standards based grading. My opinion on standards based grading is a bit split momentarily. I am all for grading students on their effort, contributions, participation, lead up work, but the fact that standards based grading also means students should not receive zeros for work that is not completed or turned in is what I disagree with. I believe that students need to also get penalized for assignments that they do not turn in; otherwise their grade may not accurately reflect their understanding and grasp of content. Additionally, teachers will have a skewed perspective of how the class is actually doing.

Ms. P

Every Wednesday morning our school has a late start for the students and a morning staff meeting at 7:25am for everyone at the school to get together and discuss school goals, new district implementations, and allow for the same subject teachers to meet and look over assessments, test scores, individual, team, and personal objectives, etc. My middle school placement is in a 6^th grade science classroom. I’m not exactly sure how other middle schools design their curriculum but my middle school has each grade (6-8) focus on a specific science. 6^th graders focus on Earth and Space science, 7^th graders focus on life science (introduction to biology, and 8^th grade focuses on chemical and physical sciences. With NGSS becoming the expected curriculum to accompany science lessons and teachings the teachers who have been teaching this way for years were now forced to discuss whether they plan to spiral their curriculum or keep it segmented by grades and topics.

It was a difficult discussion to start at this meeting since the teachers were not expecting to be having this conversation. Should the spiral curriculum be their path of choice they must redesign their lessons, as the spiral curriculum would take place August 2015. This means that for teachers, like my cooperating teacher, who has participated in plenty of professional field development courses in earth science, has ample personal experience and stories to include for students, may have to swap many of those to include time for biology, chemical, and physical science introductions and basics at the 6^th grade level. It makes it even more difficult as three teachers need to decide by the end of the year, and not all 3 teachers share the same opinions on whether to go spiral or not.

My own opinions would be to spiral the curriculum slowly. Perhaps start in 6^th grade next year in order to get a grasp on how to implement the various units/topics, obtain resources for the teacher(s) to use, and 6^th graders have just entered the school so it would not effect the students in the upper grades, and by the time the 6^th graders who underwent a spiral curriculum moved onto 7^th grade, that would be the next spiral to occur. Additionally, I know that with the PARCC exam it will be testing on various areas of science, so 6^th-8^th grade will be expected to know more than just their grade focus at my middle school. This would benefit the students and would ease the spiral curriculum into the district without every teacher in science stressing over the redesigning phrase.

Ms. P

It’s my second week officially in to my placement and it’s feeling great! This week there was a lot of focus during “team planning” regarding parent teacher conferences and how to tackle them this semester. Team planning is a 30-45 minute time teachers get to meet with the rest of the teachers in their grade level and discuss any student issues, conflicts, and assist to keep everyone in the loop. Parent teacher conferences are coming up at the end of February and the issue arising is that each teacher only gets 15 minutes with any parent that shows up, not allotting much time to discuss any of the high flyers and students who are at risk. It is unclear what the turnout will be each year during the conferences and which parents will be attending. The 6^th grade team came up with an organized method to help plan which student(s)/families the team feels need to be met with by creating a shared spread sheet and listing off the students and reason(s) to be met with. Since the team meets everyday during team planning period (2^nd period) they have arranged time to include a team parent teacher conference to meet and discuss with more time and detail each Wednesday and Thursday. This allows them to meet on Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Friday’s to discuss anything regarding the classrooms, conflicts, and agendas and allows for parent meeting time as a team two days of the week. I really liked this idea because when meeting with certain students, more time needs to be allotted to go into more detail, concerns, and make plans for the at-risk students. Additionally, it’s important for the parents of those students to meet with the students teachers, all together, so more information can be discussed, more ideas for success can be implemented, and all concerns can be addressed in one meeting.

I also had the opportunity to go with my cooperating teacher to one of her assessment and grading committees that she is a part of. I have to say that this was one of the most eye opening meetings I had been to. The committee had asked all teachers, anonymously, to break down how their classes were graded. The teachers all had to mark whether their students grades were weighted or based on total points, and how much percent they planned to have each category worth, and then calculate how much each category was actually worth. The committee looked at all the answers together on a spreadsheet, and I was appalled to see how inconsistent and unfair some teachers were (and most did not realize it until really creating that anonymous sheet). Some teachers we saw had their grades based on total points, and 70% of the points were coming from tests/quizzes. What this meant was if any student failed one test, they already dug themselves in a hole pretty hard to come out of. We also had some teachers whose grades were 80% based on homework. The issue we saw with this was that those students were receiving grades not entirely based off their performance, because tests and quizzes only accounted for 10%. Overall, it really showed me how important it is for teachers to keep their students grading procedures consistent and fair in order to see the most student growth, needs, and to get the most deserved grade.

Ms. P

I cannot believe it, but I did it! I survived my first week of middle school…AS A STUDENT TEACHER!

This week marks my first week in my classroom. I am student teaching in a 6^th grade middle school science room, with a focus on Earth and Space Science! I must say, one of the most challenging things about this placement is learning 140 students’ names, when I only see them 3 times a week! The way my school’s schedule is set up is I teach 3 periods on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for 90 minutes with the same content being taught Monday/Tuesday, and Thursday/Friday. On Wednesday we get all 6 periods for 45 minutes, but really 30 minutes after getting them settled, taking attendance, and completing the warm-up. I absolutely love the students, and this is my first experience teaching middle-schoolers (since I was a middle school myself), so the whole experience is exciting but scary at the same time!

My cooperating teacher is also amazing! Besides having a lot in common personality wise, interest wise, and habits wise, we also get along great in the classroom and I see her being a huge support throughout my journey to being an almost real teacher. It’s great and important to have a cooperating teacher, who has had a lot of experience in the classroom, which mine has, and I am also her first student teacher (after having been teaching for 11 years) so it’s a new journey for us both! I’m really looking forward to this next few months with the students and my cooperating teacher, and getting to relive middle school again! Stay tuned!

Ms. P