Observation #4

1) Students will be able to build speaking and listening skills aligned with common core standards and supported by their studies of Night by constructing Holocaust Memorials within groups and present them.

2) Analysis

3) 10 Minute Assessment:

1. Where is Eliezer’s hometown?

               A. Warsaw, Poland

               B. Sighet, Hungary

               C. Budapest, Hungary

               D. Oswiecim, Poland

2. Approximately how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust genocide?

               A. 3 million

               B. 4 million

               C. 5 million

               D. 6 million

3. Why were the people of Europe were bystanders to the horrific acts that were occurring in Germany by the Nazis?

4. Why do you think Elie Wiesel titled the novel “Night” in relation to the Holocaust?

Microteaching 2 Comments

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Thank you,
Laura

Professional Conference Response

               I attended the RITELL (Rhode Island Teachers of English Language Learners) Fall Conference on Sheltered Instruction and the Common Core Standards. The main speaker for this conference was Dr. Deborah Short. She is a distinguished author, researcher, and speaker on the topics of Sheltered Instructions and the SIOP Model, which she is the co-developer of. I was a little apprehensive about attending this conference because I assumed that this was going to be all about English Language Learning and little about the techniques that could be used. I soon realized that the techniques were a major portion of the sessions. Dr. Short made it an important point in her presentations to make sure that the teachers present knew how to incorporate the SIOP Model and all of the techniques in their classrooms.

               The main session that started the conference explained the benefits of using the SIOP Model. The model can address the Common Core ELA and Math standards through the use of techniques that support vocabulary development, oral language skills, and content area literacy. I learned that SIOP stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. This session was filled with good information about how the common core standards can be addressed with using the techniques that are associated with SIOP. Short explained that common core is starting to take ELL into consideration and create the standards for those students. Hopefully that happens and the ELL community is finally recognized.

               The one breakout session that I attended was titled “Getting Started with the SIOP Model”. Dr. Deborah Short was the speaker again for this session. During this session, I learned about what the SIOP model was all about and how it can really help when teaching ELL students content and vocabulary within the classroom. Even though I do not plan on becoming an ELL teacher, the techniques that I learned by listening to this session, will be useful in my future English class. Some of the techniques include having content and language objectives, four corners vocabulary, word sorts, and many more. All of the techniques that Dr. Short presented were about combining language and content in lessons. I really liked this session because for my future English class, there is always going to vocabulary that the students will need to learn and by incorporating it into the lesson and the content, the students will have more opportunity to learn the words.

               I am glad that I attended this conference. It was a good first experience as I start my journey into the teaching community. I learned a lot of new techniques that I can use for teaching vocabulary and also content in the class. Even though the conference was about educating the English language learning students, I believe that all of the same techniques can be applied to the common classroom.

Observation 3

               For classroom management, the third period, 9^th grade, Introduction to Literature class was one that really stood out to me for how the teacher handled herself and the students. As the students entered the room they were loud and crazy. Their task was to get their journals from the bin next to the door before heading to their seats. As they collected their journals and found their seats, the noise level was noticeably lower. After a lot of practice and repetition, the students knew what the teacher expected and quieted down on their own. There was a Do Now writing prompt on the board that the students completed in their journals. By now only the teacher was talking to a few students about what they had missed the previous day. The student’s attention was on completing the Do Now and getting ready for the English class. For the lesson today, the students were going to work on their Holocaust Memorial project that they had started the previous day.

               The teacher had created a rewards system to motivate the students to participate and be leaders within the classroom. She established a raffle where the students could earn tickets that would be entered into the monthly raffle and be drawn from to win a special prize. When I talked to the teacher after the class, she said that this was a very effective reward system because the prizes were actual items that the students wanted. She said that it really got the students motivated to speak up more in the class. At one point during the class period, the students became louder than what was needed. The teacher asked the students to play the quiet game so that she could explain a few more instructions for the project. The students responded to her right away. The respect that the students have for their teacher was clearly seen as they listened to her the first time she asked.

               As for school-wide management, I did notice that if a student was late to school, they wouldn’t let her or her into the building. They must either have a form or have a parent with them. This was effective because it targeted the students who would skip or leave the school grounds so that they couldn’t come back to school for class. This is a good way to manage the use of security. There were also no announcements made over the loud speaker during the class periods. The announcements were made during the transition times in between classes. At the end of the day, I believe it was the Vice Principal that gave a little speech to the whole school as a recap of the day.

               After observing all of this school-wide and classroom management, I believe that it affected the students learning in a positive way. They responded really well to the teacher and her instructions for the day. Due to the student’s response to the teacher, the class time wasn’t affected by the teacher having to spend a lot of time on correcting behavior. Thus, the students had more time to work on their projects. If students listened to their teachers more often, then they would have more time to do the lessons and not feel so rushed. The rewards system that the teacher created also was a major contributor in the students learning. It became a way for the students to be motivated and speak up and share their thoughts on what they were learning.

Observation #2 - Repost

I first posted this observation on November 22nd, but I couldn't see it very well in the blog so I posted it again.

The first post is still on the blog though!

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Laura Jacques	Subject: World Literature +Reading Intervention	Grade(s): 10th grade
Name of Lesson: Similes and Metaphors in Popular Music
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional Students will be able to identify similes and metaphors within pop songs. - Knowledge
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4 - Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): RIPTS Standard 1: Teachers create learning experiences using a broad base of general knowledge that reflects an understanding of the nature of the communities and world in which we live.
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context? Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? This lesson was in the middle of the unit. I don’t know what the unit is called because the teacher never commented on it. It helped the students understand the concepts of similes and metaphors by showing how you can find these elements in common pop songs.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Computer with access to YouTube Copies of pop songs including – Wrecking Ball, Free, and Just Give Me a Reason
Accommodations and Modifications (special needs and learning styles) For example:  Dr. Kraus has poor vision and needs written material to be at least 12 pt. font.  He also reads two grade levels higher and needs appropriate reading material.  I didn’t observe any accommodations
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2) Textbooks
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? Seemed confident because she helped the students a lot when they had questions.

Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice) Students must get their binders and complete the DO NOW before the class begins.
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic? 2nd day of lesson – review what they did the previous day
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
e.g. Intro/ 15 min.	Review the Do Now	Read their responses to the prompt	Prompt - “I was going to finish my homework, but…”
15 min	Play Similes and Metaphors in Pop Songs video from YouTube	Listen and watch video
Presentation or Open-ended/ 5 min.	Present songs that could be used for their group time	Get into groups of 5 and listen to the teacher explain the songs
Guided Practice or Convergent/ 35 min.	Observe and help students find the similes and metaphors	Work in groups to find the similes and metaphors in the assigned pop songs	Why would this be considered a simile? A metaphor?
Closing/ 20min.	Guide the presentations so that each group presents all similes and metaphors they found	Present similes and metaphors that they found in the songs
HW/Application/	None	No homework
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble? Provide one-on-one help when looking for similes and metaphors in the songs before the presenations
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? Offer harder songs for them to look for similes and metaphors – But this didn’t happen in the class
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) Each group presents their findings to the class after they had discussed in their groups

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?   The students worked well together to find the similes and metaphors and then explaining to the others why they thought it was a simile or metaphor.
	What area of weakness needs addressing? Getting the students to sit down in the beginning of the class and to actually start the Do Now. A few students listened to the teacher, but others were focused on socializing. Also, not every student was helpful in the presentations.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? The objective was met. This is proved because the students presented their results from their group discussion and thus demonstrating that they knew what they were looking for.
	Which students did not meet objectives? Some students were too busy socializing and messing around to contribute in the discussion and presentation.
	Was time managed appropriately? No – a lot of time was used for getting the students to cooperate in the beginning of class and getting them to actively participate.
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson? The teacher never really corrected the students for breaking class rules and so the students never stopped disrespecting others and the teacher.
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? Strengths: When the teacher did step in, the students responded quickly to her. Weaknesses: The students did whatever they wanted and the teacher and TA had a hard time corralling all the students to the same things.
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? I thought so – if the students took the time to participate then they could get a lot out of it. The songs that were used are still playing on the radio and also songs that the students previously knew.
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)   I learned that by bringing in things that the students already know about or they experience in their daily lives, it helps some students connect to the material and have a better understanding.
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?  This experience will influence my professional identity because it showed me that there are all different reading levels and that lessons must be adjusted to where the students are in their abilities. Not all of the classes that I will have in the future will be able to do the same kind of work and I will have to adjust the lessons accordingly.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future? I know now that I have to flexible with my lessons and being able to adjust them to the different levels of the students. Also, I know that I need to be more proactive in the classroom management so that the students do not walk all over me as a teacher.