Keeping your students in line in the classroom

As a teacher it is imperative to be able to control your students within the classroom...as a teacher you must have control of your students. I recently talked to my boyfriend's sister, who is a teacher, and we discussed having a disciplinary action plan set from the beginning of the year. This enables you as a teacher to have grounds to stand on when you may come down and have to discipline a student. Afterall I did have to teach a lesson in my classroom in one of my spring classes and realized that once you say something will be done you need to stay firm and students will have to answer to the consquences. This was one of the main things that I learned after being up there and discussing what had happened with my teacher and my boyfriend's sister, who has been in the teaching world within the past ten years. The one thing that I def. received as adviced was to set forth a disciplinary plan for the students so that strike one will have a certain consequence and follow to the last strike that would result in the most severe consquence.

My Lesson Plans

I was able to do my class lesson this past week...and it was interesting! I was so excited to finally be up there and do my lesson, which I thought was creative and fun. However, as excited as I was when I finally stepped up to do my lesson there were a few things I did not expect. I learned that as a teacher some things do not pan out as easily as I anticipated. The kids switched some of the cards I gave them in order to prevent certain students working with other students that may talk alot. This was one thing I though would have worked out well...but didn't do too hot when I used it on a bunch of high school students. I also learned that having a disciplinary plan made up will help students realize that they can only push this far and then they will face the consquences that I have provided in their disciplinary action plan guide. This will help me as a teacher as well to not say one thing and then not act upon it. If you say something and then do not follow through the students maynot take you seriously and then as a result will misbehave instead of taking the warning as serious and stopping their bad behaviors. I feel like this was an excellent idea and form of assessment because it was able to show us what it is really like when we deal with high school students. The students need to take you seriously but the classes shoul be fun...however we were able to realize that not everything we plan to go smoothly will be smooth once we throw in high school students. All in all it was an awesome way to see what it is really like as a high school teacher and prepared us for the things we may encounter in the near future.

Lesson Plans!

So...lesson plans...lesson plans...the time has come in one of my teaching courses to prepare and teach a brief lesson plan. I was totally and completely unaware of how this whole process would work out...but to be perfectly honest I think my classmates have done an excellent job...not only were their lessons awesome but they kept the class in line for the most part. Although I feel completey wrong acting out some of the notecards bad behaviors...I feel this is an excellent way to help education students learn how to control a class room of high schoolers as well as teach them what they shouldn't do. I am due to present this week although I think I have a very creative and fun lesson plan...I am also alittle nervous as to how my students will react, I hope I can keep them in line but still manage to keep the class fun without having to be to controlling! I hope to give my students a fun filled lesson with some fun activities and some group work without them getting out of control. I hope to do as well as my other classmates. I was very impressed with their abilities to keep on task while some students try to change the subject! They are doing an awesome job and completely have my respect as future educators!!! A job well done!

My Access!

I had the honor to work with My Access in class the other day...I must say the program was absolutely awesome and so unique. I really like the fact that the students could see the different errors as far as punctuations and it explains exactly what should be there and why it is placed in the spot. It was very informative and acted as a guide so that students can learn while doing their essays how they can improve their styles of writing...I also found the grading report once the essays are submitted is very informative and allow students to see their weaknesses as well as their strengths...the My Access is a very helpful program not only to students but to teachers as well...not every teacher can be perfect and give each and every student the feedback they deserve this program allows students to get this feedback to help improve their writing skills and make them better essay writers the only downfall with this program that I can possibly think of is that students make take advantage of the tips they provide...and instead of reading and understanding them they may just correct their work without knowing what they did wrong and how it is supposed to be otherwise this program will help the students with future essay writing and I feel this program is really awesome and I will def. try to have this in my classroom or bring it up to my school district!

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important aspect of a student's education. Throughout your lifetime you will be judged by the vocabulary you use and it plays an important role in many job interviews...as well as other social events throughout your lifetime. I liked the story a fellow classmate told us about in class the other mentioning that her teacher use to make the students pick two words they didn't know from the New York Times. After words they would review the words the students had picked and would be tested on them later on. Ultimately covering alot of words throughout the school year...this seems like a really good idea and if I would be allowed to do such an activity I would most def. use this teaching technique. This is a great way to allow the students to read something of their choice and use a word they have encountered. Vocabulary is something that can be boring straight from workbooks so this is a lively way to keep students intrigued and learn. Afterall this subject area is a struggle with some children and through a stronger vocabulary we can achieve the success of better readers

Smartboard!

I recently have been introduced to the smartboard in my one teaching class and I must say that I love it...each class period we learn alittle more or something cool you can do with the smartboard and how it can be applied to the classroom! In my old highschool I experienced the smartboard at the end of the senior year and it was only in one classroom fo science. The teacher actually seemed very very excited about it and for one class she introduced it to us and showed us some neat things you are able to do with this piece of technology...I definately hope that when I get a teaching job this is offered to me and I am able to use this in my classroom...I feel like it makes things alittle more interesting and fun rather then just writing on the chalkboard or lecturing from a text...I would def. get my students involved and show them some activities we could do with the smartboard!

Comprehension

What does comprehension mean?...well I would say it means the understanding of something or the ability to retain information. The problem with comprehension is that as teachers we do not always know whether our students are retaining information from the plain-old-boring text books everyone loves! Some students don't always comprehend from textbooks the best. It may take diaries, journals, or other forms of reading material to capture the attention of some students. I know that I am a student who does not comprehend well through strictly text, I find it unbelievably boring and redundant. I enjoy the true stories told by the people themselves through journal entries or an autobiography. Not all students learn the same way and it is our job as educators to reach out and find the best way everyone of our students learn. Making different resources avalible for every student to work at his/her best!

Sometime within the past couple classes we discussed how making your students raise their hands when they have finished may make them feeled a bit rushed. The other day this past week in one of my classes we had to do a quick assignment about a an article we just read. The professor said that everyone will speak about their answers when we were finished. I was already nervous about finding the exact answer we were suppose to have found when I thought about being the last one to raise my hand...forget about it! I was too focused on not being the last one to raise my hand...in fear that the other students who found the answer quickly would think I was dumb! I settled for an answer that may or may not have been the right one just to raise my hand because I feared being judged by my fellow peers. I thought about what we were discussing in class and how this type of activity may hinder your students from performing at their best ablilies. This is exactly what it did to me...I was unable to find the correct answer and feel confident because I felt - - stressed and rushed! I def. feel that students may not understand because they are too concerned on not being last when they should be focusing on finding the correct information. Through my experience I feel that other ways can be used to get kids to be active and participate....rather than have them feel pressured and not quite understanding the assignment they are suppose to be grasping. It didn't make me feel okay and I was a college student...I couldn't imagine how it would make middle schoolers/highschoolers feel when they are still trying to find out who they really are and trying to be accepted amist a judgemental crowd involving their peers.

Classroom Management

Today in class we watched a video on the right way versus the wrong way to handle your classroom. I feel the video gave some good tips on how to prevent your classroom from getting out of hand. The biggest thing that I grasped fromt he video as being useful was having a friendly/joking attitude. I feel when you are always yelling at your students the yelling becomes not as affective because thats all they know. When you have a friendly personality you are allowing your students to respect you not only as a teacher but as a person who has emotions and if they were to get out of hand and disappoint you they may care knowing their normally happy teacher be somewhat upset with their actions. I also like that having this attitude allows the students to have a little flexability...I mean afterall we were all students at one point and sometimes you just get antsy!! This friendliness and joking makes it easier to maybe make a point to lightly discipline a student in a joking manner but still getting the point across. I have learned through experiences in many classes that the teachers you aren't to tyrannical have more success in classroom management because the students feel like the teacher's care about them and are not always out to get them into trouble.

A Little About Me

Hey everyone!!! So here is alittle introduction about myself...my name is Kris and I am a junior in college. I am originally from the suburban state of PA but I received a softball scholarship to a college in NJ! I have never experienced the city life until I arrived at school. It was an amazing time of my life exploring a different aspect of the world, especially coming from a very small town with only farms in sight. Since my freshman year I feel I have become a more diverse and open-minded person. I have learned so many things by coming and experiencing the college life, it has opened my eyes to many new things. I am now in my second semester of my junior year and pretty soon will be graduating next spring! Hopefully I will be able to use the knowledge I have received from my college education and be able to make a difference in the lives of young adolescents as a teacher/mentor. I will not only have my students learn to their fullest capacity but my goal is to make learning fun! I want the students to walk into my classroom excited knowing the class will be educational as well as extremely intriguing, capturing every students multiple intelligences.