Day 3: Being Better

This one sat in the drafts folder a little longer than I had planned. Either way, here it is.

Day 3: Discuss one “observation” area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.

My teacher evaluation doesn't fill my mind as much as I think it would. I hear other educators constantly referencing the eval and making it out to be this big, looming inconvenience. This may be the dork in me, but I think about it as a test. A test that I am going to do my best in and I'll find out where I stand. Not much else to say there. It's a chance to see what I can do.

Of course I'd like to improve in every single area of my eval, but I won't do the KJ cop-out and say "all of them, because blah blah blah....."

I want to craft better learning experiences for my students. I want everything we do to be purposeful. And better. I want it to always be better. No matter what.

Day 2: FreshGrade in the Classroom

Thanks to everyone who read my first post of the 30-Day blog challenge! It's been super encouraging. Encouraging enough that I've already written my Day 2 post.

I'm also super pumped that I've got some of my school mates to play along with me. I'll be sharing their links, too, so everyone else can check those out.

Day 2: Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year, and why. You might also write about what you’re hoping to see out of this edtech integration.

I have a million things on my "To Try" list for the classroom, so to pick one thing will be quite tough.

The first thing that comes to mind is this thing called FreshGrade. FreshGrade is an assessment and communication tool that I've played around with towards the end of last year with one of my math classes.

One of the things I liked most was being able to use my iPhone to capture student work (picture, video, audio, text) and attach it to their profile. It saved it there in a chronological timeline that can be shared with the students and their families. All users can interact with artifacts and items can also be given scores for assessment.

I'd like to spend more time with this tool to bridge the gap between parents and the classroom.

Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers (Day 1)

I saw this on my Twitter feed a few days ago and favorited it, hoping to find time during the three-day weekend to check out the challenges and see if I would consider adding it to my already cluttered To Do List for September.

It's a 30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers from te@chthought and man, I needed something to kick me in the pants and get me blogging again. For the sake of starting fresh, I've hidden all of my previous posts on my blog until I've had time to review them. I'm sure if I keep at this blog for more than a month, I will start republishing some of my old posts.

But for now, here's the first installment of the blog challenge:

Day 1: Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you’d like to be!

1. Lead well. I've joined a new grade level this year and simultaneously stepped into the role of one of two chairs for the team. I'm a little nervous of being the new guy on the show while also being the team lead. I know I would not have been given the spot if I was not capable of doing a good job, but that does not make it any less intimidating.

2. Develop my student teacher. Six full years of teaching. Two semesters of student teaching. Eight weeks of classroom observations and tutoring sessions. It's finally come full circle and I have my first  student teacher. I want to be able to be a great coach and mentor. I want them to be a better teacher than I was in my first year. And I want them to have fun.

3. Maintain high expectations. I always struggle with this. There always comes a time (usually a few weeks after state testing... around late April) where one of my classes starts getting the best of me and I don't hold my ground. I let them slip. I give them a few more chances than before. I am not as consistent as I had been. Things just fall apart. I set high expectations for all of my students at the start of the year, but I want to keep them high them for all of my kids until the very end of the school year.

Let's start with those three goals. This entry wasn't so bad. You should give it a go. Only took me fifteen or so minutes. Or if you're participating in the challenge, I'd appreciate it if you left your link to your Day 1. I'd like to see what others have selected for their goals.

No Opt Out

Getting this new class halfway through the year is forcing me to revisit some of my "back to school" routines and plans. A large part of that comes from the book, "Teach Like a Champion". It's full of great and manageable techniques to use in the classroom.

I'm going to spend the next few weeks looking back through the book to see if there are any that would work well with this new group of students.

Technique 1 - No Opt OutA sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that question giving the right answer.

I could have used this today for sure. We were reviewing some math concepts and there were a handful of students who replied with, "I don't know" or "Umm..." that would have benefitted from this technique. By using this strategy, the class will soon understand that they do not have any other choice but to try.

Doing this tomorrow!

The class switch

I got a new class this semester. It's a year course and another teacher started with them back in the fall. For reasons that I'm not going to explain here, I've been switched to be their teacher for the rest of the year. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal.

It's an 8th grade class.

I've never taught 8th graders before. I've hung out with them at youth group and taken them on mission trips, but in all of those situations, I wasn't expected to teach them stuff.

My teaching experience spans 4th, 5th and 6th grade. And that's where it stops.

I'm pretty nervous about it, but I'm also really excited about the new challenges it will present me. I am looking forward to seeing what works with them and what does not. What motivates them and what bores them. I'm also interested to see if my management techniques, which I had originally developed for 8 & 9 year-olds, will translate to 12 & 13 year-olds.

First Day of School Quiz - Year Six

This will be the sixth time that I'm giving a 'First Day of School' Quiz.

I've had a tough time these past two years setting up the questions. Since I've moved to middle school, my schedule has a few kids in my Math block as well as my Science block.

Essentially, I see the same kid twice in a single day.

So I have to make two sets of quizzes. Some of the questions I don't change because I feel like every student of mine should have to answer.

Anyway, the last question is still always my favorite. They give a written response to this prompt:

If Mr. Arakaki wanted to be the best teacher you've ever had, what would he need to do?

Here are some of the ones that caught my eye.*

"He should let us go on faceBook. To tex on owe Phone."

"giveout treats - especially chocolate and pickles."

"Decorate your classroom a bit more."

"To be the best teacher I would have, you would have to be like the cool teacher not strict or mean. But strict When you need to be. When I think of a cool teacher I think funny, and nice. I like when my teachers help Me When I really need help, and they are not tough on me. I also really like the kids of teachers that pushes us to do more and get our work done, it helps me as a student when I have teachers like that."

"First: do not git in fights or do bad thangs. Do not be strike be nice. Don't let us melt in her. Don't give us to much homework. Thats what you should do to be best teach."

"I Thank you should do math with food because. I thank it would be fun and make us want to learn"

"What"

"Basically, tell some jokes and thats about it." 

And one of the students included this awesome note:

"Thanks Mr. A! The apples you like are called Pink Lady. I'll give you seeds some time so you can grow your own apples. At least two, so they can pollinate each other!"

There aren't that many things that I've done every year that I've taught, but this is one of them.

*To preserve authenticity, all responses were typed out exactly as I could decipher.

A "cool" teacher

There's less than a week of school left and the students in my classes have been working (surprisingly) hard on their independent science presentations. Most of the class knows what they should be working on and what to do next, so it gives me time to check-in with each student throughout the block.

Today, I checked in with a student whose topic is space stations and the impact they've had on scientific research and space exploration. After conferencing with him on what he was working on and some places where he could improve, I started to leave to move onto the next student. As I began to walk away, the student next to him says it.

"You're a cool teacher."

I really don't like hearing this from students. I really don't. It bothers me. A huge part of me does not want to be known as a cool teacher and would rather simply be known as a great teacher.

The student stared me down and obviously wanted me to respond. Unfortunately, I couldn't think fast enough to reply any other way. I said what was on my mind.

"I'd rather be a great teacher."

We engaged in a little discussion of what I felt the difference was and he tried to understand. I did my best to explain that even though I'm glad he enjoys my class and thinks the activities and lessons we do are fun and says it's his least boring class, I would rather him leave my room having grown as a learner, creator, thinker and individual.

Blank stare...

And then I was floored.

"You mean like how we don't ask you questions that we can answer ourselves?"

Oh, happy day.

Moving to Middle School

It's already May and I haven't blogged at all this school year. It may or may not be related to this being my first year teaching content in a new grade level and at a new school. After teaching fourth grade for two years and two more in fifth, I moved on.

6th grade. Middle school.

For some reason, the past few weeks have been finding me frequently reflecting on the past few months. Perhaps it's all of the questions that are asked during the last quarter of the year.

"How was your year, did you like it? Do you miss elementary school? Are you going to come back next year? What sections do you want to teach? So, what do you think of middle school?"

It's taken some time to sort through all of it. Most of the reasons that influenced me to take this current position no longer exist or apply. The complicated part is that there have been new factors which have been introduced during this school year that invite me to stay.

I've been pushed to really examine what I want to do, where I want to be and what direction I want to head.

Need to figure this out. It's time.

Linda & John

The students were asked to generate questions they had while listening to The Giver being read out loud. They were challenged to craft questions about things they were wondering about in the text, and that might be answered in future readings.

Student #1: "What are Jonas' parents names?"

Student #2: "We already know their names. It's Linda and John. Next question, Mr. A."

Fraction Statements

In math today, the students were asked to sketch six people and accessorize them with hats, glasses, jewelry, etc. They could sketch them in any height, weight, hair color, etc. The main task was for them to write five factual statements about the group of six people, using fractions.

Here is what one student wrote about his sketch.

2 out of the 6 people are tall.
3 out of the 6 people have dark hair.
3 out of the 6 people want to play baseball.
1 out of the 6 people is a girl.
6 out of the 6 people are ugly.

At least he followed the directions.

This kid always makes me smile.