Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SEP's
Can you believe it-the last SEP's?! I was talking to a first grade teacher at Rock Canyon about SEP's and they do something like a walk-in report card for this SEP. I really liked the idea and I might try to modify it for myself. I am sure that you already have plenty to cover for your upcoming SEPs, but I thought I would share this idea if any of you would like to try it sometime. Instead of meeting with all of the parents (just at this SEP) all of the parents come into class (half in the morning and half in the afternoon) for an hour. They work through a packet with their child that covers concepts that they have been learning about recently. The parent is able to see for themselves what their student struggles with, their strengths and how they compare to other students in the class. During this time, the teacher walks around and visits for 5 mins. with each parent. If parents want more time with you, than they can set up an appointment. I know that it is not possible to do this right now, but I think I may send a packet like this home with my student on Monday and ask that parents work through it with their student and then perhaps I'll discuss it with parents at their SEP. It was just an idea-we'll see how it goes!
Hurray for March! :)
Can you believe it's MARCH?! Oh my goodness... I can't!!! But I'm so happy that it's ALMOST spring! (Depsite the lovely snow this week...) Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any fantastic, fun, exciting ideas for REVIEWS! We're almost DONE teaching what we need to for math this year! So we're going to start REVIEWING for the end of the year test! Teresa, if you have any great ideas, please let me know! Everyone else, please share your wonderful ideas! Thanks!!!
-Chelsie
-Chelsie
Sunday, March 8, 2009
TWS - Aleasha
What was the most challenging/horrible thing about the TWS?
I would have to agree with the previous post-the most difficult thing for me was to get the motivation to work on it. Had I not done most of the planning and charts over the summer in Social Studies than I would have been in big trouble. I think that the TWS could be greatly simplified and still be valuable and teach the things that it is designed to teach. The actual teaching of the TWS was not challenging, but creating an 80 or 90 page document that seems to repeatedly ask the same questions was challenging because I did not see the value in typing it up. I think it is important to create a unit, teach it, and assess it. However, the writing up of the TWS is what seems to be emphasized, rather than the actual teaching. I don't want to sound like a bum and complain about it because I understand there are things in school (and life) that may not seem fun, but we just have to stick it out and finish anyway. So I can now say that I finished the dreaded TWS and it really was not that bad.
What was the most valuable thing about the TWS?
Creating a unit and assessments based on an objective. Although, I could have learned how to do that without typing up a 90 page document:).
Stress level: This question reminds me of when the doctor asks you to rate your pain on a scale of 1-10. If you say it's only a 1, than he is going to tell you to suck it up and deal with it and probably to go home. If you say it is an 8 or 9, than you'll get into the doctor faster, you'll get some pain killers, and he will try to make it all better. So perhaps if I say my stress level was an 8 or 9 on the TWS, I will be helping future interns by reducing the amount of work that they have to do. If I say it was only a 1, than perhaps they will just have to 'suck it up' and do it as well. I will try not to read into this question to0 much and be as honest as possible. I did not stress out that much since I had already done most of it over the summer. It was a little bit stressful that last week when I had to finish it-I would say a healthy 5 on the stress scale.
I would have to agree with the previous post-the most difficult thing for me was to get the motivation to work on it. Had I not done most of the planning and charts over the summer in Social Studies than I would have been in big trouble. I think that the TWS could be greatly simplified and still be valuable and teach the things that it is designed to teach. The actual teaching of the TWS was not challenging, but creating an 80 or 90 page document that seems to repeatedly ask the same questions was challenging because I did not see the value in typing it up. I think it is important to create a unit, teach it, and assess it. However, the writing up of the TWS is what seems to be emphasized, rather than the actual teaching. I don't want to sound like a bum and complain about it because I understand there are things in school (and life) that may not seem fun, but we just have to stick it out and finish anyway. So I can now say that I finished the dreaded TWS and it really was not that bad.
What was the most valuable thing about the TWS?
Creating a unit and assessments based on an objective. Although, I could have learned how to do that without typing up a 90 page document:).
Stress level: This question reminds me of when the doctor asks you to rate your pain on a scale of 1-10. If you say it's only a 1, than he is going to tell you to suck it up and deal with it and probably to go home. If you say it is an 8 or 9, than you'll get into the doctor faster, you'll get some pain killers, and he will try to make it all better. So perhaps if I say my stress level was an 8 or 9 on the TWS, I will be helping future interns by reducing the amount of work that they have to do. If I say it was only a 1, than perhaps they will just have to 'suck it up' and do it as well. I will try not to read into this question to0 much and be as honest as possible. I did not stress out that much since I had already done most of it over the summer. It was a little bit stressful that last week when I had to finish it-I would say a healthy 5 on the stress scale.
Monday, March 2, 2009
TWS
1) What was challenging about the TWS?
The most challenging thing, for me, was getting the motivation to actually work on the TWS. From what I've heard, none of us had the time of our lives doing this project and would rather be teaching students and doing lesson plans that doing TWS. I feel that the most valuable source of how we teach comes from our observations from our CFA and facilitator. Anybody can type up repetitive information the way BYU wants it, but they will not know how we teach and the relationship we have with our students from the 65 page project. Feeling it is a waste of time, I did not make it a priority until after Christmas.
2) What was valuable about the TWS?
I guess the thing that was most valuable from TWS is learning not to procrastinate and motivating myself to do something I really do not want to do. Haha, j/k. TWS helped me get a better look at how to plan a unit. It helps to have it all planned out before you teach it and to know what exactly you want the students to learn and have the lessons tied to the post-test. (I also learned that caffeinated beverages can help you stay peppy while teaching your students on an hour and a half of sleep!)
3) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the MOST stressed), how stressed have you been about the Teacher Work Sample? Why?
Before Christmas - probably a 0 because it wasn't due until February so why stress about it! The last couple weeks before it was due, probably an 8 because obviously this is a big project that is kind of important to pass! I also have 2 roommates that are interns and their freaking out about it 24/7 definitely did not help.
The most challenging thing, for me, was getting the motivation to actually work on the TWS. From what I've heard, none of us had the time of our lives doing this project and would rather be teaching students and doing lesson plans that doing TWS. I feel that the most valuable source of how we teach comes from our observations from our CFA and facilitator. Anybody can type up repetitive information the way BYU wants it, but they will not know how we teach and the relationship we have with our students from the 65 page project. Feeling it is a waste of time, I did not make it a priority until after Christmas.
2) What was valuable about the TWS?
I guess the thing that was most valuable from TWS is learning not to procrastinate and motivating myself to do something I really do not want to do. Haha, j/k. TWS helped me get a better look at how to plan a unit. It helps to have it all planned out before you teach it and to know what exactly you want the students to learn and have the lessons tied to the post-test. (I also learned that caffeinated beverages can help you stay peppy while teaching your students on an hour and a half of sleep!)
3) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the MOST stressed), how stressed have you been about the Teacher Work Sample? Why?
Before Christmas - probably a 0 because it wasn't due until February so why stress about it! The last couple weeks before it was due, probably an 8 because obviously this is a big project that is kind of important to pass! I also have 2 roommates that are interns and their freaking out about it 24/7 definitely did not help.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Give me a T.... W.... S.... what does it spell?
The LAST hoop to jump through!... Well, it doesn't exactly spell that... but that's how I felt about it.
1. Challenging: I agree with whoever said that BYU didn't give us enough information about it!!! I had no clue what the TWS even was until my second cohort and even then, I would've had NOOOO clue what I was doing if I hadn't taken Social Studies during Fast Track over the summer. It would've been a serious disaster. So, yes, BYU needs to give us a little more info about it. Another challenging thing, which someone already said, was that it was SO repetitive!!! When I was writing the reflection section, I kept thinking, "Didn't I already write this???" All the student work examples, blah blah blah.... it's just unnecessary. Especially if you're interning... we teach for an ENTIRE YEAR with someone observing us WEEKLY and sometimes DAILY. I would think THAT would be good enough to determine if we're "good teachers" or not and if we can graduate. But, maybe it's just me. I'm just letting all my frustrations of the TWS out. :) And I could have gone about it all wrong but I didn't go through it thinking, "Oh wow, I'm learning so much" and "Ohhh I'm so glad I learned that for my teaching..." The things I've learned about my teaching have come FROM TEACHING and from being observed by my wonderful facilitator and CFA and the tips and ideas they give me. I didn't learn anything "new" by teaching a unit and handing in 97 pages of paper. (ok, I'm done venting...) :)
2. Valuable: NOTHING was valuable. :) ... ok ok, I'm just kidding. It was valuable to plan out an entire unit on my own and see it all unfold... but in reality... I did WAAAAY more for this than I ever have or probably will with a unit. Because I spent a whole class in the summer (Social Studies) working on it and getting it revised by professors. So it was quite a different scenario. But it was valuable to see how it all worked out. It was also valuable to create my own test. And I don't know who said it in a previous post but it IS hard!! I thought it would be much easier but the more I looked back at my test, the more I thought oh I should have changed that question, should've asked this instead of that, etc.
3. Stress Level: I'd have to say just about a 5... I usually get WAY stressed about stuff, but having it just be pass/fail made me WAY less stressed. And Teresa repeatedly telling me that I'd be fine and not to worry helped a ton too. Also, having taken Social Studies in the SUMMER with Fast Track, I already knew the grade, school, etc. that I'd be in for my internship, so I had the majority of the TWS already done. If that hadn't been done over the summer I'd be WAY more stressed. BUT there were no tears shed over this so I consider that to be low stress. :) The most stress has come from just being frustrated about doing it.
(Hopefully this post wasn't too harsh, Teresa... I'm just trying to be honest! That's what you said to do, right?) :)
-Chelsie
1. Challenging: I agree with whoever said that BYU didn't give us enough information about it!!! I had no clue what the TWS even was until my second cohort and even then, I would've had NOOOO clue what I was doing if I hadn't taken Social Studies during Fast Track over the summer. It would've been a serious disaster. So, yes, BYU needs to give us a little more info about it. Another challenging thing, which someone already said, was that it was SO repetitive!!! When I was writing the reflection section, I kept thinking, "Didn't I already write this???" All the student work examples, blah blah blah.... it's just unnecessary. Especially if you're interning... we teach for an ENTIRE YEAR with someone observing us WEEKLY and sometimes DAILY. I would think THAT would be good enough to determine if we're "good teachers" or not and if we can graduate. But, maybe it's just me. I'm just letting all my frustrations of the TWS out. :) And I could have gone about it all wrong but I didn't go through it thinking, "Oh wow, I'm learning so much" and "Ohhh I'm so glad I learned that for my teaching..." The things I've learned about my teaching have come FROM TEACHING and from being observed by my wonderful facilitator and CFA and the tips and ideas they give me. I didn't learn anything "new" by teaching a unit and handing in 97 pages of paper. (ok, I'm done venting...) :)
2. Valuable: NOTHING was valuable. :) ... ok ok, I'm just kidding. It was valuable to plan out an entire unit on my own and see it all unfold... but in reality... I did WAAAAY more for this than I ever have or probably will with a unit. Because I spent a whole class in the summer (Social Studies) working on it and getting it revised by professors. So it was quite a different scenario. But it was valuable to see how it all worked out. It was also valuable to create my own test. And I don't know who said it in a previous post but it IS hard!! I thought it would be much easier but the more I looked back at my test, the more I thought oh I should have changed that question, should've asked this instead of that, etc.
3. Stress Level: I'd have to say just about a 5... I usually get WAY stressed about stuff, but having it just be pass/fail made me WAY less stressed. And Teresa repeatedly telling me that I'd be fine and not to worry helped a ton too. Also, having taken Social Studies in the SUMMER with Fast Track, I already knew the grade, school, etc. that I'd be in for my internship, so I had the majority of the TWS already done. If that hadn't been done over the summer I'd be WAY more stressed. BUT there were no tears shed over this so I consider that to be low stress. :) The most stress has come from just being frustrated about doing it.
(Hopefully this post wasn't too harsh, Teresa... I'm just trying to be honest! That's what you said to do, right?) :)
-Chelsie
The TWS
I completed mine way back in October and it is completely different than the one BYU does. Sorry, but mine was not hard!
Sincerely,
Megan Camper
Sincerely,
Megan Camper
The TWS
Congrats everyone on finishing the biggest project ever! I haven't celebrated yet (except for going to bed on time) but this weekend is going to be the most relaxing in a long time.
1. The most frustrating thing about the TWS. Well, I think it had to be getting all of the student work and examples and such together. That took so much time!! This past week has been awful because of it. I don't even want to admit how much time it took to get everything together...it's too embarrassing. Also, just the general lack of information about it. Teresa, you were great getting us information, and all of the last-years interns were great with their examples and support. But, I think BYU needs to be better about informing their students about this project. Last, (sorry, this should only be one thing) I felt like the whole thing was very repetitive, especially the self reflection part. As an intern (I don't know how student teachers feel) I felt like the repetitive nature of the project and the amount of work we had to do was both unhelpful to me as a teacher, not as informative as it could be, and it distracted me from being as good of a teacher as I could be. I heard someone saying that the TWS should be changed into a format that is more practical so that teachers will actually use it in their teaching when creating a unit.
2. The most valuable thing about the TWS was creating my own test. I've gotten all of my tests from other teachers, and it was nice making my own. Man-that takes a lot of work!
3. I think I would rate myself at a 9. I get stressed out about things-especially those things that determine graduation. Also, the last formatting and scanning things just took so much time that I didn't have time for anything else. When all you do all night is scan you are not happy. I think my students have noticed.
Rachel
1. The most frustrating thing about the TWS. Well, I think it had to be getting all of the student work and examples and such together. That took so much time!! This past week has been awful because of it. I don't even want to admit how much time it took to get everything together...it's too embarrassing. Also, just the general lack of information about it. Teresa, you were great getting us information, and all of the last-years interns were great with their examples and support. But, I think BYU needs to be better about informing their students about this project. Last, (sorry, this should only be one thing) I felt like the whole thing was very repetitive, especially the self reflection part. As an intern (I don't know how student teachers feel) I felt like the repetitive nature of the project and the amount of work we had to do was both unhelpful to me as a teacher, not as informative as it could be, and it distracted me from being as good of a teacher as I could be. I heard someone saying that the TWS should be changed into a format that is more practical so that teachers will actually use it in their teaching when creating a unit.
2. The most valuable thing about the TWS was creating my own test. I've gotten all of my tests from other teachers, and it was nice making my own. Man-that takes a lot of work!
3. I think I would rate myself at a 9. I get stressed out about things-especially those things that determine graduation. Also, the last formatting and scanning things just took so much time that I didn't have time for anything else. When all you do all night is scan you are not happy. I think my students have noticed.
Rachel
1.) The most challenging part of the teacher work sample for me was the assesment plan. It was the most tedious section I think, but a very improtant one.
2.) The most valuable part was the actual planning of the unit and really trying to make it the best it could be with accommodations for many students. I did the TWS on Landforms, which is the Science rotation that I teach 4 times throughout the year. So I was able to teach the unit twice before the official time I taught it for my TWS. This made it much easier for me to really make the unit solid and make changes to improve it each time.
3.) This past week my stress level was a 0. I finished the TWS shortly after Christmas break so I was ready to get it off my hands. Thanks Teresa for all your suggestions and support!
2.) The most valuable part was the actual planning of the unit and really trying to make it the best it could be with accommodations for many students. I did the TWS on Landforms, which is the Science rotation that I teach 4 times throughout the year. So I was able to teach the unit twice before the official time I taught it for my TWS. This made it much easier for me to really make the unit solid and make changes to improve it each time.
3.) This past week my stress level was a 0. I finished the TWS shortly after Christmas break so I was ready to get it off my hands. Thanks Teresa for all your suggestions and support!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Blog of the Week
THE TEACHER WORK SAMPLE....
Would you mind commenting or blogging about the following three questions:
1) What was challenging about the TWS?
2) What was valuable about the TWS?
3) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the MOST stressed), how stressed have you been about the Teacher Work Sample? Why?
Thanks! Oh - and Megan - you can write about the project you had to do last fall for BYU-Idaho.
Would you mind commenting or blogging about the following three questions:
1) What was challenging about the TWS?
2) What was valuable about the TWS?
3) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the MOST stressed), how stressed have you been about the Teacher Work Sample? Why?
Thanks! Oh - and Megan - you can write about the project you had to do last fall for BYU-Idaho.
DONE!!!!!!!!! DONE, DONE, DONNNNNE!!!!!!
Just wanted to say to all you wonderful interns...
The long-dreaded Teach Work Sample is submitted and we're DONE! Hurray! My husband and I are going to celebrate by getting COLD STONE ICE CREAM!!! (Cake batter with sprinkles... it's the BEST!!!) Go do something fun, smile, and be happy because WE'RE DONE!!!!!!!!!!! And.... a SUPER-HUGE thank you to TERESA!!!!!!!! I SO appreciate all the help and encouragement and motivation you helped to give us on the TWS! You're amazing! :) Now we can focus on all the fun, awesome teaching ideas you have! HURRAY! (oh... and finding a job... but not until April...) :) Happy Wednesday y'all!
-Chelsie
PS- Teresa: when you finish your Masters' Thesis... I'll post a congrats to you too. :) And you should get Cold Stone Ice Cream too because your INTERNS finished their TWS's and then you can go again when YOU turn in your thesis. I'll go with you. :) Any reason to celebrate is a good excuse for me! :)
CONGRATS on being DONE!!!
The long-dreaded Teach Work Sample is submitted and we're DONE! Hurray! My husband and I are going to celebrate by getting COLD STONE ICE CREAM!!! (Cake batter with sprinkles... it's the BEST!!!) Go do something fun, smile, and be happy because WE'RE DONE!!!!!!!!!!! And.... a SUPER-HUGE thank you to TERESA!!!!!!!! I SO appreciate all the help and encouragement and motivation you helped to give us on the TWS! You're amazing! :) Now we can focus on all the fun, awesome teaching ideas you have! HURRAY! (oh... and finding a job... but not until April...) :) Happy Wednesday y'all!
-Chelsie
PS- Teresa: when you finish your Masters' Thesis... I'll post a congrats to you too. :) And you should get Cold Stone Ice Cream too because your INTERNS finished their TWS's and then you can go again when YOU turn in your thesis. I'll go with you. :) Any reason to celebrate is a good excuse for me! :)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Ashlee
Lately I've noticed that my students are starting to get more restless and bored in my class. We've now been in school for five months and they are kind of bored with the daily routine. I decided that I needed to change somethings. I changed the way our class was arranged. I was surprised how much this helped to mix up the class. Another thing that I've done is sometimes I will switch the order of things that I teach. My students are so use to the schedule where it sometimes gets mundane. Once a week I'll switch two subjects. I've found that this has helped with their restlessness. Which is a good thing because we still have three months!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What would I change?
If I could change one thing in my classroom, I think I would see more creativity. For example, for one of my centers my students got to color and cut-out a picture of Washington (after everything was done, of course). Well, I admit I am NOT perfect becuase I got the wrong color of paper to use for the project. Instead of just sitting there or asking what they could do about the problem, these students asked for blank paper so they could color it and cut it out. Some of you might not be impressed by this, but this is AMAZING for my second graders. I love how they took the initiative to solve their own problem! If this was a common trend among students I think that we would see more higher level thinking and more problem solving in real life and school situations. I would love that.
Writing Ideas
I just wanted to remind everyone about some writing ideas we learned in our classes at BYU. I tried (am trying) these with my 2nd graders and they loved them.
Last night I had the strangest dream..
1. Show students a picture of some famous artwork (I choose "The Scream").
2. Give the prompt- "last night I had the strangest dream..."
3. Give students a certain amount of time (I chose 7 minutes for the first round) to write the first part of the story. After they have written that, have the students switch with a neighbor.
4. Students will read their neighbor's story and then add on to it (6 minutes for just writing- don't include reading).
5. Switch papers one last time, read and write (5 minutes).
My students loved adding on to someone else's work and finding out how their stories ended.
I'm going to continue the writing and askt he students to revise and edit their own paper. I also had to ban certain words after each writing session because I saw the same things over and over again.
::Food Coloring in the Water::
This one is so simple. You just drop some food coloring in water and then see how descriptive you can be in describing how the color looks as it dissipates. I haven't taught this one yet, but I plan on modeling quite a bit before we begin. I think this is a great activity to help the students be more descriptive in their writing. I plan on saving the students' work and redoing the activity a few times to see if they become more descriptive with time.
Have fun!
Rachel Taylor
Last night I had the strangest dream..
1. Show students a picture of some famous artwork (I choose "The Scream").
2. Give the prompt- "last night I had the strangest dream..."
3. Give students a certain amount of time (I chose 7 minutes for the first round) to write the first part of the story. After they have written that, have the students switch with a neighbor.
4. Students will read their neighbor's story and then add on to it (6 minutes for just writing- don't include reading).
5. Switch papers one last time, read and write (5 minutes).
My students loved adding on to someone else's work and finding out how their stories ended.
I'm going to continue the writing and askt he students to revise and edit their own paper. I also had to ban certain words after each writing session because I saw the same things over and over again.
::Food Coloring in the Water::
This one is so simple. You just drop some food coloring in water and then see how descriptive you can be in describing how the color looks as it dissipates. I haven't taught this one yet, but I plan on modeling quite a bit before we begin. I think this is a great activity to help the students be more descriptive in their writing. I plan on saving the students' work and redoing the activity a few times to see if they become more descriptive with time.
Have fun!
Rachel Taylor
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Just one thing???
If I could change any one thing about my classroom, it would be that the students would be more respectful of each other outside of the classroom. Not saying they are ALL like that, but I have a couple that are constantly calling out, calling people names, tattling, and it drives me bonkers! If I could change those two students' difficult attitudes, it would be amazing. They are usually the ones that interrupt and disrupt the flow. We are working with them, and they are getting better, don't get me wrong, but of course some days are better than others!
Squeepers
"Squeepers"
Yesterday Teresa came in to teach my class a Utah history lesson. My grade-level uses a social studies packet which I find boring, and so do my students. I asked Teresa if she could come in a teach a cool Utah history lesson, so she taught "Squeepers". I found this lesson to be fun for my students, and I was shocked at how quickly they started working when she sent them back to their seats. We are going to finish the lesson she started yesterday today, so wish us good luck!
Ms. Camper and her class!
Yesterday Teresa came in to teach my class a Utah history lesson. My grade-level uses a social studies packet which I find boring, and so do my students. I asked Teresa if she could come in a teach a cool Utah history lesson, so she taught "Squeepers". I found this lesson to be fun for my students, and I was shocked at how quickly they started working when she sent them back to their seats. We are going to finish the lesson she started yesterday today, so wish us good luck!
Ms. Camper and her class!
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