Kaitlyn+S

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**__ Projects __** 

**__ LESSON PLANS __** 

(Accommodated Lesson Plan^)

(Student Lead Investigation^)  (Discussion Lesson Plan ^)

 (Cooperative Learning Lesson Plan^)



(Simulation Lesson Plan^)

__Teacher Pen Pal Response:__

What assignments do you use: Assessments typically vary so that kids of all different learning styles are challenged and have the chance to excel. You could probably make this list: traditional tests with questions common to all teachers; traditional meaning multiple choice, written short answer/essay questions. Also, DBQs or traditional essays, mock trials, debates including role-plays or silent written debates, research projects that may be submitted as posters, powerpoints, or presentations, and quizzes and tests that include art interpretation/and or political cartoon interpretation. We've found that videos and or plays are absolute disasters, usually. I did accept a project on Rome in song (fully performed song with lyrics and music) once.

**December 7th:** Multiple Intelligences Quiz:

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Music: 4.43 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Body Movement: 3.29 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Self: 2.57 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Social: 2.57 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Language: 2.14 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Nature: 2 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Spatial: 1.57 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Logic/Math: 1.43

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">This fits me to a tee. It can also be helpful in explaining to someone who takes this the best way for them to learn. I would have to argue, however, that although I love music, for example, I would not consider music learning the best way I learn standard scholastic material. On the other hand, moving around and connecting things to my own life (the body movement and self category) are completely relevant and essential to my learning so that aspect is on par.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**November 16th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">My teacher pen pal said this about getting to know their students:

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">On the first day of school I have them fill out a questionnaire about themselves and I read them through once a week for the first month of school. It freaks kids out when can randomly make a comment to a kid later on about their responses. You'd be surprised how much you remember that way. Also, I make it a point to talk to kids before and after class and in study hall. I ask about their sports teams, in social studies lessons about their knowledge from hebrew school, religious ed, things like that. Most importantly, I listen. I listen to their conversations before class, I listen to them on runs during field hockey, etc. When they come for extra help, I just talk to them. I do not Facebook with current students, nor do I text them, etc. I usually reserve talking about non-school related things for field hockey kids- coaching allows an unbelievable opportunity to get to know and mentor young people. I also use our online grading program, PowerSchool, to get data on kids- their test scores, their grades in other subjects at the current time, their special ed info, their demographic info (where they live, what their parents do, any siblings, etc.) which helps me to better understand them. I do not socialize in any way with kids outside of school. I do do community service things with kids through school - i.e. run 5k with the field hockey team, visit homeless shelter to serve meals, do the REbuild Hartford/habitat for humanity thru the high school with kids, and relay for life where I am a chaperon for a school team of students. This helps too.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**November 8th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Something that I remember from Mr. Pineda's class was his massive personality and his true excitement for teaching. I think that kind of passion for teaching is the most important thing to have when going into the classroom and I think that it motives students (just having the right attitude in general). Something I would like to ask him is if he really thought his group work sessions were as productive as he wanted them to be and if the students really got what he wanted out of the lesson because there was no type of post lesson assessment. I'm not sure that the students really understood what he was trying to get at in his lesson. I believe he should have had a more formal explanation of his concepts rather than just expecting students to make their own ties. With teaching, assuming students know basic information can sometimes be your worst enemy.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**November 2nd:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">A crucial aspect of null curricula that I experienced, especially in high school, was the importance of having a job and being well rounded and smart. Although it was never said, every teacher was supposed to 'prepare us for college.' Not only that, but you were expected to be involved in a sport or music otherwise (usually) the students that didn't did not have many friends or connections at school. Another part of the null curricula was the expectation that students that weren't in honors or AP classes were dumb. Although this may not have been the case, most people looked down on those students almost as 'lower class' citizens because they weren't performing at the same level as everyone else.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**October 26th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: small;">What surprised me most about this Donald Johnson article was the sheer racism seen this article. Although I am not naive to the idea, I had never given it any thought that the basic founding principles of the thing I wanted to teach for the rest of my life came from racist ideals of assimilation of lesser cultures. I would argue that the strongest influences on how social studies began was DuBois for the simple fact that his ideals were most on target with the future (the present) stream of consciousness on social studies itself. His theories and ideals were far less racist and more accepting. The fact that he saw social studies as a way to blur the color lines and may have (somewhat) saw all cultural and races as similar under the eyes of God. Although his ideals, like many others, were deeply rooted in religion, this was the temper of the time (unlike the religious controversy in today's schooling). The foundation of social studies, made us a route to a better social studies education today process today. It also seems (at times) to perpetuate the ethnocentrism in today's classrooms. With all of the standards and skills that are necessary for students to learn to pass tests, the minimal educational experience is sometimes required which thus leads to a central learning, not a broad, worldly learning basis.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**October 19th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">After our discussion the other day about Columbus, I think I will be teaching the facts as much as possible. The best thing to do would be to lay out the facts for students and let them know that this is what happened and that they should discern for themselves what they deem is true or not. This type of self-conclusive teaching is essential when teaching controversial issues because it allows students to participate in their own learning as well as helps them better understand issues because they will be able to pick out details and facts of a lesson that they see as important. This idea is also circumstantial depending on the curriculum and the standards of the area that I will be teaching in.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**October 12th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">I am glad that we have created professional growth and development plans. I feel it has better focused me on my goals for this semester and how I want to further develop as a teacher. It has allowed me to be put back into the reality of teaching and has made our class experiences more applicable to reality for me. I think that this task is very useful because it keeps me interested and accountable to the profession. I believe a dumbed down version of this exercise would be useable in a middle school or high school class. Maybe just setting one goal per semester for each student would work better, however I think it would keep them more accountable to their own working and learning. However, I do not think that spending a lot of time on this exercise would be worth while.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**October 5th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sir Ken Robinson's video was very eye opening for me. Ironically, one of my friends posted this comic online and it pertains perfectly to what he as discussing. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Although I find this a humorous cartoon, it is a very real scene. As Robinson points out we are getting away from the important things in education (i.e. actual learning). Education has turned into a game of learning what society has deemed 'essential' for students. By being innovators in the classroom, I believe we can foster the creativity that Robinson discusses. For me personally, I have been in search of the best possible activities for students to do. I know as a student I have always hated lectures and note taking. My goal is to make a student remember something they did so on a test they say, 'hey! we learned about Native Americans in that tableau skit Ms. Stalk did with us last week. They DID still use bow and arrows!.' This, to me, is real learning and something that students can actually apply to their everyday lives in and out of the classroom. Without being able to grab students attention and keep them interested, how would a teacher even keep them interested in the material they want to teach, not to mention the material they should be teaching! As Phyllis points out indirectly, you have to want to teach to be a good teacher. Although this isn't the only thing that is important, it is definitely transparent if this view point is not expressed.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**September 26th:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">1) Business: attendance, collect HW, assign HW, return papers (2-3min) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">2) Initiation/hook: no more than 2-5 min; something "cool" to get kids interested in the day's lesson- a quote to discuss, a picture, asking about a current event that relates, etc. & relate to EQ and that day's guiding question(s) w/ a quick synopsis of the previous day if necessary <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">3) Activity (i.e notes, PPT, read a document, discuss HW as a class, in pairs, whatever) - 15-20 min. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">4) Another activity (same kind of stuff, but different from whatever I did before, just to mix it up if I can) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">5) closure- (2 min) remind re EQ, try to get them to explain how the day's lesson helped them get at the day's guiding question(s) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">This is what the model lesson looks like. I often do not fully execute it, but try to generally....often never get to the closure in 42 minutes, and have to cut off the "hook" in order to get to the lesson. Of course, if you're doing a mock trial, debate, etc, then the format is different.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">September 19th: ** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">A) The most difficult thing in planning this unit so far is trying to decide how in depth and how far into the subjects our group wanted to go when planning the lesson. In order to explain certain events in history it is essential to give your students the background information but the question is how far back and to what depth is really that essential to our students understanding of the course material.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">B) I think that the unit should be planned chronologically. I feel this way because most of the units that I have learned that were planned in themes never put everything in perspective and I found it very confusing. Everything has a cause and an effect and without ordering them somewhat chronologically it is difficult to understanding what caused what and what events contributed and worked together to lead to even larger events. Although understanding themes in history is essential, it may be more beneficial to the students for them to develop connections and themes (whether it's with assistance or not) in order to further their understanding of the subjects.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">September 12th: ** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">A) Good teachers possess two things. The first being a keen sense of being able to read people and the second being poise through calm wisdom. By being able to read people and understand them, teachers are able to teach to their classes’ strengths and really get through to their students. By having this ability, a teacher is most effective. On the other hand, having poise through calm wisdom is also essential. By being confident and calm, a teacher can appear put together and put confidence in their students. This will ultimately create a better learning environment for all the people that enter into the classroom.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">B) My strengths as a teacher are my ability to relate to people and to empathize with many diverse learning and personal situations. On the other hand, I need to improve on my ability to talk much slower and to be confident and methodical in the way that I teach. By having these abilities I will be able to be a phenomenal teacher.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">C) Skills that I need to practice to improve my teaching would be becoming more organized and remembering what I am presenting. As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s really easy to get frazzled and frantic and to forget what I am trying to present, ultimately, to the class.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">** September 7th: ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A) My favorite memory from my high school AP US History class was when my teacher said he would do a backflip if everyone did their homework correctly and we did. It appeared as if he was surveying the area of the room to see if he had enough room to do a back flip but all the sudden he just did it. He ended up landing right on his tailbone and was limping for a few days but was okay. It was RIDICULOUS!

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B) My worst memory from social studies class was when I was in an entry level class instead of an honors class my freshman year in high school. There were three teachers for the class and not only did I feel undervalued and underutilized, but I felt like I wasn't learning anything so I would just space out the whole class. I regret it until this day because not only did my placement teacher not recognize my abilities but no one seemed to push us very hard and I missed a lot of relevant historical information about world history.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C) I want to teach social studies because of all the amazing teachers I had in high school. I really feel like I can change the lives of my students just as they changed my life. I feel that social studies is a perfect medium of topics and that anyone can be a good student at it. I want to break from the "ohh I hated that class" stigma that is so often attached to social studies classes.