Graduating

I can not believe that its already the end of my college years! The past four years have gone by so fast, especially this year! I can not even explain how much fun I have had. I know that this is not the most exciting school here but I have met the best friends ever and I loved being so close to the city.
I can't believe that I have to go into the real world so soon. I hope that I am ready to be a good math teacher. Actually, I really hope I can get a job first! I know that I am confident and comfortable to be a teacher. All my teachers here have made me feel like I am ready to start my career. I am very excited about graduating but also very sad. I am going to miss all my roommates, teammates, and classmates! I know everyone is probably excited and can't wait to graduate, but make sure you make the most of your time here! I can't believe I am graduating so soon!!!!!!

Grading Policies

I had to read this article for my class and I thought it was a intriguing. It was about giving out zeros as a grade? We have to start thinking about the way we want to grade our students. That is one thing I do not think we cover enough of in our classes for education. Grading is very important and we need to learn what kind of teacher we want to be. Are you going to be the teacher that only gives grades based on class participation? Are you going to be the teacher that only has a few tests and based on the grades you get is your overall grade? Are you going to be the teacher that has many tests, quizzes, homework's, participation and uses all these to grade your student? Or are you going to be the teacher that does not believe in grades?

This article gave many good reasons why teachers should not give students zeros because they missed class, turned in an assignment late, or turned in an incomplete assignment. I agree with the article. Grades are suppose to represent how much and how well the students understand and learned the material. A test, paper or project shows the teacher, parent and student their academic performances. Giving a student a zero does not measure how much a student has learned. It also can discourage them from recieving a higher grade in that class because once they get a zero it will be very hard to get all high grades. Some students may think its an easy way out. If they don't do their work and still get some kind of grade on it they won't care.

The article made a good suggestion about giving zeros. The article has the students if they do not finish their work or do not do it at all or missed class they will have to make it up after school or on Saturdays. This will allow the teacher to measure how much a student actually learned in class rather than just giving them a zero and saying they didn't learn anything. I think this is fair because it won't ruin a student's grade just because an assignment is late and it makes the student's do their work.

I hate them teachers that use grades as a punishment. Especially in College with the absences. For example we are allowed six absences on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Thursdays, and some teachers may tell their students if they miss more they will lower their grade. I also hate them teachers that use grades against behavioral problems. I do not think this is fair at all to students. I think grades are suppose to help the students see how much they really learned and understand in their class. Read this article and what do you think about grading policies?

I am sorry but for some reason I can not get the website on here right now. I am going to see where my teacher got this article so I can post it. As soon as I get it I will post it.

Micro Teaching

After teaching on Tuesday, I felt very comfortable and confident that I will be a good teacher. I actually taught twice this week and every time I teach I feel like I am getting better. I really liked the way Dr. Luongo made the class more classlike with the behavorial problems. That is one thing that is hard to teach in a classroom. You really need to experience the problems as a teacher to understand what you should do. I really do think these micro teachings we do in class will help us in the future with teaching. The more practice you get the better you will become and I think that is the key for becoming a good teacher.
People think that teaching is easy but they have no idea how much work is put into being a teacher. You have to do so much work for just one lesson plan. I am not talking about a formal lesson plan, I am talking about one actual lesson. You have to know what you are going to teach, so you kind of have to learn it again before you can teach it. Then you have to plan how you are going to reach the students, what major points you will teach them, make worksheets and homework's. There is so much going into one lesson that no one really knows about. Teaching is not as easy as it looks or people say. You probably have noticed that is a lot of work by doing this micro teachings, or getting a unit ready. It takes a lot of time planning what you want to do. Then you may not be happy with your lesson after you teach it so you have to make changes. Even teaching these 15 minute lessons you have to put a lot of thought and organization behind it. Teaching is definitely a lot of work, but I will say I like doing this kind of work.

"A Different Kind of Student Exam"

I was reading this article and found it very interesting. It was about school districts who require Breathalyzer tests before entering the school for a prom or activity. Students in this article do not believe this is fair. They think it violates their privacy. I do not think it violates a students privacy. I can understand that the school districts want to watch the safety of their students. So many students are starting to drink at such a young age and schools really have to try to reduce this problem. And if giving Breathalyzer tests to students to reduce this problem then they should be able to do it.
Breathalyzer tests are not the only thing that is getting students into trouble. MySpace pictures are also a threat for underage students. If athletes have pictures of them drinking and they are underage they can be suspended from the team, and school. I know this was a major issue when I came to school especially when Facebook became popular. Its not even just underage drinking, but you are not allowed to be drinking during your season and if you get caught in pictures you can be suspended.
Read this article, it is very interesting. Give your thoughts about the Breathalyzer tests, and the pictures online. Do you think it is fair? Or do you think whatever you do outside of school is your own business and schools shouldn't interfere?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/30breathalyzerct.html?ref=education

Engineering

Last week in my education class we had a guest speaker about engineering. I thought it was very interesting because she was talking about incorporating engineering in classes. Many people do not think of going into engineering. Only 15% of Americans go into engineering, which i thought was very interesting. Engineers need background in math and science, so in school we should be introducing engineering in these subjects. We did an activity that could have been done in all grade levels. We had to make folders with construction paper, rulers, staples, and a piece of white paper. We had to make as many as we can in five minutes. We then realized it would be easier to make more folders if we worked together in an assembly line. This turned out to be true. This was to show how engineers are always thinking of different ways to improve their process.
After we did our activity we talked about how to incorporate this activity into a math class. This was good for me because I want to be a math teacher and I could definitely use this activity. It was good for learning measurement, finding your rate in a certain amount of time, or even graphing. But it also shows how math is used in everyday situations. I know my class had so much fun with it and we are in college so just imagine middle school or high school students. Hopefully, if I could connect this in my class students would want to look into engineering in their future.

Teachers

Today when I was in my philosophy class my teacher made a very interesting comment. He said even though he was a professor he would not be able to last two weeks as a high school teacher. The other students laughed and asked why. His answer was that being a teacher is a lot of work and he doesn't think he would be able to handle all the work they put in. I thought about this because so many people thinking teachers have it so easy. They always ask what is so hard about being a teacher when you have off summers and holidays. Teachers work so hard to prepare for classes the next day. Sometimes you will be up all night trying to put a lesson together or grade tests/papers. I wish people would understand how much work we are going to put in. I know this profession is not a high paying job, but it should be with all the work we will be doing.
While my teacher was talking about how much work a high school teacher has, he was also saying how much he admires high school teachers. Even though he doesn't think he could do it, he thinks its amazing that we can. We are making a difference in student's lives and it makes me so happy to become a teacher. This is definitely the most rewarding profession I think.
Last class we were talking about our dreams when we were little. I used to want to be a dolphin trainer, but I also wanted to become a teacher. I only wanted to be a trainer because I love dolphins and I thought it would make people happy watching me. But as I got older, I would take home my books at the end of the school year and I would pretend to be a teacher and my brothers were my students. I loved it and I loved helping them with their homework. Especially when they would do good on a test and I helped them. It is the best feeling in the world. I am so happy I chose this profession. I am excited to teach and help students!

Lesson Plans

I was just writing a lesson plan for another education class, and I was just thinking how detailed we make our lesson plans. I know that since I was in Aims I always learned to have every single detail in our lesson from the NJCCCS, materials, procedures, to the assessment. But all I have heard and even experienced, the public schools do not require such detailed lesson plans. I don't know about every school, but just schools I have been to and my friends have experienced. For example, while I was student teaching I asked my cooperating teacher how her lesson plan is set up, and how often she has to turn it in. For that school, each teacher is required to turn in one lesson plan for each month. On the lesson plan they just have to address the NJCCCS and what chapters they hope to cover. They also have to write the accomadations, and for their assessment they usually just write a quiz, and test for each section or chapter. It was nothing like what we had to write. I just thought that was really interesting.
Also, while I was student teaching Saint Peter's expects a lesson plan for each day, but that is also not a formal lesson plan they expect. They just wanted the topic, standards, procedure, and assessment, but this could all be written by hand. It didn't have to have a certain format. And I never had to show my cooperating teacher my lesson plan I wrote. We would go over the lesson the day before, but she did not need me to hand it to her. The principal didn't even look at any of my lesson plans. I am mentioning this because my roommate is student teaching now and she is basically taking over the class now and her school expects her to turn in a formal lesson plan for everyday. She has to show her cooperating teacher and give it to the principal, but this is a private school. I guess there is just different expectations when it comes to lesson plans for each school. So I would advise everyone to know their schools lesson plan formats when they go into student teaching. You do not want to get caught with no lesson plans and that principal is expecting them each week. You have to be on top of what that school wants.