Currently, I am doing my fieldwork
at Collins Academy High School. I am observing a Juniors American Literature
class. The two classes I have been mainly focusing on are the Honors and the
regular class with SPED students inclusive. During my time at Collins I notice
how the teacher has to constantly be on her toes and be ready to make changes
in her plans at any time due to many things. One in particular is the frequency
of absences, so she is constantly trying to catch students up while trying to
move the class along as a whole. Not only do I see the teacher in a tough
position, but also I see students lacking confidence in their writing skills.
Their lack of confidence and feeling of overwhelment reminds me of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Bird by Bird applies to the students and
the teacher at Collins because I have witnessed the students and teacher
complete tasks and execute them in an excellent manner, so it is not impossible
to be productive and get tasks completed. However, I think both of them need to
take those moments and just breath and write down as much as they can whether
it is writing claims for their MEL-Con assignment or re-writing new lesson
plans and activities every day.
In my opinion what helps the class stay as close
as on task as they possibly can is the teacher’s organization. She grades
papers and gives helpful feedback within the week and student’s are required to
have a binder for her class with tabs in order for them to stay on track with
their work and stay organized. Not only does the teacher give helpful feedback
she has something extremely unique going on in her class that I absolutely
admire. She has “CALL MY CRIB” forms. These forms are for students who felt
they made an accomplishment, big or small, inside the classroom and want to be
acknowledged for that so they fill out a request form for the teacher to call
their home. It is very common for teachers to only call home when something is
wrong, and when students are unaware; on the contrary students now have some
type of control in this process by writing what they want the teacher to say
and why. So far I’ve seen numerous students fill out the form for things as
little as participating in class and turning in homework on time to getting a
100% on a RFC quiz. With that being said, I also see how this motivates
students to purposely participate in class, turn in their homework, and do well
overall. This also related back to Smagorinsky’s view on motivation in chapter
1, and how teachers can set up an environment for students to find their own
motivation.
"CALL MY CRIB" . . . Genius!
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool, Tatiana. It seems like this is a great place for you! I really like the "Call My Crib" idea. I think one of the big problems in education occur when students lose their confidence. And this happens really often... I have seen students be reprimanded for things big or small and just never recover. This method is great for keeping students motivated, like you said. It's like they're working for the reward of their choice, and I'm sure the parents love it too. I wonder if this would work in a different type of classroom, like mine. I wonder if the reluctant students I work with would be motivated by such a tactic. I think I would definitely take this idea and try it out in my own classroom (one day).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're having a great time at your school and with your mentor teacher. It seems like you're getting a lot out of this experience, and that's all we could hope for :)
-AKW