Le Blog de David

I thought for this blog I would write out some goals to work on and then comment next week on how I met those goals. To begin with, a  goal I have is to improve on differentiating the lesson plans so that they meet all students needs.  It has been tough for me to do this so far.  I am trying, but I am not doing a great job at differentiating the curriculum.  The way I can do this is to plan more detalied  and to tier assignments/presentations.  

 Another goal I have is to use more technology in the classroom.  I use powerpoint a lot and the internet, but I would like to expand my skills in other forms of technology as well.  It seems like technology is a great way to engage students and there is still a lot for me to learn. 

Teaching is going well.  Confidence is growing.  I have a great group of kids and am at a great school, so I cant complain too much.  I am stressed a lot and wish each day had about 12 more hours in it, but thats life, what are you gonna do?

As far as experiences go, I think one thing I am happy about is the ability to “adapt” each day.  We have been instructed for over eight months about how to write a lesson plan with objectives, a set, benchmarks, etc, but I feel that one of the biggest unknown challenges going into the student teaching is the variable of the unknown.  When I say the variable of the unknown, I mean the hitch that may randomly appear in the day.  A lot of times for me, it has been difficult when students have missed class and are behind.  They have a lot of questions and are confused b/c they missed something from the previous class.  Sometimes I feel like I am bombarded with questions from students who have been gone maybe one day, or some who have been gone for a week.  Getting them up to speed and continuing on with the lesson plan for that day is challenging.  I can definitely be more prepared for the situation by bringing copies of directions for previous notes/assignments.  But yeah, being ready for a wide range of questions is challenging.

I began teaching this week in the classroom.  My anxiety the night before my first day was extremely high, but I actually wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be once I got in the classroom and began teaching.  I am teaching a history course and am teaching a unit on the Cold War.  I have realized that although knowing the content is important, I now believe that classroom managemnt may be even more important. In my first class, the students definitely tested the boundaries.  In my opinion, its good to be firm, but it is also important to demonstrate that you are enforcing the rules for their overall well being and to create a safe learning environment.  This can be achieved by balancing enforcement of rules with also demonstrating that you are a human being and sharing something positive with the class.I have also learned that students appreciate honesty and that if you make a mistake, it is a good idea to acknowledge that mistake. 

Challenges that I have faced include keeping up with planning ahead for the future.  I was told I would be teaching a unit five days before I began teaching it so I have struggled to get ahead of the schedule.  I am literally, just trying to survive day by day.  I try to plan ahead for future lesson plans, but for right now, I am barely able to keep up with each day’s lesson plan.  Maybe I am taking too long preparing for each lessson plan,  I am not sure.  This adds a lot of stress to my life.  I do believe writing lesson plans will get easier as time goes on, but for now, it is pretty crazy. 

The following is feedback from a fellow classmate named Christopher Muir: “Awesome man, You totally get this. Here’s my two cents (pretty accurate, probably): get rid of the criss-cross to the left of causes and find another hyperlink to “more on czars”. Didn’t work for me. You might try it again.”After receiving this constructive criticism, I worked to amend the diagram in order to make it more “user friendly” for students. I would use this diagram to introduce the topic of the Russian Revolution. I believe this diagram would benefit my students by introducing them to the key events and people of this topic.  The Inspiration Diagram acts as an informational menu which guides students to their educational satisfaction.  The students can also delve deeper into more specific points of the topic and are encouraged to do so.   This particular diagram would be used to reach Benchmark SS.CM.HS.05. These numbers stand for “Understanding the causes, characteristics, lasting influence, and impact of political, economic, and social developments in world history.” Specifically, it is under the content area of SS.CM.HS.05.08. which stand for “understanding the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolutionary War.” The assimilation I experienced  initially is that I felt this project is quite similar to a power point project.  After experimenting with the Inspiration Diagram,  I now have modified this and have created a whole new schema on how the function of this tool can greatly benefit me as a teacher. Although similar to power point, I believe Inspiration’s aesthetics can engage the student’s mind on key concepts in a more concise manner.        

Welcome to your brand new blog at Edublogs.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

There’s stacks of great supporting material too! Take time to view our some helpful introductory videos, read through our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.

If you’ve got 4 minutes and 55 seconds, we’ve also put together a video introduction that you might like:

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.

And finally, if you like Edublogs but want to be able to simply create, administer, control and manage hundreds of student and teacher blogs at your school or college, check out Edublogs Campus… it’s like Edublogs in a box, all for you.

Thanks again for signing up with Edublogs!