Final ELL meeting

Today, I met with my ELL for the final time.  The focus of today’s meeting was to once again help them in one of their content areas.  As stated previously my ELL strugglesmost in social studies, so I have been working on geography materials with him.  His geography teacher has seemingly been strategically absent every time I need to get materials from him, so one again I decided to use materials from another teacher.  We were still focusing on Africa and specifically South Africa currently.  I had a packet that included a textbook chapter and worksheets. 

When he came into the cafeteria, I went and met him and told him to get a donut so that we could get started.  After he sat down, we talked a bit about how school was going, and about how things are at home.  Then, I showed him the packet of materials I had and asked him whether he had worked on anything similar in class.  He said that he had not, so we began by going over some basic info about South Africa.  I pointed out key vocabulary and explained definitions to him.  He translated several of the terms into Spanish and showed me how to spell and pronounce them correctly.  Next, we read through some of the text in the packet and I pointed out the most important parts to pay attention to.  We also went over some graphs that displayed various statistics.  I then pulled out the worksheet and and explained how it worked.  It was a chart in which you rated the improvement of South Africa in key areas such as education, unemployment, racial segregation, political equality, etc.  I modeled the first one for him and showed what part of the text and which graph I used to find the answer.  On the next one, I did the writing, but let him find the answer.  For the final three categories, I let him write the answers and find the info, but helped him along when he got stuck, which was quite often.  After we completed the worksheet we talked about South Africa, and in which ways it may be similar or different to Honduras, where he is from.  The remainder of the hour was then used for small talk.  I let him ask me questions and guide the conversation.  We then talked about his upcoming TAKS test and whether or not he was nervous.  He said he was fine, but would have the most problems with reading comprehension.  He seemed pretty confident overall, so I told I thought he was doing a good job and not to worry too much.  With that I wished him luck and we said goodbye. 

Monday ELL meeting

Today, we met with our ELL students for the 4th time.  This time was supposed to be organized the same way as last time.  We were supposed to help tutor the student in an area where he or she may be struggling.  So, I attempted to meet with his geography teacher last week to get the appropriate materials, but the teacher was out and only left behind a clueless sub.  I knew that many of the other classes were studying Africa, so I figured it this class would be the same.  Today (monday), I went to meet the teacher right before going to see my ELL and he did confirm this info, but I had virtually nothing prepared and he had nothing to give me.  Given this situation, I decided to simply improvise something.  I got a blank copy of an African country map for us to fill out. 

When I got to cafeteria to meet the ELL we started by talking about a few random subjects.  I asked him how his soccer team was doing, and he informed me that they suck.  On a better note, he did say his family was well and school was going fine.  He said he did well on his recent geography test and I asked if the work we did helped and he said that it really did.  This motivated me to attempt to make a difference on the next one as well.  We started by filling in the African countries on the map.  I was surprised that he knew many of them and so asked him how he knew so much about Africa.  Turns out, his interest in World Cup Soccer has aided him in this area greatly.  He told me which county had teams and who was good or not.   After we finished that, I helped him make a graphic organizer about the different types of maps used by geographers and regular folks alike.  I explained how each could be used and in which situations they may be appropriate.  He seemed to understand the concept well, but was a little foggy when it came to the vocabulary.  I worked to simplify and translate the terms for him.  For instance, I explained that climate was all about weather, or that economic had to do with money and jobs etc.  This seemed to pretty good sense to him.   Next, I improvised a chart in which to classify the different types and assessed how he was doing.  I was very pleased to see some relatively impressive results.  Next, we turned our attention back to Africa to see what the different map types could reavel about this region. I am far from an expert on African geography but was able to pass along some important information, and at the same time, he was able to help me brush up on some spanish.  After we finished we just sat and talked for a couple of minutes.  He seems to always want to know about college.  Are there bars near campus? Are there lots of parties?  Are the muchas mujeres at your school?  I answered these questions honestly as I could without being innapropriate.  I figured any motivation is good motivation when comes to higher education. 

Second video teach

At the end of last week, I attempted my second video teach.  Once again, I taught in Mrs. B’s economics class because I believed that the seniors would be easier to work with.  My other class is a 9th grade geography class which could be politely described as challenging.  So, this time the lesson was over market structures, specifically monopolistic competition and oligopoly.  As one could imagine, the students were EXTREMELY interested from the get go.  I decided that the best way to structure this lesson was with a Powerpoint lecture, followed up by a game of jeopardy.   

Geography with my ELL student

Today we visited with our assigned ELL students for the third time.  The main focus was to try to work with them with our content area or one that their teachers report as needing extra help.  For my student, who is a nineth grader, this area was geography.  I was pleased because this is one of my teaching areas as well.  I was dreading the possibility that with my luck, he would be needing help with some type of advanced mathematics.  This would have inevitably ended up as a greater learning experience for me rather than him, and I was hoping to be tutor rather than the tutored.  Anyway, I went to visit with his geography teacher who informed me that they were studying South Asia and gave me a worksheet that they would be doing in class.  The worksheet was primarily a mapping activity.  It called for the student to label various ladmasses, bodies of water, rivers, and mountains.  Then it included about five questions all asking students to identify certain features in relation to others.   So, I took the list of place names and cut them out so that the student could place them on the map.When I first arrived and sat down with the student we spent several minutes talking about numerous subjects.  I asked him how he was doing and about his family as well.  I then took time to explain the worksheet and what we would be doing.  He seemed to understand the instructions fine.  As we started on the activity I noticed he had little knowledge of the subject matter, but understood what I wanted him to do.   We spent about 30 minutes putting the place names on the map together.  Then I would remove them and see which ones he could correctly match up on his own.  He did very well overall at this.  Then we moved on to the questions.  This was a little more difficult but once I helped him define or translate some difficult words he did well at this as well.  By the time we finished the class period was pretty much over, so we talked for a moment about some unrelated topics and I told him he had done a good job today.    This meeting was a good experience for me and the ELL for numerous reasons.  First, I took time at the beginning of the meeting to talk about things that interested him.  This definitely helps to build rapport between the two of us and remove any affective filter that would prevent the student from learning.   Second, I made the activity slightly more interesting by including a tactile element with the place names.  This kept us moving along at a steady pace and prevented him from having to spend to much time writing them all out.  Also, I helped the student increase his knowledge of academic language and terminology by translating important geographic vocabulary into spanish along with its english equivalent.  That way he could not only do better on this subject matter, but future geography topics as well.   Although the meeting went well, there are still a few areas that I could have improved.  For instance, I should have brought some more materials beside the worksheet to engage his interest and schema.  A picture book about the region would have been great for this.  Also, I wish I knew a little more about his native culture, so that I could compare and contrast it with the culture in this region.  A separate worksheet that allowed  the ELL student to see the spanish and english equivalents of key vocabulary side by side would have helped or maybe a matching activity.  Overall, I think I did ok with the materials and resources I had on hand and made good use of our time.  

Wed. Economics Class

Today, in Mrs. B’s economics class the lesson centered around the topic of perfect competition within markets.  At the beginning of class the students quickly took their seats and were talking amongst themselves as Mrs. B pulled up the PowerPoint she planned to use.  She then informed the students about the days topic.  She told the class that they would need to take notes during her presentation because their would be a open note quiz later and then a group activity.  All the students took out paper and began to take notes as she started the presentation.  She started by giving some examples of competition that the students would be familiar with.  Throughout her lecture she would ask students to name examples of concepts and also gave some real world ones of her own.  Also, she told several humorous stories and invited students to do the same, which really highlighted her laid back sense of humor.  At the end of the PowerPoint she gave the students a four question quiz with four different types of questions on it, each of varying difficulty.  Once the students had finished the quiz, about 10 minutes later, she introduced students to the group activity.  She told them to get into groups of 4 and allowed them to choose their group members.  While in groups the students worked on creating posters while talking about both the subject matter and personal topics.  The students worked in these groups till the end of class, when they were required to hand in thier work. 

The lesson in Mrs. B’s class ran very smoothly today for several different reason.  First, her lesson was well organized and students were informed of exactly what they would be doing at the beginning of class.  The students took their seats immediately at the beginning of class.  While I have not seen her discuss any class policy pertaining to this the students are seniors and most likely behave this way automaticaly.  She also got the students attention quickly by asking questions and giving students examples to both pique their interest and activate thier schema. 

First teaching experience

Today marked a huge step in my process of becoming a teacher.  I had my first opportunity to actually teach a lesson in the classroom.  My lesson today was in my economics class and the subject was prices and market equilibrium.  This lesson was little hard for me because, the subject matter is not a favorite of many students.   I really didn’t have a good warm up activity planned and I think that was the main problem with my lesson.  Overall, the kids were quite during my powerpoint lecture and seemed to pay attention.  My class is all seniors so classroom management is not as challenging.  At the same time, they were not exactly engaged.  They just quitely took notes.  I could see that my lesson had some week point when the students started working on the worksheet I provided.  Despite me explaining the supply and demand charts during the lecture, the students were unable to create one on their own.  This was another area I needed to improve.  Next time I would use the lecture as an opportunity to construct a graph with the entire class.  That way, students could see the exact steps used when creating one.  Anyway, I am pleased with my first lesson, and know that the experience was educational for both the student and for me.

Preassessing ELL langauge proficiency activity

On Monday we had our second opportunity to work with our ELL students.  This time we were attempting to assess the student’s langauge proficiency.  When I first sat down with Christian, I started off trying to build rapport.  I asked how his family was and he said they were good.  I then asked briefly about how school was going, and he said it was good.  He will really only respond to simple questions requiring one word responses.  He acted pretty distant and somewhat bored with the small talk, so I started explaining what we would be working on.

We then got started on the activity.  I began by making a diagram of my family using spanish words to describe my relations.  I asked him to help me with words I did not know and he enjoyed helping me.  Then, I had him make one of his family using english, and I helped him write and pronounce words he did not know.  During the activity, I took the opportunity to ask some questions about vvarious family members

Next, we began on the listening and speaking part of the activity.  I explained and read the excerpt to him and then asked him to answer some questions.  He was unable to answer the questions as originally presented, so I had to change them to yes or no questions.  He didn’t seem to really follow the story. 

Finally meeting Mr. U

Well, I have now been working with my cooperating teachers for more than a week.  Mrs. B, the economics teacher, is very helpful and informative.  She talks a lot about not only how to instruct, but also about the general lifestyle of a teacher.  This information is very important to me, because it helps me to understand how my life will revolve around my future career. 

This Monday, I finally had the opportunity to meet my other cooperating teacher, Mr. U.  I am extremely pleased to be working in his classroom as well.  He graduated from Texas State as well, and even knows many of the same professors that I have taken.   He is very laid back and therefore has a great rapport with students.  In both of my classes, it seems as both of my teachers are working mainly toward getting the kids caught up on their late work.  It is the last week of the grading period and an overwhelming majority of the students have not turned in some of the assignments.  As the teachers are giving out grade list to student, I am a little shocked to see how many of the students are not passing.  Both teachers have expressed that this is the reason that they give students so much time to turn in late work.  If they did not, many more students would fail and it would poorly reflect on their teaching abilities. 

My first day in the classrooom!

Today I met my cooperating teacher for the first time.  She seems to be pretty down to earth and knowledgeable about both her subject area (economics) and teaching in general.  The class was relatively small today due to the recent death of a student and teacher.  A lot of kids were absent both today and yesterday.  For this first day, the students were working in the computer lab, writing a short paper on a chosen entrepreneur.  The kids seemed very distracted and many were in and out of the class to visit grief counselors.  So, in general not a great deal of work was being done.  The students were generally on task considering the circumstances.  Being in the computer lab did give me the opportunity to speak to the teacher at length about the course.  The class seems to be a little more laid back due to the fact that economics is not on TAKS.  This also gives the teacher more control over the curriculum.  I am pretty happy with my placement in her classroom and look forward to getting to know the class.

1st post

Well….this actually my fist blog post ever.  This blog should be an interesting way to find out about my classmates.  I am really looking forward to this semester and getting some experience in a real classroom.  I am working toward the Social Studies Composite, but my major is history.  My minors include both geography and political science.  Despite having history as my main focus in college, I am very interested in teaching geography.  I think geography is sort of one of those catch all disciplines which seems to involve some history, meterology, goelogy, biology, political science, economics and socioligy.  Since my interest tend to vary widely, this seems to be perfectly tailored to me.