The Final Review

The Final Review:

As the semester winds down, or pumps up the intensity depending on who you speak to, it is time to reflect on the work I have done or have struggled with along the way.

In this class, we were asked to truly look at ourselves as teachers, not just as teaching candidates. As teacher, then, we had to take our class with us on a journey of education, strap them in tight with prerequisites and count down the blast off with a list of skills they would soon be masters of. But along the way, as our students stared in starry wonder at their new knowledge, we learned all that we didn't know we didn't know. I didn't know that Direct Lesson would become a backbone of my Unit Plan. I didn't know that I could use riddle solving and artifact bags to become this profound new t
ool to open up chapter books, explore web pages and give students a base to leap off into a great unknown. That is the beauty of exploring uncharted territory. That is the absolute fright of exploring unknown territory. Because just when you uncover a rock and are amazed at what could lie beneath, you could turn the rock over and realize you're in for an ugly surprise.

My ugly surprise was time. Just when I thought I had enough it was clear I never did. Time management in the classroom is a trick of the light and a mastery of physics all at the same time. I could settle students into a new classroom, have their attention rapt as I spouted out facts and numbers, but I often came up short. Either I had too much time or too little, as I fumbled around to make the time lapse or time crunch work.

What did I learn? I learned many things. I learned that working with a co-teacher was beyond rewarding. Rachel and I developed our own language, we read one another very well and learned what each other's strength's and weaknesses were. Rachel was a fast paced worker who could read an instruction just once and run with it. I, on the other hand, was someone who needed to mull over the instruction in order to start moving. We both had the same approach to classroom behavior: get in line. Which was important, because that provided that we were on the same page and the students really picked up on our expectations straight away. I would say I was most proud of the way that we were able to command a classroom of students and that we had them so engaged from beginning to end.

EdTPA for the Rest of Us

What is EdTPA, you ask?

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT, TOO. 

Is it a new restaurant, a complicated Starbucks drink, a fashion blog?
No, how dare you. EdTPA is life and life is EdTPA. There is no beginning or end, there is only EdTPA.

In other words, EdTPA is how teachers become certified in New York State. The idea is fairly simple, a unified system that each teacher candidate follows in order to attain a certification from a state already recognized as having high standards for its teachers. Since not every state demands that the teacher candidates jump through the various hoops of a unified system like New York does, edTPA is unique in that regard. It's a vigorous process that acts both as a moderator between the school program and the state. By every understanding of the word terrifying, it is terrifying.

I have yet to get to a happy place with the EdTPA (is there a happy place?). It's been an uphill climb, so far. I find the language intimidating and the content draining. But for all of this whining and complaining, using the EdTPA has a resource this semester to hone my skills has been successful. Hopefully, when I start Student Teaching next spring, the EdTPA will be less of a daunting mountain over riding my senses and more of a long, tedious chore.

And, of course, I hope I pass!
 

Dactah Havahd

Today we tried our hand at interviewing for teaching positions. It's an exciting idea, testing out your theories and practices in a mock interview, prepping yourself for what will hopefully come down the line sooner rather than later. All our hard work, our research, our fieldwork, our volunteering, our blood sweat and tears!

Colleen acted as Dr. Corrigan, Dean of Imagination School and Mike acted as Dr. Werba, the superintendent of Maple City Schools.

Both Dr. Corrigan and Dr. Werba had done extensive research on their two schools. Dr. Corrigan's school was a centered base school that elaborated on the importance of students conducting their own research and exploring their interests as well as commanding the role of their education.

I enjoyed Dr. Corrigan's mindful questions, which asked how the classroom would be structured; how would you group desks and tables to allow students to work cooperatively and how a teacher would organize a group if students were not meeting the expectations of working as a group.

Dr. Werba's schools, Maple City Schools, was a direct lesson approach with a more teacher centered theme. The distinction between the two types of schools was clear, but I was surprised by the type of questions Dr. Werba asked. The questions seemed more imaginative and exploring. The first question Dr. Werba asked Rachel was if Rachel had her own talk show, who she would have as her first guest. My favorite questioned I was asked, by either Mike or Colleen, was Mike's question about my classroom. Dr. Werba asked me: It's 8:50 am and the students are walking into your classroom, what does your classroom look like?

 I got to really visually walk through what I would want my ideal classroom to look like. I thought over my answer and then decided to put together what I would want. I thought of the classrooms I have peered into during my fieldwork, watched how students ambled sleepily into during the morning routine and witnessed firsthand just how important routine truly is.

I told Mike that my classroom would be set up with a message on the board which came with three instructions: 1. Morning work in math or another content area that covered the lesson that was taught the day before. 2. Time for students to read a book we were reading as a whole class 3. Time for students to write or draw in their morning journals. During this time, students would have morning tasks that need to be completed; watering plants, feeding fish, bringing lunch counts down to the office. By 9:00 I wanted my students at their desks, ready for the day after completing their daily tasks. I told Mike that I wanted my routine so en-grained that the students were able to complete their tasks independently without my guidance while I finished any minor details that needed to be corrected: take attendance, speak to any students privately that needed my counsel.

I got hired! I will be working at Imagination Schools. Come see me! :)

Discovering Artifact Bags

Last week, Dr. Smirnova asked us to utilize Artifacts into our Lesson Planning. I, again it seems, was unfamiliar with the term or what it meant in the classroom. The more I dove into learning about Artifact Bags, the more intrigued I was.

The following is why I chose to do my Artifact Bags the way I did:
I have, like most people born between 1980 and 1990, a profound love for Indiana Jones. What's not to love? Indiana is a history buff/professor with an eye for danger, exotic countries and preserving history in its rarest form, artifacts. As a kid I thought everything I dug up was a link to history, not trash. I actually did dig up a couple of cool things, like a cola bottle that was manufactured in Beacon, but mostly I am up pretty short or empty handed.

Essentially me, ages 8 -11

When I dug up the cola bottle in my backyard I was pretty excited. I have been on my most recent Indiana Jones inspired hunt and had unearthed a clunky, heavy glass item that came with a metal ring that had once acted as the stopped. The bottom of the bottle was stamped with a word that read MATTEWEAN and in the far depths of my mind, I knew that Mattewean was the original name of the area in Beacon that is alongside the river. I brought the bottle inside to my mom who washed it off and examined it closely with me. She explained that there had been a cola factory in Beacon, then Mattewean, and that I had discovered one of the bottles. From there, the bottle stood proudly in my kitchen and now as an adult I get to see it on display on the mantle in our living room, proof that I once was Indiana Jones, too.

Hey, again!

So when Dr. Smirnova pitched the idea that we put together an Artifact Bag lesson, I knew it would be an event I would enjoy. I wanted my lesson to center around Ancient Greece, since that it also my Unit Plan for the LiveBinder. I decided to re-visit the Greek mythology and elaborate on Artemis, once again.

I put together three items: A stone, a drawing of a bow and arrows, and a picture of a mother and baby looking distraught.

Now, why on earth would I want those items? I looked up Artemis in my handy dandy National Geographic Treasure of Greek Mythology book and reread Artemis. Her story is a little on the scary side. In essence, Artemis' mother, Leto, is insulted by a mortal woman. Artemis rises to the task of defending her mother and kills her babies (more than one!) in front of her. The woman, distraught with grief, sink to her knees and becomes essentially, a stone.

Great story for children. But even more intriguing for graduate students.
So I did what anyone in my position would do: I simply drew arrows and a bow, crumpled them up to make them look old, collected stones from outside our classroom (I definitely didn't look insane) and then, in order to really drive home the idea of Artemis, I printed out a picture of a distraught mother and child and proceeded to crumple the picture while making direct eye-contact with a total stranger.

Let me tell you, it was worth it.

I also made a chart which included the three artifacts as their own category and questions such as what the students thought the objects were used for and by whom, where they came from. From there, I retold the Artemis story and asked the students to reexamine the artifacts with this new knowledge.

The look of horror on their faces was totally worth it, by the way.

The People of the Tides

Rachel and I were tasked with researching about the Tlingits.
I had absolutely no idea who the Tlingits were, where they lived, let alone how to pronounce their name.

For starters it is pronounced as Klin-GIT or Klin-KIT. (Who saw that coming?)

I love learning about history, especially when the history is about specific people. I find it fascinating to shift through the details that make up a culture and construct a person's point of view. And I have often found that the minute details of history add up to the large portrait of our life now.

Last semester, in a Methods Literacy class, a group presented the story about The Raven, from a native american tribe. The group shared The Raven story briefly, revealing that the story describes how the sun is in the sky, why you can spark a fire with two pieces of stone and why ravens are black. I liked the story enough, I remembered small details but never decided to research the story. As I conducted research for the Tlingits I came upon The Raven story.

In this story, the Raven is white, not black. 

In this world there is no sun, no water and no fire. Instead, an old man, known as Grey Eagle, and his daughter hoard the sun, water and fire all to themselves. Raven wanted the world to have those things, so he turned himself into a handsome white bird and the Grey Eagle's daughter fell in love with him. Once Raven was inside their house, he saw the sun, water and fire handing along the walls. He knew he had to take them. 

When Grey Eagle and his daughter weren't looking, Raven stole the sun, water and fire and flew up the smoke hole. As he came up to the sky he released the sun which brightened the whole sky. He then dropped bits of water from his beak and created the rivers, oceans and lakes.

As Raven flew with fire in his beak, he tried to find a place to put it. But the fire became too hot and he dropped the fire. The smoke from the fire had blown smoke back across his body which made his feathers black. This is why ravens are black. The fire landed on stone and is now concealed within the stone. This is why you can rub two stones together and make fire.

I loved learning about the Tlingits and their culture. It was a great project to work on with another student as well. Rachel and I brainstormed about how to introduce the culture and began to really enjoy learning about a tribe we had never heard of before. 

I also learned a lot more about the history of Native Americans and the U.S. I was surprised to learn how long it took just for the native americans to reach a settlement with the U.S. and what actually came of the settlement. It is important, as an adult and some one who is educated, to continue to pursue education and fill any voids of your education independently. Native American history is a very big void for me and I feel a little more confident that I have filled it now. At least I know a portion more than I did before. 

Tlingit Raven Dancers

News on NewsELA

News on NewsELA:

I finally had the opportunity to check out NewsELA, a great resource for classroom teachers to introduce news or reading comprehension, or independent reading, or really a whole assortment of reading, into the classroom.

I had never heard of NewsELA before so I was totally unaware of what a useful site NewsELA is! I really enjoyed toying around with the website. The site allows you to search for news articles on almost any subject. From there, you can modify the articles so that students on any grade level can easily read (or be challenged) and read the same article.

I love that the articles are well-written with students across the board in mind, This tool allows students to be kept up to date on current events as well as improve their reading fluency.








I found this short video about the ins and outs of NewsELA. The video answers questions about how the site works and who really benefits from the site.


I currently work at an early morning program where the students are excited and opinionated about the up-coming election. Their interest in the election is exciting and I wanted to harness their interest into something really palpable as well as backing up their opinion with fact.

The site works in truly phenomenal ways. I was able to find articles about the candidates that I knew my students would be interested in. I also brought in a local newspaper for the students to read and compare. The kids loved reading a real news article at their grade level. The more I fiddled around with the website the more ideas came to me about how to use the site in my future classroom, especially during the election season.

Unfortunately, the drawback of the site is that it is extremely expensive. Right now MSMC has subscribed to NewsELA but will not be renewing the subscription because of the price tag. So really, its a great site, if you can afford.

Hail, Caesar

Kristine and Erica worked on presenting Ancient Rome to our whole class Social Studies after school extension. Ancient Rome, amiright?

I really enjoyed watching my peers try their hand at teaching a band of students between various grades, various learning abilities, various attention spans and much, much more. Some students wanted to jump out of their seats every second possible, while another student actually brought his own tablet to record the lesson because he was so excited to learn more about Ancient Rome (shout out to that kid, by the way). Teaching a class that is not yours, that is multiple grade levels and that you have only seen once a week for possibly three consecutive weeks is intense. The kids are exhausted, annoyed, irritated at each other, wondering how laid back or strict you are and very, very curious. It's a lot.

The best part about these lessons, however, was that they were about Ancient cultures, like Romans, Greeks and China. As a history nerd, explorer, avid reader and Indiana Jones pretenderer (that's a word now), I was all about it. Yes to ancient cultures, and yes to teaching about Ancient Rome during the month of March. Can we say, Ides of March? Et tu, Brutus? I will not stop.

Ancient Rome is amazing, dramatic, particular, good food, drama, goverment, art, drama, drama and can I say drama? If you can't get kids excited about Rome (GLADIATORS) then you are simply not trying.

Kristine and Erica really put a lot of thought into their lesson. They offered a lot of physically engaging lessons, found niches within their lesson to gear to students who needed to be engaged a little more and motivated a class of students who could be hard to motivate at times. As two students started to shift in their seats and become a behavior problem, my peers tried their hand at disciplining students they had almost never worked with. It was difficult, the students pushed boundaries and tested waters. It is so hard to come into a strange room, where you don't have direction about how a classroom is generally handled as well as various students who are unsure who is in charge, in a way. The student's behavior was disappointing, at the least. I was surprised any student would be so callous to a teacher's direction or motivation, which were given multiple times.

But it is a learning experience, for all of us. Any time I have had to work with a student who has been disruptive or disrespectful, I get to strengthen my abilities at managing a classroom. And I hope, hope, that when I do have my own classroom, that classroom management will be one of my strengths.