The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

(Good) Ah-ha Moment: 
Several of my students had an opportunity to attend a job fair at the local Applebee's Restaurant.  The students asked for my assistance and support beyond just the normal reference.  I attended the job fair with them and answered their questions as they awaited their opportunity to interview on site which eased their concerns and overall nerves.  It was great to see that these students had taken what we had discussed regarding professionalism to heart.  They were prompt, dressed in slacks and collared shirts and made a effort to make a great first impression and stand out from the crowd.  They took the situation seriously and showed a great deal of self respect, and respect for me and their school to put forth their best effort.  It was also a great honor to see several students from last school year also attending the job fair with the same attitude of professionalism and respect.


 (Bad) Things to change:
 Since I am required to assign a specific number of writing prompts, I had an opportunity this past week to assign my first prompt.  After making the assignment and allowing the students time in class to complete the assignment, it became obvious that one student would not complete the writing.  She had her head down and would not work.   I spoke with the student about her behavior and asked if maybe she was ill.  She didn't give a response but their was only a few words on the paper but they did not make any sense.  I went back at that point to look for an IEP and realized that she did in fact have one.  I realized too late that I should have checked all the IEPs before making the assignment and had allowed for the different accommodations to ensure that each student can complete the task at hand. 

 (Ugly) Learning Opportunity:
While going through class procedures and expectations, I brought in real life examples and scenarios as a learning opportunity.  While I didn't mention specific students names, I did mention one of these non-examples was a "stupid act".  This caused a student to become very upset and voiced that their sibling was the student being described as a non-example.  I realized that while it was a stupid act and that administration agreed with me that it was; it was insensitive to describe it in those terms.  In the future I will make more of an effort to describe these situations in a way the students can relate too without being insensitive to those students who may be close to the situations being described. 

How much is too much and how little is too little?

One thing that I really have to work on is my grades for the students. I’m really not sure how many grades to give them. I mean I have an idea, but I don’t want to give them a bunch of tests or quizzes. I feel like last school year I gave them entirely too many grades. So far this school year I have only two grades in, is that not enough? How many should I have? Any suggestions, comments, or advice? I’m all ears.

Improving Productivity

One area I would like to improve on as a teacher this semester would without a doubt be classroom productivity. Many of the students typically enroll in the video production class as a way to get an “easy A”. The common trend is to do the minimum amount required for a decent grade. I want to inspire students to try and make more than a silly “YouTube” quality video. Many students are unaware that the film industry in Georgia is booming and can a realistic career path. Even the students not planning on pursuing a career in film can still use the skills they learn in class in many other jobs. They would only need to take the time to absorb the information provided in class. I realize it will take a period of time to raise the class expectation levels as the classes transition from the former teacher’s methods to a more structured and involved atmosphere. My school has an exceptional career tech department producing skilled construction, welding, and automotive students. My goal is to raise the bar for the video production classes to the level of competency that when students to graduate they can find jobs in the film industry.  The first step to improving the video program is to increase classroom productivity.                                 

What I would like to learn

This year I would like to get a better handle on the lesson plan format my school requires.  The format necessitates you to list the formal/informal assessment you are going to give during each lesson, how you are going to use the data from that assessment, and a differentiation based on data piece as well.  I feel confident while delivering instruction, however, I feel as though I am lacking in the knowledge it requires to provide all of the information I am asked to supply. Or perhaps a better way to say it is this:  how do I write down what I am doing in the terms they want me to use. I would also like to incorporate more fun activities into the lessons that do not require going into the lab for hands on learning.  It is my goal to  make sure the students are actively engaged in every subject we cover and that they retain the knowledge they acquire.

I would like to grow and improve on differentiated learning. I know that this is an area that everyone struggles with, but I have found I am a great problem solver. So once I have mastered the idea and all the areas of differentiated learning, I can reach exemplary level on this with the new TKES observations that we have implemented this year.

 

I am sorry for the other post I did. I just realized the interface of this blog and I now understand how it is set up. I am very excited about this school year and I hope to implement strategies that are outside the box, engaging, and revolutionize the classroom.

I have a blog I created in the fall, long before I ever thought I would become a teacher myself. I invite anyone who has time and maybe wants to learn some new things about web 2.0 sites, learning focused strategies using such websites, and also Learning Management Systems like Edmodo. I have begun using all of these in my classroom and am trying to implement a flipped classroom environment to help enhance my students learning outside the brick and mortar of my classroom.

With that being said, I am always looking for new and engaging ways to get my students involved in class. Check out my blog and see what you think…

http://aaronthetech.blogspot.com/

 Mr. H

One thing that surprised me this week at school...

One thing that surprised me this week at school was how involved the parents are in my students’ education. I had a discipline issue with a particular student in one of my classes that has a special accommodation. I had been documenting every issue I had with him and finally I reached out to the parent in an email. Response was rapid and on target. I still have issues with this student but he has a much more conscious approach before he misbehaves.

 

I know this is one example of a good parent and I am sure in my career ahead of me I will face parents that will not support the educational structure of the classroom, but this one act, gave me a positive outlook at the very start of my career.


Mr. H

Planning

As an instructor, I would really like to know more spur of the moment activities to add to my lesson plans. I would really like to add more fun activities to my lesson plans so my students are able to learn and recall the course information. I don't consider myself to be a creative person, but I do know that students want to make everything fun. I want to make my course fun. I teach a class called physical medicine and it involves EVERYTHING about the human body. The human body such as anatomy, injuries, prevention of injuries, basically anything about the physical anatomy and especially related to sports. My subject matter involves a great deal Latin because it involves the human body, therefore, it can be challenging for younger students, especially those who haven't had any type of anatomy to grasp the information. I have been learning a lot from other teachers and I've gained a great deal of knowledge from NTI. I would really like to have a huge resource under my belt. Are there any suggestions from the class? Class Resource https://www.georgiastandards.org/standards/Georgia%20Performance%20Standards%20CTAE/Concepts_of_Physical_Medicine_Course.pdf

One thing I would definitely like to improve on as a teacher is to be more organized and to get my thoughts across to my students more clearly. I have all of these ideas and I have my students complete work, but sometimes I can't organize my ideas clearly for them. Grading papers is a big problem for me because I get behind on time and I can't get papers back to my students effeciently. One thing I'm trying to develop is system where I can grade my papers everyday, but as a teacher it's sometimes hard to be disciplined to keep your system which you developed because there are a lot of things which come up in the day which you don't plan on. Another thing I would like to improve on as a teacher is to develop more thorough lesson plans. I'm the type of person that likes to be organized but not to organized to the point where I don't have room to change anything on my lesson plans. I tend to develop my best lesson plans a day before because I can think about the specific students in my classes and I can really think about the different classes and say, "This can work well with this student, or it won't work well for this class." I am definitely a work in progress as a teacher and I'm learning about myself everyday. However, I know I will continue to learn about teaching everyday and continue to develop my skills!

Question

Laboratory management is something I will like to work on.

Focus on "Me Time"

Going into my second year of teaching, I have noticed that I have left out room for "me time" on a professional level. My first year I was so focused on getting everything right, meeting deadlines, forming relationships with my students, and getting involved with extra-curricular activities. Now I feel that all of that is catching up with me. I am really pleased with the progress I have made to find my place in the school, but it seems that I have failed to pencil in time to focus on myself as a teacher. This year my main goal is to not only balance all of the tasks I have taken on, but also to make sure and give myself some “catch up” time.

Response to Question 1: What I'll be improving on this semester

There are two things that I would like to focus my attension towards improving this semester. The first is, I would like to improve on the overall structure of my instruction. My plan of implementation is to keep the structures that I learned from Dr. J this summer. Using the lesson plan format for opening and closing class, using the short lecture method, as well as the objective, demonstration, check list style for teaching the students a new task. There are several other items I have learned that I will be using to improve my methods of instruction, but I can only focus on what I can accomplish without getting bogged down. This brings me to the other item of attension, and improvement, which would be my need to better prioritize. The hundreds of items on my to do list can easily cause long days and restless nights when not done in a proper order. The items in need of emediate completion (lesson plans, grades, administrative requests, CTSO deadlines, GSU work, etc.) need to be taken care of first and if there is time left in the day I can work on other items(learning new techniques for labs, learning new software, organizing the shop and office, supporting students at ball games, etc.).

Improvement this semester

I must improve time management this semester to help balance out: GSU Fall classes Teaching Coaching Mentoring a new club Being a great dad Being a great husband Feel free to post any time management tricks that have worked for you.

I would like to get better at lab management.

Time- I need more time.

I would like to improve on my time management this year. I find myself getting busier each day. Teaching and coaching fill my plate. Additionally, as a career tech teacher there is the additional pressure of keeping your own program in tune, which I discovered after my first year is like running a business. Now, I have three jobs for the price of one. My time management is, right now, the most self-critical aspect in my second year. Shockingly, I thought behavior management would have been the battle at this point. However, the battle is with my schedule and the many expectations therein. Everyone wants something from the "video guy." Unfortunately, there are no pause buttons in our lives.

Testing

Testing 123

Area of Growth

One thing that I want to work on this semester is keeping my students engaged. They are all at such different levels, that I have to address many differently to make sure I meet them where they are.

Excellent first question

Well, I think this is an excellent question and look forward to reading the posts

Being Prepared

One area in which I would like to improve is having all my supplies ready before EVERY class. I always wind up digging through my cabinet or storeroom, wasting class time.

Teacher Blog

I am posting in the teacher blog