Success Journal Reflection

       After looking over my reflections from this past week, I see how everything is connected in one way or another when it comes to working with and teaching students. In order to have a good connection with my students, I have to show them that I am not a pushover and that I am here to help them. In order to show them I'm not a pushover, I have to set high expectations and stick to them. By setting high expectations, I can plan and integrate lessons that show students how awesome English really is. One thing cannot be without the other. Through this reflection, I realize now how important it is to give 110% in every aspect of teaching. Being a good teacher isn't determined by how well I know my content, and it's certainly not by trying to make students like me. It is a balance of everything. I know that once I'm running my own classroom, this may be easier said than done. It is definitely going to take a lot of work, but now that I know exactly what I have to do to become the best teacher that I can be, I am ready to take on that challenge.

       There are many things that I think I still need to improve on. I am no where close to perfect, and I probably will not be close to perfect any time soon. I think teaching is a growing experience, no matter how many years you've been in the classroom. Things can always be better. One thing for sure that I know I need to work on is structure in the class, or a routine. I have been trying to do different things to get students into a routine, but they aren't quite catching on yet. Another thing I need to improve on is having back-up plans. There are days when things don't always go according to plan, and sometimes I have to step back for a few minutes to figure out what's not working and how to fix it. I think for instances like that, class my go a little smoother if I had a back-up for something not going right ahead of time.

Success Journal 5 - 3/22

Today I found that I am successful at keeping my "sleepy" students' attention. By "sleepy," I am referring to students who like to put their head down and sleep as soon as they hear what we're doing for the day. In the senior class, we are reading "The Importance of Being Earnest," and I decided to have students circle up to read instead of staying in rows. The change in seating helped a lot. After reading certain sections of the play, I decided to call on students individually rather than asking the class as a whole to answer my questions about the reading. It was actually kind of humorous. When I called on the first student, they had this look of shock on their face. This particular student hardly ever participates in class discussion, so when I asked them a question, they all of a sudden realized that they should be paying attention. I think that calling on students individually during class is a great way to get more students engaged in what they're reading. Not only are they more attentive, but calling on them individually shows that I, as a teacher, care that they are involved and learning. After I asked that first student, it was neat to see the way the atmosphere in the room quickly changed. All of a sudden, everyone began sitting up straighter in their chairs, and reading then rereading the play more carefully. All in all, it was a successful lesson.

Success Journal 4 - 3/21

Something I think I do well is setting high expectations and challenging students to do their absolute best on their work. They have a book talk/presentation due tomorrow, so today some of my students asked me for advice or help with what they wanted to do. One girl is planning on making a book cover to represent her book. She wanted to know if she could just print out a picture of what she wanted and tape it to the "book cover" because she couldn't draw very well. I asked her what kind of grade she would give herself and if that method would be the best. Of course she said no, but she kept stressing the fact that she couldn't draw well. I called her over to the computer with me and asked her to print out a picture she wanted. When she did, I taught her how to transfer the picture to another piece of paper by coloring the back and essentially tracing it. The whole process took about 5 min. When she was done, she came over to me and said, "Wow! I am really impressed by this! It looks so nice. Miss Hirt, I'm like really impressed with myself." I just laughed and told her that I knew she could do it and that she should never settle for anything less than awesome. She ended up showing everyone in class what she had done and seemed very excited to finish it later.

Success Journal 3 - 3/20

Today was great! The job fair this morning was a success in itself. I had so much fun and got to meet some great people. I think I could have been a little more prepared as far as I what I wanted to say, but it was a learning experience, and the positive feedback I got from the districts has really boosted my confidence. I can't wait for the next one. Something I realized today is that I have a really good connection with my students. When I walked into class today after coming back from the job fair, they all said "Miss Hirt! You're here!" It was nice to have a greeting like that. They were so interested in where I was and why, why I was wearing a suit, how I did, who I talked to, what happened, etc, etc.

Success Journal 2 - 3/19

One thing that my amazing cooperating teacher has taught me this semester is to stand my ground when confronting, or being confronted by, a student about an issue. It has been hard to do, but I've come to realize how important it is. Not every day is perfect, and sometimes I just have to stick to what I believe and not let students run over me. Today was a day where I faced that challenge. Progress reports got passed out today and a student confronted us about a 0 they received as a participation grade. They said they "didn't remember" what day that was and tried arguing about how they were sure that they had been doing their work that day (no, they definitely did not). As I listened to the excuses, I kept in mind to stay strong and not just say "okay, okay." I know that the student was upset, but I was proud of myself for not compromising my authority and giving into their complaint. I of course feel bad for the student. It makes me sad to see them upset, but in the end, I know I did the right thing.

Success Journal 1 - Monday 3/18

Coming back to school after spring break is difficult enough, and since I'm still recovering from a nasty cold that I've had over the past few days, I was definitely worried that this day was going to be a long, tiresome and head-ache filled one. However, my day was totally made by the students in my freshmen and sophomore classes. The Friday before spring break, my students had completed a huge project. Students were split into groups and had to create their own versions of plays that we were reading. They could either be performed in class, or filmed. The sophomores tackled "Hamlet" and the freshmen took on "Romeo and Juliet." All of the presentations blew me away. I was so excited. Today, I wanted to give them a closure to their projects before we begin a new unit. I had a big open discussion with each class about their thoughts on the overall project. What worked for them? What didn't? What would they do different next time? Then I had students evaluate themselves and their groups. I asked them to answer questions on a piece of paper: what did you like about your project? What didn't you like? What grade would you give yourself and Why? What most of the students had written in their evaluations not only made my day, but also gave me confirmation in knowing that they were enjoying reading Shakespeare, understanding it on different levels and having fun with it all at the same time. I'm so glad that I am able to show students how much fun literature can be when you are thinking critically and outside of the box. Today was definitely the boost of energy that I needed to bounce back. We have two weeks until the reading and writing STAAR tests, but hopefully what I have planned will keep everyone focused, learning and still having fun.

Reflection #2

Part 1: I really liked the “Chapter 14” poem. I think it says a lot about what students are missing when they are given multiple choice or chapter tests. There is only so much that a textbook can teach you. In the poem, the student is studying only what “chapter 14” and the test require of them, but as that student reflects on what they’re learning, they realize that there is so much more learning and questions to be asked and answered beyond what their textbook says. They say they have learned “names, numbers, and dates,” but the reader of this poem is left knowing that that information is “only” chapter 14, and the student “wishes” to learn more. From reading this poem and from my personal experiences, I know that offering multiple choice or chapter tests does not encourage students to seek more in-depth answers than those that are given to them. For example, I know that students love multiple choice tests because they don’t require less studying as opposed to a short answer or essay type of test. It requires them to circle and answer given to them, and not to explore other possibilities. I gave my first test two weeks ago and many of the students acted as if it was the hardest test they had ever seen. They are used to word banks, multiple choice questions, and answers straight out of the book. My test consisted of questions that required analysis of the readings we had done in class as well as their ability to give me their own examples of certain vocabulary words instead of just definitions. It’s important to assess students by challenging them, not limiting their ability to think with a basic understanding of what their textbook might say. Part 2: Formative assessments that I currently use are bell ringers, journals, class discussions, observations, K-W-L charts, in-class assignments, quizzes, group work and homework. Summative assessments that I currently use are essays, book reports, multi-genre projects, presentations, unit tests, folders and debates. It is important to have a combination of both types of assessments so that students are can be constantly evaluated on their understanding of what they’re being taught. It’s important to you formative assessments because they check for understanding on an informal and less stressful level, but it is equally as important to use summative assessments because they challenge student more to think at a higher level and study the information that they have been given in class. I would like to try and implement exit-slips, portfolios, and interviews into my future classes. I plan on incorporating exit-slips by budgeting more time at the end of class. I will also have slips with questions pre-typed so that I can just hand them out at the end of class. I don’t know a lot about using portfolios, so I think that before I implement them, I will need to research a little bit more about them to understand how to properly assess students based on them. I want to do interviews as well. I plan on holding interviews every other week as part of a routine. In the interview I will be able to assess students on how well they understand the content, and I will also ask them if there is anything that they need additional help or understanding for.