Renaissance and Reformation Bell Ringer

Think, Pair, Share: What are the Renaissance and Reformation? What does it mean to you? What do you think the Renaissance and Reformation represents and means? Do you know of any topics or important figures during these times? Express your thoughts and opinions in six and eight sentences?

Maddie and friend enjoying South America cake

The Plague!

I just got over the plague this weekend. Anybody have any secrets to getting better faster.

In-Service Reflection

During the last several weeks, the huge commotion at faculty in-service has been on the grading system at Middleton Middle School. The faculty feels that they are in need of a more technological grading system that will allow them to enter grades and access them more easily than hand written notebooks. Last year the faculty wanted to incorporate a new grading program that would help the teachers accurately grade student’s assignment. A majority of the teachers wanted to break up the grading into four categories for each subjects. The areas would be: 1. Work Habit, 2. Behavior, 3. Content Knowledge, and 4. Average Grade. The Average Grade is the overall cumulative total of points acquired in tests, quizzes and homework. The system that is now implemented has been giving the teachers a lot of difficulties within their grading system. At the collaboration meeting each Wednesday, the entire meeting time was spent trying to fix the grade dilemma. Many teachers have expressed their opinions that the new grading system is going to take more time than what they thought it would in order to keep it accurate and working affectively. In working with the 6th grade team, I have noticed that the new grading program is going to take more time than the teacher hoped for. The first thing is that the teachers need to keep track of the student’s assignments closely. Second the teacher has to keep track of the student’s work habit and behavior on a separate grading system. This in and of itself is an issue seeing as it can be difficult to have to keep backtracking from one form to the other trying to settle on a grade device. The third thing is that teachers need to find out the percentage of content knowledge that is obtained by each individual student. The problem is, how does a teacher assess content knowledge? How does one decide in a whole classroom the individual progress that each student as made in their content area knowledge? The system is very confusing and I believe all the teachers are feeling the same way. I have been watching and asking a lot of questions about the grading system for the last four weeks. To be totally honest, I am still confused and lost about how the grading system is configured and works out for the teachers.
In fact, I would love to enter the grades for the Flex: Atlas class I teach, but I don’t have a computer system that will enable me to do so. So I had to get a new grade book on Mrs. Warwick’s computer to help me keep track of students work the correct way without falling behind in the grading process. The grading process has been a learning experience. The in-service meetings seem to be a complete waste of time because the only true way to figure out the grading system is by learning it yourself or by having another staff member show you. I think the main problem is that the staff at MMS has not been told or explain to how to set up the system. I think that this issue would be easily solved with a technological expert on the program system coming in and providing a two hour meeting and walking the teachers through it step by step. This would allow for them to ask all of their essential questions while finding ways to work the system instead of having it work them.

Week Four Reflection

I find the Middleton Middle School system to be full of compassionate teachers and faculty members. I have been learning a lot about the school environment and how it is run on a day-to-day basis. The students at MMS are incredibly vigilant and willing to learn with open kind minds. All the staff members have been very helpful to me in my first couple of weeks. During the week, walking the halls of Middleton Middle School has brought me complete joy and happiness. It is everything that I could have hoped for in a school system and everything that I could have hoped for in the realm of teaching. By this I mean that the teachers are all willing to learn knew things that will be more than beneficial to their students; they are more than willing to go the extra distance in order to provide the best knowledge available to all those they come into contact with both fellow teachers and students alike. The teachers have such open minds that it allows for the vast acquiring of any knowledge that comes into their paths. Not only is it beneficial for them, but it is beneficial for their students and their open minds have a way of vicariously spreading throughout the minds of every student. This environment is nothing that I have seen before, not in my years of schooling, nor in my years of interning and observing. I really cannot wait until the day I get my own class and will be able to spread my new found knowledge and learning to the students. I have strived to overcome my own obstacles and I want to instill the lives of young children just like my teachers have done for me in the past. The halls at MMS have brought back memories of going to middle school ten years ago. I still felt as if I was thirteen again. It has allowed me to relive my youth to the fulfillment of understanding how to use those experiences in order to better the experiences of the children that I am influencing now. It allows me to recollect being at that age while combining my years past of wisdom and my lifetime thus far of knowledge and training to better all those who I come into contact with.
During the week, the students started working on the Kids Discover Incas: Scavenger Hunt worksheet on Tuesday. The students had to read a magazine called Kids Discover Incas for three class periods to get an overview of the Inca culture. It was the student’s job to fill in the scavenger hunt worksheet as they followed along during the reading on the magazine. The magazine and scavenger hunt were finished on Friday followed by a video on the Inca society. The students followed directions very well this week as I started to use the board more to help thoroughly explain tasks.
The greatest learning experience of my week would have to be of that had just happened the Friday before. As I was out watching the students play dodge ball, a particular student chose to make a decision that would influence the rest of his school career. He chose to deliberately wind up the dodge ball and throw it directly at the back of my head. I asked two of the other teachers on duty to watch the rest of my class until I could be back to get the class while I walked with the student. I took the student to my mentor teacher to further assist me with the type of punishment that would be needed. The student was asked to put their head on the desk until the period was over. Mrs. Warwick told me to go out and finish watching the class. I brought the class in until the bell rang for school to end. I didn’t get to find out the punishment of the student until I came back to school on Tuesday seeing as I had class on that Monday. I was called into the Principal’s office where I found that they had become well aware of the situation and had begun to take matters into their own hands. The principal had already run the video tapes of the incident and printed out photos for documentation and proof of what had occurred. I later found out the student was going to be suspended for three to ten days depending on the school board’s decision. The school board’s decision might lead the student to expulsion because the incident resolved in the battery of a faculty member.
This experience was difficult for me as well as knowledgeable for me. On one hand, I felt as if I had been disrespected by a student. It was not a great experience to go through something like that as to be put down in a sense of having a ball thrown at the back of my head. On the other hand, it was time for me to learn how to handle matters such as this and who would be critical in the decision making processes and the punishments necessary for given situations. It was something that I had never experienced before and something that I had truly never had cross my mind. It was truly nice to have the support of my fellow staff and to have the support of all those who helped guide me through the situation. This was a learning experience on so many different levels and I will now be able to learn and understand from this situation as to better future occurrences.

Response to Intervention (RTI): A Primer for Parents

6th Graders Instructions, directions and more directions

I have found that teaching 6th grade has been a complete treat and joy. But, the fact that the students need to be told instructions and directions numerous time is getting really mind-boggling. I have been working with my lead teacher trying to figure out the problem. She expressed that the 6th graders this year don’t pay attention to directions and to fine detail in assignments. The students grade are being effected by their lack of not following directions. The worst part is that most of their points that are deducted are from coloring. Should the students be taught coloring skills at this level?

South American Regions and Locations

The students are working on their physical maps of South America. I have noticed that all the students in all three of the periods I taught today never seem to follow directions of how to color the maps. Mrs. Wariwick has explained the guidelines of coloring and labeling of the continent of South America several times. I have been walking around classroom and giving coloring lessons. I thought the 6th graders should have master coloring already.

South America Political & Physical Maps

The students are working on their maps on South America at this time. It seems that the students are having trouble following directions.