Day 3

Today I was working with Mrs. T's third kindergarten class. The students were finishing Easter eggs that they had started the previous class. The students were to create stories on their eggs, meaning drawings of spring scenes (such as rabbits and bunnies, chicks and flowers) with cray pa, and then water color over their drawings. While the stories the students were meant to create were supposed to be about spring, not Easter, it was definitely a holiday themed project. 

I believe that there is only one student of a different nationality in the class, though the curriculum doesn't seem to be especially sensitive to others apart from the monoculture. The previous lesson that I had observed, the second grade students were building tribal huts from an African village. The students weren't taught about the tribe's way of life, just that they would be making paper housing similar to theirs. At first I was pleased to see the inclusion of this project, but soon realized that the students weren't being taught anything about this culture, just that their houses look different.

I was also surprised that Mrs. T was even doing the Easter project. I was under the impression that most schools weren't doing holiday projects as much anymore, but only had this assumption and no real reason to believe it, other than from articles we've read in class. The project was made to be just a story board of sorts, where the students draw their own scenes, but they were required to be spring scenes drawn on an egg. In my opinion, it is difficult to justify that this is just a spring project, creating their own "story" (which are all the same) and not an Easter project. Seeing as Easter is the last main holiday before the end of the school year, aside from Mother's Day, I will be interested to see what the approach will be, monoculture or not, for the rest of the semester. 

Interview Question: How do you assess student artwork?

In my classroom I plan on using rubrics to assess artwork. The objectives that are stated at the introduction to the project are what will be measured. Did the student meet the objectives? I think a point system is best for this. For elementary students I would use a 3-4 point scale and secondary students a 5 point scale. If there are more than 5 I feel like there are too many variables that are trying to be met.  I also believe rubrics should be given to students at the beginning of the project so they know what is expected of them and what they will be graded on.

In elementary classes, I think it is more common to assess artwork partially based on effort. I do not think this should be abandoned in secondary education. Similar to a student writing a paper for an English class, if a student revises their paper several times, they are putting in more effort than a student who writes one draft and hands it in. I think effort should be taken into consideration because if a student is given the option to make revisions and doesn't, they aren't putting forth as much effort as a student who is constantly trying to make their work better.

Guest Speaker Mr. W

After Mr. W's presentation I felt that I would be lucky to have an interview with a principal who was as laid back as he is. I can tell he takes his job seriously and truly cares about it, but I was pleased to hear that for him personally, an applicant who comes into an interview with piercings or tattoos doesn't determine what kind of teacher they will be. I did think it was smart to advise us to cover up tattoos and take out piercings for the interview process, and then see how it goes once you start teaching to have them show.

While he didn't give us many examples of what sort of questions would be asked in an interview, he gave us very good pointers as to how to prepare for an interview. I also agree that it would be a good idea to keep track of any patterns in questions that are asked. I did find it interesting that he emphasized the importance of preparing your answers but at the same time not making it sound rehearsed. 

I think everyone in our class appreciated Mr. W going over the entire application and interview process. Obviously, most of us haven't applied for teaching positions and are foreign to these types of interviews. Walking us through step by step was very beneficial. I also appreciated him telling us not only what we should do but things not to do as well.

Day 2

It has only been two days of my observations with Mrs. T, but I have already gotten a grasp of how her classroom runs and what I would do differently. The first day I observed, all of her students had tons of energy and little to no focus. Originally I had thought it was maybe because it was a Friday and the kids were anxious for the weekend. I now realize that there is very little classroom management being applied most days, not just Fridays, and the kids have control in the classroom.

Mrs. T read a story by Maya Angelou for the kindergartners, during which, the kids were crawling across the floor, not sitting on their bottoms and doing what looked like weird yoga positions. Some students had gotten hold of rubber bands and were flinging them at each other and across the room. One student who was being particularly disruptive was asked to sit in a chair off to the side of the group. This didn't solve the problem and she then started rocking her chair and making even more noise.

Mrs. T has a procedure that if she wants to get her students' attention she will either turn on and off the light or clap her hands to a rhythm and the students must repeat it.  Throughout the class, seldom would the students respond to either of these actions, and would continue working and talking when they were supposed to stop working and talking and pay attention.

After one of our previous guest speakers, Mrs. L, I had originally thought her approach to teaching and classroom management was strict and rigid. Now after being in an elementary classroom, I understand that that kind of structure is necessary to get anything done. Observing with Mrs. T makes me continually aware of how important it is to be organized, have back up plans, and make sure rules are clearly addressed to the students.