Reflection #4

            I think that although many teachers try to avoid stereotyping in the classroom it does happen even at the secondary level.  When students reach the high school level they start to show their personalities more and more which sometimes can give teachers the impression that they might not be the best students.  There are some students that dress in a manner that is not traditional and that may give the impression that they will be less than model students.  For example I have one student in my class that came in wearing all black with dark eyeliner and was very quiet.  Sadly I did stereotype her as one of the students that was probably going to be difficult to motivate in class.  However she definitely proved me wrong, she is a great student and a great person which showed me that you can not always just a book by its cover.  But I do believe that whether teachers realize it or not their first impression of students can be stereotypical especially when they have years of experience.  Sometimes when you see students that might fit into a certain “category” it is very hard not to judge the next group of students based on some of the same characteristics.

            We can try not to judge students based on how the present themselves because that obviously has no merit over what they are capable of accomplishing.  What have tried to do this semester is watch each of the students so that I could figure out how much they would be able to perform in the classroom.  When I am teaching a lesson I try to call on different students to answer discussion questions so that I can test the students that I think do not believe that they know the information. I have also let the student’s grades speak for them because there have been many students who have preformed well on a test when I honestly did not think that they would but I have also seen students who I thought would perform well fail.  So I have figured out that the best thing to do is let the students show me what they are capable of on their own. 

Reflection #3

           Inclusion is definitely overwhelming at times, as a student teacher I find myself trying to teach students material at one level and then going back with a lot of the inclusion students so that I break the information down more.  There is a big gap between my general education students and the special education students.  I feel that inclusion is great in theory however in everyday practice it is not practical.  I feel that some of these students need to be in a more restrictive environment than that of a general education classroom.  The students that I see that are lower level often times have trouble dealing with learning all of the material and vocabulary that are necessary to succeed in Biology.  These students have been passed along every year so that when they reach their freshman year of high school they expect that they will again be passed along.  This is not the case so when they get to high school trying to address all of their needs often becomes trying to get the students to work and participate in the lessons. 

            This semester I have tried multiple approaches to try to address the needs of all of the students.  I have tried to draw pictures and charts of the information to give students a visual; I have also had the students redraw some structures within the cell so that they can become more familiar with the image of the organelles and their structures.  I try to walk around the room throughout the period and offer extra help to the students that seem to be having difficulty understanding and I also try to ask the students if the information makes sense to them so that they can succeed on their assignments. 

Success Reflection

     This past week definitely had its ups and downs. Getting students engaged and trying to keep them engaged in every lesson is always a struggle. Over the past week I have realized more and more that one of the hardest parts about teaching is mastering classroom management. While I see myself improving in this area I know that there a still a lot of adjustments that I need to make. Luckily the teacher that I am with now is helpful and provides with ways to help improve my classroom management skills.  Routines and procedures are definitely the key to keeping classrooms flowing and helps keep the students in line. 

      I have also realized how much of a struggle it is to motivate some students. There are some students in my classroom that seem determined not to do any work rather than to succeed in this class. These students each need their own type of motivation and figuring out what their motivation is takes time and patience. The more time that I have spent with each class and each student the more I have started to realize the importance of establishing a relationship with them. Since I have established a relationship with my students they are more comfortable with asking questions and attempting to answer any questions that I ask the entire class. 

     After reflecting on the week that I had as well as thinking about every other day in the classroom it's obvious that I have made improvements. Knowing that I have improved since the beginning is reassuring but I still can see that I need to make improvements and adjustments. 

Success Journal Oct. 25

Today's success was a very good lesson. The lesson and worksheet combined together was great for the students to practice their skills with osmosis. The students did a lab over osmosis and were able to use the skills that they learned during the lab to complete the worksheet. The students weren't afraid to ask questions on the parts that they were not understanding.  I am glad that the students feel comfortable enough to ask questions when they do not completely understand the material. But overall the lesson went well and the students responded well to the information. 

Success Journal Oct. 24

Today in class we continued going over osmosis and diffusion. The lesson itself went well and the students were able practice using the new vocabulary for the  chapter. Today's biggest success was using the classroom management skills that I have learned. In order for a lesson to go well the entire class must be running smoothly and any small distraction can take away from the lesson. Today I was able to isolate the students having issues by walking around the room while the students worked. By doing this I was able to keep the more problematic students under control by talking to them quietly while they were in their seats. Being able to keep all the students in every class under control is always a success. 

Success Journal Oct. 23

Today all of my classes performed an osmosis lab using Elodea. The purpose of this lab was to demonstrate osmosis across a semi-permeable membrane within a plant cell. Before the lab I went over the lab and gave them a quick review over yesterday's information to help prepare them for the lab. The students were not very enthusiastic about looking at plant cells until they realized that the chloroplast within the cells actually moves. Once they were able to see that plant cells are living and moving organisms the students were curious and more interested in the actual experiment. Overall the experiment went great and the students became more familiar and aware of how osmosis works. Being able to use labs to demonstrate the information that we are teaching students is great and really helps facilitate the lessons. 

Success Journal Oct. 22

Today reminded me that small victories are sometimes exactly what you need to get over a hurdle. In one of my classes we have had many issues with behavior and lack of work ethic by many students. Granted there are multiple students with BIPs (Behavior Intervention Plans) which adds to the frustration within the class. However today all of the student showed initiative and were well behaved. The students raised their hands and did not speak out of term. They also completed their work in a timely fashion and were cooperative when given directives. For this class their participation and interest today along with their good behavior was a huge success!!