Posts (page 2)
February 19, 2009
5:30 am Up make coffee read the Good Book
6:00-6:30 am Get things ready for classes
6:30-7:15 am Get dressed for school, eat and head to the office
Picture 1: The beautiful school I visit ever day.
7:15-8:00 am Get the class ready to go clean the room
Picture 2: Mr. K standing by his class in the morning
8:00-3:45 pm Teach classes, lunch, I usually grade papers or lesson plan
3:45-5:30 pm Grade papers & get things ready with school
5:30-6:00 pm Leave Eat and do some personal reading unwind
Picture 3. Leaving school after a long day
6:00-7:00 pm Gym
7:00-8:30 pm Most days I usually head out with friends to so something social
8:30 –9:30 pm Lesson Plan/ work on Ole Miss Homework
9:30-10:00 pm Read and fall into a coma until around 5:30
February 19, 2009
Jackson, the city best know by the famous Johnny Cash song, is where I have been stationed by the Mississippi Teacher Corps. This city is an interesting location. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The city of Jackson itself is rather poor, the roads are among the worst that I have ever seen, many of the building are dilapidated structures and most of the businesses are shut down. By itself Jackson would be a depressing place to stay. The poverty is significant. However, the greater Jackson area is another story. Bordering the city of Jackson are several extremely nice suburbs. The population of the greater Jackson area is around a mere 500,000. Large enough to afford many of the amenities often craved in larger cities, with out the pollution and gridlocked traffic hangovers. As a whole I like this city, or I should clarify, the area.
Picture 1: Burnt out project a stones throw away from my high school
Picture 2: An abandon factory two-minute drive from my high school
Picture 3: Abandon burnt out old meth labs locate across the street from my high school
January 30, 2009
This article was expressing the value of having calendar-based curriculum maps. I found it to be an easy read that clearly expressed this author's belief in this tool. Her reasoning’s for this change were founded in her belief that many teachers do not communicate sufficiently between classes in that same school or among the district teachers of similar subjects. She suggested that, "Data on the curriculum map can be examined both horizontally through the course of any one academic year and vertically over the student's K -12 experience”. She also believed that by having a specific date when classes would teach a skill would increase the probability of that skill actually being taught. Currently there is a push supporting the use of curriculum maps and this author is among the trend setters (Harden, 2001).
Jackson Public School District has implemented curriculum mapping to a certain extent. I currently teach Biology 1 as well as Science Skills and Reasoning. Science Skills and Reasoning is an entry-level biology orientated science class. This class possesses horizontal level planning through a calendar based pacing guide. Biology, which is designed to be taken after Science Skills and Reasoning also possesses a calendar based pacing guide. Being new to the state, and to the Jackson Public School District, I am not overly familiar with its horizontal planning levels. However, judging from the elevated level of rigor between the science classes that I teach, I would assume that this District has a vertical and horizontal curriculum map.
From my limited scope of being a first year teacher of only two classes, I would assume that my District’s pacing guide would be an excellent example of what it could be. The only suggestion that I would provide would be that of requiring every student in every class having a standardized test to pass. This would ensure that every child has mastered the objectives from the curriculum map prior to entering the next level.
As far as implementing a proper curriculum map for this summer, I see several obstacles that will need to be overcome. The primary one is in the timing. It will be difficult condensing an entire year into a mere eight weeks, despite having longer days to teach the subject. This should be a formidable challenge.
References:
Harden, R. M. 2001. AMEE Guide No 21: Curriculum mapping: a tool for transparent and authentic teaching and learning. Medical Teachers 23: 123-137
Replace the bottom 10 % of teachers with average teachers would result in the greatest change of student performance. From my brief exposure to the American public school system I would have to agree with that statement. This article compared various different fields and how the recruiting goes for these fields. Teaching like other fields has a large degree of intangibleness as to what it takes to become a successful teacher. You may have someone with the correct pedigree who lacks social sense, and makes for a horrid teacher. You may have someone without all the specialized education and they may be successful. It can be hard to tell. But according to this article enhancing teacher quality is the primary means to enhance student performance.
January 15, 2009
Over the holiday I have thought long and hard about how to change my class this next year. My goals for this year are…
A. Keep the classroom clean and organized
B. Add several cheesy you can succeed posters around the room
C. Have a quicker turnaround for assignments
D. Dismiss my students at
These were the key changes I have planned and have been implementing this semester. We will see if It will be more successful.
December 10, 2008
Christmas is fast approaching, and like every large city in the great nation, Jackson is having a parade to celebrate the season. I overhead several teachers talking about this. It was rather humorous. One had a child who was around 10 years old. This teacher was thinking of skipping the celebration because of the temperature. The funny thing was it was 38 degrees. I find this humorous.
December 10, 2008
Well this is a tough question, so anyone reading this blog should
consider closely their answers to the following
statements.
1. If you like to party, and enjoy going out
four nights a week, MTC is for you!
2. If you like having
more money than you can spend, MTC is for you!
3. If you
like working a job where 100 % of you clients love your product, and long for
the next session, MTC is for you!
4. If it inspires you to
work in the most efficiently run organization in the country, MTC is for
you!
5. If you like a life of ease, and do not want to work
late most nights of the week, MTC is for you!
Well if you believe any of the preceding five statements I have a lot more things I can sell you. That being said I would highly recommend this program. Mississippi is not quite the utopia of North America. However, it is a uniquely beautiful in its own way. This program offers what few other programs can. Like the Peace Corps, Army, and Teach for America, MTC offers the caring person a two-year program where they are able to make a substantial difference in the world. Like these programs, MTC requires its participants to work exceptionally hard pursuing a goal of helping people. However, MTC offers its participants much more. Because of its university affiliation upon completing the program participants receive a fully funded masters degree from Ole Miss. Participants are funded through the school district where they work, and can even claim loan deferment. There are several other little perks you receive by joining, a computer, football tickets… however, the greatest thing about this program is the positive, hard working people you can meet through it. Only a fool would enter this program for the money. Often I have felt burnt out and discouraged from the lack of the fruits of my labour. That being said, I have the opportunity to help people who few would volunteer to work with. Anyone considering this program should expect to work long hours, with often discouraging results,only to get up put a smile on their face and do it all over again the next day, knowing that you are helping to make this great nation stronger.
Realize that by keeping on the pacing guide, you have elected to teach the material at a level that was lower than what the standardized tests would be asking. Then watching them fool around when you try to add the little information that they needed to understand only to be blamed for their failing the test. What's worst is the realization that on the first JPS standardized test your students out produced half of the other schools.
This semester has provided me some significant challenges. I have never worked so hard and not absolutely dominated the work I was doing. There are so many different dynamics to teaching. This year I am more organized and have been working harder than I have ever been before, yet despite this I feel like I am barely managing to keep all the loose ends tied up. It is like being in a sinking boat with a bucket. You bail out the water but it just keeps coming in. But it is not all doom and gloom. I have never had a challenge quite like this. I am succeeding at a challenging task. Despite not knowing what I am doing, I was awarded teacher of the month in my first month of teaching. I had my students pull test scores that were above the district average. I have good support from my administration and a supporting network that is willing to work with me and help me to succeed, and success is within my grasp.
November 7, 2008
I have had many good times and bad times teaching this first year at school. The main successes that I have achieved this year has been the students results. Jackson Public School District’s average for the first 9 weeks test was at 49.5% pass rate for biology. My lowest class averaged 53% and my highest class was at 60%. So despite my rookie mistakes I am doing something correct. My second achievement for the first 9 weeks was in receiving the honor of being named teacher of the month. The third success is in the level of control that I have over my classes. Four out of my six classes are quiet, and work well. Only two classes have been giving me significant problems, and these two were good last week. I am getting things into place. The success that I have attained this year has been a result of a lot of hard work and God’s blessing. If I can beat the JPS average for my first year that will be great. Next year I will work on beating my pass rate for this year.
Non School Related.
School has consumed most of my time this past little while. That being said I still have had an opportunity to get out a little. Last weekend I went out to a redneck cowboy bar and attempted to ride a mechanical bull. I was not much good at this. But it was fun trying.
Accomplishment
This year has been going well. I have had two major accomplishments. The firsts accomplishment was that I was awarded teacher of the month for the month of August. I am still a little confused as to how but I will take it. The second accomplishment is that my high school’s biology test scores for the first nine weeks test was the highest in the district. As a rookie teacher teaching half of the biology classes that is quite an accomplishment.
