Overall Reflection - ED 710

I am nearing the end of my first year of teaching. In some ways I can't believe it is over and in other ways, the end can't come soon enough! It has been a real balancing act this year; balancing family, grad school, and work. At some points, I was ready to throw in the towel and tap out. Whenever I felt like I couldn't take on one more thing, I turned to others, especially my cohort members, and was able to get a better grip on the situation. When I was at my most hopeless, my cohort and family members were always there to lift me back up.

I cannot believe how much I have grown this year. I was chatting with my STAT teacher a few months ago and commenting about how my consulting teacher observations have really shifted. At the beginning of the year, I was always in the developing area and now I've reached proficiency with her. I said that I didn't feel like I had changed and my STAT teacher pointed out that he has seen a lot of growth in me, specifically my confidence level. I sat back later on and reflected on his statement. And I couldn't agree more. At the beginning of the year, I was not confident in my abilities. Yes, there were moments that I knew I had it but they were fleeting. When I walked into a room, I didn't always take charge of the room. I worried about what my students thought about me and what their perception of me was. While these things are important, especially for relationship building, it is also important to push my students. Their opinion of me means less than my relationships with them. How they perceive me doesn't get them to participate. Knowing they are not judged and all efforts are important is what gets the work done. I used to get upset if a student was mad at me and now I let it be. Sometimes they just need someone to be upset with and it is not always personal.

I also feel more confident in the classroom. I've become comfortable with failure and understand that failure is part of growth. When a lesson flops, it is OK! These downs are important for growth and learning. I feel more capable of handling situations. I've also added new techniques into my teaching. This has increased my confidence as well. I understand better that success is not always what a student is able to write down. Instead, I can make better judgments on student understanding that go beyond pencil and paper. One suggestion my CT just provided me this week is to use checklists. Next year, I want to create a checklist of the specific standards for a unit. Each students name will be on the checklist. This would serve as my formative assessment of students and can be used as progress towards mastery grades. Instead of collecting a hundred worksheets, I can simply check off if they understand the concepts. Hopefully, the only collectibles will be concept checks, quizzes, and tests. This is something I want to look into creating this summer and would alleviate a lot of unnecessary grading. My observations of my students are better indicators of ability than what they can write down. I need to continue to trust in my abilities and I know I will continue to grow as an educator.

Frustrations in the Classroom - ED 710

I honestly feel like I go above and beyond for my students. Chemistry is a subject that can be very dry and difficult for students. Often times, there is not a lot of varied interaction with the curriculum. The topics are delivered as notes combined with worksheets of book work. Instead, I attempt to provide my students with varied ways of interaction. I work in group work, matching, sorting, labs, demonstrations, videos, and stations so that my students have multiple opportunities to learn the material and different learning types are reached.

It is really frustrating when we have been chugging along on a topic, students have multiple opportunities for practice and feedback, and they push back when an assessment is given. Or they choose to waste time during instruction and then expect additional help when taking an assessment. I am trying to get my students to advocate for themselves and to be in charge of their learning. Instilling in them that it is their personal responsibility to come for extra help and to obtain missing assignments and complete the work.

This all stems from our balancing equations unit. We have been working on this unit for about 2 weeks, that's approximately 5 class periods for each class. We have completed notes, POGIL activities, matching, graphic organizers, and plenty of practice. I provided my students with a packet of problems, worked through several with them, and allowed them to work in groups to complete packets. I stressed to them that the quiz questions will be taken directly from the packet and I allow them to use the packet on the quiz. I provided opportunities to check their work with an answer key, and yet, students still chose to not put in the work or effort. Before the assessment, I provided them with an opportunity to ask questions and review balancing equations. Instead, they chose to not participate and then panic when the quiz is given. I am just frustrated with the lack of engagement and their lack of ability to take responsibility for their learning.

Cynicism- ED 710

As an educator, I think cynicism comes with the territory. This is an unfortunate side effect from exhaustion, lack of support, long hours, and student behavior. I have been fortunate and not encountered a significant amount of cynicism at my school. There are a few students names that come up at lynch. Often, these students get brought up when someone has had a difficult encounter. My science peers do not openly discuss children which has been nice.
I think it is important to take what others say with a grain of salt, even about students. Their opinions are often marred with specific experiences. If I have learned one thing, student A can be a different student in every one of their classes. I try to take others opinions as just that and assume the best in the student until I see or experience otherwise.
If my break room ever got to the point that cynicism ran wild, I would seriously have to reconsider where I take lunch and breaks. I think it is very important to stay away from cynicism to ensure that your views are not shifted.
To avoid becoming a cynic, it is important to take time and recharge. I try to leave work at work so that I am able to get a break everyday. It is also important to have people that will listen to you and talk to you. If not for my husband listening to me, some situations I've encountered would weigh heavy on my heart. With him, I can discuss these situations and move on from them.

Grading - ED 710

Grading has been a real struggle for me this year. I am not sure if it is the fact that I've been busy with grad school or the changes in our grading policy, but I have struggled to really stay on top of grading. Our new grading policy is really good in some ways and really bad in other ways. Every quarter, we are allowed to assess students 9 times for a minor assessment and 3 times for a major assessment. Minor assessments are items that cover one topic while major assessments cover multiple topics. We are also supposed to have progress towards mastery grades. These are assignments that students do but that have no effect on their overall grade. This progress towards mastery group has been one of the major downfalls to the grading process. My students do a lot of practice and this should go in as Progress Towards Mastery grades. However, students are not motivated to complete these assignments because they do not effect their grade. Also, i give my students a lot of informal feedback.
The upside to the grading policy is that it is truly based on their mastery of a topic. They will not be successful if they do not understand the content. I believe that this grading system really looks at student content knowledge versus their compliance to completing assignments. I think as students get more accustomed to this grading system, they will understand the importance of the Progress Towards Mastery section and will be more willing to complete those assignments.

Observation Blunders - ED 710

On 4/24, I had my final school observation. I went into my pre observation conference confident. I had carefully researched and selected activities that I thought would help my students understand classifying reactions. I had pieced together resources I had found online and those from the other Chemistry teacher. I made appropriate changes to the resources so that they would reflect my own teaching style. Additionally, I had included timing, assuming the activities would take approximately 95 minutes in a 90 minute block. All was good!

Or so I thought...

As I began teaching, I was super excited. The students were engaged and there was a nice mix of activities. Students were working at lab stations, desks, together, and independently. As the students were transitioning to their final independent assignment, I looked at the time and there was about 40 minutes left in class. There was about 5 to 10 minutes left of planned activities and then I was at a loss. However, being the quick thinking individual, I did not panic. Instead, I pulled up the activities for the next class and we worked through some balancing equations problems. The students never knew what happened and the remainder of the class flowed seamlessly.

At my post observation, my AP noted that had he not had a copy of my lesson plan, he would have never known that I made such a huge adjustment. Both my AP and Department Chair commended me for my flexibility and were pleased to see that I handled it professionally and never missed a beat. They also thought that I did a great job making a dry topic accessible to my students. 

I have now learned to plan double, even if it is not written in the lesson plan. Essentially, I need to ensure that I have copies made for the next class so that I have resources available to give to my students. 

SPARKS Conference - ED 710

On 4/21 , I had the opportunity to attend a conference called SPARKS. This conference is designed for teachers with zero to six years of experience. I was selected to attend by our union rep and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to network with people outside of my school. This conference is sponsored by our union, TABCO, and allows new teachers to better understand the roles of our union. We discussed topics like certification, retirements, member benefits, and legal. I learned a lot of important and new information.

A conference like this is really important for me to grow as an educator. I often find it difficult to network with teachers outside of my department, let alone outside my school, and this provided a fantastic platform. I have become very comfortable interacting with my students, public speaking and the like, but I still have a great deal of shyness when it comes to interacting with others that I do not know. This conference pushed me out of my comfort zone and had me interacting with teachers from all grade levels and different schools. In fact, it was an overnight conference so I was roomed with someone I did not know. My roomie was actually from my school and it helped forge a friendship that probably would not have formed on its own. Now I have friends outside my department and someone I can talk freely with when needed. 

Beyond the conference, they provided us with team building activities. They sent us in groups on a scavenger hunt through Annapolis followed by dinner. This was really awesome because I made more connections with people while we competed to win the hunt! I look forward to attending conferences in the future and have already signed up for a three day summer conference in July.

Cultural Diversity - ED 710

In my classroom, I have a mix of students that come from a different ethnic backgrounds. This was a bit of a culture shock to me when I entered the classroom. My school has approximately 1460 students enrolled. About 880 of those students are Caucasian, 340 are African-American, and the remainder identify as either two or more races, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. Growing up in Harford County and attending a private high school, there were approximately 800 students in my school with the vast majority of the students identified as Caucasian. Even where I live now, and where my children attend school, there is not a diverse population.  Coming into a classroom with such diversity and coming from a very non-diverse background has left some space for growing and learning. Things that might be normal to my upbringing can be very different than other cultural upbringings. I have found this year a learning experience on this front. To help close this gap, I have spent time learning about different cultures in the hopes to understand my students and their lives better. It has been an interesting and enlightening experience that I will continue to explore while teaching.

We also have a large number of students that come from low socio-economic backgrounds. Currently, 55% of our student population qualify for free or reduced meals (FARM). This high percentage points to the fact that many of our students live in poverty or close to the poverty line. As a teacher, I have to remember to not assume. I have to remember and reflect on student lives and experiences when I construct my lessons, assignments, and expectations. For example, many of my students cannot always afford basic essentials. Therefore, I do not have established consequences for lack of preparation. I provide pencils, erasers, and paper so that my students can be successful in my classroom. I also have to be mindful about homework assignments. We had students work on a project where they constructed a mole and then completed math problems. The school provided basic supplies for the creation of the mole to ensure that all students could complete the assignment. When I assign homework, I ensure that internet is not required as not all of my students have access to internet or computers at home.

Students walk into my classroom from a variety of backgrounds. My ultimate goal is to ensure that all students are successful in learning Chemistry regardless of their background.