19th Week: Goodbyes...

Well, this is my last week at Poudre High School. It's been so nice. I've only come in to teach my Entrepreneurship class in the afternoons. I've spent a little more time here and there trying to get caught up on my grading and making sure that Mr. Long is in the loop on the students in my class.

I had one student this week who was in danger of not graduating because she was failing my class and several others. She turned in a lot of work, and completed her final business plan and turned it in. She passed, but she is still failing some of her other classes. She's a sweet kid, but she has missed a lot of class. She was gone at least half the time. She is smart, and she does good work when she is in class. I hope that she turns things around for herself.

I have a couple of other students in my class who are failing as well. They just don't seem to care. One is sleeping in my class, and the other is playing games. This has been ongoing throughout the semester. Their attitudes have been less than stellar. I've talked with them and told them the consequences of not getting their work in to me by the end of the week, and neither of them seemed to care much. There is one more student who is failing, and the same thing is happening with her at the end of the semester as was happening throughout the semester. She is apathetic and doesn't really care about the class or about learning. Now, all this being said, I've connected with these kids in different ways throughout the semester, but now that the end of the semester is over, it seems as though they have given up. I still have one more day with them next week for finals week.

We took finals this week. Our final was at the beginning of the week with the seniors. Seniors are gone. It seems awfully quiet around here without them. I wish them the best of luck in college and beyond. Graduating high school is such a huge stepping stone, from childhood to adulthood in a matter of weeks it seems. I only hope that as a teacher, I have helped to prepare them for what awaits them in the future.

As I move into this summer and the fall, I plan on continuing this blog, but I'm going to change it a bit. I may post weekly updates, but I will mainly post "lessons learned" and "successes" and "failures" from my lessons. These are the big takeaways that I want to continue to reflect on throughout my career, and the things that I want to share with others. Education is so much about experiences. We learn from each other, and we learn from the world around us. I want to bring that into my classroom as much as possible. I look forward to Rocky Mountain High School being my home even for a little while. Saying goodbye to Poudre High School is bittersweet. I really enjoyed the people that I worked with - especially Mr. Long, but I'm also ready to move on and begin this career that I've been working for the past year.

18th Week: Whew! I made it!

It's not over yet, but I'm feeling the pressure lifted and excited to be almost finished! I have one more week at Poudre High School, and then I start teaching summer school at Front Range Community College. Then, I have Summer Institute for Poudre School District for the job at Rocky Mountain High School. Then, I get to take a break for a while and just teach summer school. I'm so excited about having my summer (life) back. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and working out and working in the garden. I don't think I'm going to have time to do everything I want to do, but I hope to make a good dent in it all.

Focusing more on the present, though, I had really great classes this week. Everyone worked on their final business plans, and we reviewed for the Final Exam, which will happen on Monday and Tuesday of next week. The final business plans are looking good, and I'm all caught up on my grading. (Grades are turned in at FRCC, by the way.) The Jeopardy game in Entrepreneurship 5th Hour for the review went over very well. I was excited to see so many people engaged.

16th Week: The Norovirus Attack and On My Own

This was my 16th week student teaching. I am almost done! Wahoo! I feel a lot of the pressure starting to release, but it's also job hunting time, so some of the real work is about to begin.

9 News Denver http://www.9news.com/

This week brought its own challenges. Mr. Long went to Future Business Leaders of America state conference in Vail this week. I took over all of the classes without a sub, and it was awesome! I had some of my best teaching moments then. Unfortunately, Mr. Long ran into trouble when a few of his students came down with the Norovirus while there, and he had to take one student to the hospital. He had to stay home from school for two more days to make sure that he wasn't contagious himself. There's more about this story in the link below from Channel 9 News. This is the second time this has happened this semester. It also happened at an FCCLA (Family and Consumer Sciences Competition) event in Denver.

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/05/02/test-results-indicate-norovirus-at-conference/8639311/

Otherwise, I started to wind things down in all the classes. We're coming up on the end of the semester and beginning to think about finals. Entrepreneurship is finishing their last project. I'm getting caught up on grading, and Economics is finishing up their Macroeconomics lesson. It's all peacefully coming to a close as it should.

I'll continue to be at Poudre High School through the end of the school year teaching the Entrepreneurship class and observing other teachers. It will be a good experience to stay on until the end and see how the last few days of school are received by both teachers and students.

15th Week - Last Observations and Goodbyes

This week was a week of goodbyes. We had our last Student Teaching Seminar on Monday, so I will probably not see many of the student teachers in there again. I did discover that one of the student teachers in my group may be moving to Houston, Texas, which is also a possibility for me and my family. I also said goodbye to Mr. Maxwell, who will be missed by me and by his students. I stopped by his office several times to talk about problem students and ways of getting through to them, and we collaborated on some lesson ideas as well. He really did build relationships with his students, and because of his youth, it seems he has a bit less at stake in his experience, which provided him with a true learning experience. That brings up an interesting point, which I will delve into deeper as I continue my career in education, but does stress and pressure play a relevant role in how we learn? The obvious answer is yes, but exploration into that question will be regarded in the future.

Wednesday was the ACT test for the Juniors, so the schedule was a little different. We had the morning to take care of planning, grading, or, in my case, applications. I have put out five applications for actual job postings. It is a tedious and arduous task to put out applications. It was more difficult than my applications at NASA, but hopefully, something will come of these opportunities. I'm still teaching at Front Range Community College in the fall if a full time position doesn't present itself.

www.berea.edu

I had my last observation on Thursday in the 4th Hour Economics class from my mentor teacher and from my CSU Supervisor. I planned a Play-Doh activity for learning about the GDP in the Macroeconomics section. I was actually a little nervous, and I haven't really been too nervous in my observations until now. However, the students did terrific, and we had a lot of fun learning about the GDP and how some less-developed countries really struggle to change their situation. Using cooperative, direct, and inquiry methods, the students were able to determine how the GDP connected to the activity, and learn from their experience. This was a fantastic segue into Poverty, which I linked to the lesson.

The entrepreneurship classes are going well. The students are still working diligently to get their projects completed. We are down to the last two projects, and we will be putting our business plans together and reviewing for the final. Seniors will be leaving a week or so earlier than the rest of the grades, so final exams will be given as a class. I am going to have the rest of the class present their business plans to the class, so I need to put that lesson together to present to the students after May 16th.

While I am one of the last remaining student teachers, I also have an opportunity in my last few weeks to observe some of the other teachers in the building and how they teach. This is the part that I'm looking forward to in my last days at Poudre High School.

14th Week: Struggling a Little

This week has been a bit of a struggle. I know that I can't have a stellar week every week, and the

lifeandptsd.wordpress.com

challenging weeks make the good weeks worthwhile. I know all this, but I still let these difficult weeks get to me. Now, the reason why it was difficult. I can't really put my finger on it except that I'm feeling a bit frustrated. It is frustration with the job application process and the work load that has increased as I finish out the semester. It is also frustration at a few students that continue to not pay attention or get their work done over and over. It is this same frustration, though, that snaps me back to reality and lets me know that I have a job to do and I need to set aside my own feelings so that I can help the students. I allowed myself a few bad days, but I took the weekend to relax, refresh and renew by exercising, spending time with my daughter, pulling some weeds, and getting my house in order. These things helped me to put things into perspective and come back to school on Monday with a fresh attitude and enthusiasm for these last few weeks of the semester.

While it is nearly the end of the semester, it is just as important to stay engaged and focused because the students are going to want to slack off or disengage. It is my responsibility to keep them excited about the material and completing the work. This is a difficult task at best. My 6th Hour Entrepreneurship class were the main culprits for the lousy week last week. Trying to teach an easy lesson, they were falling asleep, staring blankly into space, and completely disengaged. I tried asking easy questions to get them back on track, but that only seemed to make for awkward silences. One of which lasted for a good two minutes. Frustrated, I finished the lesson without asking more questions and let them work at their computer stations.

This week was also a week of planning for the end of the semester. I have a Teacher Work Sample due on May 1st, finishing out classes at Front Range Community College, and finishing out my classes at Poudre High School. I have plans laid out for all my classes through the end of the semester, for which I'm happy to be organized. It's getting close, and I know that I've said it before, but I am really looking forward to the summer and some leisure time that I haven't had for the past year.

Poudre High School Prom Royalty

(Photo: Courtesy of Poudre High School )

This year Poudre High School named two very special people as Prom King and Queen. The Coloradoan did a piece on the event and the royal duo. I won't mention any more about it, but instead, I will send you to the link to read more:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/education/2014/04/14/touching-poudre-high-prom-crowning-prompts-smiles-tears/7717163/

The original Lorax in Economics

In Economics this week, we showed the original Lorax movie! It's very different from the newer, more flashy Lorax movie, but still has the same messages and has the benefit of being shorter. Take a look, and maybe you could even see the connection to Economics or use it in your own lessons!

13th Week: Impalapalooza Week!

Tacky Tourist Day - Mrs. Mo's Class

Happy Impalapalooza Week! YAY! Each day we had a different theme that we could dress up: Monday was Colorado Spirit day (I wore jeans and a USA Cycling t-shirt), Tuesday was Tacky Tourist Day (I didn't really dress up, but I had a skirt that is bright and colorful I used for the occasion.), Wednesday was Mathlete vs. Athlete day (I didn't know what to wear, so I went casual and donned my reading glasses), and Thursday was Poudre Spirit day (Once again, I wore jeans and a Poudre t-shirt).

Black Prez was in 'da house!

The Assembly was on Thursday between 2nd and 3rd hours. They packed a lot into the hour including: Cool Man contest, Chariot races, Prom royalty, chant-off, and Black Prez put on a show. It was fun to see the staff and the students excited for their school and the activities happening. Classroom management was a challenge because the students were excited about the day, having an off day on Friday, and Prom coming up on the weekend.

Whew! I was pooped today after finishing up classes, and it's been kind of weird knowing that I have a full day off tomorrow. I am absolutely looking forward to it! It's been a stressful week professionally and personally. With so much going on with putting out applications, getting my resume updated, and my husband's job hanging in the balance, we are having some difficulty managing. We are staying positive through these last few weeks of school, though. There's only six weeks left at Poudre High School, and I only have four weeks left at Front Range Community College. Things are definitely starting to wind down.

By the way, the girl that wasn't coming to class finally dropped with an "F" after I called home to check on her. She claimed that the management class she was taking with another teacher was just like my class. My guess is that she didn't want to do the work, so she took an "F" instead.

A few more pictures from Impalapalooza Assembly Today:

Cool guys hangin' out on the ice

Chariot race winners!

Prom Royalty Escorts

12th Week: Spring is Here!

You can feel the school buzzing from the excitement of warmer weather and spring activities! It was another regular week at Poudre High School, but we had some fun activities planned in Economics. We started talking about rations, and we actually gave the students rations for things that they could/could not use in class. So, the students could use a desk but not a chair; they could use paper one day but not the next. They had to have a ration for water, bathroom breaks, and food. Mr. Long made the ration cards and based them on order of importance by the students. It was a fun activity, but proved to be challenging for classroom management. The last activity we did for the week was the soda taste test. We talked about the different types of market structures, which included perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopolies, and monopolies. In order to show how a couple of companies can control the market through advertising and imagined differences, we did a soda taste test. It was interesting because some of the students were brand-loyal to Coke or Pepsi, and those were the students that got the taste test wrong. The students that didn't drink much soda seemed to score better. The kids had fun, and we related the activity back to the market structures.

blog.cengage.com

In Entrepreneurship, the students continued their work on Promotional Planning. Project 6 was due on Friday, April 4th. Most of the students were able to complete the project and turn it in. I'm still having trouble with one student not coming to class. She hasn't attended class since Spring Break, so I called home to find out if her parents were aware of her absences and failing grades. I also wanted to see what I could do to help her understand the material or make up missed work. I had a stern talk with her before Spring Break, and apparently, she didn't like it. She stopped coming to class instead of talking with me about her concerns. This has been a trend with the high school students I have worked with thus far. Many of them would rather quit and fail than resolving any conflict or issues that may have arisen.

I'm looking forward to next week. It's Impalapalooza Week! The week before prom is traditionally set aside with activities and fun to celebrate spring, the warmer weather, the end of the year, and, of course, prom. Unfortunately, I'm missing most of the activities because I teach at Front Range Community College. There's a fun activity on Thursday called Mr. PHS, which is a "beauty" contest for the boys. It's staged and funny. The best part about next week is that I get a full day off. My daughter is in school, and I can get ready for the CSU Teacher Job Fair the following week and run some errands. That really does constitute excitement in my busy schedule.

11th Week: TCAPs Testing Week

This week was a testing week for the 9th and 10th graders at Poudre High School and the last year ever that the TCAPs (Transitional Colorado Assessment Program) will be given. The TCAPs provide the state with assessment data from each school district to determine how well a school is doing based on those scores. The unfortunate part of the testing is that TCAPs don't provide the student with any incentives to do well or to even show up. The TCAPs are solely for statistics purposes; they do not go on the student's transcripts or help the student in their grades in any way. Students are asked to do well as a reflection of the school, but in this narcissistic world, there needs to be more.

commons.wikimedia.org

The TCAPs took up three days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The tests were given in the mornings, and the schedule for the week was changed to accommodate the tests. It was the week after Spring Break, so the staff and the students were feeling a bit ragged trying to get into the swing of things. Upper class students (juniors and seniors) weren't required to be at school in the mornings because of the testing, so they often didn't make it to class at all. Many of our classes had half the students there.

For me personally, the week was long. Proctoring a test is not fun, and we had more free time than usual built into the schedule. It was great to get caught up on planning and grading. I also provided Mr. Long with an observation opportunity, so I only have one more observation to complete for both Mr. Long and Mrs. Hixon. Whew. The semester is flying by. My teacher work sample is about finished, I only have two more seminars, and two more observations. I need to be finished by May 1st with everything, so I'll start reviewing everything this week and next week and finish a week early.

It's also job hunting time. I've been looking at school districts in the area as well as school districts in Texas. As of now, there are no business teaching positions in any of the districts that I have seen. Disappointed and overwhelmed, I'm going to keep searching and stay positive that something will come up.

10th Week: Slliiiiidddding into home

Some baseball humor in the title. The home opener for the Colorado Rockies isn't until April 4th, but I'm looking forward to the warmer weather and baseball being on television again. Maybe even taking my daughter to a game this season. Riding my bike to school, and wearing short sleeves and sandals.

Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_College_(Missouri)

This week was the week before Spring Break. It was a slow start with International Day on Monday for the International Baccalaureate students at Poudre High School. It was a day filled with presentations from around the world and cuisine catered by ethnic restaurants around town. I went to five presentations. The first was about China that was given by a senior IB student. The second was about Korea, where I discovered where I could get good Korean food in Colorado. After lunch, I went to India, Israel, and Zambia. They were all interesting in their own right. Zambia was most interesting because it came from an adult who visited there. Now, I know Sebastian, who is also in the STEPP program, and he is a refugee from Zimbabwe, so I know a little about the culture there from talking to him. However, it is also interesting to hear an outsider's perspective of being there. The presenter spoke about the country as if she had just visited, and really, it had been seven years!

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristic/466888471/

Parent Teacher Conferences were on Wednesday at Poudre High School. I was able to brag to the parents of some of my best students, and I was able to connect with parents of students who were struggling. I spoke with most of the parents of the students with whom I was concerned. The parents seemed just as concerned about the grades as I was, and we discussed ways to help the students improve. Often, the solution was simply turning in late work. Other times, it was more about behavior and engagement in the classes. Teenagers are facing many challenges in their lives including raging hormones, media feedback, school, and pressure from friends and family. This is even not to mention that they are really still "just kids." This is a generalization about most of the students I teach, but some of them are very mature for their age. One student's mom was very concerned for her daughter's dis-engagement in school and in her relationship with her. She knew her daughter well, and told me a lot of the same behavior that I was experiencing in class. Unfortunately, other than turning in missing work, I wasn't able to help much. Another parent was somewhat out of touch with her child's behavior and grades. She had taken her daughter's word about the feedback that I was giving her about her grades and didn't speak with me directly about it. Because the situation was somewhat confrontational, I decided to take a side step and let her parents know that I would work with her in class and come to an agreement, which we did on Thursday after conferences. However, I was also able to see that the student was "pulling the wool" over her parents' eyes and blaming her ineptitude on me as a "lack of communication." I don't work well with manipulation, and I'm quite tempted to email her parents again with a progress report to ensure that work gets done over break. Overall, the Parent Teacher Conferences helped me to practice my communication with parents and to make note of things that I could do to help students more in my classes.

The projects in Entrepreneurship are beginning to come back to me better and better. I've graded all of the Building and Location projects that have been turned in thus far, and they are creative and interesting. My best students have turned in their work and made A's on their projects. I'm still waiting for a few projects to filter in over Spring Break.

Friday is, of course, the day before Spring Break. A few students are already leaving for vacation on Friday and will not be in school; however, there are plenty of students that will still be in school as well. In 4th Hour Economics, we have decided to have a "Friday Fun Day" for the day before Spring Break. We want to keep the two Economics classes on task together, so we had an extra day to expend. Students will bring snacks to share, and we will watch a movie or episodes of The Office. As much as the students are ready, teachers are just as ready for this week-long break. It denotes the middle of the semester, and after Spring Break, end-of-year activities begin to ramp up, which will lead to the downward spiral of the last day of school.

Changing Education Paradigms

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Another video that we saw in CSU Seminar this semester. I also just read an article by one of our teachers at Poudre High School about shifting paradigms and turning more toward a "Student-as-a-Client" pedagogy. The theory and research behind it is enough to make most educators stop and think about whether or not what we are doing now is working. I agree with the concept that students need to take responsibility for their education as much as teachers do. I especially agree with it this semester as I pat students on the head and push them along ensuring that every assignment is complete and that they are organized enough to complete the class. For some students I recognize that this must be done because of disabilities; however, there are very capable students in my class that are failing because they just refuse to take responsibility. This is the part that needs to change, but how? Do we start in elementary school? Is it from their home life? There are so many questions to consider when speaking to making major reformations in our education system because our schools are not just a place for education but also an expensive (or inexpensive) babysitting service. We require attendance by law for students K-12. If we are going to change our system, don't we need more choices in our education system to engage our students so that they want to be there and are not just required to be there? This is a difficult debate and one that is generally heated. As an open-minded educator, I welcome feedback and other ideas and opinions as well.

9th Week - Diggin' Deep

My 9th Week student teaching has been really positive. In Entrepreneurship, I've been working closely with a few students to get their work complete, and they are getting caught up and doing well as a result. It is so gratifying to see the students successfully accomplishing the tasks assigned, especially those that have been struggling along the way. They are all starting to get excited about the projects.

In Economics, I struggled a bit with the material, but I made it through with the students having a good understanding of the concepts. After the students completed a worksheet assessment over elasticity, I reviewed and graded them to ensure that the students were understanding, and according to the answers, the students were doing very well with their understanding.

Last, but absolutely not least, the Poudre Girls' basketball team is in the final four for the state basketball championships! They just won to Cherry Creek last night at the Denver Coliseum. Next week they play the top team in the state at the CU Events Center in Boulder. Congratulations to the Poudre Girls' Varsity Basketball Team for their hard earned wins!

It's the second week before Spring Break, so I'm feeling the need for a break, and I can tell that the students are also feeling this. It's time to "dig deep," as Mr. Long says, and stick with it for just one more week.

8th Week: On my own

The 8th week of my student teaching experience culminated in my mentor teacher being gone to a DECA Competition in Colorado Springs. DECA is a business marketing club for high school students. It assesses students for their understanding of marketing concepts and interviews them in their ability to apply these concepts to a real-world scenario. While he was gone, I took over all of the classes. Movies were shown in most of the classes, so there wasn't a lot of teaching. Classroom management was required more than anything.

The problem student that I had at the end of the 7th week decided to drop my Entrepreneurship class. It was so interesting to me that he would rather take a failing grade than try to resolve the issue and move on in the class. He brought the withdraw slip to me to sign, but I required him to get a signature from Mr. Long before he dropped the class completely. The real issue was the work that he was required to do in the class. He wasn't doing the work, and he wasn't asking questions pertinent to the work. He was continually working on other activities instead of getting his work done. When I asked him about it, he became frustrated. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to work with him to get his work done. He was defensive every time I talked to him about his work, and he finally just walked out of class on Tuesday without talking about the issue. When confronted to resolve the issue, he became even more defensive. While this issue had little to do with me, I still wish that I could have been part of a resolution instead of a failed student.

The week ended with an observation from my CSU supervisor. I invited her to observe the 4th Hour MYP Economics class. We were going over Supply and Demand shifts, and in order to practice the concept further, we went through a "baseball" activity that asked a question requiring each team to provide an answer. Any team that had the right answer got a point. The students were discussing the questions thoroughly, and they were having fun thinking critically. Overall, I think that the class went well. Carol Ann had a few suggestions, and the feedback provided me with some good information that I will use in my future classes. For instance, I wasn't intentional when opening and closing the class. This is something that is easy to work on and practice.

While I'm enjoying my student teaching experience (overall), I'm also looking forward to the upcoming break. I'm also looking forward to Spring and some warmer weather.

7th Week: Successes and Failures

My 7th Week student teaching was better than the previous. I was still sick on Monday, which was an in-service day. I went to the doctor and got some medicine, and I even made it into school on Monday for about an hour to talk to Mr. Long. Although, the medicine didn't really start to help until the end of the week, but I muddled through the week with a hoarse voice and low energy.

In the two Entrepreneurship classes, we watched a movie, Ten9Eight, on the Tuesday back, so I didn't have to talk with my hoarse voice. I did, however, teach in the Economics 4th hour class. It was miserable and challenging, but I got the job done. It felt a little awkward to be back after being gone for a week.

The next day, I was able to get in a review of the Market Research section in Entrepreneurship and gave the post-assessment for my teacher work sample. I can now complete my teacher work sample before Spring Break as I had anticipated. We also started the next unit, which was the pricing unit. Some of the students will have more work than others on this section. Those that do retail will have to price out all of their inventory and their equipment and supplies; whereas, those that are doing service businesses will only have to price out their equipment and supplies. It seems to be getting more and more difficult to get the students to be motivated and engaged in the projects. Some of the students don't need any prompting but get the work done easily; however, I have to continually prod a few students to work during class.

A success I had last week was when one of my Entrepreneurship students came up to me after class and apologized for his behavior toward me and in my class. He was respectful and said he was working on getting caught up and doing his work. Just like the Grinch, "My heart grew three sizes that day." I don't enjoy having to stay on top of students to get their work done or having to reprimand students in class. It disengages the class as a whole. This particular student has stayed true to his word for the week, and he paid attention when I was talking and he got his work completed and turned in on time. It was a happy moment for me, and I hope that he continues with this behavior change through the rest of the semester.

On the other hand, I have a student that has been doing other classes' work in my class and not getting his work in my class completed. He is behind on all of the projects, and he is disrespectful to me. He keeps his headphones in his ears when I'm talking to him and he plays with his cell phone. I moved him away from the front of the room to sit next to me where he will have less distractions, and I can keep an eye on him. When Mr. Long returns, I will talk to him about the issue and see what further steps need to be taken in order to get this resolved.

This week was also the Career & Technical Education Advisory Board meeting and breakfast. All of the departments involved including Business, PaCE (a work study program), ACE, and Family and Consumer Sciences were all present along with the advisory board members, who gave input to the programs and how we can improve our work with the students. The Poudre High School catering team made the breakfas, and introduced themselves to the meeting.

A new week is a new opportunity to work on improving. Teaching is a work in progress, and I am continually finding new ways to communicate, engage, and motivate students.

Entrepreneurship Student in the Coloradoan

From: Coloradoan, Feb 8, 2014, by Bob Nightwalker

In my 6th Hour Entrepreneurship, I have a group of three students who sit in the back and are all friends. They are good kids, getting their work in and doing good work, too! They are all members of Future Business Leaders of America and DECA, a high school organized marketing program. One of those is Tallon Nightwalker.

In class, his business plan is to organize and operate a wildlife rehabilitation center. He told me that he works with animals and there currently isn't a program in Fort Collins anymore. His plan is thoughtful and interesting, and he is smart and capable of following through with his plan.

From: Coloradoan, Feb 8, 2014, by Bob Nightwalker

Just last week, Mr. Long showed me the following article in the Coloradoan about Tallon and his father. His passion and his efforts are commendable, and if he continues on his path, I think he will be very successful in this endeavor. These are the students that make teaching worthwhile.

You can read more about Tallon and his father at the link below.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014302080085

6th Week: Bust

My sixth week student teaching was pretty much a bust. I started out Monday planning with Mr. Long and getting ready for the week. It was a rough Monday, too, because the weekend had brought some significant deaths to the school and the school district. The mother of three Poudre High School students was killed over the weekend, and a student at Fossil Ridge High School died following an automobile accident. It was also "America" day at Fort Collins High School, where the administrators and the media were expecting a large turnout for protesting because of the controversy surrounding the previously named "Merica" Day. Fortunately, the press and the buzz fizzled out before anything happened. Everyone went back to their regularly scheduled programs.

For me, Monday was the first day I came down with the crud. I went home early, and that's pretty much where I stayed until Monday morning, when I got up to go to the doctor. I called the doctor first thing on Tuesday, and they were convinced that I had the flu. So, they prescribed me Tamiflu. $130 and five days later, I was still sick. Sunday evening I called the doctor again, and now, they instructed me to go to the emergency room. Scared and skeptical, I stayed home until morning and marched myself to the doctor, where I found out I had a sinus infection, which is why the Tamiflu didn't help. Now, Tuesday, I'm getting better, though, still not 100%.

So, last week taught me to be prepared. I was not expecting to be out for the entire week. However, because I had been prepared for my lessons for the week, I was able to give clear directions on what my classes should do for the substitute teacher and my mentor teacher. I also had to be clear with my communication, letting my mentor teacher know exactly what my plans were and how I was feeling. He couldn't read my mind, so I had to ensure that he was always in the loop. This helped him to plan and determine how to move forward.

I missed out on a few things on Friday: Valentine's Day and a District Business Department meeting. Valentine's Day wasn't as big of a deal as the District Business Department meeting. The district meeting could have proved to be fruitful for networking and engaging in the planning for the next year.

With reports back from my mentor teacher and the substitute, the classes went well and the students all completed their work according to the plans. Now, it's catch up time...

5th Week: Experimenting

My fifth week of student teaching was really about experimenting. Mr. Long was gone on Tuesday for a Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) event in Greeley. With his absence, I took over all of the classes for the day. In International Business, Mr. Long had me show the North Korea Frontline film and answered some essay questions at the end. Because this class is often chatty, I had to move one person to another seat so that everyone could pay attention to the movie. It achieved its purpose, and the class was quiet for the remainder of the movie. The 4th hour Economics class was a bit more demanding. I went over the productivity part of the lesson and de-briefed the pizza activity from the previous week as well as reviewed for the test. Because I had time at the end of the class, I reviewed the worksheet the students were completing. I felt that the students were sufficiently prepared for the test. And, after the test on Thursday, the grades showed that they were prepared. More than half the class made A's, and no one failed the test.

Last Fall, Mr. Long had given me all of the lessons for the Entrepreneurship class, and I began to go over them during the Winter break. Upon going over them, I found some ways to improve some of the lessons. In particular was the Market Research section that had students creating surveys on paper and distributing them via paper. To streamline this section and make it more like real-life, I changed the lesson so that the students made the survey in a GoogleForms and distributed it via email or social media. The 5th Hour class had no problem with putting their surveys into electronic form and distributing it, but I did have problems with the 6th Hour class. Instead of giving into the 6th Hour's requests to print out their forms and distribute them, I stood by my lesson. As a result, the students received good responses, and their results are all put directly into a spreadsheet and graphs are created for them. Now, all they have to do is analyze the data and make recommendations based on the analysis.

One thing that I'm frustrated with is getting some of the students motivated to do the work in the class. It's so fascinating that there are students in the 6th Hour class that would rather just sit and stare at the walls than do the assignments. Of course, they get zeros on the assignments, but they don't seem to care. When I started assigning zeros in the class, I only got one student response via email about the zeros. The others haven't even looked at their grades. I have one student who is in class every class period and simply refuses to do the work in class. She sleeps or has earbuds in her ears to listen to something on her phone (I assume it is music). She claims that she is tired from her club volleyball practices. My question: are her parents so concerned with volleyball that they don't look at her grades and make sure that her grades aren't suffering from practicing so much? In the same class, I finally separated two students that were disruptive and not getting work done, and it seems to have helped. One thing that I am experimenting with is taking the time to go around and talk to the students individually and find out what is going on in their lives that they aren't able to get the work completed. Most of the responses are generic: "I'm too tired," "I'm going to get caught up this weekend," "I already turned it in." So, as another way of ensuring listening, I have decided to have everyone turn off their monitors and take out their headphones while I'm talking. It isn't foolproof. Students still pretend to be apathetic and not listen to me, but I stand a better chance of getting them to listen if I follow through with this action.

One of my students in 6th Hour who is falling behind to get his work in has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). He seems to be disorganized, procrastinates, and generally, has issues getting his work done. Knowing this, I sat down with him today to find out how I can help him to get his work done. I have decided that I will differentiate instruction for him so that he can build a website for his business plan instead of doing all of his work in a Word Application. He enjoys building things, and he seems to learn better by doing so. After talking to Mr. Long, I plan to move forward with this action and determine if this strategy will allow him to learn more from this class.

Because the Market Research lesson requires the students to wait to get responses to their surveys, I'm having the students complete a virtual simulation on the computers in their spare time. This is the sponge activity that provides for learning while we are waiting and before they can complete their Market Research project. I'm excited about some of the projects. Some of the students are taking the projects very seriously and taking the time to format, check it over, and do it well.

In my Front Range Community College classes, I have also done some experimenting. In the Intro to PC Apps class this semester, I have moved the PowerPoint section to the beginning of the semester. I did this because I require the students to give a PowerPoint presentation on a procedure of something they are interested. In this way, we can all get to know each other at the beginning of the semester instead of at the end. It's been a fun experience. We got to see some of the other sides of the students and where their interests lie and who they are. This was so effective that I will continue this into next semester.

In the Social Media Applications class, we are currently creating and publishing blogs, and because this class is new, I'm constantly experimenting. It is a continual process of balance between those students who know how to develop software and are already using social media and those that are still learning how to use some of the applications. They all have the same goals in mind, to learn how to effectively use social media. I have been walking that balance to determine what pieces are most important and what can be set aside. The blogs are the starting point for the projects, and we will build upon these blogs throughout the semester in each section of the course. Their blogs can be viewed on the right side of this page. I'm excited to see the results!

Because I said I would...

On Wednesday, we had a guest speaker at Poudre High School. Alex Sheen, the founder of "Because I said I would," was brought to campus by the AVID group. They raised money through grants and other fundraising to make his visit possible.

Alex Sheen is 28 years old, and he speaks around the country and raises money for people with special needs. He seems to be an ordinary guy, but he has made some amazing dreams come true. His "TedTalk" was both sad and inspiring all at the same time. His message was born from the death of his father. He wanted to remember his father for who he was and not for who he was not, and he was a person of his word who always kept his promises.

This message is so important because our society is suffering from "disposable-itis". We dispose of almost anything that doesn't suit us anymore, including friends. Outdated phones and computers are one thing, but people are not disposable. Just because someone does something that you don't like, doesn't mean that you can't be friends with them anymore. We are all different and have different needs, and we all must live together in this world. Learning to communicate and keep promises is paramount to our making it in this small world.

Social Media has played a role in this "disposable-itis", but we all have the opportunity to change that around. Even though social media gives us the opportunity to be "flaky", we don't have to give into this. As we make dates with friends or promises to family, we must keep them whether we feel like it or not. Just because you had a long day at work, doesn't excuse you from being a good friend, mother, daughter, or husband. You must follow through and be the person you said you would be.

Alex touched on much bigger issues than I am in my blog, but I really believe that it is the small things that make us who we are. It is about getting up from your comfy chair and consoling your friend going through a divorce. It is about putting off an hour of your television time to call your mother. It is also about putting down the cell phone and being present with a friend or family member who needs you.

Teaching high schoolers the importance of making a decision or a promise and sticking to it is probably one of the most valuable things that we can do. I'm not sure that one assembly and a guest speaker can do it, but Alex definitely inspired me to join his cause in my own classrooms and get my own students to make commitments to their studies and even take that out into their lives. When you tell someone you are going to do something, it is important for your character to follow through. After high school, it will be even more important to learn these lessons in order to get along in the world.

4th Week: Comfort Zone

My fourth week student teaching has been much more comfortable. I am feeling more settled, and I'm beginning to find a rhythm with my classes and my students. I still have my challenges with classroom management, but it is getting easier as I try new things and stay consistent.

I have been forced to get out of my comfort zone this week. Monday was a full day. Carol Ann, my CSU Supervisor, came to my 5th Hour Entrepreneurship class to observe my SWOT Analysis lesson, which went delightfully well. The students participated and kept their phones put away. It was a pleasurable class, and I would do it all over again. I used the same class to practice the Market Research Lesson that would be observed on Wednesday in 6th Hour, and it also went well. Students were receptive to the lesson and worked diligently on their projects. I had a few chatty students, but with high school students, I think that is to be expected. One thing that I did differently that worked really well was to ensure that the students weren't logged on to the computers during class. Because they weren't logged in to the computers, there was less distraction.

The 6th Hour Entrepreneurship class, however, has been more of a challenge. There are very strong personalities in this class, so that's the first struggle. I find myself trying to find new ways to communicate with students and find new activities that may help them to engage and learn. Many are distracted by their cell phones and by the computers, so I'm constantly trying to keep them focused and on task. This was the class that was difficult during my observation. Most were unresponsive to my lecture and didn't participate when called upon during discussion. Again, I'm looking for new strategies to reach these students so that they will learn.

Monday was also our first Colorado State University Seminar. Marc Buffington, a Poudre High School Social Studies teacher, is the leader of the seminar. There are fourteen university students in the group. We all introduced ourselves and then talked a little about Response to Intervention (RTI) from an educational perspective. This service allows teachers to report a student that is failing or may not be doing as well as he/she thinks that they should. In reporting these students, educators and counselors can intervene if necessary and put the students on a comprehensive schedule to help them reach their goals. We went through real-life scenarios in groups. Our group read about a girl who had failed the 10th grade. She was missing a lot of class and had some pressure from gangs, but she did want to finish high school. The RTI team put her on an attendance contract and had her favorite teacher mentor her through the rest of high school, and she was able to graduate with A's and B's. In this case, RTI really helped a student to accomplish her goals. While this process doesn't always work, it does give teachers and counselors insight into a students' life and how to help ease some of their frustration along the way.

Mr. Long, my mentor teacher, has been giving lessons all week based on activities that relate to the objectives for the class. One of the activities was a paper airplane making activity in Economics. There were required to create paper airplanes as a group that would fly through a hula hoop. There were three or four rounds. Another activity was a Play-Doh activity in International Business. The students were divided into four or five groups, where some of the groups were Less Developed Countries and others were in Industrialized Countries. They were given specific products to make with prices on them. There were three rounds and some of the groups were able to change into an Developing Country or even an Industrialized Country. These products were made with Play-Doh. The final activity was the Pizza Productivity lesson in Economics. There were four or five rounds; the students were divided into groups of five. Each round was a little different in the way that they made the pizzas. Each round was judged by the teachers for quality, so pizzas were thrown out for not being perfect. There were some formulas that they had to calculate in order to determine the cost of each pizza and how much profit was earned. It was fun and inspiring to see all of the students participating and excited to work on these activities.