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.