2 weeks left!

My internship has flown by!  I have so much that keeps me busy.  I don't know where the last few month have gone.  I have so many mixed emotions about this next transition in my life.  I have sadness for leaving my students and the faculty at OHS.  I have anxiety and nerves about my job fair on Wednesday.  Usually I don't have anxiety, but starting my teaching career means so much to me.  I plan on still visiting my class until the end of the school year.

One thing I learned during my internship is that I'm going to be sad with each group of students that leave.  I helped out again this week in credit recovery.  The students are quickly trying to finish everything up before the end of the school year.  There are still some students who choose not to use their time wisely during credit recovery.  I try to walk around and make sure everyone is on task and when I find someone off task I try to remind them of why they are there.  I may try to get involved in the AVID or 21st Century program this week.  I'll keep you posted.

FCAT Day One was a Success!

The first day of FCAT was today and I felt it went well.  This is another thing I can add to my resume for next year.  I have gained so much experience during my internship I am almost sad that it is coming to an end.  The only thing that helps me cope is the fact that I know that next year I will be in my own classroom, helping kids in the same way, and getting a paycheck so I can pay my bills!  I really hope things go well at the job fair on the 20th!  My first choice would be to teach here at Osceola High School but I don't think they will have a spot open, but I can still hope.  I have come to respect the faculty and staff and I think the students are great.

OHS demonstrates their care for the student body in a variety of different ways.  One of my favorite things they do is a food program for students who need stuff to eat on the weekends.  This truly goes above just the education of children and helps to create a trusting relationship with these students.  Once I start teaching and have the money I plan on making charity a part of my teaching career.  I volunteered again this week with credit recovery.  There is a wide variety of students in the program.  They range from freshmen trying to repair their GPA with grade forgiveness,  to seniors retaking government so they can graduate.  I think it is really important that schools offer programs like this to encourage students to take school seriously.  No matter how many positives there are about a program there will always be people out there talking about the one negative thing about it.  There are many teachers who seem to be upset with this program because they think the students will take their classes for granted the first time around because they know they it will be easy to pass in credit recovery.  I understand their concern but I still feel that the main objective of a teacher should be the students success.  If a student is able to fix a bad grade or retake a class by doing extra work after school and this helps them graduate and continue their education who is really losing?   

FCAT is on the way!

The end of the 9 week grading period brings the beginning of FCAT testing.  I am very pleased with my students and the grades they earned this 9 weeks.  The lowest grade in the class was a 73 percent.  I am happy that all of my students will have the opportunity to earn at least a B for the semester grade.  I understand how important grades our to GPA's and college acceptance.  This is one of the things I will struggle with once I get my own classroom.  I don't know how I will react to giving a failing grade.  Hopefully I will be able to prevent any of my students from failing by giving them the additional support throughout the grading period before their grades are final.

I have an array of choices for volunteering at Osceola High School.  I will try to balance my time between 21st Century and Credit Recovery.  The program I am most interested in is Credit Recovery because it gives students an opportunity to catch up or replace a bad grade with grade forgiveness.  I think it is important to give students a chance to catch up besides summer school or being held back because this will prevent students who fall behind from getting frustrated and dropping out.  I was thinking about possibly volunteering for FCAT practice this week as well because FCAT is testing on April 11th and 12th.  I would like to be able to help students relieve some of their test anxiety and help them have confidence before taking the test.  Even if teachers don't necessarily agree with the assessment methods being used we still need to do whatever we can to help our students prepare for it.

Spring Break is Over!

Tomorrow brings the beginning of the last week of the quarter for my students.  I hope that all of them can use this week to raise their grades so they don't have so much pressure on the last 9 weeks.  The students in the first two AP classes have mostly D's so I really hope they do well on the test this week.  In the third period honors class everybody has at least a C so they have less pressure. 

The fun is really going to be juggling the testing center time because the third quarter county exam should be this week but FCAT is also coming up.  I hope that I will have enough time to review with my students before they have to take the quarterly exam.  The first exam went great with a B average but much more is covered on this quarters exam.  I would be very happy if we could keep the B average even with the doubling of the material covered.  I really am appreciative of all of the valuable teaching lessons I am learning during my internship.  I also can't wait to start my volunteering with 21st century or another after school program.  I will keep my progress with the volunteering posted. 

Continous Improvement

It was another busy week for me.  I am quickly getting use to the amount of work that is required to be a good teacher.  My supervising teacher was out on Monday and Tuesday so I had a chance to test my new classroom management skills without her there.  The only thing I had to fall back on was the sub.  I thought it was weird that the school still had to place a sub in the classroom even though they are confident that I can handle it on my own.  Some of the rules are strange, but at least the sub got to collect an easy paycheck for sitting in the back of the classroom and reading magazines all day.

I have been teaching 3rd period World History honors on my own for awhile now but this was the first time I have taught 1st and 2nd period AP World History.  Everything went great! (Whew)  The kids didn't act up and I was able to make sure they didn't fall behind while Mrs. Eyberg was out.  During lunch I had one of the other teachers in the teacher's lounge text her and tell her I had already wrote 4 referrals.  When she got back she was ready to have a wonderful discussion about respect with the class until she found out I was just pulling her leg.  Surprisingly she didn't think it was as funny as the rest of us did!

I also had a great opportunity to attend the ISSS for the second year in a row.  The ISSS is an international social studies conference that takes place at UCF.  There were numerous sessions that gave me great ideas that I can use immediately in the classroom.  My favorite session was about a new way to use primary sources in the classroom and I plan on doing this within the next week.  Stay tuned to find out how it goes!   

Another Week is Gone!

My internship has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my graduate career.  I can not express the amount of priceless experiences I have had so far.  This week was no exception.  I am finally getting to use some of the things I have learned at UCF in the real world.  You really get to see the work that goes into implementing an idea.  When you are just writing about some cool assignment in class it can sometimes be hard to imagine how real students will respond to it.  I am getting the chance to try out my ideas on unsuspecting students and there is nothing they can do about it.

I have already come to the realization that I need to rely less on notes.  You can create the most amazing powerpoint in the world and it still won't keep your students interested forever.  I know now that I need to mix it up more, increase my use of class discussion and student centered instruction like think, pair, share.  Another thing that I have confirmed is the use of an awesome review game before any test.  I have always planned on using a review game.  After seeing the success of this during my internship I have confirmed my suspicion that students not only love games, but they can be tricked into having fun while learning!  One of the most rewarding things happened today when after the first quarter county history exam one of my students raised his hand to tell me "thanks for getting me prepared for the test, I have never felt that good about a county exam."  My internship is helping me to find all the ways to create a positive learning environment for my students and I have never been so happy to work for free!      

The Importance of Parent Involvement

Another week of my internship has passed!  The time is flying.  Hopefully, before I know it I will be teaching in my own classroom and getting paid for what I love to do.  This week was full of more interesting experiences.  On Tuesday night I had my first open house.  Out of 60 students between the three classes only 10 parents/guardians showed up.  I have completely taken over third period and 7 of the ten parents who showed up were for students from that class.  I really enjoyed the chance to talk to parents about what I was trying to accomplish in the classroom.  Students are much more likely to succeed if their parents are aware of what is going on and encourages them to do what they are supposed to.  

The classes I am teaching for my internship are AP and honors classes.  The amount of parents that showed up really got me thinking.  If the upper level students don't have full parent involvement, how much involvement is there at the other end?  I am sure it is almost non existent.  Fixing this problem will go a long way for improving the equality of our education system.  We need to do whatever we can to get parents/guardians involved.  If we identify a student who doesn't have support at home after several attempts we should set them up with a mentor.  I know this would be a monumental task to take on, especially in urban schools, but something needs to be done before the United States education system falls even further down the ranks.      

A Busy Week!

     I started to take over classes during my internship this week and it was interesting to say the least.  My wife has been very supportive with my heavy workload, she helps me in any way she can!  In my short time at this high school I have learned a lot.  I have dealt with classroom behavior issues, final exams, final grades, class introductions for the new semester, and tons of other things.  My supervising teacher is great!  She has over 20 years of experience and is a dedicated historian.  The amount of information she gives her students is astounding.  I only hope I can prepare her AP students for the exam as well as she does.

     Some students in my class are AVID students.  I wasn't familiar with this program before my internship and my Urban education class.  I really feel this program can make a difference to students who may not have this opportunity otherwise.  I look forward to seeing my students succeed and to learning everything I can about teaching this semester.  I am excited to finish my last semester and I am ready to start teaching in my own classroom!