Subbing Feb 17th- Para

Today I subbed as a classroom para. This was in the junior high in the self-contained classroom. I had worked with some of these students before, but I was surprised at how some of them were reluctant to work with me. One student just flat out ignored me, then later I was supposed to give him his spelling test and he ignored me again. His teacher then told him that he had to answer my questions and to stop being rude, but I was still surprised. I had helped this student with his ceramics class a couple of weeks ago and he was fine, but today he wanted nothing to do with me. I guess these students are just extremes of the students that are in the regular classes. Sometimes students  get frustrated and they just don’t want to work with you, but they aren’t as obvious as the sped students. As a teacher I need to be more observant of my students to understand why they are acting out they way they are. I didn’t know this student very well so I wasn’t able to figure out why he wouldn’t work with me, but it reminds me that every student has a reason for what they do. Maybe this student just wasn’t comfortable working with me and so he didn’t want to talk to me. Sometimes when a student does something we just write it off as not important, but what is going on in the student’s life is important to them and it can really affect the way they interact day to day. 

By the end of the day most of the students were comfortable working with me. One student who seemed frustrated when I was helping him with his math engaged in a conversation with me while we were waiting for his bus. In one of their classes they talked about Dr.'s visits and towards the end of the class I realized they were practicing having conversations, that these students aren't used to having conversations.

Subbing Feb 16th-Math

I subbed math today. This was the first time that the para was actually helpful to me. She told the class that they were being too loud and that they know that was acceptable behavior. She also helped when I was a little confused with the notes. The other para’s I have had have just sat in the corner and pulled their students aside if they needed to. This para has showed me how valuable a para can be to the whole class. When I interviewed to be a sub one topic that came up was what to do with the classroom Para. I said that I wouldn’t totally depend on a para, but that they are actually in the classroom day in and day out and that they know the students. I don’t think that I have depended on the paras in my classroom enough. This is something that I need to work on, the balance between not depending on my paras enough and depending on them too much.

            Also the teacher I subbed for had me use the doc cam, a classroom tool that I need to use more. She had notes for the class that was fill in the blank. The class was familiar with the topic and they were to fill in the blanks as we went, and I would right down the answer after a student had provided me with the correct answer. I need to practice writing so that my hand is not in the way while I write.

Subbing Feb 15th- Science

Today I subbed for a science teacher again. It seems that my high school science teacher is coming back to haunt me, saying see you should have been a science teacher.

This teacher seems to have her stuff together when she wrote her sub plans. She gave very detailed tech instructions and when she said her students know what to do, they actually did and they did it. I was a little worried when I was told that they knew what to do based on my past experience with this instruction, but they got to work with their vocabulary. This teacher showed a film for the majority of the class and the students were to write at least 15 facts that they learned about volcanoes from the video. This was a long video with many facts so the students shouldn’t have had a problem. When I went to collect the worksheets from the students many of them didn’t have it done. One student didn’t do anything because he didn’t have a pencil. What is up with these students that they think just because they weren’t prepared for class they don’t have to do anything. Why can’t they just ask one of their peers or even me for a pencil? Not only that, but how do they expect to get through a day of school without a writing utensil? I guess this is the problem I have for the day what can I do as a future teacher about students who don’t bring their writing utensils. I can have a flowerpot of pencils that have big bright flowers attached to them that are available for the students use. They know they are to return the pencils to the pot at the end of class. I would also make it clear to my students that just because they don’t have a writing utensil they are still responsible for the work that they are supposed to do and for the information that is given to them. I think some students may forget their utensils on purpose so they won’t have to do their work, but if they are aware that they will still have to do their work they may not forget their supplies as much.

Subbing Feb 10th- Science

Today I subbed for a science teacher at a junior high. I have observed this teacher before while subbing for a 1 on 1 para. He is very laid back and the students seem to enjoy the class. His classes are very well behaved. He doesn’t have a seating chart, but he lets the students know that if they can’t handle the responsibility of choosing where they sit then he will choose a seat for them. I think that this shows the students that he considers them adults and that they need to take responsibility. I think that they then act more maturely because they are expected to. I would like to try this out in a class, but I think I would start off with a seating chart at the beginning for a couple of weeks, just until I know the student’s names.

The first thing the students were to do is group presentations. Each group was responsible for a part of mitosis. They had to demonstrate their part in some way. I have to say I was a little shocked that he had them present to a sub. I left notes on what each group did and how they did, but he didn’t ask me to do that. Some of the groups just stood in front of the room and told the class about their part, but they didn’t engage in the higher thinking demonstration part of the assignment. If I had been their teacher I would have made them redo the assignment so they could show me that they fully understood their part of the process. Because this teacher had them present to a sub, he was unable to check for this understanding himself.

Next the students were to do vocabulary. They worked at their own pace and got the work done. They were allowed to talk, but they didn’t goof around. This showed me how mature they were compared to some of the other classes I had subbed for. There were two students who were a little loud and the other students told them to be quiet. I did have to separate them, but they did so without any complaint, knowing that they deserved to be separated.

Subbing Feb 9th- Industrial tech

I almost didn’t take the subbing job for today, but my brother convinced me that it would be no big deal.  Todays job was with Industrial technology. I know nothing about industrial technology. One of my brothers is a welder and the other is going into woodworking, but I still have no idea what these classes are like. My younger brother told me it would be no problem because they are not allowed to touch the machines with the teacher is gone, and that they usually just watch movies when their teacher is gone.

When I got to the school and found the industrial tech area It took me a while to find the classroom. I got to a classroom, then realized that I had misread the schedule. At my district, some of the classes are blocked, but most of the classes are on a normal bell schedule. These classes are blocked, and I had never had to deal with the blocked schedule at this school. Next I had to find the teacher’s office. There were a couple of offices in this area but they were not labeled. I asked the students sitting in the open space where the teacher’s office was and they pointed to an office where a child was sitting, I went in the office to look for the lesson plans but saw nothing. Next I found another teacher and asked if they new where the teacher I was subbing for might leave his lesson plans, he helped me look but we found nothing. Finally the teacher I was subbing for came into his office and told me he was trying to get everything together. He walked me through the day and wished me luck. Basically these students were copying down some directions then they were to watch Mythbusters. This wouldn’t be a problem except the students had watched these episodes many times before as there were only two DVDs for subs to play when the teacher was absent. This creates bored students, which allows for students to misbehave.

Once again this wouldn’t be a big problem accept for the fact that the shop class is the same room as the auto shop and the garage door was open for a few hours on one of the colder days of the year. My students asked another teacher if we could use his classroom, as he didn’t have a class, thank goodness he agreed. He also offered his class for the rest of the day as his students would be working on a project and it wouldn’t disturb them if we were in there doing work.  Really these students behaved okay, but my question is, why can’t industrial tech teachers have something productive for their students to do for when they are gone. If they can’t have something for their students to do, can they at least have a video that the students haven’t watched over and over again.

Also this class is the first I have had to deal with the travel issue between the two high schools. If a class, like industrial tech has students from both schools then they will have two grade books, and two attendance books. When I took attendance there was a student that wasn’t on the roster. It took me a while to realize he was probably from the other high school and that I needed to log into another PowerSchool account to count him present. There was no mention of this in the sub plans, and I also talked to another sub who had no idea about this.

Subbing- Feb 8th- Sped Para

Today was my first day at the high school, and I was once again a 1-on-1 para.

This was interesting because I was with the self contained special education class and I was working with some siblings that couldn’t be in the same room with each other. First I worked with the sister, I took her to Gym and helped her with Math. In gym she had a student that worked with her, encouraging her to do the activities. After gym was seminar. The sped students were allowed to read some picture books or just sit and relax. The male sibling was halfway across the gym from us, but he seemed to just go off. He banged his head against the wall and broke his glasses for no apparent reason. The student helper and I had to distract the female student so that she would not be sucked into the tantrum. This is when I first discovered how important it was to keep these siblings apart. In math I jest helped the student by encouraging her to do her computer work and then selecting coins for her to add. She was very touchy feely today and she would give my big tight hugs.

I also got to work with some of the other students while they were in reading class. They each had a list of spelling words to work on and I helped one student by quizzing her on her words and having her use the words in sentences.

Next the class had their weekly field trip to the community center to work out on the gym equipment.  I rode the bus with a girl that I had not previously worked with. The bus driver put in an Anastasia cd and this girl started singing. I new the words to the song and quietly sang with her. When we got to the community center the student thanked me for singing with her and said she had a great time singing with me. That had to be the most rewarding part of my day.

At the community center, I was paired with the male sibling. I was to make sure that he stayed on the treadmill and then helped him with some weights. After the weights we needed to leave. I had put my coat down against the wall, so I told him to wait for a moment while I got my coat. There was another para standing there, but while I was getting my coat, he ran into a weight. It wasn’t a big deal but I felt bad for not paying attention, and something more serous could have happened. This showed me the amount of concentration the people who work with these students have to have. They have to pay attention to every thing the student does because they are not necessarily responsible for themselves. On the way back to the school there was a radio call for security to come to a room immediately, the Sped teachers were joking that for once it wasn’t for them. After this day I have a whole new respect for special education teachers. In my district the para subs get paid less than a regular sub, but I find that while they are responsible for only one student, they seem to be responsible for a lot more than just that student, I think that para subs should get paid the same as a regular sub, if not more.  

Subbing- Feb 4th- Science

Today I subbed for a science teacher that I had observed previously while subbing for a 1-on-1 para.

I am noticing that the students are well behaved the first hour, probably because they are too tired to care to misbehave, and then as the day wears on they act out more and more.

The students were working on a “lab” where they had to identify the different stages of mitosis in a selection of cells, then find out how long the cells spend in each stage by calculating how many cells are in each stage. To do this they had to have 6 different colored markers. The first class worked on their project fine, they had some questions and I answered them to the best of my ability. The second class was not so well behaved they talked a lot. The coloring part of what they were doing didn’t take a lot of thought so the talking was fine for the most part, but it got out of hand a couple of times.

I was going to chalk this up to the fact that they had had three snowdays and it was Friday, but the classroom para told me not to worry, that they regular teacher couldn’t get them to behave, and that this was their normal behavior. This made me feel better, but it reminded me of my early days with my 7^th hour. I would have been embarrassed if I had had a sub and my students had acted out, but I would have been more embarrassed if the para had said this was how they behaved normally. I understand It can take some time to get a class under control, but now I understand how important it is to get them under control.

After this class the teacher next door came in and told me that the next class was really bad. She pointed out some students that misbehaved on a regular basis and told me that I could send students to her class if need be.  This was very helpful, but I don’t know that it changed anything. There were students who were throwing markers when my back was turned helping another student. I told the class that this was not acceptable behavior and that if markers were thrown again I would take them away. As soon as I turned by back three markers were hurled in my direction. I said fine, and went to collect the markers. I told them that we would have to find a way that they could earn the markers back. While I was collecting the markers, I noticed that many of the students weren’t even to the coloring section yet, so I told them that they could get one marker at a time once they showed me that they had finished the first section. This worked much better. This was probably the worst behaved class I have subbed for in my, admittedly short, subbing career.

Third Day of subbing-Jan 28

Today I subbed for a 1-on-1 para.

I was told when I started that they were surprised that the job was picked up and that they were normally prefer not to have a sub, they were just required to have a sub by law. The person that I was subbing for left no instruction for what I was supposed to do. I met up with the student I was to work with and followed him to his classes. I sat where I was supposed to sit but did very little else. For third hour I was to go to the resource room, finally I was given some answers. I was told to take notes and observe the student. I didn’t really need to talk to him, just make note if he seemed frustrated. For one hour I helped a classroom para with the ceramics class. It seems like the paras are doing all the work in this class, what is the use of the students taking an art class if they don’t participate. Next I went to math with my student. This class had a sub and they were to take a test. I noticed that the student seemed frustrated towards the end of class, he calmly ripped up a piece of paper, his test maybe and placed it in his binder. Then he would bounce the pencil against the desk. This isn’t overly frustrated but it seemed a little odd. At the end of the day I turned in my notes to the head para and discussed what I had noticed with her. She said that for once it was helpful to have a sub because I was able to notice some new signs of frustration that his 1-on-1 had never noticed before. This was an odd day because I was told I was not needed, but I took notes for the student and tried to do what I had noticed my classroom para do and the day ended well.

Second day of subbing- Jan 27th

Subbing Jan 27^th

This was my second day of subbing, I had better idea of what I would need to make the day go smoothly.

This teacher had much better sub notes. They were much more detailed. She provided directions for how to use the technology in her classroom. Her classroom was much more welcoming. There were student pictures posted all over the room, there was also a reading area with a couch. This room was also a little bigger which helped the overall feel of the room.

This class was basically doing the same thing that the class I subbed in yesterday was doing. They were reading a play. All of these classes were doing the project that they advanced class was doing yesterday, Instead of handing out the photos, the photos were posted around the room. The students were given time to do their project in class and were to turn it in that day. A number of students spent most of the time talking instead of doing the project, I didn’t want to limit the talking to much, because I know that talking can be part of the creative process, but some students had nothing to turn in.

This teacher also taught journalism. She left directions that the students knew what to do, and to remind the students that their pieces were due that Friday.  I caught a few students playing games, but they said they were done with their pieces.

The advanced class had an assignment that they were to finish the first few mins of class, but they did not have the questions that they needed to answer. I was not given a copy of these questions either. Luckily one student had a copy of the questions, so I moved this to the end of the class and I wrote the questions on the board while the students were working on their second assignment. There were a lot of questions to write and not very much room on the board, but I got them all on their. The students didn’t seem to appreciate that I wrote all of this for them, but I was very proud that I was able to work it out.

I had one other problem today. In one of the classes I could tell that I had at least one student in the wrong seat. I asked the table who didn’t belong there and no one answered. Finally, I was able to get the students name from another student. If it wasn’t for this student I would have never found out who was in the write or wrong seat. I need to pay more attention to the students when I call roll. I need to try to place names with the students’ faces so I can know which student is causing trouble.

First day of Subbing- Jan 26

Today was my first subbing experience.

1^st hour-

I came in halfway through first hour, the sub was sitting at her desk quietly and the students were working on their questions they were supposed to be working on quietly. The sub explained that they had had troubles with the CD player so they were making do with reading out loud.

When we started scene 4, I was able to use the next CD! I learned from this that it would be very helpful if the teacher would provide instructions on how to work the cd/dvd/projector in their sub plans, especially if they are needed for that class. Teachers cannot assume that subs or even other teachers in their building will know how to use their equipment; this equipment changes from room to room let alone from school to school. The problem here was that we didn’t know how to advance the cd, Luckily the in the next class I had students who saw that I was trying to work with the dvd player and came to my rescue. An alternative to leaving directions is to have a number of students in your classroom who know how to work the equipment, and are in charge of helping classroom guests with such things. It would still be helpful to leave instructions in the unlikely occasion that all of these students are gone. This could also give the students camaraderie with the sub encouraging them to help the sub as opposed to hindering the sub.

In this first hour we did not get as far along as the teacher had planned, though she did say that she didn’t know how long it would take.

3^rd hour-

Begins with 20 mins of reading then lunch. The students told me that they are usually allowed to go to lunch early –is this true? Luckily I heard a lot of movement outside so I allowed them to go, also the sub plans said: “Lunch 10:37-10:59, I usually send them after we read and record strategies’” This indicated that she may allow the students to go early, but it doesn’t actually say it. It doesn’t say what time they usually finish the reading strategies or anything.

This class was very talkative, I can understand this as they had just come back from lunch, but that doesn’t mean that it is excusable. The teacher notes said that she allows them to go to the bathroom or get a drink as long as it is not disruptive, but as this class was so talkative I took this privilege away until they could be quiet. One student had been in iss the day before and said she had completed all of the work then. Because she had nothing to do, she was a huge disruption

This group of students did not like that I walked around the class while they were working. They said many times that their teacher sat in her seat all day and played on her computer or phone. I replied that we just have different teaching styles, and that just because that’s what she did, it doesn’t mean that I have to do it too. 

5^th hour- Advanced Class- This class was very well behaved, I allowed them to take more responsibility and they stepped up- I wonder if I done the same with  3^rd hour if this would have worked. This class had a different assignment, I was to hand out a packet of photos and the students were to choose a pic and do a creative writing based on this photo. I was not sure if they were to keep the photo for inspiration or leave it.

Overall- At first I thought the sub plans were detailed, but then there were something I didn’t understand. Was I supposed to collect the first set of Questions? In hours 1 and 3 it didn’t say, so I didn’t collect them, but the advanced directions said to collect the sheed so I did, also the directions said to collect 488, but we never got to that.

Timing- Mrs BP left instructions for word of the day and said the students know what to do, but they weren’t really doing it, so I lead what it sounded like they were supposed to do, but then a student said I was spending too much time with it… I would have liked a time frame.

Tech- the sub plans didn’t tell the sub how to use the technology. Solution, have a student in each class designated to operated the tech and let the sub know who the student is.

My First Observation of the semester- Jan 18th

Observations 1/18

Kimberly Brownlee-American Literature

When she started the lesson she stepped back and reminded the students, had the students remind themselves, of the characteristics of romantic writings. Instead of telling the students she asked the students what they were. This takes more time, but in the end it is more effective.

*Having concentrated on British literature in my college studies I did not know that romanticism was the first literary movement in the United States.

Kimberly has implemented a new routine. Across the back wall are milk crates for the students to store their, required, academic binders. As this was a new procedure she allowed the students time to retrieve them. I like the idea of these binders, but I think they are supposed to be kept in the classroom. As the notes are kept in the binder, how are they supposed to study? One student from a later class came in during passing period to get into his binder to get his homework that he left in it. This could cause problems in the future if there is not a set procedure.  

After the students were settled, she read “Thanatopsis” to the class. This was the student’s homework over the long weekend. I do not know what Kimberly did to introduce the poem as homework, but I know that I am not aware of the meaning of the word thanatopsis. There was not a footnote that I could find in the poem or anything in the book mentioning the meaning of the word, which puzzled me. Titles are very important in poems, they can bring new meaning to the poem or steer you in interpreting the poem. While reading the poem Kimberly stopped after the first stanza with a reaction to the text, “man, that’s interesting,” and allowed the students to comment if they chose. After reading the poem she gave the students 4 minutes to write anything they got out of the poem. When giving the direction she is repetive, repeating the “take four minutes,” but she is not annoying. I have a hard time finding that balance. She did not join the students in writing.

*it is highly suggested that you should be an example for the students, writing when they write, reading while they read. I know that there are other things to do with this time, like observe what they students are writing, but with an advanced class especially I would think that it would be easier to do this with an advanced class.

Kimberly had the students share what they wrote with another student close to them, she took this time to speak with a student who did not do the writing about his grade in the class and why he isn’t completing his work.  When the time was up she had the students share their partner’s ideas. When they had shared all they want to she announced that she just wants the students to be able to pull out what makes the poem Romantic and to have a basic understanding of what is going. *It may have been better to mention this before they shared their answers. Looking back it is possible the students may have felt that they didn’t do the assignment correctly. Although if they were told this before, they might not try to the best of their ability- this is a hard decision to make.

Her wrap up was pretty simple, she mentioned that transcendentalism would be the topic for tomorrow and the students needed to put their binders away. There was some extra time so she allowed the student to tell his story, is it possible that making him wait to tell his story could have distracted him the whole class period?

Kimberly Brownlee-CAIIB

2^nd hour-Right of the bat she reminded the students to get their binders.

Set up- looking at nonfiction, the students are going to be writing a research paper soon, they will need to be able to get the important information from nonfiction pieces for their paper. She also mentioned that her parents were one when the bus boycott started. * I think this is helpful, but I doubt that the students were able to connect with this, if she had mentioned that most of their grandparents would have been very young etc. it may have been better.

 She then  directed the students to the notes section of their binder and asked them to take notes on the video. She stated that their goal was to be able to pull main ideas and support out of a video. Very few students actually took notes. It would have been better if she helped them out at the beginning. The video was pretty fast and it was hard to take notes. Also she didn’t ask for them to do anything with the notes. She asked the students to give her something new they learned if they read or followed along. *Maybe Kimberly should have asked what they wrote down, if, as in this case, the students didn’t write down the notes, ask them to come up with topics from the video and then show them the video again so they can take notes on supporting details. I guess I just didn’t see that they focused on the goal, which was to be able to pull main ideas and supporting details out of a video. After she asked for something new, she called on a student two was talking. She asked him what discrimination was. He talked a lot without saying much, but when she went to write on the board he said, “people hatin’ on other people.” We later find out that another student actually gave him this answer. She called on other people, “what else did you learn?” nothing,  “why are they doing this?” nothing, “ What is a boycott?” the students discussed, then she told them they needed to have their books open to page 124, 124. She checked to make sure that each student had their book open to that page, and reminded students who weren’t with her to open to page 124.

She asked the students what they were looking for: main idea and support- once again reminding the students of the goal. I need to work on having a central goal for each class. She then had a student read while having the other students to use the text features or answer questions about the reading. While the students were doing this she wrote notes on the board about the reading, when she was done taking notes she asked the students what kind of notes these were (support) then asked the students to think of a main idea that went with the support.  Next she had a student read, then had two students take notes on the board like she did, then she did it a third time and she read while the students took notes. This third time she asked the two students to come up with a main idea, and then she opened it up to the rest of the class. After some thinking time she had the students share their topic with a neighbor. For homework the students were to  read 5 paragraphs and take notes like they did in class. - I really like this method of teaching how to take notes.

Kimberly now has a hanging folder for extra copies- Her previous method was to write the missing student’s name on the copy and put it in a tray. She would then recycle the extra copies. This is good for students who lose their copies or for if you just forget to write the students name on a copy.

4^th hour- Seems to have a quicker start.

                  This hour she added Main Idea & support to the word wall. She gave a definition for the words then asked a student who wasn’t paying attention to give their own definition of the word.  She had the students draw an image for main idea, but glossed over this step- I like the idea and reasons for drawing pictures for vocab, but I think with some words, main ideas for example, it may be harmful (a waste of time) instead of helpful.

While she was taking notes the first time she told the students to pay attention because they would be doing this too.

Gifted CA

                  She explained the grade for the paper that the students received last semester, then passed back the papers. She talked with each student about his or her papers from the front of the classroom. She wants the students to learn from each other’s mistakes, but I could see some potential problems with doing this. I would never do this with a regular class, nor I’m sure would she.

Kimberly forgot to make the copies for this class, but she was able to look at her calendar and move things around so it wasn’t a problem. One reason she was able to do this is that this class is working on many things at the same time.  I would not have been able to do this last summer- I need to think about the possibility of working on more than one thing at a time. With normal students this could cause them to be confused and mix some things up, but it could also be more engaging because you aren’t spending all of your time on one thing, so if a student really hates Of Mice and Men, for example, they aren’t stuck for weeks working on one thing that they really hate- this student might just write off CA for that whole period.

I need to look into the SIFT method from Grand Canyon University; it looks interesting. This is what the gifted class is using to analyze The Book Thief.