Reflection Twelve

Week Twelve Reflection

Leigha Tracey – BSU Intern
Carmel High School
November 11-15

Goals

• Deliver unit plans to Willis and Stuelpe
• Meet with Stuelpe
• Attend teacher in-service
• Collect reading list
• Work on grading skills (Journalism Style)
  

Observation/Participation (10)

This has been a hands-on week, so I have not had much time to observe. As for participation I have a redeeming experience during our teacher in-service on Tuesday. The teaching staff here has been divided into multi-subject teams to work on an initiative coined the Fish Project. The different teams have been tasked with developing a plan to develop and implement procedures in their perspective classrooms. These procedures are intended to increase student learning. I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with Mr. Willis. The team has and art teacher and a business teacher. When looking at their directives I realized immediately that their tasks were part of a larger model, an instructional design model. As they were discussing how to accomplish their tasks, I knew exactly what was needed and had several models that they could use. I felt a bit tentative about sharing my knowledge because of last week, but I asked if I could offer a suggestion. They were appreciative and receptive. I even created several documents for the team. I felt really good about being able to contribute and offering my expertise to the problem. It was also nice to be treated like a professional. I am hoping that I will have more opportunities to get involved in this aspect of the profession.

Teaching (25)

Teaching this week went well. In journalism I am enjoying having my own class and group teacher with Willis and Streisel. I developed a unit plan or rather, a collection of lesson for the journalism one classes in response to objectives that were identified in our meeting last week. I think that the students will benefit from the practice and especially the action plan that I created for them. The advertising team is doing a great job. They accomplished their first set of assignments and began work on their final exams. I am pleased with their progress. On the other hand, I am having a difficult time with the web team. It is basically one member of the team that is a problem and he sets the tone for the group. Yesterday I attempted to discuss their progress on the assignments I gave them and had a bad experience. This student was rude and argumentative. He actually blew me off! I discussed the situation with Mr. Willis. If this were my student he would be written up for being disrespectful. I know that it is difficult, especially for this team, to suddenly have someone watching them. Unfortunately, my efforts to discover what they work on and the merits of their system are fruitless; there isn’t a system. Basically, they cut and paste updates into the web pages. This is not an equal amount of work to their classmates and they have been successful in keeping themselves hidden and unchecked. So, I have been frustrated by this for three weeks now and was disrespected yesterday. I am trying to think of a way to remove myself from the situation, but still accomplish the goals Willis set. Perhaps just having me on their case for a few weeks will be all of the push that they need. It is disappointing because I was looking forward to working with them.

The government class went well this week. I struggled through a lesson on leadership in Congress, but had a valuable meeting that day with Stuelpe that day. He gave me great ideas and helpful feedback. I really appreciate his time and comments. I am happy with the research projects they turned in this week and their quiz scores were excellent. I think they will do well with the test I created for the unit as well. The class is very interesting. They remind me of the Sweathogs from the television show Welcome Back Cotter. The best part of the class is when we have a discussion and they are engaged in the learning process, not just writing definitions. I have two short answer questions on my test that incorporate an article I had them read and a discussion we had in class. I wanted evidence that the concepts were getting through, not just the facts. The executive branch is next, so I will be participating for the next two units and maybe teaching a lesson or two. The unfortunate thing about this subject is the amount of information that must be covered. It does not leave time many simulations or projects. That must be frustrating for the teachers. I am hoping to have time during eighth period to observe other teachers in the social studies department, business and photography.

My other classes are publication classes. I am taking over the publication calendar, which is overwhelming, but a great experience. I will be coordinating the next issue of HiLite and taking on the basic advising tasks. I did have an informational conference with Streisel this week that was helpful. He is very intelligent, personable and has offered to let me copy his lesson plans and support documentation. I appreciate his opinion and respect his expertise. In addition, he is an accomplished writer and it is gratifying to spend time with a person that develops his craft.