Dilemma 4

My dilemma this week was the portfolio and technology component. The portfolio was confusing because I didn’t know what to send exactly. I know that I needed a unit plan and resume but, for my teacher work sample I was a little confused because we could not use the teacher work sample for this semester because it was not complete. Also, I don’t believe we had to post a picture or video I think that was optional. I called friends in the program that had to do the same assignment and we kind of figured it out together, at least that’s what we think. My friends were also telling me that the portfolio assignment was not important but, just an assignment that Georgia State University needs as part of graduating. I don’t know how true that is but, I did do my best. My university supervisor did not know about this assignment she referred me to someone else.  For the technology component, I was confused on how we were to submit our videos. Could it be in a tape form, sent through email, or what? Once we record ourselves teaching do we send the original or the edited version or both? I was in contact with my university supervisor a lot and she was very helpful.

Dilemma #4

Alrighty, so this week's dilemma consists of my students and their grades. I am extremely frustrated with how my students are performing. I gave a quiz to my students about Adjectives and Adverbs; this type of material is meant to be a review for them. When I began to grade the quizzes for my first two periods, the highest grade I was seeing was an eighty-three. The students were consistently getting sixty-ones. So I immediately starting questioning if the quiz was too difficult, but once I started grading third period's quizzes, my doubts were gone. The highest grade received changed to an eighty-nine and then I had a student (unexpected student that doesn't perform that well) receive a ninety-four. So I knew automatically that the students are capable of receiving As on this quiz. The students are just extremely lazy. I talk to all of my teachers that are on the team and they agree. They have never seen this amount of lazy students on one team. After looking into certain students' grades from my mentor teacher's class and the other team teachers classes, we have found around 3/5 of the students on the team are predicted to attend summer school. I've tried doing activities with the students, I've tried watching Brainpop videos, I've tried making changes to the ways I teach or talk about the material... nothing changes. What do I do?

Dilemma #4

The dilemma I am currently facing is I am confused about what to do when applying for a job. I have heard such opposing things come from different counties, and even different schools within one county. I have heard different kinds of do's and don't's depending on the county and school and many contradict one another. I am wanting to know if there is some sort of standard procedure one should adopt when applying for a job in education. I would also like to have a mock interview in our class one day. I think that would be really beneficicial and a good use of our time duting class time. I think it's time that we start learning about real world situations instead of just lesson plans and classroom set up. We expect our students to work with real-world examples, so should we. Thanks!

Dilemma #3

Hi Everyone!

My dilemma for this week has to do with my relationships with my colleagues.
Instead of having one mentor teacher like y'all, I technically have six...
Mr. H (History), Ms. E (English), Ms. P (Biology), Ms. B (Biology), Ms. T (English), and Ms. C (English).
I consider these people my mentor teachers because I will be in each of their classrooms at least once a week.
Formally, I only have three.
Mr. H (History), Ms. P (Biology), and Ms. C (English).
These are the classes in which I will be required to teach lessons.
For the purposes of completing my TWS I am hoping I will be able to narrow it down to one.
Ms. P (Biology).
With this teacher and class it will be the best opportunity for me to teach an entire unit.
However, I don't know yet how we are going to approach everything.

Besides all of that, the real dilemma that I wanted to share was something that happened between me and Ms. C.

A little bit of background:
Ms. C was initially assigned to be my point of contact and mentor teacher because she is originally from the United States, so theoretically we could relate. As we got to know each other better and figure out my schedule we realized that this would not be the best thing because English is not one of my concentrations. However, in the process of figuring this out I told her I was willing to give it a try because everyone at the school is very enthusiastic about taking advantage of my English speaking.
So, last Wednesday Ms. C sent me an email around 9 p.m. informing me of my schedule for the next day and asking me to present a powerpoint to her English class covering connectives (conjunctions), adjectives, and adverbs. I responded saying that I would be more than willing to help out, but I also reminded her that I am not an English teacher and this is not my area of expertise. She didn't respond via email, so I didn't speak to her until the next morning just before class.
The powerpoint was the last thing on the agenda for the period and as we got closer and closer to the end of class I was beginning to think it was going to happen at all that day. This was kind of a relief for me because at that point I had only been in her classroom 3 times before and had only seen her teach once. The one time I did see her teach she sat in a chair and delivered a powerpoint presentation. However, she noticed the time and made sure that I could at least get started. So, I stood in front of the class and went through the powerpoint she had sent me. I didn't completely bomb, but it was far from what I consider to be effective teaching. Anyways, class ended before my powerpoint did and that was the end of that.

A couple of days later I got an email from a teacher I had never met before asking me if I would be willing to work with one of her students who is struggling with their English. This message had been CCed to Ms. C because she is the teacher coordinating my schedule. Before I could respond Ms. C responded saying the following:

Van: Ms. C
Verzonden: donderdag 7 maart 2013 12:31
Aan: Rian Moonen; Eliane Buningh
Onderwerp: RE: Jet - Julia

If you need help with grammar then you should ask Leen and/or Wiep.  If you just want help with conversation you should ask Julia.  Julia is not an English teacher and didn't know that an adverb can describe an adjective and an adverb as well as a verb.  She's told me she's not really a grammar expert.  Please delete this if you contact her via email, ok?

Cheers,

Ms. C

Essentially, she was saying that my grammar knowledge is insufficient to work with a struggling student. 
I was so embarrassed!!! I don't think she knows I've seen this, but regardless I am completely embarrassed!! I feel like I have poorly represented myself, Georgia State, America, everyone!!
Besides being embarrassed, I am extremely frustrated because I made it very clear that I am not an English teacher!!! What I said to the students wasn't wrong. I told them that an adverb describes a verb. I had only been in her class 3 times before. One of the times the students were taking a reading comprehension test, and one of the times the students were grading this test!! I did not really have a good understanding of their level etc. So, the fact that she is portraying me this way to other teachers is really upsetting to me. 

I don't know if any of you have any sort of experience with something like this?
I can say without a shadow of a doubt now, that just because you are an educated English speaker does not mean that you can teach English!!
What do you all think?!?!

Dilemma #3

Hola!

So, my main dilemma that has been occurring is managing my time. I know you guys are probably thinking, "Well Duh! Everyone deals with this, Jess." I think my main issue with time management is having to live up to my Mentor Teacher. She is so "on point" with every movement she makes and every word she says; a lot of the time, I feel like I can't keep up or I don't meet her expectations. I find myself taking way too much time when it comes to assignments. When I'm doing discussions or writing assignments, I find myself running out of time or having way too much time left over. What do I do about this? Or does this just come with experience?

My dilemma for the week, or rather the day, is being left alone with the kids. The sub for the day, told me to go ahead and take the kids to the classroom. I did, thinking he would return around the time the students came back from restroom and water breaks, but he did not return. I ended up getting another teacher after 30 minutes went by. She told me to buzz the front office, they did nothing about it and finally, after another ten minutes, the sub returned. My dilemma is relaying what is expected of me and what is actually happening are two different things. I am frustrated with the attitudes of all the teachers in the school and them hating their jobs as well. I just want a mentor teacher that likes her job and is realistic with her expectations of me.

Dilemma 3

OK, so I realized that GSU does not teach us about grading. Grading is a key component of teaching and I have not heard a GSU Professor utter the word "grades". I will bring this up in class next Tuesday! Also, along the same lines the GSU Professor's do not tell us "any tricks of the trade". I think they should gives us tips on teaching regarding; grades, planning, SS T's, parent conferences, mandated state exams, and etc. These are minor things that add throughout weeks and months in the school. Are you all experiencing these same things?

Dilemma #3

Hello, All!

I am currently dealing with a lot on my plate. I am having a hard time remaining calm and continuing to be nice to some of the other seventh grade math teachers at my school. I honestly feel like they are harassing me. I began teaching a unit on cross sections on February 25 and was not aware until Tuesday, February 26, that all of the other seventh grade math teachers were planning to use my lessons and assignments in their classroom as well. I did not have a problem with them doing that at first, because I felt it meant they liked what I was creating enough to use it themselves. I have always been taught, You get what you get and you don't throw a fit. The seventh grade math teachers must have missed that life lesson. I have had them all coming to find me at various times in the school day so I could fix or tweak something I created to fit better into their own classrooms. They have had access to all of the electronic versions of my work for over a week and half, and are fully capable of fixing what they wanted tweaked themselves. The team leader for seventh grade came and told me that I needed to arrange the word banks in quizzes in alphabetical order, and I needed to only include what was in the standard. I added a few extra figures to my lessons, so they students could make connections and think outside the box when it came to understanding cross sections. She told I needed to remove any figure that was not a rectangle or square. I felt this was absurd considering the students are in the seventh grade and I feel they should be challenged a little more than that throughout the lessons. She then told me to add area of cross sections into the unit. They have not even talked about area this year as of yet. It is coming in the next unit. Area is not a part of the standard, so I asked her exactly where the line is drawn for going above and beyond the standard. I said, it does not make sense to go above and beyond in one area and not the others. She told I needed to turn in whatever I felt was necessary to my professors, and to use what she tells me to in the classroom. I told her I was not allowed to do that, I have to use what I created in my mentor teachers' classroom. She said the classes needed to use the same things across the board, so that was not going to happen. I told her all of my assignments tested the students on the same information, they all just looked different. She still did not understand that the lessons I am creating should be used in ONLY my mentor teacher's classroom. I finally had to tell her that was not was I supposed to be doing, and that I was going to do what Georgia State is requiring me to do, and not her. I also have another teacher, who was a student teacher last semester (from a school I have NEVER heard of), and has been hired as a permanent substitute. She keeps coming to my classroom to tell me what I am supposed to be doing in my student teaching, and every sentence that comes out of her mouth is inaccurate for what  I am doing. I have had to tell her at least five times that we are in different programs and are doing different things. She has gone to the other teachers and complained about me doing what she has asked me to do. By the way, she is not my mentor teacher, and has absolutely no affiliation with me. She keeps telling me to use the template that she has for my lesson plans, but we have a specific one we are supposed to be using for our TWS. I am about to go crazy at my school. I am having a very hard time keeping my cool and continuing to be nice to others when they are harassing me more times than not during the school day. I go home to do extra things they want me to do, and am having no time for other assignments, because they are requiring twice the amount of work from me. My dilemma is trying to keep it together and remaining calm when I am constantly being put into undesirable situations. Any advice would be lovely!

P.S. I spoke to my supervisor about it, but everything has just been pushed under the rug since the beginning of the semester. I have been having issues from day one and should have been moved to a different school within the first two weeks, but that never happened and my issues have steadily gotten worse throughout the semester. May 11 cannot get here quick enough!

Thanks and see you guys on Tuesday!

Ashton McClain