Teacher Evaluations

Every year, educators go through the process of being evaluated. Administrators come to the classroom, stand in the back (or front) with a clip board, and watch. As an educator, I provide a copy of my lesson plan, and the butteries fly in my stomach throughout the ENTIRE period. Are they going to behave? Will I be able to actually teach? Do I have my objectives posted? Am I assessing the understanding of my students? Are they all paying attention and on task? Something I do everyday, all day long, suddenly becomes a nerve racking experience.

However, for some reason, usually the worst behaved classes do remarkably well during teacher evaluations. Maybe its because I'm actually a decent teacher. I am feeling mostly though the reason is the presence of an administrator in the classroom. Do they behave out of respect for me, because they want me to do a good job during my evaluation, or do they behave out of fear of consequences from the administrator? In my 5th year of teaching, I think I'm doing better at establishing relationships with my students.

This year, my students did an excellent job. I woke up at 5:40 a.m. before the evaluation to make up my lesson plans - I'm teaching a new class, and a new unit, so I needed to organize my thoughts. The project I planned for my students is creating a t-shirt design. As I organized my thoughts, I came up with a research opportunity where students find information about a college of their choice, exploring admission process, history, enrollment of the college, and what programs they offer. A stroke of genius- they'll do a design, AND research and writing!

I got excited about this lesson, and as I presented it to the students, we were able to talk about vocabulary words and learn new things not intended (what does post secondary mean? What does enrollment mean?)

The feedback from this observation was great. My administrator gave me a few suggestions on what I could do better, but overall, the class did an awesome job. What have your experience been with observations? How have the students done? How can I encourage my students to always behave as well as they did on the day of the observation?

Teaching in the 21st Century

This weekend I worked with another teacher to create a multimedia presentation on the importance of teaching in the 21st Century. It is kind of a video version of the Did You Know presentation, but we added our own lines at the end and got most of our stats off of a different website. You'll understand after you watch it.

Most of the information came from the following (VERY HELPFUL) source:
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/01/12/social-media-web-20-internet-numbers-stats/

We also got the 'script' for the Did You Know? Video here:
http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/file/view/Text%20of%20Did%20You%20Know%2020.pdf



So the questions we have for those who view this video are:

What tools do you plan on using in your classroom to help engage the 21st Century learner?
How can we best prepare students for jobs that do not yet exist?
How can we as teachers who "know" impact our colleagues who do not know?
How did this video impact you as an educator?

Validation

Check out this youTube video:

Validation



It is pretty long, but it is a good watch. I hope I can genuinely give more compliments like this. We talked about relationships at our staff 'retreat' yesterday and how we can develop better relationships with our students. I think as we give more compliments and help people feel better about themselves they will open up to us more. They will WANT to be in our classes interacting with us instead of wanting to be somewhere else and not wanting to be in school.

A superb assembly

Every year our school has an end of the year assembly called the REACH assembly. I do not know what REACH stands for, or where the name originated, but it is what we call the assembly. Basically it is a showcase of EVERYTHING that has happened during the year. The following groups usually perform:

• Band
• Orchestra
• Choir
• Dance team
• Forensics (no- not the crime solvers, the speech team)
• Teachers (we do a goofy skit so all of the kids can laugh at us)

In addition to the performances, also slide shows of the following are put together:

• 3.5 & 4.0 GPA's
• those with perfect attendance for the different quarters
• pictures from the school year with the different spirit days and different events
• Athletics

Usually there are a few different awards presented at the REACH assembly. This year the single student in the entire school who has perfect attendance for the entire year was honored, along with the 7th grade teachers for their outstanding job at the Challenger Space Center, athletes of the year, and a drawing was held for iPod nanos for each grade level for those who had perfect attendance during various quarters during the school year (for each quarter they had perfect attendance they got one entry into the drawing).

For the past two years I also put together a video for the REACH assembly, but this year I was fresh out of ideas to make a funny video, so it didn't happen. :(

Since I didn't have a video to show at the REACH assembly I decided to do something a little different with a few other teachers from Russell- I played with the band! It has been almost 6 years since I actively played my clarinet. I had a spell after Christmas break where I practiced once a week, but then I had to prepare to move. Anyways, the night before the assembly I took the music home to look at it for the first time. I practiced each piece several times before I needed to stop so my kids could go to sleep. I didn't even take one of the pieces home that was played the next day, but I recognized it because I played it in high school! I played the piece in high school and yet here the middle school band was playing it!

The performance went great- but not because of my playing! I'd say probably 2/3 of the notes and music I played correctly. The other 1/3 I either just looked in amazement as they played through the notes or I was the one clarinet who was off while the others played correctly.

In addition to playing in the band, I wore an Afro wig I bought for our LEGO League tournament this past fall. During the teacher skit (they danced the macarena) I went around and juggled. I must admit it was NOT my best performance- I kept on dropping and couldn't get any of my tricks to work right!

ANYWAYS- the point of this post isn't about what I did goofy during the assembly- it is about how all of the performances of the various groups and all of the slide shows helped to remind me why I teach. I teach to help my students have experiences that they will remember for the rest of their lives. I also teach because they touch my life as well. I learn from them and treasure everyday I have the opportunity to be in the classroom.

Thanks students, for everything.

Trying something new

The end of the school year fast approaches and many of my classes are finishing up projects and all of the planned curriculum for the year. In the case of my 6th period advanced technology class, they were reaching a stalemate on their current project(s). Those who were going to do the work had it nearly done and those who weren't doing any work were continuing to find other things to occupy their time that had NOTHING to do with what they were supposed to be doing. So I set the deadline for the last day on the project and stuck to it. Many got something done, a few didn't have much done at all. Anyways, after the project normally we would do a mini-unit on mass production. However, I only had three-four days left of the school year which would not be enough time for the students to have the experience I wanted them to have. I decided to do something completely different that I never tried with my classes before.

For our sixth grade classes we take a few days to do a mini-unit on rocketry. We discuss Newton's Laws of motion and what keeps a rocket up in the air and then we make paper rockets. I have found the paper rocket activity to be easy enough for a second grader to complete yet fun enough to keep the interest of even 8th graders. In this case, I had about 25-30 nose cones left from this year so I decided to have my 8th grade class mass produce paper rockets. I demonstrated the process to create the rocket (which done efficiently can be accomplished in about 5-10 minutes). As I explained each step I told them "this could be a job," "this step, #8, should be broken down into two jobs," and so on. Next I divided the class into team equally sized teams, and told them to assign each other jobs. I gave both teams about 10 minutes of planning time to get organized before giving the official start.

Of course, the students complained after doing the same job for about 15 rockets about how boring it is to do the same job over and over again. I can't even imagine what a fuss they would make if we made enough paper rockets for the entire 8th grade! That would be quite a fun project. Block out several periods, and have them just work and work and really get the sense of a REAL assembly line. As they complained, I explained to them the benefits of the assembly line process and how it really sped up production and thus lowered the cost of creating many things like the car, clothes, shoes, computers, etc.

I really got excited to see the students working hard to beat out the other team. They really took hold of the project and did a good job. We judged which team won by how many rockets they produced that had a 'successful'* launch. While one team had more successful launches, the other team had more rockets that went higher and further. So in the end they both won out.

One of the things I love about teaching technology is how I can constantly change the curriculum to fit my students' needs and to keep pace with the world's changing technology. If ever I get complacent and teach the same thing too many years in a row I feel like I'm doing my students a disservice. What becomes especially fun is this time of the year when I've covered most of the 'planned' curriculum and I get to come up with meaningful activities to keep the students engaged in learning and yet excited about doing the activities/projects.

*a successful rocket launch became defined as one where the rocket returned to earth in one piece with at least two fins still intact.

A focus on the many, not the few

My 'special' students in my 4th period class continue to be a challenge to me. The end of the year is fast approaching and most all of the curriculum I had planned for the class has been covered. I have been delaying doing the 'hovercraft' activity because I do not think the class can handle it. Specifically, I do not think my special students can handle it. However, today I decided to not let the entire class suffer because of the horrible behavior of the few. My first two quarters this year I did not have time to do the hovercraft with my students. 3rd quarter I had a few students who ruined it for the entire class, so they didn't get to do it. This quarter I have some really good students in the class and a few others that just are NEVER on task.

Today I decided to make a concerted effort to concentrate on the many instead of the few. My special students' attempts to get my attention and get the class off track were ignored. By the end of the period I was fed up with them and it was great to have an excuse to have them out of the class the next day (as much as I HATE sending them to other locations, for the good of the many, I am determined to help the rest of the class have a more positive experience). So yet again, while I am improving, there is still room for being better.

My favorite time of the month

This past week I have been working during 7th period (my planning) to organize and recognize the technology students of the month. This tradition actually started the year before I taught here, but when I arrived I did NOT have the time to worry about who to name as the student of the month. Two years passed, and my school started the Positive Behavior Support focus, so I decided to take it upon myself to have one student from each grade recognized by the technology department. These students are typically students who are doing well but not necessarily the best in the class. Last year we did not get EVERY month, but this year I've been more consistent with getting them done each and every month. I have made a point of not allowing any student to get student of the month twice so that we recognize as many students as possible.

I just really enjoy going around during my planning period and pulling the kids out of class to let them know they are the technology student of the month. We try to recognize them in multiple ways:

• Certificate with their name on it
• 20 ROCKS coupons (they are coupons the students get for doing something good that they can redeem for special awards and privileges)
• Lunch bought by one of the technology teachers
• Picture taken and displayed on the wall outside the technology classrooms

Anything special you do for recognizing students' efforts in your classroom?