That's what I always thought when it came to final exams I would count down the number of exams I had remaining every semester (or I suppose every quarter in college). This week was my placement's final exam week. While somewhat boring during the actual test itself, I've learned a few valuable things from what to do when something goes wrong to calculating grades in general:
1) seriously review all the material yourself before review days/exams - the students ask some really good questions sometimes!
2) What goes on after a student is caught cheating is really unpleasant for everyone involved : the teacher, the administration, the student and their parents
3) Just doing your work in class (not matter how poorly done it is) is SO much better than a 0. I had students going up full letter grades from turning in 1 mini-project assignment!
4) It's sometimes really frustrating to see a student's grade and then have to try and decide whether or not they deserve to be bumped up - or, really frustrating to see a student's grade and know that they tried so hard but the numbers don't work out and you can't really bump them up...
Other than that, I've begun to take over the 1 regular biology class and shadowing my mentor on the 2nd honors biology class that we have. And it's been fun so far! Can't wait to see how the new semester pans out starting next week!
1.28.2010
12.09.2009
"Oooh, we're half way there..."
Well almost anyway! I've been on a bit of a hiatus from blog posts lately, sorry about that! This semester has flown buy, it's hard to think that it's been nearly 6 months since the MAC program started!
Some things I wanted to touch on, I've been really excited to plan my own unit plan for methods. (Sorry if you've already heard too much about this!) The unit I'm doing is on the Human Body so really cool interesting topic that I think has a lot of potential in it! Some cool things (well I think cool things) I'm doing for the project involves transparent life size drawings of the human systems as well as some fun comparisons to the Body Worlds Exhibit! I'm still trying to think of ways to use more technology in my unit so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! So far I have some cool video clips to show, but you know that's such a small part of what's available to us. Hopefully I'll get some good ideas from the web2.0 tool webinars that are going around this week :)
Also, I've been rather inspired by the claymation movies we did in 504. After doing the claymation stuff, I started thinking about all the wonderful projects my biology classes could do in showing how photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and other cycles (of which biology has many) using claymation. See a variation on claymation movies here: Protein Synthesis. Being the rather artsty person I am, this idea appeals a lot to me. I really like the idea of teaching through the creation of projects (my mentor student taught at Community) so I've gotten a good glimpse of how to incorporate that into a school that's so different from community.
Alright, well onto the many papers that are between me, winter break, and flordia! So, as the song says, Livin' on a prayer ! Good luck to everyone in the MAC program finishing up the semester! :)
Some things I wanted to touch on, I've been really excited to plan my own unit plan for methods. (Sorry if you've already heard too much about this!) The unit I'm doing is on the Human Body so really cool interesting topic that I think has a lot of potential in it! Some cool things (well I think cool things) I'm doing for the project involves transparent life size drawings of the human systems as well as some fun comparisons to the Body Worlds Exhibit! I'm still trying to think of ways to use more technology in my unit so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! So far I have some cool video clips to show, but you know that's such a small part of what's available to us. Hopefully I'll get some good ideas from the web2.0 tool webinars that are going around this week :)
Also, I've been rather inspired by the claymation movies we did in 504. After doing the claymation stuff, I started thinking about all the wonderful projects my biology classes could do in showing how photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and other cycles (of which biology has many) using claymation. See a variation on claymation movies here: Protein Synthesis. Being the rather artsty person I am, this idea appeals a lot to me. I really like the idea of teaching through the creation of projects (my mentor student taught at Community) so I've gotten a good glimpse of how to incorporate that into a school that's so different from community.
Alright, well onto the many papers that are between me, winter break, and flordia! So, as the song says, Livin' on a prayer ! Good luck to everyone in the MAC program finishing up the semester! :)
11.15.2009
10.14.2009
Excitement and dissapointment from last week
So I mentioned in my last post that I had the opportunity to take over the classroom for 2 days because my mentor was gone for the week. The first day was a lot of fun and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to have that experience. At first, I was a little scared that my mentor wouldn't be there to give me feedback on how I did my first day, but as the day wore on it was really great! The kids respected me, listened to me, felt comfortable asking me questions and I went home that night excited about the day.
The next day I was in the classroom, the students were taking a lot of exams/quizzes. I unfortunately had my first brush with cheating. I was really hoping that I would encounter this experience much later in my teaching career. I was disappointed because a) the cheating occurred in my honors class b) it happened right in front of me c) the students involved didn't seem too concerned about the matter d) I kind of didn't know how to react without my mentor there guiding me. While we had talked a lot about cheating in classes and how we might address it, I still felt unprepared to face the situation alone.
I feel like cheating as in many difficult to handle situations requires a lot of context, and quick thought. I've definitely talked about my decision with my mentor and field instructor afterwards, but in that moment, you know you have to do something. I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to confront a student about cheating, but at least I've had some experience in dealing with it and maybe I can adapt and improve what I've done this past week to any future encounters I've had.
The next day I was in the classroom, the students were taking a lot of exams/quizzes. I unfortunately had my first brush with cheating. I was really hoping that I would encounter this experience much later in my teaching career. I was disappointed because a) the cheating occurred in my honors class b) it happened right in front of me c) the students involved didn't seem too concerned about the matter d) I kind of didn't know how to react without my mentor there guiding me. While we had talked a lot about cheating in classes and how we might address it, I still felt unprepared to face the situation alone.
I feel like cheating as in many difficult to handle situations requires a lot of context, and quick thought. I've definitely talked about my decision with my mentor and field instructor afterwards, but in that moment, you know you have to do something. I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to confront a student about cheating, but at least I've had some experience in dealing with it and maybe I can adapt and improve what I've done this past week to any future encounters I've had.
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