Practicum Reflections
During my time working with Mr. Reiff, Kuzara, and Haynes within the Flagstaff Unified School District, I was tasked with documenting important aspects of the classes, as well as reflecting upon various factors that could play into my future classes. A few excerpts can be found below.
Reflection 4
For my high school placement, I had the privilege of working with Mr. Greg Reiff at Coconino High School. The one point that he wished I would comprehend during my first day there, as well as every other day I attended, was that of respect. He told us that as teacher we are expected to teach facts and important events; however, if respect between students and teacher is established, all subsequent issues can quickly be resolved. He claimed that if the teacher show the students respect, then the students will show respect to the teacher. As a matter of fact, he gave me a copy of a worksheet that emphasizes respect. He makes it a point to spend the first few days of the school year going over this worksheet with his students. They discuss ways that respect is seen between students, teachers, and students and teachers. Mr. Reiff stated that many teachers and parents disagree with this idea, claiming that instruction time is lost due to the fact that they spend so much time working on this worksheet. However, he argues this point, claiming that if respect is established, future instruction time will be made up since students will not be as rowdy or disrespectful.
Reflection 6
Possibly the most helpful of all the advice Mr. Reiff offered was two-fold. First, keep a schedule of the week complete and on the board for reference. This way, if the teacher gets distracted or an event happens that derails the class, the teacher can quickly refer to the schedule and get the class back on track. Furthermore, it is wise to keep the entire week’s assignments in an area easily accessible to the students, such folders in the back of the classroom. This way, when students return from absences, they can attain the work without distracting the teacher or other students.
Reflection 7
Mr. Reiff also shared some of the sayings and stories that he believes are vital to the success of all teachers. First, we are meant to be the students’ teacher, NOT their friend. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the teacher is cautious of his mannerisms, appearance, and the way he converses with his students. Many of the teacher’s students will be from dissimilar backgrounds. Many will not come from two-parent, upper-middle class homes. As teachers, we must recognize these differences and guide the students with a firm, but caring, hand. Another piece of advice offered was, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” As teachers, we will come across many scenarios that we were never prepared for. Each year will present new challenges and standing up in front of the class will never get any less nerve-racking. However, as teachers we must get acclimated to this environment and perform as best we can. This ties into another important saying Mr. Reiff believes in, which is, “Be like the swan.” This statement exudes the idea that the students are never allowed to see the teacher sweat. Always remain calm, even though you may be as anxious and unprepared as can be. Never let your students know about it.
Reflection 16
On Wednesday, April 25th, I was finally able to teach a premeditated lesson in Mr. Kuzara’s classes. I had looked at a curriculum map of Mr. Kuzara’s class prior to this date, and as chance would have it, I wanted to teach a lesson almost exactly when Mr. Kuzara had it written into his curriculum map. Therefore, on this day I taught periods 3, 4, and 5. As I took over for Mr. Kuzara, I realized that getting through the warm-up activity, video, PowerPoint, reading, reading questions, and analyzing of a political cartoon was simply too much to cram into one period. However, according to Mr. Kuzara, this is an excellent problem to have. Too often does a teacher design a lesson, teach the class, only to realize that the lesson left the class with fifteen minutes before the bell rings. I underestimated the length each activity would take, and were therefore forced to eliminate a few activities from our lesson. Once I shortened my lesson to three activities, per Mr. Kuzara’s advice, each period was just long enough to encompass all three activities, and things ran much more smoothly.
Reflection 4
For my high school placement, I had the privilege of working with Mr. Greg Reiff at Coconino High School. The one point that he wished I would comprehend during my first day there, as well as every other day I attended, was that of respect. He told us that as teacher we are expected to teach facts and important events; however, if respect between students and teacher is established, all subsequent issues can quickly be resolved. He claimed that if the teacher show the students respect, then the students will show respect to the teacher. As a matter of fact, he gave me a copy of a worksheet that emphasizes respect. He makes it a point to spend the first few days of the school year going over this worksheet with his students. They discuss ways that respect is seen between students, teachers, and students and teachers. Mr. Reiff stated that many teachers and parents disagree with this idea, claiming that instruction time is lost due to the fact that they spend so much time working on this worksheet. However, he argues this point, claiming that if respect is established, future instruction time will be made up since students will not be as rowdy or disrespectful.
Reflection 6
Possibly the most helpful of all the advice Mr. Reiff offered was two-fold. First, keep a schedule of the week complete and on the board for reference. This way, if the teacher gets distracted or an event happens that derails the class, the teacher can quickly refer to the schedule and get the class back on track. Furthermore, it is wise to keep the entire week’s assignments in an area easily accessible to the students, such folders in the back of the classroom. This way, when students return from absences, they can attain the work without distracting the teacher or other students.
Reflection 7
Mr. Reiff also shared some of the sayings and stories that he believes are vital to the success of all teachers. First, we are meant to be the students’ teacher, NOT their friend. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the teacher is cautious of his mannerisms, appearance, and the way he converses with his students. Many of the teacher’s students will be from dissimilar backgrounds. Many will not come from two-parent, upper-middle class homes. As teachers, we must recognize these differences and guide the students with a firm, but caring, hand. Another piece of advice offered was, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” As teachers, we will come across many scenarios that we were never prepared for. Each year will present new challenges and standing up in front of the class will never get any less nerve-racking. However, as teachers we must get acclimated to this environment and perform as best we can. This ties into another important saying Mr. Reiff believes in, which is, “Be like the swan.” This statement exudes the idea that the students are never allowed to see the teacher sweat. Always remain calm, even though you may be as anxious and unprepared as can be. Never let your students know about it.
Reflection 16
On Wednesday, April 25th, I was finally able to teach a premeditated lesson in Mr. Kuzara’s classes. I had looked at a curriculum map of Mr. Kuzara’s class prior to this date, and as chance would have it, I wanted to teach a lesson almost exactly when Mr. Kuzara had it written into his curriculum map. Therefore, on this day I taught periods 3, 4, and 5. As I took over for Mr. Kuzara, I realized that getting through the warm-up activity, video, PowerPoint, reading, reading questions, and analyzing of a political cartoon was simply too much to cram into one period. However, according to Mr. Kuzara, this is an excellent problem to have. Too often does a teacher design a lesson, teach the class, only to realize that the lesson left the class with fifteen minutes before the bell rings. I underestimated the length each activity would take, and were therefore forced to eliminate a few activities from our lesson. Once I shortened my lesson to three activities, per Mr. Kuzara’s advice, each period was just long enough to encompass all three activities, and things ran much more smoothly.
Student Teaching Reflections
One aspect of my student teaching semester involves my writing a reflection at the end of each school week, simply recapping the important, or not-so-important aspects of what occurred. Below, I have included just a couple of the relections that I have written during the third quarter.
February 9, 2013
This was likely the most eventful and hectic week yet. Wednesday was completely ridiculous. Mrs. Nichols had to leave in the morning, and the school was forced to call in a substitute teacher. Every class, with the exception of 9th period, was somewhat manageable. 9th period, the last
class of the day was uncontrollable. Approximately half of the class was disruptive, disrespectful, off task, and simply refusing to follow instruction.
Therefore, the following day, I allowed the half of the class that had been on task and working diligently to remain using the laptops. The half that had not was given an assignment out of the textbook to complete. The assignment that was originally an in-class activity was now homework for these individuals. Never had 9thperiod been so quiet and hard-working. Furthermore, those students who were given the textbook activity all finished the in-class activity for homework.
The highlight of the week was, of course, parent-teacher conferences. At Rincon Vista, each “team”of teachers; math, science, language arts, and social studies; meet in one room to discuss with the parents who come in. Team Silver met in Mr. Ricciardelli’s room. It was interesting to be involved with parent-teacher conferences from a different perspective. I have been the student, but now I was the teacher. I was sharing my impressions and beliefs about students with their parents, and it was quite eye-opening. A very large portion of the parents that came in were parents of students who earn A’s and B’s. Frankly, there typically is not much to tell those parents. We were able to speak with a few parents of students with lower grades, but not nearly as many as we had hoped. It is somewhat disconcerting that those parents you need to speak with typically do not show up or show no interest in communicating with you.
March 3, 2013
This week was easily the most eventful, and stressful, week yet. On Monday I had a student ask me at 2:35, 15 minutes before school let out for the day, if he could go to the nurse because he had a headache. My response was: “Can you handle your headache for the next 15 minutes? The bell is going to ring really soon, and you can just go home then.”He told me he could handle it and that was the end of it.
The following morning, there was quite the angry voicemail on Mrs. Nichols’ phone left by this student’s father yelling at me asking why I refused to let his son go to the nurse. We contacted him and explained the situation, but he was still extremely upset over the matter.
On Friday, I had each class play a review game which involved all of us throwing paper balls at each other that had a question regarding material that we have covered, namely World War II, written on the ball. As we were all running around the classroom throwing the balls at each other, I took aim at one particular student and threw the ball. As my leg kicked up during the throw, I felt it connect with something. I looked over to see what it was; I realized that my foot had inadvertently made contact with the face of the student whose father called me Tuesday morning. Just my luck, the one student that gets hurt is this particular student. I asked him if he needed to go to the nurse. He replied with, “No, I’m alright. I just need to sit down for a minute to collect myself.”
We finished up our game, and this student did eventually rejoin us after a brief rest. I called his father after school to let him know that I had inadvertently hit his son and that I had asked him if he needed to go to the nurse and he declined. Despite his anger with me Tuesday morning, it was actually a pleasant conversation. It was only four minutes in length, but truth be told, it felt like it took forever. My heart was pounding and I was sure that he would have yelled at me again regarding this particular incident as well as the events that happened on Monday, but he did not. Apparently teaching can be a contact sport.
February 9, 2013
This was likely the most eventful and hectic week yet. Wednesday was completely ridiculous. Mrs. Nichols had to leave in the morning, and the school was forced to call in a substitute teacher. Every class, with the exception of 9th period, was somewhat manageable. 9th period, the last
class of the day was uncontrollable. Approximately half of the class was disruptive, disrespectful, off task, and simply refusing to follow instruction.
Therefore, the following day, I allowed the half of the class that had been on task and working diligently to remain using the laptops. The half that had not was given an assignment out of the textbook to complete. The assignment that was originally an in-class activity was now homework for these individuals. Never had 9thperiod been so quiet and hard-working. Furthermore, those students who were given the textbook activity all finished the in-class activity for homework.
The highlight of the week was, of course, parent-teacher conferences. At Rincon Vista, each “team”of teachers; math, science, language arts, and social studies; meet in one room to discuss with the parents who come in. Team Silver met in Mr. Ricciardelli’s room. It was interesting to be involved with parent-teacher conferences from a different perspective. I have been the student, but now I was the teacher. I was sharing my impressions and beliefs about students with their parents, and it was quite eye-opening. A very large portion of the parents that came in were parents of students who earn A’s and B’s. Frankly, there typically is not much to tell those parents. We were able to speak with a few parents of students with lower grades, but not nearly as many as we had hoped. It is somewhat disconcerting that those parents you need to speak with typically do not show up or show no interest in communicating with you.
March 3, 2013
This week was easily the most eventful, and stressful, week yet. On Monday I had a student ask me at 2:35, 15 minutes before school let out for the day, if he could go to the nurse because he had a headache. My response was: “Can you handle your headache for the next 15 minutes? The bell is going to ring really soon, and you can just go home then.”He told me he could handle it and that was the end of it.
The following morning, there was quite the angry voicemail on Mrs. Nichols’ phone left by this student’s father yelling at me asking why I refused to let his son go to the nurse. We contacted him and explained the situation, but he was still extremely upset over the matter.
On Friday, I had each class play a review game which involved all of us throwing paper balls at each other that had a question regarding material that we have covered, namely World War II, written on the ball. As we were all running around the classroom throwing the balls at each other, I took aim at one particular student and threw the ball. As my leg kicked up during the throw, I felt it connect with something. I looked over to see what it was; I realized that my foot had inadvertently made contact with the face of the student whose father called me Tuesday morning. Just my luck, the one student that gets hurt is this particular student. I asked him if he needed to go to the nurse. He replied with, “No, I’m alright. I just need to sit down for a minute to collect myself.”
We finished up our game, and this student did eventually rejoin us after a brief rest. I called his father after school to let him know that I had inadvertently hit his son and that I had asked him if he needed to go to the nurse and he declined. Despite his anger with me Tuesday morning, it was actually a pleasant conversation. It was only four minutes in length, but truth be told, it felt like it took forever. My heart was pounding and I was sure that he would have yelled at me again regarding this particular incident as well as the events that happened on Monday, but he did not. Apparently teaching can be a contact sport.