Nominate+topics?

Jess L- After the next groups presentation allow the class on that Thursday to work on their group presentations! :) Jessica L- Something that concerns me is how to relate the material to the students lives. I find it difficult to relate classics to the students to make them interested. I feel that students want a purpose for what they have to do and by relating material to their lives it gives that purpose. Standards also concern me; they are very confusing and parts of some can relate to a lesson plan but the other parts don't. Can you still use the standard even though your lesson does not cover everything in that standard?
 * TOPIC SUGGESTIONS...**

Ali- I know we have talked about classroom management, and I think we should continue to make up scenarios and come up with our own procedure. Also could we discuss how to deal with parents; especially when parents are not on your side, and/or yelling at you. (Abby- I like this idea) (Rachel-this is something i have been wanting to discuss as well) (Ash- I agree with this Ali Abby and Rachel!) Megan- I would like to talk more about standards...I have no idea how they work to be honest. Do we have to hit all of them? Do we have to do a specific amount? I haven't a clue. Is each school different? Sigh...so many questions. (Abby: I was just wondering this as I looked at the plan for the next lesson. What are the rules for how many or how often to use standards. We should talk about this!)

Bob- I want to talk about actually taking advantage of new technologies. I feel like a lot of teachers use things like webquests just so they can put that they used technology on a form or their resume. At the same time there is a lot of good resources out there that many teachers put down that could be of value. For example, teachers that say that students should never use the internet or cliffnotes because some websites aren't reliable or cliffnotes don't go to the full depth. (rachel-this is also a good topic, i know alot of material but how do i put it to use in a classroom?) Tali- i like megan's idea of talking about standards. for something so important that we hear a lot about, i don't actually know how to incorporate them into what i'll be teaching. are we supposed to hit standards in our collaborative unit plan? which ones fit which grade levels? how in depth do we have to go when we're teaching to hit a standard? are we supposed to document what standards we cover? how accountable are we to be? help!

Jess- So, Johnny comes into class with his gaze cast at the floor, looking guilty. All the other students are already in pairs, ready to edit their drafts; and he's the only one who doesn't have his essay completed. The teacher sets him aside to work by himself. He misses out on the opportunity to practice editing, group work, and is self conscious about being isolated on one side of the room, away from everyone else. The teacher gives him an assignment to look through the chapter that was suppose to be read for today's class and look for memorable quotes so that he'd be ready to participate in discussion. The other students are rushed through their editing task, and they wrap up with peer feedback discussion on their papers. The teacher begins a class discussion on the chapter that was assigned. Realizing that the students aren't cooperating in participating in the discussion, the teacher becomes frusterated. Johnny, who'd been preparing for the discussion during peer editing, says several significant statements that get the students interested and warm up the class discussion. The teacher is impressed with Johnny's participation, but still upset that the other students weren't answering in the beginning of the discussion. Is it acceptable that Johnny had time to prepare for the class discussion when the other students didn't? As an teacher, it is our job to educate our students, was it okay that the teacher isolated Johnny from the class lesson? Do you think the teacher handled the situation appropriately? How would Johnny's parents react to him being discluded from class? How would you have handled the situation and why would you have gone about it that way? (Note: This is exaggerated from class!!!! I'm simply taking it up a notch to increase the debate and get us thinking!!!) (Rachel- the teacher did several things upsetting, one excluding a student-in hind site i realise that was a bad idea and having a sample essay might have worked better,two not having deep thought pravoking question prepared-a teacher can not expect students to participate in discussion if the questions are all ase level,three-assuming that both johnny and the other students were not prepared to discuss:johny was asked too look over something that he may have already read,the students weree not participating because"they were not prepared", never assume things about the students) Keryn- I really like Ali's topic of parents. I feel that we are getting so prepared to teach the things that we and the state think are important that we should be ready for when parents come to us and we have different views on what is important. I also think we should talk about things that parents are not always going to agree with us on and how we should correctly advocate on why they are important. I also think Megan's thought of going over some stuff on standards is important. I was a bit comfused while doing the webquest, just on what ancors go with what standard...etc.

Megan- How you do apply to become a teacher/substitute? I know there is a common application, but when are there "better" times to apply than others? Who you you turn it into--etc. Is it best to apply all over the place or just the few schools that you really are hoping to get into? How about if they are hiring or not hiring--eek. The questions are endless. (Abby- This also sounds like a good idea) (Ash- Excellent question and no one ever seems to know the answer too! Like!)

Abby- I think that maybe we could take a little bit of time talking about what you can and can’t do as a teacher... So far in our discussions on classroom management the responses have suggested that teacher's hands are basically tied when it comes to any form of discipline or correction, or singling out of a student... is this really true? What can we do!? (Rachel-i really like this idea) Ali- I would like talk a little bit about objectives. I've only used them in Principles of Teaching with Feather; at times, they confuse me a little. We were taught using a percentage as your criteria which I don't like to use because I think its difficult to assess. I feel that I am limited to certain objectives that only measure the performance of "write": given...students will write..in order to... Because I feel that it is the only thing that is concrete. Also can we talk a little bit about applying for our certification....when do we do it? Now? Spring? I feel really uninformed by my advisors. For the student teaching meeting in september I luckly overheard some girls talking about it, that is the only reason I knew about it.

Jess- I think Megan, Abby, and Ali all have very interesting questions. Like Ali, I never really grasped how to write an objective. I know about the four parts, but I don't know what they mean and whenever Feather would correct my objectives he'd just say which part is wrong or missing, which as you can see is a vicious cycle so I just continued to get them wrong. Abby's question about what we can't and can do as discipline also interests me. In our attempt to maintain effective classroom managment, how can we discipline our students in a safe and legal manner that both protects us as teachers from administrators and parents, while at the same time demonstrating to our students that their behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated? And Megan's question should really interest the entire class because we'll be tackling this ourselves in the near future!

Rachel- i concure with Jess that i would like to discuss ali, abby,and magan'stopics. I think they are all relevent and needed areas of discussion.

Megan- As I was working on my IUP, I ran into the problem several times about what to call "parents." When I was a student this wasn't as big I deal as I think it is today. Students today live with all sorts of different people besides their biological parents. When I send things home, or want to discuss what "their parents" think in class--what is the best way to do it without offending someone? Guardian seems so stuffy and formal, and even that I feel doesn't include everyone's situation....

Ash- I propose we also start at talk about how to handle questions you don't know the answer to. Even though we can't know everything, how do you eloquently say this to your class without seeming unqualified....because even though WE as teachers know that we can't be endless storehouses of knowledge, our students may not. ALSO, I think we should talk about the importance of teacher movement in the classroom....I dislike when teachers stay in a hidey hole where they feel safe (ie the chalk board safety zone), we need to push ourselves out of our safe zones in order to be effective.

Ali- I really liked your question Megan, about subbing, because it seems that we might spend our first year subbing if we can't find a job. I am really looking forward to Dr. Sherry's workshops...I think they would be EXTREMLY helpful. I would like to talk about (in class or at a workshop) professional organizations. I am currently a member of PSEA (as all of us are) and ASCD, but honestly I can't tell you a single thing about either one of them. I would like to know which organizations are worth joining. How to best use the resources after you join..etc.

Also...when doing are IUP how do we sight borrowed material. I am using some things from Matthews class last year, I know I have to do a work cited page, but shoud I put the citation direction on the worksheet?