PSYC 3110, 3120, 3130
Examples of E-Mail Postings
Last updated: August 19, 1998
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A. Discussion of Topics Covered in Class
B. Discussion of Affect and Emotions Related to Teacher Aide Experience
C. Responses to Other Postings
I'll be the first (and certainly not the last) to admit when I went to my field experience for the first time that I was incredibly nervous. The only teaching experience I ever had was informal teaching: the art of tying one's shoes and the like. I went into the classroom and sat for the first hour. I was beginning to wonder when the students would show and was also wondering what I was doing there. I was told that I would be working with adults who were interested in learning how to read.
The first student I worked with was working on a basic elementary level of thought. He had some homework to do in math, so I sat with him and helped him. His attention span was tremendously short; every time a new student would walk into the classroom he would turn his head to watch the new student for about 2-3 minutes before I addressed him and he would go back to his work. The math that we worked on that night was single-digit addition. One of the things I noticed was that his capacity for counting was minimal. I tend to think that the reason for this is not ADD (attention deficit disorder), but his mind has a tendency to wander. I thought that if we used visual aids that it might help him out with his math. It did help him out for a little while until we took a break and went back to the problems again.
The student does not readily recognize the difference between an addition sign and a subtraction sign. I constantly reminded him that the sign we were working with was addition. After many repetitions, it started to sink in. I would have him read the problem to me out loud. I thought that if he did this, it would not only remind him that we were working with addition, but also make him a bit more familiar with the numbers themselves.
My strategy for the visual aid was that I took a sheet of paper and ripped it into many different pieces (enough to cover all of the problems at hand). I would ask him how many he would start out with. For example, if the problem was five plus nine, then he would start out with five and I would slide him nine pieces of paper. I would count the pieces of paper aloud with him as he would come up with the answer. When the problem was solved, he would slide the pieces of paper back to me and we would advance to the next problem.
I am a bit worried on the visual aid strategy, however. I can't decide as to whether or not he is actively learning or if I am just "spoon feeding" him the material. If I am spoon feeding it to him, surely by the next time we meet he will have forgotten about what he had learned and the sessions will be in vain.
My other problem is that if one considers Huitt's model of the teaching/learning process, one will notice "Academic Learning Time." My point is that one of the components of Academic Learning Time is the student being "on-task." If the student cannot seem to focus, wouldn't it seem reasonable that time-on-task is lessened, therefore effectively lowering Academic Learning Time? If this is the case, then how do I as a teacher improve the student's time-on-task? Hovering over the student to make sure that he/she is on task is fine in concept, but not applicable in public school classrooms. There are just too many. This is something I will have to work on. Comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
This is a posting that will discuss another observation that I have had in my Physical Education setting. On this particular day, I realized how so much of the concepts discussed in our class are not being discussed or even applied. In regards to the direct instruction model discussed in class, such elements as review, demonstration, explanation and guided practice are not being included. According to this model the teacher should be reviewing the material discussed in previous lessons, along with a clear explanation of the lesson to be discussed that day. I do not think that this is being done as it should be. It seems as if the students are jumping into the lesson very quickly without even being sure if they are comfortable with the skills that have already been taught. I have yet to see any effective means of demonstration; in fact the students are often times thrown into the situation. I also do not see as much guided practice as the students seem to need. Some of the steps that are being taught are quite difficult for sixth graders. It is important that teachers circulate around the room to make sure that the students are comfortable with those steps. On this particular day the students were a little excited, so the lesson did not go as planned. Sometimes I wonder if I am being too critical, but then I think that what I am learning in class are important aspects of effective teaching. If these things are not being done, then it is up to future educators to realize this and chose to something different, something that will work.
The accounting teacher I have been observing is always in control of her class. The students seem to respect and obey her wishes and rules. She has very strict rules about being late to her class. They also can't have any type of gum of candy because of the machines in the room. There is one student that I have mentioned before that caused a problem today.
To begin with the student was late to class. The teacher asked her when she walked in if she was late. Her reply was "yea." I could tell the teacher was getting angry. The teacher asked the student again, and she replied, "I said yes!" The teacher said nothing further to the student. I was surprised she was letting her get away with speaking to her that way.
Then, when the class was over and the bell rang, the teacher told the student to stay for a moment. This enraged the student and I did not know what was going to happen. When the other students left, the teacher talked with the disruptive student. When the student left, she was saying, "Yes, ma'am." I was impressed by the teacher handled this problem. Instead of allowing the whole class to be disrupted, she talked with her after class. I also believe this had more of an effect on the student because she wasn't trying to defend herself in front of her friends.
The second day of my teacher aide experience brought with it a valuable lesson in discipline. I am gradually gaining respect for Mrs. XXX and her inventive methods. She has been blessed with several ill-behaved children, and I must congratulate her for not having a breakdown.
One method that seems to work with some members of her class is a ticket system. The children earn tickets for staying on task, remaining quiet, etc. There is a drawing of a ticket at the end of class for a prize. The students were quick to realize that better behavior warrants more tickets (more chances to win). There is still a huge amount of bad behavior, but perhaps things are better than they were before.
One discipline problem in her classes is an abundance of empty threats. Several of the children have caught on to the fact that she does not always do as she says in regard to discipline. I heard her tell one child three different times that if he did not stop talking, then he would be sent back to his regular class. After almost an hour, the student continued to talk and was not sent back to class. Once I heard him reply to her threat, "yeah, right"!
Perhaps the best method of discipline really is an effective lesson. I realize that Mrs. XXX has a tough job. Because she is mainly a remedial math teacher, her class involves a lot of seatwork, which allows a lot of time for misbehavior. There is also the dilemma of having several children at different learning levels. Attending this classroom is showing me the depth involved in problems related to discipline.
On this particular day in my observation classroom the teacher had to leave the room to attend to a small family emergency. I gave the students their assignment for the day and I will assist them as much as possible. The leader of the three pack was not happy when I asked her if she had her absentee note for the previous day to be either excused or unexcused. She continued to make unnecessary comments after I took the roll. I politely asked her twice to please be quite. The third time I walked next door to get another male teacher to obtain order from her.
She remained quite for the time he remained in the room. Then she resumed her behavior. I tactfully approached her and asked her to accompany me to a Principal's office; she refused. As I proceeded to walk away from her she used a racial comment then proceeded to pick up a book to throw it at me. The other teacher returned to the room and stopped her. He asked me to write the incident up and he would sign it, and then escort her to a Principal's office.
This incident opened my eyes to what are my legal parameters for protecting myself from potential abuse or harm.
The Resolution
The leader of the three pack had to make a public apology to me in front of the entire class in addition to a written one. The Principal asked for input on her discipline for this incident. My comments kept her from being placed into In-School-Suspension, but it will teach her a lesson she will never for get. The most amazing thing is that she asks for my assistance in class, she has asked for my advice on personal matters, and lastly she asked me to sign her Senior Book and her Yearbook also. The punishment did fit the crime and she has openly expressed to me that she did feel her comment and behavior was wrong, and now realizes what her action could have done for her future and hurt not only me but many others.
Dickinson once said "Success is counted sweetest; by those who ne'er succeed". How true, how true. I have finally succeeded in teaching someone. My student that I mentioned in my first posting still has not showed up, and the other student I mentioned in my second posting was being helped by the instructor. There was, however, one student who came in the first time I was there, and now has returned for additional instruction.
I was a little bit nervous to go back to this student and end up making lesson plans for her after what happened with my previous student, so I went back to what we were doing the last time she was there. We read out of the book I had her read to me previously. I felt that something might jog her memory as far as the words were concerned. No such luck. I went and got some blank cards from the desk and had her read to me again.
As she read, I took notes of the words she was having some troubles with. I would write them down on a sheet of paper and when she was done, I transferred them onto the cards. I created flash cards of the words she was having problems with. After she was done, we went through each of the cards one by one. Basically this was drill and practice. I also made use of the phonics chart that was given to her to help her sound out some of the words.
After we had finished with the cards, I made her a rhyme sheet as well. The rhyme sheet was made so that hopefully she could understand that some of the words rhymed and therefore could help her make connections rather than trying to sound each and every word out. I then separated the cards into two separate stacks. One stack were words that she had little or no problems with, and the other stack were words that she had difficulty with. We went through the cards again and as she finally got better at her harder stack, I had her re-read me the two pages that we were reading. She made it through the two pages with no help and very few stops on words that were previously problems.
What a brilliant feeling! It is certainly time to rejoice, but I can only hope that she is looking at the cards and thinking about what I've told her. I'm learning that a teacher can only do so much; it takes not only the teacher, but student initiative, to make learning work. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
My last observation day was Tuesday the 12th. It was my last day before my hours were complete for this class. When I first got there, the class was busy doing an assignment so I took my French student to the back of the room and began going over spelling.
The teacher came back there shortly and asked me to help my student create a thank you card for a visitor the class had had the day before from the newspaper. I was glad to help and I set off trying to explain to the student what was wanted from her. When she finally understood, she began making the card with occasional suggestions from me. We had a lot of fun because we kinda played around while she made the card.
About the time the class was finished with their cards, the office called and said it was time for the class to get their pictures made. The teacher and I lined the students up and walked them to the room where the pictures were being taken.
After pictures, there was not much time left in class. The student and I went over spelling and I gave her a test. Then she went and worked in her reading group and I graded a bunch of papers. Then it was time to go.
The catch to this observation is that I volunteered to continue coming back to the classroom once or twice a week to work with my French student. I became really attatched to her over this short ten week period and I will continue going back to see her until she moves up to the 5th grade.
Thursday, I got to teach the class. I talked the students through a math lesson on decimals. The students learned how to write the numbers with the decimals in words and how to take the words and write them in numbers. For example: 23.45 is twenty-three and forty-five hundredths, and fifty-six and seven tenths is 56.7. I really enjoyed this. The teacher gave me feedback on how I did and she helped me every once and a while if the students tried to get out of control. The students did well in trying to pay attention, probably because she told them if they didn't she would take away their fun time on Friday. The class was fifth graders. After the class was over she told me to follow the students to their next room and make sure they all went in because she had to leave and run to the office.
The next class was one of her fourth grade classes. They were going to have a "test." It was a very relaxed test. She has to walk them through it. The test was just like the worksheets she had given them in class. The students were very rowdy. They had a sub in the class before this one and the students ran over the sub. They were telling him what to do because he was lost. He released the students too early so they came running into the class, the teacher was not thrilled. She finally got them somewhat calmed down so we could begin the test.
I passed the test out to all students. She began by reading the first problem with them. She helped them start to set the problem up but allowed them to solve it the way they thought. I saw two with the right answer and there are nine in the class. The next problem was a little easier for them. There were twenty-five problems on the test. One little boy named XXX whined the entire time he took the test about how sleepy he was and how he didn't understand any of it but that was because he wouldn't pay attention to the teacher. She helped them with problem seven and gave them the answer and XXX waited five more problems to say that he didn't have the answer to the problem seven and wanted her to go back and give it to him. She asked me to help him catch up with the class. I worked with him and got caught up and he put his head down and went to sleep. He did not finish the test; he stopped working on number fourteen so he got an F on his paper. The only problems he had right were three of the ones I helped him with because he guessed. I could not give him the answers. I could only help him set the problems up. He had to solve them. He wanted me to give him all the answers so he wouldn't have to do the problems. I refused to help him that way so that is why he stopped working the problems. He pouted.
The class ended and all of the students finished except XXX. I taught one little boy a trick using his hands to solve the nine multiples up to ten. You hold the palms of your hands facing you and if the problem is 9 x 4 you put the fourth finger down. The number to the left is the first part and how many to the write is the second part. You have three on the left and six on the right so you have 36. He was so excited because he could finally do those since he had been having trouble doing them. He thanked me and it made me feel really good to know that I helped him.
I have noticed when I am observing, I become very interesting in what the teacher is saying. I am in a 7th grade language arts class that is reading on about a 4th grade level. When they are going over parts of a sentence or using context clues, I find that I have forgotten a lot of the detailed information. I couldn't tell you the difference between a homograph and a homophone. I have not done that type of work so long ago that I don't remember the specifics, I just do it.
I think this relates to the levels of mastery that we discussed in class. These students are at the novice level. They are learning the rules and have to follow them regardless. Each day they pick up a little more knowledge and try to piece it together so that they can go to the stage of mastery.
I don't know if I consider myself much of an expert in terms of writing; maybe I'm just at the competence level. I could probably teach them that there were 4 types of sentences, but don't ask me to name them. I have used writing skills for so long that they come naturally. I don't think about every word or where commas go. I just know (usually). But I also think this lack of knowing specifics is because I learned the proper names for a test and then dumped it. I kept the concepts without knowing what they were called. Through my observations I am finding out a lot about how students act and teachers teach, but I am also taking a look at myself. I can see areas in my education that need a little brushing up. Maybe summer school isn't such a bad idea after all.
I observed a fourth grade math class. The children were curious as I arrived in their triangular shaped classroom. They were in the middle of a lesson and it seemed only a few were paying attention. The teacher was writing on a board that had once been white, but was now smudged with green dry erase ink. It was propped at an angle and the lights caused a glare on it. I could not see well and wondered if the students would pay better attention if another board were used. There were 25 students in the classroom and 9 of them had their name on the board for misbehaving. Some had as many as 3 checks by their name.
The room was not very pleasing aesthetically. It was cluttered with posters, books, knic-knacs, and most anything you could think of. The metal filing cabinet was full of magnets. I personally could not work well in such a room.
After math the students began seatwork in science. After the teacher gave instructions she sat down. She did not walk around the room and it was obvious that some of the children were not doing their assignment. The teacher finally realized who was meowing like a cat and sentenced him to write his spelling words ten times. Maybe today was a bad day for the teacher; she has yet to smile or change her expression or tone of voice.
Response
In XXX's observation posting, she discusses how the classroom is unappealing and uninviting, and then goes on to wonder if this was affecting student behavior. I too have questioned this before. When I was getting ready to apply to an education program at another university, I discovered that to even be considered for admission you had to have at least 40 hours of related experience (summer camp leader, teacher's aide, etc.) which I did not have. So I volunteered at a local elementary school. While I was there, I was sent on an errand for my teacher to deliver something to another teacher. When I got to the door, I was immediately taken aback by the odor. As I peered into the door, I couldn't believe what I saw! There were papers, and boxes, and junk, and almost anything you could imagine piled anywhere and everywhere in that room (the odor made me wonder if there weren't some lost lunches in there somewhere, too). The questions immediately came to mind, "How can these kids concentrate in this clutter? How can they bring themselves to even want to come to school everyday?" But the one thing I really wanted to know was,"How did a teacher like this even get tenure in the first place?" It was quite obvious that she had been there for years. This led me to another line of thinking: "Is tenure always a good thing? Do we need to look at the current tenure system and put more checks and balances in it?" I still believe that teachers should have some sort of job security (especially with all of the politics involved in this profession). However, after this experience I think there should be some sort of standard that teacher's must uphold in order to retain their tenure.
I worked with two fourth-grade study buddies for thirty minutes before school started. At 8:30 I went back to their classrooms with them where they have math. Once inside the classroom, the girls were thrilled because we had just gone over what that day's lesson (measurement) was about. They had a much-needed head start on everyone else.
During my next observation, Mrs. XXX and the class made a chocolate cake. This went along really well with the lesson because they were studying measurements. The students were thrilled at the idea of actually cooking a cake. She began the lesson by reviewing what the different measurements were and their abbreviations (teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, 1/2 cup, etc). As one student read each part of the recipe, another student did what the recipe called for. This worked out really well because the students reading the recipe had to know the different abbreviations as well as the proper way to read it while the students actually doing the mixing had to precisely measure each ingredient.
The students really seemed to enjoy the lesson. This was stimulating and different to them. Everyone seemed on-task and excited. Mrs. XXX did an excellent job in preparing the lesson, motivating the students, and reviewing the prerequisite skills. Although, one thing I noticed that could use improvement was how she spent valuable class time to reprimand one particular student. Perhaps she should have asked to see him after class. Overall, this was a good lesson in which the students learned to apply Math ideas to everyday life.
Response
In this posting, I am going to respond to XXX's bake-a-cake observation. I thought baking a cake was a great way for the students to apply the previously learned concepts of measurement which were taught in the preceding lesson. The idea of the students making the cake would allow for them to realize that the concepts they learned about measurements were important and will be used throughout their everyday lives. The activity was a great opportunity for class participation and for the students to work together to accomplish a task. It might have been tough for the teacher to monitor all the students' behavior during the activity. The behavior of the students who were directly working with the teacher when adding ingredients would have been easy to monitor. But for the students who were off to the side measuring and reading the recipe, there behavior would have been harder to monitor. This activity would be beneficial to the students and the teacher because the students can apply what they have learned, while the teacher can assess the student's understanding of the knowledge.
I did my third observation on February 12, 1997. There was a substitute on this day. When I found out that we were having a substitute I figured it would be an awful day. Since the students are already behavior problems I knew that they would take advantage of the substitute. However, I was wrong. They did not act any worse or better (for that matter). When I got there the fourth grade class was working on a worksheet individually. I went around and helped them. When the fifth grade class came in, we did a class assignment and it amazed me at how some of them can not even subtract. One girl kept adding when she should have been subtracting. It made me wonder as to how teachers could let these kids go from one grade to another without making sure they have reached the mastery level that they should be at. Then it got me thinking that since most of these kids are behavior problems maybe they were just passed because they did not want them for another year. I was really surprised that the students listened to me when I asked them to sit down or continue working. I guess maybe they have a little more respect for me than the substitute teacher. I'll be interested to see how they react to me this week when the regular teacher is back.
Response
I am writing in response to XXX’s observation. After reading through your field experience I was not shocked at these children. Most of them have respect for each other and for grown ups. In some cases teachers sometimes lose the respect of their students because they have no direction and the teacher has allowed these students to "run" right over her. I have not witnessed this in my field experience but something entirely different. They respected their teacher but when she left me with her class for several minutes, they decided I was there to just watch them. They were surprised when I told them to sit down and stop talking so loud. Each had turned and stared at me as though I had two heads and continued to talk. I continued to talk to them in a firm voice and they finally knew that I meant business.
I have though witnessed and have taken part in your type of experience through personal experience with my six-year-old nephew. He was classified as ADD but has never been tested. He is fine when I have him and am around others either his age or mine. I believe I have a great amount of control over his behavior. I also believe that he knows I stand for no outrageous behavior while he is with me. I just will not tolerate it. His teacher on the other hand has absolutely no control over this child. She constantly calls the father and mother complaining the child refuses to do his work. She was told to handle it since she was the professional. She decided to let him make zeros for an entire week before she decided to call. This is how many of these children do not know how to subtract and add because they are not helping these kids as they should.
I believe these children will continue to like you because you guide them and have already taken a stand against them running over you. That is a good experience and one that will useful in any major in education. Good luck in your continued field experience.
Commenting on a Post From Another Discussion List
The Post
Two days ago my 12-year-old brought home a paper I was to sign that listed her math grades for the term and her math average. It was apparently some sort of prelude to their report cards coming out next week or so. There were something like 14 individual grades, all with predetermined weights that were averaged accordingly. My daughter had a 91 average, which in this system is an A. Further, this is only seventh grade, so in certain ways the difference between a report card "A" and a report card "B" don't necessarily have some sort of future ramifications apart from the knowledge/skills they supposedly signify.
Now the grade distribution on this sheet of paper were, to me, very interesting. Lydia had totally bombed out on the first test and made a 60- or 70-something. Further, she and three other kids had made a 65 on some sort of group project that they apparently did not do well. All her other grades, however, were 100's or near 100's. So I gave the obligatory signature and also wrote the following note: "A grade distribution of this sort seems to be a good argument against averaging grades; presumably, since the material has been cumulative, the later tests all show that whatever was not understood in the first test has been learned during the term."
The teacher called and left the following message on my answering machine: "I appreciate your interest in Lydia's progress; however, I average all grades and do not drop the lowest."
This was the same teacher who argued to her students that the following commercial worksheet answers were correct:
1) 'the sum of two consecutive even whole numbers' is represented by (x)+(x+2) even though some students said that would be true for two consecutive odd whole numbers or any two numbers, whether whole or not, that were two whole numbers apart.
2) 'three times a number diminished by 6' is represented by 3x-6 and not by 3(x-6), even though the former is ambiguous in English and could be read either as (three times a number) diminished by six, or as three times (a number diminished by 6).
In a language arts class (of another teacher), one of the questions on a true/false test was: Lois Lowery is the author of The Giver. A number of students put "false" because that is not how the author's last name is spelled. The teacher marked those answers as incorrect and said it would remain incorrect even though the students explained and vehemently argued WHY they said "false" when the answers were "gone over" as the tests were returned.
Finally, in an honors geometry course, one of the exams was something like four double-sided pages long, and when the teacher photocopied all the pages to make up the test, she got some of them upside down to each other and some of them out of order. One kid (not mine) inadvertently missed seeing one of the pages, and the teacher counted all the problems on that page wrong, giving the kid a 67, which gets averaged into his final grade.
Whatever else any of you might want to say about the above cases, my questions are these:
1) Are these teachers doing the right, or reasonable, things in these instances?
2) Are these teachers exercising judgment about what they are doing?
3) Is judgment called for in cases of this sort?
4) Is judgment appropriate in teaching ever, or should teaching be a mechanical or scientific matter?
5) Does repeated exposure to such teachers cause students, who are the sort who argue that a grading error was made or that a certain practice is unfair/unjustified, to quit arguing for things evidentually or are the "argumentative" students who seek better justifications the people who will always be wanting and expecting things to make sense?
6) Do some students and/or some adults not expect things to make sense or not care whether they do or not? If so, are these the same people, or does something happen that makes reflective students lose their enthusiasm for making sense out of things, even if it is not somewhat minor cases of the sort above?
7) Do you think things should make sense in life?
8) Do you think people (including teachers) should be able to, and have to, justify their decisions/beliefs?
Those who don't believe in the necessity of justifications may, of course, just answer "yes" or "no", but if the rest of you could elaborate or explain, I would appreciate it.
Response 1
OK! Call me crazy, but don't teachers think about kids anymore? The kids that put false on the test deserve to get the answer right. At least these kids showed they were thinking and knew the information. It seems to me they knew the information better than the teacher. Exercising judgement is very important. In my opinion, it runs along the same line as social skills. We are teaching these kids to recognize their mistakes, but not willing to admit our own. It shows good character for a teacher to admit when he/she is wrong. It also builds good character for the students to be able to express their opinion. When the kids were arguing about the answer, they were showing they cared about the grades they received in this class. But like I said this is only my opinion!
Response 2
To answer the first question: I think the teachers were wrong to do that to their students. I know how that feels because I've had teachers make mistakes and not admit it. We as students, had to pay for her mistake. People who catch misspellings or see problems in more than one way are, in my opinion, the best students because they pay enough attention to the question to think about the answer. No, she is absolutely not using judgement. If so, it's poor judgement. Judgement is needed in this situation because the students have a point. It is not like they are just asking her to give them extra points, they have a valid reason why their answer should be counted right. No, it should not be a scientific matter. Every situation is different, and teachers need to be flexible if they want to get anything out of their students, including respect. To answer question five, both are true, it will discourage some people from questioning the teacher, but others will still always want to see things make sense and argue a teacher down. Yes, some people do just expect things not to make sense. Some expect things to make sense but don't question every little detail. Others will not accept things which don't make sense. It will almost drive these people crazy until they find out the answer. It's a question of awareness, in my opinion. People who are extremely aware of things will want to know every detail. I know this because I have to know "why" about so many things. I am a Math major and there are some times when I don't understand all the details, so I just accept some things as being true, and not really knowing why. But I still want to know. I just don't have time to figure it out. Yes, I think things should make sense, but some things take too long to explain. It's easier just to say "it's true because it's true," rather than explain every little thing. Yes, they should be able to justify their decisions, but probably not their beliefs. That's too personal.
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