Keeping those kids in line...

1. I am going to set up clear guidelines for EVERYTHING! This includes plans for bathroom, homework, behavior, etc. One thing I’ve discovered is how hard it is to come into this classroom when my students have not had any clear, strong guidelines. For instance, I don’t think I would allow bathroom breaks after 10 minutes into the class. I would set up a basket for homework, where they could turn it in every day we have it at the beginning of class. My cooperating teacher does not have this system, so she is forced to walk up and down the aisles checking everyone’s homework, which is a total time waste AND leads to a ton of unnecessary talking!
2. I LOVE the whole thing we did in class this week about giving the students options. This would totally work with my students. I actually used it the other day. Two of the students were talking and using their cell phones the entire time, so I said “Donteral, you have two choices you can either move your seat over here or you can get written up.” And he moved! So I will definitely be using this!
3. Lastly, is the cell phone usage. I am honestly appalled at how much this generation texts! And at all times!!! Like really, are your random comments about how bored you are really that important?!? Ideally, I would implement a system where when they walk into class, they put their cell phones in a box. My phone could be in there with them; however, I don’t know if this would ever work, though, because a) kids might steal someone else’s phone and b) they could easily lie about not having their cell phone. At the least, I will definitely make every student put his/her bag at the front or the back of the room. They will be allowed to take out whatever stuff they need for MY class and then sit down at their seat. After the first week, they would be so used to it that they would just do it.

Ultimately, I think it needs to be about consistency and setting up procedures for everything beforehand. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m struggling so much with student teaching, because it’s not technically my class so these kids have had 7 months of another teacher’s policies so I can’t do what I want to do.

How to make my curriculum unit EVEN better!

1. My lesson on the beginning of the war: I got comments that a graphic organizer might help because it's so much info. I kind thought that a K-W-L might work. They could do what they've heard about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (a big chunk of the lesson). I also think I probably should've included some type of worksheet or questions to go along with when they were reading it.
2. In this lesson, students are comparing the differences in policies between JFK, LBJ and Nixon. I didn't quite understand what the MIVCA "challenging" meant. What I should have put as "challenging" was the fact that students are getting new information from different medias and sythnesizing them onto charts.
3. I received the comment that I probably didn't plan enough stuff for my lesson on the anti-war protests. I could add an exit slip: You were drafted. Write a letter to your mother/father/girlfriend/etc. I could also make sure I have specific questions for the discussion, including: How many of you would have participated? How many of you know someone that was involved? Would you consider participating in the Iraq war? Are there similarities between the two? Etc.

Oh, another blog!

The Center for Civic Education has various resources for sale, including student texts, multimedia files, and other publications. Professionally, they offer seminars, training, conferences, summer institutes, etc. all throughout the country (including SC!). I might consider joining this organization because its basic principle is so dear to mine: that students should be educated as citizens of the world, ready to change society for the better; however, I dislike that you have to pay for all the major resources and that there is no lesson plan, which would help me a lot as a student teacher. I also looked into a group called Teaching Tolerance, which I liked a lot. I think I’d be more likely to join this group, since it has so many awesome lesson plans and ideas and activities for free, as well as interesting articles and publications available online. At the same time, though, it stays true to my core education philosophy of civic education. It is an organization created to teach students about disparities in the world and their country/state, etc.