Self-Evaluation 10/17/14

There are a lot of faults I have found in my teaching strategies over the past few weeks, but I feel
confident that I have dived head first into solving them. Several are now behind me solved for
the time being, while others will continue to need to be fine-tuned for years to come. Overall I
feel like teaching is something I know I love doing.
During the first week of school I spoke of how I needed to handle my ELLs. I know there are
some of my Spanish speaking students that are using their limited language skills as an obvious
crutch. They can speak well enough to understand my explanations of directions, but if I hand
them a test they suddenly dont understand. Being the optimist person I am I gave them a
Spanish version for the final- the exact same test was administered as the pre-test. There was no
improvement between the pre-test with no Spanish copy and the post with the Spanish copy and
the two weeks of education.
Understandably, it is not that way with all my ELLS, just two, but it hurts to know that they are
not trying to learned, not just science, but English as well. Another ELL comes in everyday after
class for extra help. He has only been in America for a year, but he is intelligent and hard
working. He has little self-confidence, but I have shown him that he is doing great and will pass
his proficiency exams and graduate. By treating him as a normal student with the same
expectations ELLs can thrive, as long as they have the supplements they require. Unluckily, the
CC teachers are unwilling to help provide Spanish guided notes. I dont want to stop the Spanish
tests, but I think I will have the ELLs use their English test first and for the last fifteen minutes
allow them to use the Spanish test.
Demonstrations and acronyms are great and students really do remember them. If the students
create these aids themselves they are even more effective. While discussing fog a student
interjected that fog was like steam in the shower. I agreed with her and thanked her for the
example. That class remembered fog better than my other periods that had the same example
provided by me. A similar circumstance was creating acronyms for the atmosphere layers. Taco
shops make tortas aka Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, and Thermosphere is an example
of a student made acronym.
Since, I found when students create or aid in the learning aid is more effective Ive been using a
lot more trigger questions so students can make the connections to create their own examples.
Though this method now has me questioning if bringing in iClickers will be useful.
The discipline has been a big issue, with my CT agreeing that it is something she struggles with.
We do not follow up on it when we both should be. I am conflicted because it is her classroom,
not mine, but I know it needs positive reinforcement since students often just do not care about
consequences. Only one parent has been contacted, but we have written three dean referrals. I
have made amendments to my own personal behavior plan after teaching for a single week. I
have created a powerpoint, like my CT, explaining the rules and practices of my classroom
emphasizing the idea of a Golden Drawing. It is based around the principle of participation.
There are five participation points per day (students are present for 4 days) with a total of twenty
for the week. If a student is tardy, misbehaves, or disrupts the class they lose a point. If the
student has 3 or 4 points at the end of the day they get one drawing ticket; and if they had five
they get two drawing tickets.
This makes the small disturbances add up for the students so they should try to avoid them. If the
student reaches 0 points for any day there is an immediate phone call home or if they have less
than 10 points total for the week. The next time a 30 minute detention will take place. If the
student reaches this problem for a third time a Deans Referral will occur.
Every Monday the Golden Drawing (so called because I often ask the class if they are Golden in
their notes) will happen for every period individually. A prize with an equivalent value of $5-10
will be drawn for along with two large candies for the student to choose from the Golden Chest.
Gold Passes (which are extra credit or hall passes) can also be won. While my students may
think this is childish for a high school classroom I know students have a weakness for candy and
prizes. In the student questionnaire on the first day of school I will find out one thing that each
student really likes- gift cards, books, drawing tablets, etc.
My biggest strength is my ability to come up with examples and demonstrations with little or no
notice. I can be dropped into a classroom and immediately start teaching as long as I know the
standards being covered. This ability has impressed even my CT. I didnt realize this ability until
she pointed it out and I saw other teachers in their classrooms. Knowing this I have focused on
using it to create this learning aids that some of my students desperately need.