Breedlove's Web

Electronic Portfolio 5329

2007-08-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

EDUC 5329 Portfolio

TExES Framework & Competencies

Competency 001(Domain I): The teacher understands human developmental processes and applies this knowledge to plan instruction and ongoing assessment that motivate students and are responsive to their developmental characteristics and needs.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I believe that I can be successful in working with all students in a developmental and class management way. The tools I have obtained have given me this belief involves understanding issues related to student behaviors and discipline. Before I read chapter 7, which discusses student behavior and discipline issues, I’ve always had the inclination that good behavior and discipline should exist in the classroom and especially in the home.
I have acquired the knowledge that a teacher’s classroom must be a safe haven that supports the learning of all students. I have learned that you can’t prevent students with serious behavior or discipline problems from being assigned to your classroom. But, you can try to decrease or prevent the behavior or discipline problems by using strategies like guiding and mediating a student’s learning and motivating ability. For example, an activity that I completed in class involved “at risk” students. Our instructor had given us many labels to choose from, so I chose to describe specific symptoms and cause of “violent students.” In my research I found that there are several methods and strategies that help prevent or reduce the behavior of violent students and through out my brief descriptive paper, I examined and analyzed the causes and symptoms of “at risk” students.
I have also come to the understanding that a teacher must acknowledge and beware of your school and district’s behavior and discipline policies in order to plan accordingly to your own classroom rules, procedures, and teaching strategies. The tools that I have obtained which will give me confidence to succeed in the classroom, came partially from chapter 7 readings, field reports, and other classroom management activities.

Coursework (Session 8):

Contemporary Influences

Students who come from poverty, children that come from toxic and disintegrated families, children that are abused and alienated, students with disabilities and violent behaviors, and students who are victims of learned helplessness are labeled as “at risk” according to our educational system. Unfortunately, labels are placed on people and things. Labels can sometimes have a negative or positive influence on a person’s personality. But sometimes people ask the question, “Why and how is a person labeled that way?” There is one label on a behavioral spectrum that concerns me which involves the prevention of school success. In this brief report, I will describe and inform you of symptoms and causes of violent students.
In the United States, one in four children is labeled as “at risk.” “Approximately 17 percent of White non Hispanic are at risk compared to over 50 percent of Black children and 45 percent of Hispanic children” (Fitzpatrick, 131). There are a number of risk factors that put are youths in a wide spectrum of what Fitzpatrick calls “health- compromising behaviors. These behaviors involve the engagement of aggressive and violent behaviors. On an at risk scale, boys tend to be more aggressive and engage in fighting. At the sociodemographic level, children who lack adequate life skills, self control, assertiveness and self esteem, and are more favorable toward negative behaviors are more likely to engage in risk taking behavior. Fitzpatrick also argues that “In addition, we expect that youths with favorable attitudes toward fighting and youths who have close friends and peers who view aggression and/or fighting as an acceptable behavior for resolving conflict are more likely to engage in this kind of behavior” (133).
A second risk factor that pertains to the violence label is the family environment. In the early stage of a child’s life, family is the most enduring influence. If a child sees that violence is a norm for resolving conflict, they too will adopt the same strategies when confronted with their own problems at home or at school. A child who engages in health-compromising behaviors like fighting, are sometimes exposed to family dysfunction where there is generally no support, rules or positive expectations. Studies also show that children who come from a single parent home are more likely to engage in health-compromising behaviors than children in an intact (both parents present) family environment.
A third risk factor that pertains to an “at risk” label is school environment. Our children practically are in school for the majority of their day. “If this environment is uncertain, unsafe, dirty, and without consistent rules, they are more likely to engage in health-compromising behaviors compared to youths who attend safe, well managed schools with their clear policies and rules regarding behavior and general expectations” (134). This statement is what I’ve been learning in my 5314 text, Methods for Teaching. In relation to this topic, I’ve learned that a teacher must provide a safe, comfortable, and an inviting environment in order to have a productive and motivated learning environment.
Another important factor in regards to the school environment involves academic failure. A child that seems to experience ongoing failure at an early age is more likely to become distracted or distant to an academic environment. The absence of this behavior could result in a health-compromising behavior like violence or alienation. We as teachers must motivate and continue to support our students so maybe behaviors like violence could be retained or toned down to enhance a safe classroom environment.
To help reduce the negative impact on at risk students, there are several strategies that can be used. According to Fitzpatrick, there are three protective risk factors that help reduce health-compromising behaviors. The first is individual characteristics. This involves high IQ, resilient temperament, strong coping skills, high self-esteem, etc. Second, there is bonding. This includes strong relationships with family, teachers, or other significant positive influences in a child’s social environment. The final strategy is called healthy beliefs and standards. This is a set of clearly established rules and expectations for our children to understand the benefits and consequences of their own behavior. I think these are good strategies that parents could and should use on a daily basis.

References (APA Format)

Fitzpatrick, Kevin M. (1997). Fighting Among America’s Youth: A Risk and Protective Factors Approach. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38 (6), 131-48.

Contemporary Influences Rubric

Highest Quality of Work Possible. Included all required elements, well elaborated, excellent mechanics. 10-9
Exceeding Expectations. Included most required elements, some elaboration, generally good mechanics. 8
Met Expectations with Minimum Standards. Included the minimum required elements, little or no elaboration, acceptable mechanics. 7
Needs Improvement or Did Not Address. 6-0
Online Data Search
8.0

Descriptive paragraph of symptoms and causes
10

Reference Citations
9.3

Read and Respond to 3 learning team members and reply to all responses to your original post.
10

Total Possible 30/40 points.

37.3/40= 93

Student Responses & Replies:
Melissa,
This was very informative. Until, now i didn't know what all involved disintegrated
families. You could say that I came from a disintegrated family because my parents
divorced when I was in the 7th grade. I was old enough to know that my parents were
not getting along so well and my older brothers kind of support my emotions when going
through this particular stage.

As far as the teachers finding out about my parents divorcing, none did. Back then,
there were only a few students who were disruptive through out the entire school. I had
enough family support that this problem didn't affect my school work much and I still
excelled in sports. The only thing that I did regret is that my mom never saw any of my
high shcool soccer games because she worked the 2nd shift (3 to 11).

You also gave great strategies and tactics in helping students during their terrible
times. Getting involve with the student's parents is a great start for resolving any
problem the child may have.

Margarita,
You know, I never understood this type of student when I was in school. They alienated
student would alsways sit alone, never took showers and practically disassociated
themselves from other students. Some of my freinds thought they were strange, but I
felt something was wrong with them. I at least tried to aknowledge them and said hi to
them because that's just my nature. I think we labeled these students," loners."

Kim,
Great paragraph! I didn't know what learned helplessness was until I read your
paragraph. I've noticed in my classes when I substitute, that there are many students
that fall into this particular behavior. As a teacher, how do you relate to this child and
me wanting to teach speech, this will be a very hard challenge for me because my
students will have to speak in front of the public or their peers?

Also, will a students eventually grow out of this behavior or will this last a life time?

Competency 005 (Domain II): The teacher knows how to establish a classroom climate that fosters learning, equity, and excellence and uses this knowledge to create a physical and emotional environment that is safe and productive.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I have learned the dynamics of enforcing discipline and how it implies to a student’s school life. My skills of practical intuition are progressing and have provided me with effective interventions for handling disruptive classroom behaviors. In one particular section of chapter 8 in our text, it discussed a “class bully.” In every class there is some type of behavior that involves characteristics of a class bully. The “class bully” section made me understand how to solve and prevent disruptive behaviors and have fostered my learning ability to be aware of and create a physical, emotional, and safe and productive learning environment.
A class activity that I completed, helped me understand how to implement tactics to resolve conflicts and end behaviors that may threaten the class climate. This particular activity also gave me strategies to implement an intervention to resocialize whose student’s behavior threaten the safety of other students and cause a negative solidarity to the classroom.

The Class Bully Report

What I have experienced in my substitute teaching years is that class bullies come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. As I stated in my myth report, most girls were labeled fragile, innocent, sweet, and not disruptive in the mid 1980’s on an education level. As you have read, this 5th grade disruptive, bullying student happens to be a girl. To resolve conflicts like this particular one in the classroom, you must employ certain tactics and strategies to promote a safe learning environment for your class.
One tactic I would use at the beginning of the school year is to inform my students about classroom rules. In my classroom rules, I will contain statements like, “I will not allow students to bad mouth or put down each other in class.” If you use any profanity in my class your hand will be tired from writing 100 sentences stating, “I will not use profanity in Mr. Breedlove’s class.” If you use profanity and you happen to be in athletics, you maybe running a mile or doing 100 push ups for me before school starts. If you don’t show up for the punishment, 1 increment will be added on toward the punishment. Also, have your students read aloud the classroom rules so they can hear it themselves instead of the teacher telling it to them. Ask the students if they don’t understand something, ask to clarify a specific rule. Make sure the student understands each rule clearly.
To ensure that each student has a good understanding of these classroom rules is to conduct an assessment. Once you have gone over the class rules in a mannerly fashion, create a short quiz of about 10 multiple choice, true/false questions the next day. If 50% of the class doesn’t do well on the quiz, you haven’t done your job on explaining the classroom rules clearly. A perfect example of this situation is when college instructors quiz their students on the syllabus. Instructors plan these quizzes because student’s sometimes never read their entire syllabus and some teacher’s think that it is wasting paper or their time if their students don’t read what’s going on in the class through out the semester.
If you incorporate these tactics and strategies in your classroom, I doubt that bullies will exist in your classroom. Be firm and aggressive, but fair when setting the classroom rules. If your rules are a little harsh or drastic, reflect back on your mistakes and reevaluate your rules. Some teachers may let their students set their own rules, but not I.

The Class Bully Report Rubric

Highest Quality of Work Possible. Included all required elements, well elaborated, excellent mechanics. 10-9
Exceeding Expectations. Included most required elements, some elaboration, generally good mechanics. 8
Met Expectations with Minimum Standards. Included the minimum required elements, little or no elaboration, acceptable mechanics. 7
Needs Improvement or Did Not Address. 6-0
Resolution tactics
9.8

Resocialization intervention strategy
9.8

Read and Respond to 3 learning team members and reply to all responses to your original post.
10

Total Possible 30 points.
29.6/30= 98

Student Responses & Replies:
Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5329
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Melissa,
Your points about bullying were very well made. I like the statement you made about
providing an outlet for Sally's frustration and anger problems and teaching her an
alternate approach of dealing with her feelings. We all know that having other
alternatives to a problem is a definite plus when it come to dealing with feelings.

As you stated, discussing diversity in the classroom is major. Students need to know
how other people are feeling when negative words are expressed. Give them examples
and scenarios of how people expxress themeselves on a communication level.

Margarita,
1. I like the points you made in this question. You said that the goal is to guide the
students to become respectful self-learners that can contribute to form a free risk
classroom. This statement is so true. You provide a risk free classroom so the students
can feel comfortabe, for example if a student is participating in an oral report, he or she
feels comfortable talking in front of the class.

Now Margartia, there is one strategy that I'll have to disagree on. The strategy about
students taking part in developing and creating there own consequences of classroom
procedures. I would be a little hard on students when it comes to this situation, probably
because I grew up in an authoritarian household and I think consequences should only
be enforced by the teacher only, not the student. That's just my opinion.

2. In this question, you are probably right. If the student does not imrove on their
behvioral antics in the classroom, I too would address this problem to the assistant
principal.

Kim,
I enjoyed reading your class bully opinion. You made some good points. And yes, Sally
should get walked down to the AP's or principal's office immediately for her actions. I
also liked how you would talk to your students about Sally's disruptive behavior when
she is out of the room. It paints a better picture to the students who are present in the
room instead of them staring at Sally if she was in the room.

And about setting up a conference with the student and her parents is a great idea. I
would see how you would want to know a child's background and the relationship
between the student and the parent. By setting up such a conference, a teacher could
really tell if the student comes from a single parent home or a dsyfuntional home
environment. I will definitely use this tactic in my classroom.

Margarita Tarver
EDUC 5329
Program: Certification only
Seeking certifications: in Spanish, ESL, Bilingual
National Standards for my certification: ACTFL
Spanish Competencies: ExCET 6-12
State Competencies for my certification: TExES Spanish 8-12
PPR Competencies: TExES Spanish 8-12
TExES content exam: Passed
POPT: Passed
PPR practice test: Not yet taken
TExES PPR: Not yet taken

Darren,

I agree with you that it is a good idea to let the students read the rules and procedures
instead of the teacher. I can see that a couch can have an advantage of using running,
push-ups, etc, to punish the students who misbehave and are in sports. I am going to
look into that more closely this year coming. At the school where I work, the couches
keep a very close check on their athletes. They are constantly checking for their grade
and behavior. I noticed that many students, who are athletes, care more about what
their couches think than what the regular teachers or parents think.

What would you do if one of your students is not in sports and you know that the student
is being a bully to somebody, but he/she is doing that in other classes-not in yours?

Margarita
Kim Santos
EDUC 5314, EDUC 5329
Certification only
All Level Art
TExES PPR EC - 12
TExES Art EC - 12
Content practice test: not taken
PPR practice test: not taken
TEXES content test: not taken
TEXES PPR test: not taken

Darren,
I agree that bullies come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. While the
stereotypical bully is the larger stature student who physically picks on the smaller
stature classmate and intimidates him in other ways, that’s not always the case. Also,
girls can be bullies in very subtle, non-intimidating ways that may be as slight as
excluding a certain girl from playing with the rest of the girls. I think the situation
described in your myth report where the obnoxious girl is sitting on the desk making fun
of the other girl’s hair style is a form of bullying.

I like the tactic you would use at the beginning of the school year to inform your students
about classroom rules. I agree that these types of rules should be non-negotiable rules
set by the teacher. While our text recommends letting students set class rules, I believe
our text also supports the view that the teacher should establish rules that will not be
negotiated with the students. Certainly your rules against students putting each other
down in class, or the use of profanity fall in this category. I also like the idea of
administering a quiz to assess whether the students understand the rules. I wonder if
some uncooperative students might not do well on the quiz on purpose though. Have
you thought about their incentive for doing well on the quiz and the consequence for
failing?

Subject: Re: Class Bully
Message no. 1263 [Reply of: no. 1158]
Author: Melissa Connaughton
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2007 5:52pm
Interesting point of using the coaches to your advantage. I'll keep that in mind in the
future.

One point I'd like to make slightly off the topic, but not really. Anyway, in the literacy
program here at UTA we have been taught that many students resist writing because
they find it to be a miserable experience and they have had awful experiences with it in
the past. Your writing punishment may work, but it makes an English teachers job of
getting kids to enjoy writing that much harder. Just something to keep in mind.

Competency 006 (Domain II): The teacher understands strategies for creating an organized and productive learning environment and for managing student behavior.

Reflection
In regards to this competency, I have learned how to deal with everyday classroom life by developing routines, promoting responsibility, and responding to problems. In my reading of chapter 4 in our text, I have come to a conclusion that to obtain a productive learning environment and manage student behavior, a teacher must plan his or her routines and procedures accordingly. For routines and procedures to be effective, you must ask yourself questions like, what are purposes of each procedure, who will be the participants in the decision-making, what will be the process of developing and maintaining classroom procedures, and what sort of patterns a teacher has to create to maintain consistent routines and procedures. In my field activity I completed, I learned how to create and organize classroom routines and procedures in order to have a productive learning and safe environment.

Coursework (Session 5):

Classroom Procedures

I. Start Class:
a. Greet students at the door
b. Turn OFF all cell phones when you get into class
i. Cell phones that are not turned off will be confiscated
c. Define 5 vocabulary words from the text that are on the board and turn in with in the first 10 minutes of class after the tardy bell
i. A designated box will be displayed to turn in vocabulary words
ii. If the 5 vocabulary words are not turned in within those 10 minutes, your

grade will be docked 5 points.
d. Check role by the assigned seating chart while students are doing their vocabulary words
e. Return any graded papers
II. During Class:
a. Bathroom/water privileges begin after the first 10 min of class
i. A bathroom pass will be distributed (on the pass will have date, time out, time in, and a student must print their name)
b. Lecture over the lesson plan
c. Work on assignments, group projects and oral speeches in class
III. End of Class:
a. Remind students of all homework or projects that are due the following day
b. 5 minutes before the bell rings, clean room
i. Straighten desks that are out of order
ii. Pick up paper
c. Last 2 minutes of free-time to talk quietly with other students
d. After all duties are done, dismiss students
IV. Student Responsibilities (In the Classroom):
a. Student’s will do their vocabulary words the first 10 min of class
b. Turn off cell phones or any electronic devices
c. Clean and pick up room (return all dictionaries, texts and other material back to its original area)
d. Clean chalk/white board
e. When asking a question, student will raise hand
f. Show other students respect by not talking over each other and listen to what the other student has to say without any interruption
g. Every student will help pass out papers

Session 5: Classroom Procedures Rubric

Highest Quality of Work Possible. Included all required elements, well elaborated, excellent mechanics. 10-9
Exceeding Expectations. Included most required elements, some elaboration, generally good mechanics.8
Met Expectations with Minimum Standards. Included the minimum required elements, little or no elaboration, acceptable mechanics. 7
Needs Improvement or Did Not Address. 6-0
Fully answered question # 1
9.8

Fully answered question # 2
9.8

Fully answered question # 3
9.8

Fully answered question # 4
9.8

Responded to 3 members of your learning team and reply to all responses to your original post.
10

Total Possible 50 points
49.2/50 = 98

Responses & Replies:

Message no. 767 [Reply of: no. 728]
Author: Margarita Tarver
Date: Wednesday, July 4, 2007 12:54am
Darren,

I like the about placing a time before the students go to the bathroom/water. At the
school where I was working, in the beginning of the school year, the students were
allowed to go to the restroom and water when they needed. Many students were taking
advantage of the situation and they were walking the halls. I had my own rules. I
allowed each student three passes every six weeks. Some students were complaining to
me about why I was the only one with this rule. In addition, soon after, the
administrators started getting on the intercom and giving different restroom and water
rules, in their desperation to control the halls. It was a mess because this destroyed my
restroom procedures. I finally adapted one of their restroom procedures and I kept it
and I did not change it for the rest or the year. I did not allow the students to go to the
restroom until after 30 minutes in class. We had 90 minutes class periods.

You have good ideas. Thanks for sharing

Subject: Re: Session 5: DB Classroom Procedures
Message no. 807 [Reply of: no. 728]
Author: Melissa Connaughton
Date: Thursday, July 5, 2007 8:51pm
Ah! Cell phones! That is the bane of my existence. I completely agree with you on that
point. “Turn them off, or turn them in” is my in class motto.

Competency 011 (Domain IV): The teacher understands the importance of family involvement in children's education and knows how to interact and communicate effectively with families.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I fully understand the importance of family involvement of a student’s learning development and achievement. In my three year experience of substitute teaching, I found that parents have a very important impact in a student’s academic career and social scene. I bring a lot of knowledge and experience into the classroom in regards to communicating with adults through out my managerial job experiences.
I also understand the term, “medium-level” intervention. This process involves “talking with the student and his or her family, or deciding on a negative consequence related to the student’s actions” (Powell, 85). If a negative incident occurs or teacher is having behavioral problems with a student, there are three steps that must occur. The first step is to call or send a letter home to the parent, alerting the parent about a situation(s) that may have occurred. In step two, you should send a letter to the parent that relates to the incident in a more detailed matter which states your perspective in the situation. In the final step, a teacher should plan a conference with the student or a family member, in an informal or formal condition. By being informed by other classmates who are teachers and conducting interviews in my EDUC 5314 class, I have come to understand that setting up a teacher-parent conference is more productive. I have also learned certain strategies to use when dealing with parents on an academic level and I have created a better understanding of how to successfully communicate to parents in regards to their child’s well being and learning ability. A field report that I completed dealt with how to management incidents. In this field report I interviewed a teacher and one of the questions stated, do you call parents about behavior problems with your students? If you do, how effective do you believe it is in intervention? One of the teachers answered, “When I have to contact the parents, they are usually responsive and supportive of getting their child to behave appropriately.”

Coursework (Session 10/EDUC 5314): Chapter Ten in Jacobsen, D., Eggan, P., & D. Kauchak (2002) Methods for Teaching: Promoting Student Learning. Upper Saddle River: NJ. Merrill/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-030898-6

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Session 10 All Work

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Reader Response: Session 10

Characteristics of Effective Intervention:

Our text states, “Intervening in the case of management problems is never easy. If it were, classroom management wouldn’t remain among the teacher’s most intractable problems” (Jacobsen, 319). Our text mentions that there are 4 characteristics of effective intervention that are helpful in classroom management.

Withitness and Overlapping:

I’ve never heard of this word before until reading this passage in our text. Withitness refers to the teacher knowing what’s going on in her/his class at all times and communicate awareness toward her/his students. Usually when I had those types of teachers at the secondary level who could display this sort of technique, the classroom climate was not disruptive. In relation to withitnessing, I’ve seen some teachers sit at their desk the entire time, when their instructing or teaching. I’ve seen teachers who walk around the room most of the time during their instruction or teaching. Which one do you prefer? Or, do you do both through out the period? When substitute teaching, I’ve noticed when walking around the room, you get more production out of the students because they know you’re watching them. I’ve experienced sitting at my desk, students get away with more horseplay and passing notes. In some situations when I’m substituting a class that I’ve substituted before, I can sit at my desk and when I look up and stare for about 20 seconds at the student or in the vicinity of the horseplay that takes place, they sit at attention in their seats or the horseplay has stopped for a second. When and if it starts up again, I move the students across the room from each other. Some students know that I’m a substitute that doesn’t play when it come to horseplay and disrupting other students in class when they are trying to learn.
Overlapping is another effective characteristic that involves intervention. Overlapping refers to a teacher having the ability to do more than one thing at a time. I pretty much thought all teachers could do this, but some can do it better than others. Let’s just say that some have more experience than others when it comes to overlapping. Our text gives an example of a teacher named Mrs. Poulos who uses the withitness and overlapping technique. When she first sees disruption from a student, she stops at the student’s desk and quietly and firmly tells the student, “We keep our hands and feet to ourselves in here.” I’ve seen some teacher’s just stop in the vicinity of the disruption without saying anything. That’s power of classroom management right there.

Consistency and Follow Through:

Being able to follow through or being consistent with something is not an easy task. I’ve seen this take place several times with individuals who have their own kids. Our text says that achieving complete consistency in a teaching atmosphere is impossible. They also go onto say that effective managers follow through on all interventions, just to be certain that disruption has stopped completely. I’ve heard and experienced from my family members and friends, that it’s hard to be consistent. It’s hard to be consistent in what? Telling little Johnnie to stop hitting his sister or explaining to little Johnnie why he shouldn’t hit his little sister. There has to be a happy medium, but a parent must try to instill some discipline into the child at some time. When that happens, I have no clue, but sometimes it does get done.
The same situation must happen in the classroom. Rules and classroom procedures are not just there to break them. They are there to enforce them. I believe that teachers should try every day to instill these rules and procedures into their students, so they (both teachers and students) can create a comfortable and inviting learning environment for their students.

Brevity, Clarity, and Firmness:

In our text, they define clarity as “the precision of the teacher’s communication with respect to the desired behavior” (Jacobsen, 321). Always be clear when giving instructions to anyone. That way the students will not waste class time asking questions about the assignment continuously. Also, give instructions twice, verbally and physically. Write the assignment on the board and read the assignment to them. Leave the assignment up on the board the entire class time, so students have a chance to copy down the assignment at a later time. For people like me who write slow, this is an effective technique to use.
Our text defines firmness as “the ability to communicate that the teacher means it and intends to follow through to be sure the behavior stops” (Jacobsen, 321). In this day and age, you have to be firm with students sometimes. In order to get your point across toward students who act like 1st graders in a horse playing sense, firmness works well in this case.
The text also mentions that reprimanding a students wastes instructional time and disrupts students who are working. I’ve had many teachers who reprimanded students in my class. This technique seemed to get the point across to not only the student, but the entire class. Yes, it does take time, but how much time, 2 minutes? How many of you embarrass or reprimand student’s in your class when disruption occurs? This technique worked for me when I was in class, but now, student’s love attention and embarrassment, they sometimes crave. Who figure?

Preserving Student Dignity:

Well, the above paragraph is should fall under this topic, but being firm and persevering a student’s dignity goes hand in hand. You must learn how to be firm in a respectful tone. Loud public reprimands, criticisms and sarcasms reduce student’s sense of safety, create resentment, and detract from a productive learning environment. When a student breaks the rules, just remind them why the rule was set and why the rule is important to them and his/her classmates. Just try to be consistent while enforcing rules. “Stick to your guns.”

Theoretical Approaches to Intervention:

In this section, I learned three factors that influence the way learners/students understand and respond to interventions. Congruent communication is where students are to develop an understanding and a responsibility that makes sense to them. Congruent communication can be confusing sometimes, but this is where clarification and consistency takes place. Students can get the wrong message, if you relay the message in an inappropriate tone or gesture.
An “I” message is another factor where a teacher describes the behavior, identifies the consequences of the behavior, and states their feelings. I think this type of intervention would work well at the elementary and middle school level. This intervention gives a child an understanding of why he or she disrupted the class or spoke out of line.
“Logical consequences treat misbehaviors as problems and help learners see a link between their actions and consequence” (Jacobsen, 326). This type of intervention let’s the child know what his or her consequences are and to develop a sense of understanding where they will not make the same mistake or action continuously.

Immediate Actions:

I really enjoyed this section in our text because this type of disruption in the classroom can happen and has happen from time to time. The immediate action falls under the serious management problems in our book. Our text states that there are 3 steps that take place. First you must stop the incident, second, protect the victim, and third, get help. I once experienced a fight or scuffle that was about to break out when I substitute taught at a middle school. These two boys voices started escalating and I knew something was about to go down, just by the tone of their voices. I quickly reacted to the situation by getting in between them because I knew that blows were about to be thrown at one another. Second, I calmed them down by using some slang language to where they knew where I was coming from and by then other teacher’s heard the loud confrontation and rush into the room. I also had one of my female students to go get another teacher next door. Needless to say, I had to walk both of them down to the principle’s office.

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Dg,
In regards to making judgments on student behavior, you had a lot of good points that you made. There are several factors to consider when deciding on what to do when a students makes inadequate decisions. Like you said, maybe he or she is having family problems at home. In this situation, you just have to get involved with your students to see how they react to certain things and use probing questions to see what their emotions are like on a particular day. I’ve noticed that child’s personality and emotions at the secondary level changes every minute. They are almost like time bombs. One second their happy and smiling, the next second their crying. Get to know you students could resolve some of this behavior.
What would you do if the student spit at your classroom door? My first reaction would be clean the door now! I also would talk to the student and ask him/her why they did such a thing. I always ask a lot of probing questions because it gets me in tuned on what the student is thinking and maybe I can resolve their problem if something is troubling them at home or with one of their peers. What do you mean when you said that management needs intervention to cover their assets from a legal and management perspective?
I like your made up word, “interactionist” intervention. This was a good example you used with a boy at your day camp. I really felt sorry for the boy because this was the only way that he could get attention. It might have been the wrong way, but it was his way of getting attention from his peers. Even though the boy entered into the program in the middle of the session, the teacher’s could have added on an extra person to be in a particular group. Groups don’t have to be in perfect pairs, like 2, 4, or 6. The teacher’s should have been aware of that and made the boy welcomed in any group they put him in. This entire example takes me back to the solution to always try and have an inviting and comfortable atmosphere for students to feel safe in. The environment that the boy was in, was not inviting, so disruption occurred. Teachers have to be aware of their surroundings at all times, or else the reaction of the boy’s fighting will take place.
Awareness, prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation, are all factors that teachers need to address when dealing with all ages of students. Like you said the punishment should fit the crime. Now, if a boy steals an eraser from another boy and the boy comes and tells the teacher, what would be the punishment in this case? Do you think there is some form of rehabilitation in classrooms today? Our text has not covered this in any of the chapters as of yet?

Margarita,
1) That’s good that you had a conference with his mother. At least you were trying to get to the bottom of the student’s disruptive behavior. Students are always trying to tests teachers in general, whether they are new or old. Some students just want to see what they can get away with.
2) Withiness and overlapping is a challenge, but I’m sure it took no time to get use to. This is what mainly teachers have to do in order to have a smoothly ran classroom. I don’t have any kids yet of my own, but this is where teachers who are moms work well in this type of pressure. I’m sure you did with the overlapping process.
3) Different ethnicities do have their own customs and it’s hard to adapt to an environment that is different from the norm. I thought that the principal’s eye opener example was great. I think this example shows that principals may need more class observation in the classroom. If she was shocked of the behavior from only one culture, try several different cultures in a class or 30 students with raging hormones.
4) “Avoid using seat work as a form of punishment.” I guess writing 100 sentences up on the board is seat work. I thought of this punishment because I didn’t think teacher’s used this anymore. It was kind of an old school punishment that I through in their, but according to our text, it’s not a productive technique. So, what do you in a case where a student is throwing paper or blowing spit wads at another student in class? One teacher made a student pick up all the spit wads and paper off the floor.
5) Assertive discipline is my cup of tea. Maybe because how I was raised, made a disciplinary individual. I now times have changed drastically in society, but if I’m the teacher, manager, facilitator, guidance counselor, and the boss, I think that I should have a say so on what is going in my classroom. This is why I strongly believe in making the rules, not the students making their own. That’s just my opinion.
6) Why do students carry all this aggression? Is it females more than males, or vice versa? This is the million dollar question. Could all this aggression come from the home environment or other peers? Some students are time bombs just waiting to go off. We as teachers have to prevent this time bomb to go off by searching for reasons why a student acts a certain way and by creating a comfortable atmosphere to where they feel safe and will be able to talk to a teacher about their problems at home or about their peers.

Jana,
I highly have much respect for all elementary teachers. I substituted an elementary class one day, just to see if I wanted to teach at this level. It was my second week of subbing and the previous week I subbed at several middle schools and high schools. Unfortunately, I had bad experience at the elementary level and found my niche at the high school level.
I thought that everyone should have had their pencils sharpened at the beginning of class. I wasn’t used to all the classroom procedures and rules at the elementary level. Kids were getting out of their desks left and right. “Tommy is pinching me, Debbie called me a stinky dog, Jeff is pulling on my hair.” Tattle tails were coming from all over and I’ve never experienced this before. I never knew you had to take the students to go eat lunch, wait for them to get back from eating lunch. By the way, when do you guys get a lunch break? And how long? Mine was about 15 to 20 minutes if I can remember. Nevertheless, my wife asked me how was my day and I told her that I lost about 5lbs and I’ll never step in an elementary classroom again, unless it’s with our kids, in which we do not have any at the moment.
A term that the book used is overlapping and you nailed the term in your own words as “multi-tasking.” This is definitely in a teacher’s job description. If an individual cannot multi-task, then he or she better look for a career change. Teachers overlap and withitness every minute of the day. If they don’t, their room is in chaos through out the day. I bet this was hard for you to punish a pre-kindergartener because their so cute and adorable, but it sounded like your way of thinking had changed quickly.
I do agree that behaviorist and cognitive interventions could go hand in hand. Why should you choose one method over another, if they both are productive? I think that the “I” messages is a great tactic to use at your grade level and when you’re feeling frustrated with a student.
Teaching at the elementary level is great. You shouldn’t have to worry about violence at the K-4 level. There are some cases that elementary student’s have brought guns and knifes to school. I have not experienced it yet, but there are some schools that I’ve substituted at, where it could happen. In any diverse setting and being a minority, I can never be blind to the fact that I have to be aware of situations like the Columbine incident that may occur. These day’s, nothing surprises me at all! Maybe because I grew up in a bad neighborhood wear drug dealers lived behind me and helicopters flew around my neighborhood three to four nights a week, but my street just happened to be one of the safe one’s.

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.
9.5
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

9.5
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.
9.5
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.
9.5
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.

38/40= 95

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

Field Experience Report

In this particular field report, I interviewed two elementary school teachers who happen to teach at the same elementary school. The two teachers I interviewed were named, Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley. Mrs. Tracey’s interview took place through the communication of e-mail. Mrs. Kirkley’s interview took place in her kitchen, at her house. In my interview, I conducted questions that were answered differently by both teachers that pertained to classroom management and their opinions on effective and ineffective managers.
Question 1, I asked, how do you typically handle management incidents. Mrs. Tracey’s response was that she gave each child a warning for their offenses, like talking, not working, not, following directions, gum, and so on. The second warning, Mrs. Tracey writes the student’s name down on her disruption sheet and they have to sit out for recess for 5 minutes. When a student’s name is written down through out the week, Mrs. Tracey sends it home to the parent with their weekly papers on Friday. This disciplinary action is implemented because it makes the parents aware of any problems that the student and the teacher had that entire week. After the third offense from the student, she then calls the student’s parents and sends them to the office. She also added that for major offenses like talking back and fighting, the student automatically is sent to the office.
Mrs. Kirkley responded to this question by saying that she addresses management incidents as soon as they occur. She reminds her students of the tasks that their working on. Then she reminds them of the consequences if they do not get back on that particular task that their supposed to be working on.
Question 2, I asked, what do you fell are your most chronic problems? Both responses for each teacher were short and simple. Mrs. Tracey said that the most chronic problems in her class are excessive talking and not turning in homework. Mrs. Kirkley’s chronic problems were much different. She stated that her most chronic problems in the classroom are getting off task and not being prepared for class. Not being prepared for class results in not bringing pencils, paper, and homework to class. Shouldn’t this be part of the parent’s responsibility to have their child equipped with the proper materials for class? This is where the ball is dropped many of times in the parent’s court. A teacher can only remind a student so much to where he or she has to take proper disciplinary actions toward the student, if they are not prepared on a daily basis.
In question 3, I asked both the teachers, which classroom was harder, this year or last year? Mrs. Tracey said that last year was harder because she had a group of kids that had been together since kindergarten and they talked a lot. She also said that these students had a lot of personality conflicts which resulted in a slew of verbal disputes. Mrs. Kirkley’s response was a little bit different because she didn’t have any year to compare with because she was a first year teacher. She did say that last year’s class was hard to manage than she thought it would be. She thought this had to do with the fact that she was a first year teacher and was afraid of being too mean to the her students.
Question 4 stated. Have you ever had a serious incident, such as an attack on you or a fight between two students? What did you do in response to the incident? Mrs. Tracey actually experienced a fight last year. One of her boys went after another boy from another class because he was talking about his mother. For some reason, fights start out like this every time. I think it’s in a boy’s nature to talk about the other person’s mother. Why that is, I have got no idea? Mrs. Tracey also had an incident where one of her male student’s called her a “bitch,” because she was getting on just for talking and not working. That is sad, but not surprising. At this age, the respect issue is no where to be found. I wonder if this student had respect for his own mother. It makes you wonder sometimes. As a result of the two boys’ incidents, they felt great remorse for their actions and were removed from Mrs. Tracey’s class for three days.
Mrs. Kirkley also experienced a fight her first year teaching. The fight took place at recess time. She ran up to stop the fight, but it stopped before she got there. She then asked both the students what happened and reported the incident toe the vice-principal who is in charge of disciplinary actions.
Question 5 stated. What do you feel are the differences between effective and ineffective managers? It was ironic that Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley had the same opinion about an effective manager. They said that an effective manager is firm with rules and consequences. An effective manager makes sure that everyone knows the rules and what will happen if there not followed. An ineffective manager does that opposite of an effective manager.
In question 6, there was not much elaboration for this question from both teachers. Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley responded that they do not take points away from a student’s misbehavior, nor give points for good behavior because that it is against policy. Personally, I don’ think you should take away a students average because of their behavior because that’s what citizenship grades are for, right?
Question 7 stated. Do you call parents about behavior problems with your students? If you do, how effective do you believe it is in intervention? “I am always in contact with parents on a weekly basis, providing them with behavior folders and phoning them when behavior is out of control if necessary,” Mrs. Tracey’s says. She says that with some parents, phone calls are good interventions when they talk to their child. Mrs. Tracey also says that “sometimes just knowing that their parents are going to know is enough to deter their behavior.
Mrs. Kirkley also calls parents when needed. She says that “they need to know who their child is behaving.” She said that the parents that she did have to contact were very responsive and supportive of getting their children to behave appropriately. This is good to know that there are some parents out there that do care how their children act at school.
The interview questions that I conducted were very informative and I found that different management techniques and skills work for different people. It was interesting to see that two elementary teachers that work at the same school, had entirely different opinions of how management in the classroom should be.

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Dg,
I love the answer to question 3 in Becky G’s interview. She is so right. Kid’s are getting cuddled and spoiled more at home. Why is that? She gave good solutions, but is there more you can come up with. The sad thing about this situation, they think that the coaches are being hard on them and some of them quit. I’ve also noticed that kids quit a lot of sports these days because of the coach’s rules and responsibilities that go along with participating in extra curricular activities (football, basketball, etc…). Answer me this, why are some kids so lazy these days?
Question 4: Where do liability issues come into play between a student and a teacher. Is because the student had ADD? Or, is it because the teacher cannot touch the student in any shape, form or fashion, no matter what the circumstances are?
Question 7: What did Coach G mean when she said that she’s had students who actually fear their parents? In some cases that’s a good thing, right? I know I feared my parents while growing up, especially my mother. We had a pretty good relationship, but if I behaved badly at school, which I didn’t, it was worse when I got home.
In Coach Hayes’ interview, his answers were much different than Becky G’s because of the age barrier. I enjoyed his opinion on the difference between an effective and an ineffective manager. Effective managers do use all of his/her tools that are available for each circumstance that occurs, whether it’s classroom management or out on the playing field. You must be able to use all of the resource you can, in order to create a positive outcome.

Margarita,
Mrs. Sierra: She handled situations that went on in her classroom very well. I liked how she handled the student who had his CD player taken away from him. Here is a teacher who was aware of a student’s emotions as soon as he walked into her classroom. She then approached him delicately and tried to calm him down. Later she resolved the matter by approaching the other teacher who confiscated the CD player and she made the student apologize. This situation is a prime example of knowing your student’s emotions. It also seems that Mrs. Sierra has great classroom management skills and expects a lot from her students, by not rewarding them extrinsically.
Mrs. Ortega: It sounds like that Mrs. Ortega has experienced both worlds. A world when student’s respected teachers and themselves and an era where is unfortunately absent. She might have handled the student who had to go to the bathroom a little wrong, by touching the student, but I’m glad she didn’t get into trouble or sued by the parents.

Jana,
That’s interesting how both teachers had pretty well behaved students, but I didn’t know that kids tend to pick the teacher’s personality. Reading your interview made me tired. The little and big things elementary teachers have to face is amazing. I can see why interrupting/inappropriate talking could drive them both crazy, but that’s what we all signed up for to a certain extent.
I could see why Ms. Goodwin had a much calmer atmosphere because most of her student’s were ELL. That make’s sense because they are not too familiar with the English language. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
You said that Ms. Paschal had a boy who bit her and there was a little fighting. I would think that would be pretty serious, but in today’s classroom environment, it doesn’t surprise me.
When calling parents, I saw that both teachers had different interventions. In Ms. Pashcall’s case, does calling the parent every time there’s a problem, make her less credible as a teacher? Does it depend on the incident when calling a parent? I think I prefer Ms. Goodwin’s intervention when it is absolutely necessary to call parents, it should be done. Great interviews and the teacher’s had different intervention techniques that could be used in certain situations, or not used.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Session TenField Report
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.

9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.

9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from interviews with TWO teachers to find how they typically handle management incidents.
You discussed in depth your findings from TWO teachers regarding how they typically handle management incidents. You thoroughly discussed all of the questions provided for the interview.

9.5

You discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how they typically handle management incidents. You discussed the questions provided for the interview.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how they typically handle management incidents. You discussed most of the questions provided for the interview.
You only discussed in depth findings from ONE teacher. You discussed some of the questions provided for the interview.
OR
Your discussion is superficial concerning your findings from TWO teacher interviews. You discussed few of the questions provided for the interview.
Compare and/or contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing the chapter
You thoroughly discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about

9.5
You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Your report provided only superficial discussion on the comparison between your interview and your text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Provided comments to at least two colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.
38/40= 95

Competency 013 (Domain IV): The teacher understands and adheres to legal and ethical requirements for educators and is knowledgeable of the structure of education in Texas.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I have understood most of the legal and ethical requirements that entail the Texas educational level. It is impossible to know each and every law that is abided by the state. Our text suggests a teacher must be aware and adhere to the district’s and school’s policy. Also, in regards to a school or district’s regulations and procedures, it is my understanding that a teacher should seek assistance from building administrators “in applying the prescribed corrective actions in response to serious violations of acceptable student behavior” (Powell, 166).
In chapter 7 of the text, it has illustrated six cases of serious student behaviors that have been identified by a school board and administrators have complacently instructed that teacher adhere to these policies and procedures. In a field report that was conducted, I analyzed and examined the Birdville district’s management plan and student code of conduct. In my analysis, I found that when conflict or disagreements do arise, adherence to their code, assures all the parties are treated with courtesy, respect, and fairness.

Coursework (Session 8):
District Policies Report

I viewed the Birdville ISD management plan and student code of conduct. Their objective is based on the premised that one’s education begins with discipline and ends in self-discipline. Birdville ISD also believes that effective learning situations can best be provided and positive behavioral patterns enforced when unacceptable behavioral patterns and their consequences are outlined, communicated and understood by students, parents, and school personnel. When conflict or disagreements do arise, adherence to their code, assures all the parties are treated with courtesy, respect, and fairness.
I liked reading this particular policy because it was clear, consistent and firm. The policy was also very detailed oriented and listed standards and expectations of students. The policy also listed consequences and offenses by levels from disciplinary to seriousness offenses. It also lists a DAEP and a JJAEP program for students with behavioral problems. Sexual assault and harassment, bullying and hazing, and gang activity, firearms and other law enforcement penalties were clearly listed through out the policy. If I was a student of Birdville ISD and after reading this policy, I would be obligated to attend such a district like this because it seems as though that each school has a safe school environment with all of these detailed rules. I think that every parent should go over the rules of conduct with their child to reinforce the understanding of their expectations and consequences.
Student Response & Replies:

Margarita Tarver
EDUC 5329
Program: Certification only
Seeking certifications: in Spanish, ESL, Bilingual
National Standards for my certification: ACTFL
Spanish Competencies: ExCET 6-12
State Competencies for my certification: TExES Spanish 8-12
PPR Competencies: TExES Spanish 8-12
TExES content exam: Passed
POPT: Passed
PPR practice test: Not yet taken
TExES PPR: Not yet taken

Darren,

In all, your district rules seem really similar to the district that I did the report for. I like
what you say at the end. Similarly, I believe that every parent should go over the rules
of conduct with their children. At the district where my younger girl goes to school, they
send a separate letter with rules and procedures that the students must follow during the
school year. They explicitly ask that parents ‘must’ read the information to the child and
discuss the implications.

I like this because, as a parent, I was using their guidelines as support to complement
my responsibilities as a parent. I took it as support, for me, not so much for the school.
The way I see it - if parents support the school - not only the school beneficiates, they
beneficiate too.

Have a good day.

Subject: Re: District Policy Report
Message no. 1275 [Reply of: no. 1160]
Author: Melissa Connaughton
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2007 6:19pm
I like the point you made about parents going over the school rules with their kids. Too
bad that will never happen really. The kids whose parents choose to go over the rules
are not really the kids who will be causing much trouble in the first place.

Subject: Re: District Policy Report
Message no. 1340 [Reply of: no. 1160]
Author: Kim Santos
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:23pm
Darren, I noticed that your district’s policy, Erin’s and Margarita’s sound like they follow
the same format as the Carroll policy. I think there’s a generic canned version that most
districts have adapted for their own use. ---Kim

Subject: Re(1) to Kim: District Policy Report
Message no. 1359 [Reply of: no. 1340]
Author: Darren Breedlove
Date: Friday, July 27, 2007 8:18am
I didn't know that. That's pretty interesting. I guess they have a template set up for this
course of action?

Subject: Re: District Policy Report
Message no. 1361 [Reply of: no. 1275]
Author: Darren Breedlove
Date: Friday, July 27, 2007 8:20am
Unfortunately you are right. The parents who does go over the policy with there kids are
the good ones. I'm trying to figure out when the parents bring up the discussion abouth
the school policy to their kids? Over dinner or something?

Subject: Re: District Policy Report
Message no. 1230 [Reply of: no. 1211]
Author: Darren Breedlove
Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 4:08pm
Very very true what you said about supporting the school. This also shows that you are
a concerned parent!

Competency 002: The teacher understands student diversity and knows how to plan learning experiences and design assessments that are responsive to differences among students and that promote all students' learning.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I fully understand the strategies, methods, and instruction that tie into teaching a conventional and a diverse classroom. Through out my readings from chapter 8, it addressed a variety of strategies that accommodated multicultural classrooms. For example, I fully understand the teaching strategies and the assessment process to use when teaching ELL students. I also learned how to produce effective learning environments, teaching strategies, and instruction for “at risk” students. I can also differentiate between a low and high impact teacher and be aware of there certain characteristics that they both obtain. In our course work of EDUC 5314, we were instructed to read the chapters and reflect on what we read. We also had to respond to other classmate’s reading responses, which clearly help me understand other points that were discussed in our text. Web exercises were also completed. I also participated in a field report which increased my knowledge in the promotion of student learning in a multicultural classroom environment. In a field report that fell under chapter 8, I conducted an interview with two teachers. In this interview, I was well informed of how diversity has impacted both of their teaching strategies, instruction, and their classroom management skills and assessments. I will show you course work which pertained to the competency above.

Coursework (Session 8):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Session 8: All Work

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Reader Response: Session 8

Multicultural Education:

When I think of multicultural I think of diversity in the classroom. Diversity in the classroom for the teacher is challenging. In a positive way, different ethnic groups and classes can and may learn from each other and the teacher also. It also brings into the classroom a variety of ways to teach. In a negative sense, diversity brings several different types of personalities into the classroom where conflict strongly exists. For a teacher, he or she will have to sift through and find out how and why these different behaviors function. Get to know yours students, find out what there favorite color is or who is there favorite basketball player and why. Doing the little things will help you have a comfortable and inviting learning environment. Our text defines multicultural as a “comprehensive term for a variety of strategies schools use to accommodate cultural differences and provide educational opportunities for all students” (Jacobsen, 259). This is a good textbook way of defining this style of education.

Culturally Responsive Teaching:

This type style of teaching accommodates and acknowledges culturally diverse classrooms. It’s a given when teaching in Texas, diversity will always exist. So, I hope that several teachers will learn how to relate to their diverse student population. If not, there are going to wind up like Joanna, a teacher in our case study in my EDUC 5329 class where she quit teaching when she found that she couldn’t not reach her students because she was not prepared for a diverse classroom. Our text gives us many components of culturally responsive teaching. One is a creation of a positive classroom where every student is treated with respect and is valued. Second is a communication of positive expectations for the students. Third is attempting to interacting and integrating within the classroom and in the curriculum. Fourth is using teaching strategies that build on a student’s background and strengths. All of these components must be implemented to have a comfortable learning in environment is our diverse classrooms.

Teaching ELL Students:

When I first read this section, I was amazed on the numbers. There are approximately 28% of ELL students in Texas and 30 years from now, that number will triple. Our text also says and I agree that diversity is a challenge because instruction is mostly taught verbally. It makes me realize that I should have taken Spanish in college instead of French. I knew that our state was flourishing with diversity, but I had no idea how fast. The table that our text shows on page 261 is very detailed and clear. The section about immersion was fascinating. The sink or swim approach sounds very hard on the students and this may make a student’s self-esteem quite low, don’t you think? When they say that immersion and ELL programs emphasize a rapid transition to English, how fast is and do most of the students pretty fluent or not?
Our text said to add to our repertoire strategies to help ELL students learn both English and academic content. I think that my subject matter of Speech will help those individuals tremendously. Not only will they’ll be able to speak clear English, but they will leave my room with the confidence of speaking English clearly and properly. I noticed in my interviewing other teachers that Mrs. Kirkley is dealing with this situation her first year in her school. Approximately 80% of her school is Hispanic and she sometimes has a hard time getting the parents to come to a parent/student conference because some of the parents do not speak English. I really feel for her because she has to jump through many hoops to find a resolution to a student’s behavioral problems that may exist in her classroom.

Teaching “At Risk” Students:

There are many personalities and concerns that students bring into the classroom and one of them falls under the “at risk” label. These students consists of behaviors like, lower economic status, inner city residence, minority status, divorced parents and little or no familiarity of English. I didn’t realize what “at risk” meant until I read this section in our text. The drop out rate is astonishing and shocking. Reading these numbers saddens me and makes me more motivated in helping theses types of kids. I know there are some students out there that cannot be reached, but it doesn’t hurt to try. This is our future and it is looking pretty scary at the moment, so we as teachers must do our jobs successfully because if I had kids I would not want my kids growing up in a helplessness learning society.

Effective Learning Environment for “At Risk” Students:

Unfortunately, students who are placed at risk need supportive learning environments. This involves focusing on respect between teachers and students, personal responsibility, and cooperation. For a school to obtain these components, they must include: safe, orderly school climate and purpose behind classroom rules, academic objectives focusing on content mastery, caring and demanding teachers and high expectations for each student, cooperation, sense of community and social values. The mission statement for this at risk environment of learning is “You can and will succeed if you try.” I really like this mission statement. I think I will use this statement in my room while I’m decorating my new classroom.

Effective Teachers for Students Placed at Risk:

It takes a certain kind of teacher that deals with at risk students on a daily basis. This type of teacher needs to be skilled in making instructional decisions that encourage challenge and support of the student. I enjoyed reading the example given by our text about the 9th grader’s response. He said it’s like being a family. They argue sometimes but they make up. He also said that in his class, teachers get on you, but they try to make you understand what’s in the future. I’m sure this student didn’t notice, but he just made an analogy of what teachers are suppose to do. Support, motivate, and encourage a student using real life examples during the process of their content. Another student in our text named Melinda says that she acts different in her teacher’s class because the teacher is himself. He laughs and has fun with the students and he’s not trying to be what somebody else wants him to be. Now that’s what I’m talking about. This teacher sounds like me. There is a time to laugh and a time to be serious. You just have to know how to cut on and off these personality traits. It’s ok to be yourself because it’s obvious that students pay attention toward a teacher’s actions and responses. If you show empathy and sympathy, most of the times a student will respect that and listen closely to what you have to say.
The text also gives definitions for low and high impact teachers. Between the two, they are night and day. My personality falls under the high impact section. It is just in my nature to care and support individuals, especially our youth. For example, I substitute teach for a P.E. teacher who also coach’s tennis. These students have the same characteristics of “at risk” students. The kids in the P.E. class and his tennis class either hate to see me or love to see me. I’m hard on the ones who don’t participate in P.E. because I know they can do better, but I also pull those type students to the side and ask them “what’s wrong today buddy, are you sick or something?” “Why are you not doing your exercises today?” If you approach a student nicely, 90% of the time they will cooperate. The other 10% I won’t discuss. There was female student in my P.E. class that had the symptoms of alienation. She was an outcast because I think her boyfriend wanted her to be in a gang, but she was doubtful. So, I asked her, what’s wrong with you today. And she told her situation. Before our conversation, I had already built a rapport with her, as I try to do almost every student. It’s kind of hard when you sometimes have 50 to 60 students in a P.E. class to try and build a rapport, but I try. Meanwhile, I asked this young lady, how many Hispanic gangs are there? Believe it or not, she wrote down about 10 gangs and told me which colors they wore. After our conversation of me telling her that I grew up in the “hood” she was shocked of the stories I told her and was amazed of where I am today. The next year, that young girl broke up with her boyfriend and started to come to class more often.

Inclusion:

This section was very informative and I learned a great deal. I’m glad that students with disabilities are in the same classroom as regular students. Back when my older brother, Stephon, who is totally blind, was not involved in mainstreaming. Times have changed for the better I see and the laws are fair now towards students with disabilities. I’m sure that inclusion is very challenging for a teacher because you have to design and implement special programs for these students individually according to the nature of their disability. The table on page 273 explains in detail the IEP program and how it works. This is a great system and are there other systems in place like this one? Also, are there any of you that have special education students or students with exceptionalities in your class? If so, in a brief paragraph, what is the process like?

Diversity and Technology:

Technology is growing as fast as we speak. It is amazing how schools obtain a slew of computers. When I was in high school, I can remember there wasn’t such a class call keyboarding. It was called typing. Yes, typing on an electrical typewriter. My brother Stephon told me to taking typing because you may need this in the long run. He was right. I’m just glad I’m not a pecker on the computer like most of my peers. I did not realize that computers were being viewed as essential parts of instruction to helps students develop critical thinking skills. I hope that UTA offers a course in technology in regards to the “seeking certification program” because I’m a slow learner when it comes to computers.

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
Our society is diverse and like you said, it is increasing every second. I don’t think student’s at the undergrad level has gotten any experience in diversity through the undergrad Teacher program. I’m friends with a teacher who I interview consistently in my EDUC 5329 class and she said that the classes that she took at the undergrad level did not prepare her enough for the “real world” of public schools. And another point I would like to make is that colleges in their education program should offer information about substitute teaching and how it gives you a chance to be in a learning diverse environment. I always wanted to teach and coach, so when I went back to school part time and wanted to see how schools were like now, I decided to get a job substitute teaching. I applied to both Fort Worth ISD and Keller ISD because I attended a school in the Fort Worth district and my wife attended Keller High. It was night and day between the two districts, but I saw that students in the Fort Worth district were less fortunate that students in the Keller district so felt like I could contribute more to the my own district that I attended during grade school and high school.

After reading your response, I’m so glad to hear that your friend got motivated and is going to attend UTA. And about your two questions about how did your friend slip through the cracks? Well, I’m not stung on that situation. You have some teachers that just don’t care. I think these teachers are labeled low-impacted teachers from our text. The situation on “at risk” students is troublesome and I hope one day that our educational system will create better alternatives and solutions to the problem. And like you stated, students who have parents that are involved in their students education, is more likely to receive attention than the student who do not support their child at the academic level. It is a sad case and teacher’s already have there hands filled twice. Answer me this, why is teacher’s pay so low if we are practically raising some of these students on a daily basis versus there parents? Maybe we should send our responses to Perry and Bush and let them respond to our concerns about the educational environment.

I can relate to your situation about the inclusion of disabled students. My brother is visually impaired/totally blind and has done wonders for himself. Unfortunately, when he was going to school, inclusion did not exist. But having a supportive and loving family encouraged my brother to advance himself into being just like one of the guys. Stephon, my brother did just about anything he could physically do as a child and a student. He would play basketball in our driveway with my oldest brother and me. My dad and his best friend took us all skiing one time and Stephon enjoyed skiing with my dad and me. And in 8th grade, he started wrestling for the Fort Worth Wrestling club and got me involve with the program. As he excelled in this sport, he went on to obtain a silver medal at the 1976 Handicap Olympics. Afterwards, he went on to wrestle for UT (Austin) where he obtained a law degree and now he is practicing law in Houston with two kids and married to a visually impaired woman named Marilyn.
Your Hispanic friend is the prime example of how parents who are not involved with their child’s education or well being could possibly fall through the cracks versus parents who care like yourself and motivate our kids so they can feel confident about anything they are trying to succeed in, like participating in P.E. I was getting a little steamed myself about the P.E. situation. Also, what is the 504 unit? Is that a special program for the disabled? Overall, you ask some great questions, but unfortunately, I wish I had the answers to all of them.

Margarita,
Your right in Spanish, it does give the students a chance to talk about not only the Spanish culture, but all other cultures that exist. This should give your students a chance for class participation and oral reports on their particular culture.
Is there another way that an individual can perceive self-perception instead of looking in the mirror? Probably, but the only thing I can think of is other individuals perceive you on an emotional and physical outlook.
The increase in Spanish culture was also mentioned in my undergrad intercultural communications class. And yes, it is important for our students to be able to speak a second language, especially Spanish. Now, I wish I took Spanish instead of French, but I had a terrible Spanish teacher in high school and I also took French in high school and enjoyed it.
I was intrigued to learn about the ELL programs. I never knew how they worked but I’ve seen these programs take place. Do you think that most students who are placed in the ELL programs are “at risk”? Do you help other teachers with strategies to use on ELL and ESL students?
In this section you made all good points. It is sad to see this happen, but what you did by asking them “what’s wrong” at least makes their day. It shows that you are concerned about them and that’s probably all they want. Students who have the attitudes most of times, want to be disciplined and noticed because there not getting that at home.
Well, Margarita, I saw that on the news. I never heard such a thing. What are the kids suppose to do on Friday? What are the parents suppose to do while there kids are at home and what about day care expenses. The administration is thinking what’s best for them, not the students in this case. Also, I think the administration is trying to run the schools like a fortune 500 business instead of a place for learning. I feel sorry for you guys if this 4 day week is implemented. If you notice, crime is at a constant increase in the summer because kids can’t find anything to do. That’s the parents fault.
Great strategy on effective learning towards the at risk students. I think questioning helps students think deeper and prepares them to evaluate problems in a wider spectrum of situations.
In this section, it sounds like the case manager is just collecting a pay check and not concerned with the outcome of students in the IEP program. I’m glad you questioned him on that particular situation because it shows that administration probably have not looked at this in that particular way. Your questioning skills are awesome. Way to think on your feet quickly Margarita! I’m not sure what you do when something like this is going on, but maybe you could go to other teachers in the district and build a support group on this situation.
Table 8.4 was very helpful for me too. Answering these questions for myself, if found that I preferred a quiet environment for learning and hopefully my classes will be the same. I want to present a comfortable, inviting, fun, but stern learning environment for my students, so they enjoy coming to my class. And that’s what it is all about. Students wanting to come to class and wanting to learn, I think?
This is what it’s all about. Trying to figure out what type of learning styles each student obtains. Whether its field dependence/independence, every student needs support and encouragement from the teacher and the parents, no matter what type of learning style he/she works well or better in.

Kim,
This chapter was very informative, I do agree. I also asked the question in my RR, if anyone of you guys have had an at risk, ELL, and exceptionality students in your classes before? I would like to know some more information on a real world level instead of a text. Not that the text wasn’t helpful or detailed, but I just like to hear situations and incidents regarding hands on experiences.
This chapter also helped me differentiate ELL and ESL students. I’ve seen this program while I was substituting, but I had no idea what it entailed. Both of these types of students have challenging goals to accomplish and I hope most of our teachers motivate and encourage them to achieve these goals. Taking 14 hrs of another language was pretty difficult for me and I can’t imagine what they have to grow through to understand the English language. I see you mentioned the “sink or swim” mentality and how it could have students fall in between the cracks, in a sense of dropping out or skipping tons of school.
A question arises in regard to at risk students and their behaviors. Take violent student for instance. Will some or most students grow out of this behavior as they grow older? Does studies show at what age do these particular individuals start acting this way? Some students at one time in their life need some type of emotional and psychological assistance and support, not just at risk kids.
The learning styles kind of through me off just a little bit too. The text goes from different cultures and behaviors to learning styles. I thought they discussed this in the early chapter in this text.
I also agree with you about inclusion and how it is helpful for other students to understand why and how they learn. I’ve never had a person with a disability in one of my classes in high school, but there were students in my high school who I saw were disabled, but were very strong hearted and determined to be like other students. These students didn’t let their handicap bother them, because they were so eager to involve themselves in every activity they could perform in.

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Rubric

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.

9.5
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

9.5
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.

9.5
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.

38.5/40= 96

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

In my field report, I interviewed two elementary teachers named Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley. Mrs. Tracey teachers 5th grade students and Mrs. Kirkley, 4th grade students. In this particular interview, I wanted to see the difference between the two grade levels’ class environment and see which impacted their teaching the most, diversity, technology, or inclusion.
Diversity in our public education environment is consistently increasing daily. At Bowie Elementary, where both Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley teach, diversity barely exists. As I’ve noticed, when you mention diversity in an educational environment, some teacher’s seem to relate to the ethnic side of diversity instead of different types of learning skills or how students think cognitively or analytically. According to Mrs. Tracey, she viewed diversity in an ethnic sense. She stated that the majority of the school’s population is of low socio-economic status. 80% of the students are on reduced lunch, 80% are Hispanic, and their school has less than 1% African American students. The percentage of teachers at Bowie Elementary is 50% White and 50% Hispanic. There is diversity between the student and the teacher’s, but there is hardly any diversity in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom. Therefore, diversity regarding ethnicity is not a major impact in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom environment.
In my interview with Mrs. Tracey, she said that technology was a major impact in her teaching. She stated that “We are blessed at Bowie to have a computer lab with 30 stations, a library with 24 stations, and a wireless lab cart that has 22 lap tops. I never would have imagined that schools would be this far along in technology compared to when I was in high school. Mrs. Tracey also goes on to say that she takes advantage of the technological sources by applying a variety of applications in her class. Unfortunately each year, she has about 5 to 8 students who have access to a computer at their home. As she chuckles, she says that “I also usually have 3 to 4 of them that know more than I do on the computer.”
Inclusion has a more challenging effect on Mrs. Tracey. She is currently self-contained with the special education students in her class. For instance, they have a set requirement of minutes that they have to be pulled away from her class to be given adequate material at the grade level that she teachers, the 5th grade. She says that it is really hard when you have 24 students in your room and you then have to modify assignments for 3 to 4 students. She states, “It’s hard helping the regular students and the special education students simultaneously.” She says that this upcoming year, she really will be challenged. Mrs. Tracey has a student coming to her that doesn’t know how to write. This is sad. This student is in the 5th grade and has problems writing basic sentences. Mrs. Tracey also stated that at the end of the school year, these student are still required to complete 5th grade content in some way, shape, or form.
In reference to inclusion, there is also the “GT” student (gifted and talented). Mrs. Tracey says that these students “are a great help at times, but can be challenging other times. They can help others, or they become a handful when they are not being challenged.” The GT student also requires special attention as well. Like the special education students, the GT students are pulled out of her class daily for 45 minutes to get “GT” as Mrs. Tracey exclaimed with a certified GT teacher. Overall, Mrs. Tracey says that inclusion is good for the student learning environment, but challenging on the teachers.
My interview with Mrs. Kirkley was quite different in terms of diversity and technology than Mrs. Tracey. Mrs. Kirkley stated that diversity impacts her classroom the most, but in a learning style approach. She says that “some kids learn very quickly, while other kids learn slower. You also have to think about the different ways they learn. Some may learn auditory, visually, cognitively, or analytical.” The diverse learning style in Mrs. Kirkley’s classroom affects how she plans lessons and how she will teach students.
Instead of technology impacting Mrs. Tracey the most, in Mrs. Kirkley’s case, technology impact her classroom the least. She says that she tries to use as much technology as possible, but her kids have not been exposed to computers very much. She says, “With that in mind, you have to consider what their abilities are when it comes to computers, media, etc. because we see something that we think is cool and would be beneficial, doesn’t mean we can use it because the kids may not understand it.”
I thought that these interviews went quite well, but I wish I could have gotten a little bit more information from Mrs. Kirkley about diversity and inclusion. Overall, diversity and technology both had impacts in their classrooms, but inclusion seemed to fall by the waist side. No matter what type of classroom a teacher encounters, different components will always come into play such as diversity of all kinds, mainstream technology, and inclusion in regards to exceptionalities or at risk students. In chapter 8, I’ve come to some conclusion that a teacher has to learn how to balance three of these components in order to reach their goals and the student’s goals.

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
This was an exciting field report. I enjoyed Coach Hayes’ comments and opinions on diversity, technology, and inclusion. It seems as though coach has experienced every one of our topics to the fullest. It is great to see that all three topics have had an impact on coach’s teaching. When I first read this assignment, I thought that each teacher would have one topic that would stick out the most, but coach has covered them all. It also sounded like you and coach had the same opinions and facts that students with disabilities will sometimes fall through the cracks because of the lack of parent, teacher, and society’s support and encouragement. But, inclusion is a great thing and a helpful tool for our disabled individuals. It is also sad to see a system that contains the expenses to back it up, but there is no leadership or drive to make a difference.
I think coach has beaten every teacher out their in regards to teaching a diverse crowd. I am sure having all of those cultures together made UTA’s team exciting to watch and I’m sure there was some conflict that Coach Hayes had to deal with.
Becky G also had some interesting points. I saw that diversity impacted her teaching the most. In a positive sense, diversity has created a sense of femininity to the sporting scene. Title IX has been implemented and we have several new sports out there, like softball and field hockey. In a negative sense, diversity has caused budget changes in most schools athletic programs. There is one incident in Fort Worth’s district where they cut out soccer at the middle school level. They said it was too expensive. I substitute taught at many middle school’s where 80% of students were Hispanic and that is practically one important part of there culture. How is that expensive where the only equipment to buy is shorts, shirts, 2 nets, 2 flags and soccer balls. It’s not like they are playing the most expensive sport in the world, golf! I know students don’t play golf in middle school, but some of that money is going to golf programs at the Secondary level, not that I’m bad mouthing golf, but I think Fort Worth’s district could have taken into consideration that soccer is the only sport that these kids look forward to playing.

Margarita,
Between the two interviews, it sounded like Mrs. W and Mrs. Kidd had totally different teaching styles. According to our text, Mrs. W is defined as a low-impact teacher versus Mrs. Kidd who is a high impact teacher. You would think that Mrs. W would you her BCIS class to her advantage in regards to teaching students about technology, but it sounds like she’s just going through the motions. You would think an individual who teaches technology would be current on educational “verbage” like inclusion and diversity, but everyone’s teaching style is obviously different.
In Mrs. Kidd’s case, it seemed as though diversity impacted her in the classroom. It’s good that she recognized students’ different learning skills, ways of thinking and solving problems, and ways of socialization. It is also great to hear that teachers are going back to school to receive more knowledge on how to teach diversity in the classroom. This is one suggestion I should have given Joanna in our activity in our classroom management class (5329).
Overall, times have changed as Mrs. Kidd stated in the interview, but they have changed for the better. Technology, inclusion, and diversity all have something in common. They are steadily increasing in an instructional and a productive way.

Daniela,
One thing about coach’s sometimes, they don’t sugar coat anything. All through out the responses I’ve read, diversity seems to the number one impact. Well, it should because in our society, it is increasing by the minute. In Coach Fuller’s interview, he said that he could not believe what student’s have to go through sometimes. Taking on two jobs, taking care of their siblings and expected to attend school regularly is the norm for some students and is required for some cultures.
I have to agree with Coach Gibson on some issues. Diversity and inclusion is challenging in the classroom, but when it comes to technology, sometimes I think that’s society’s fault. People are just lazy sometimes. I am very old school and I don’t understand how sometimes technology is advantageous. For instance, you have two cubicles placed beside each other with two individuals in each cubicle. Person A has a problem that needs to be solved and he e-mails Person B because their communication is getting twisted because of the inconsistent “verbage” being sent between the both of them. Now, what’s wrong with face-to-face communication? Society has seemed to loose touch of this communication style.
Coach Gibson also made a good point about diversity in a gender sense. As male teachers, you really have to watch what you say and who you say too or you really will end up on the channel 5 news. I really wouldn’t be joking about that because we’ve seen several teachers on the news lately about some type of incident and it’s usually related to sex. Overall, both teachers had great points and it seemed as though diversity has ranked the highest of all the topics during my interviews and my peers interviews in this activity.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Session EightField Report
Very near perfection!Exceptional Quality in content, mechanics, and organization10-9
Exceeds ExpectationGives the required information in a correct neatly organized format9.3-8.6
Meets minimal expectationGives the basics; may or may not be well organized and mechanically correct8.5-7.9
Needs Improvement 7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.

9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.

9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from interviews with TWO teachers to find how diversity, technology, and inclusion impact their teaching.
You discussed in depth your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching.Provided at least three specific examples.

9.8
You discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least two specific examples.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least one specific example.
You only discussed in depth findings from ONE teacher. At least two examples provided.
OR
Your discussion is superficial concerning your findings from TWO teacher interviews. Only one example provided.
Compare and/or contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing the chapter
You thoroughly discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.

9.5
You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Your report provided only superficial discussion on the comparison between your interview and your text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Provided comments to at least two colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.

48.3/50= 96

Electronic Portfolio 5314

2007-08-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

EDUC 5314 Portfolio

TExES Framework & Competencies

Competency 002: The teacher understands student diversity and knows how to plan learning experiences and design assessments that are responsive to differences among students and that promote all students' learning.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I fully understand the strategies, methods, and instruction that tie into teaching a conventional and a diverse classroom. Through out my readings from chapter 8, it addressed a variety of strategies that accommodated multicultural classrooms. For example, I fully understand the teaching strategies and the assessment process to use when teaching ELL students. I also learned how to produce effective learning environments, teaching strategies, and instruction for “at risk” students. I can also differentiate between a low and high impact teacher and be aware of there certain characteristics that they both obtain. In our course work of EDUC 5314, we were instructed to read the chapters and reflect on what we read. We also had to respond to other classmate’s reading responses, which clearly help me understand other points that were discussed in our text. Web exercises were also completed. I also participated in a field report which increased my knowledge in the promotion of student learning in a multicultural classroom environment. In a field report that fell under chapter 8, I conducted an interview with two teachers. In this interview, I was well informed of how diversity has impacted both of their teaching strategies, instruction, and their classroom management skills and assessments. I will show you course work which pertained to the competency above.

Coursework (Session 8):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Session 8: All Work

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Reader Response: Session 8

Multicultural Education:

When I think of multicultural I think of diversity in the classroom. Diversity in the classroom for the teacher is challenging. In a positive way, different ethnic groups and classes can and may learn from each other and the teacher also. It also brings into the classroom a variety of ways to teach. In a negative sense, diversity brings several different types of personalities into the classroom where conflict strongly exists. For a teacher, he or she will have to sift through and find out how and why these different behaviors function. Get to know yours students, find out what there favorite color is or who is there favorite basketball player and why. Doing the little things will help you have a comfortable and inviting learning environment. Our text defines multicultural as a “comprehensive term for a variety of strategies schools use to accommodate cultural differences and provide educational opportunities for all students” (Jacobsen, 259). This is a good textbook way of defining this style of education.

Culturally Responsive Teaching:

This type style of teaching accommodates and acknowledges culturally diverse classrooms. It’s a given when teaching in Texas, diversity will always exist. So, I hope that several teachers will learn how to relate to their diverse student population. If not, there are going to wind up like Joanna, a teacher in our case study in my EDUC 5329 class where she quit teaching when she found that she couldn’t not reach her students because she was not prepared for a diverse classroom. Our text gives us many components of culturally responsive teaching. One is a creation of a positive classroom where every student is treated with respect and is valued. Second is a communication of positive expectations for the students. Third is attempting to interacting and integrating within the classroom and in the curriculum. Fourth is using teaching strategies that build on a student’s background and strengths. All of these components must be implemented to have a comfortable learning in environment is our diverse classrooms.

Teaching ELL Students:

When I first read this section, I was amazed on the numbers. There are approximately 28% of ELL students in Texas and 30 years from now, that number will triple. Our text also says and I agree that diversity is a challenge because instruction is mostly taught verbally. It makes me realize that I should have taken Spanish in college instead of French. I knew that our state was flourishing with diversity, but I had no idea how fast. The table that our text shows on page 261 is very detailed and clear. The section about immersion was fascinating. The sink or swim approach sounds very hard on the students and this may make a student’s self-esteem quite low, don’t you think? When they say that immersion and ELL programs emphasize a rapid transition to English, how fast is and do most of the students pretty fluent or not?
Our text said to add to our repertoire strategies to help ELL students learn both English and academic content. I think that my subject matter of Speech will help those individuals tremendously. Not only will they’ll be able to speak clear English, but they will leave my room with the confidence of speaking English clearly and properly. I noticed in my interviewing other teachers that Mrs. Kirkley is dealing with this situation her first year in her school. Approximately 80% of her school is Hispanic and she sometimes has a hard time getting the parents to come to a parent/student conference because some of the parents do not speak English. I really feel for her because she has to jump through many hoops to find a resolution to a student’s behavioral problems that may exist in her classroom.

Teaching “At Risk” Students:

There are many personalities and concerns that students bring into the classroom and one of them falls under the “at risk” label. These students consists of behaviors like, lower economic status, inner city residence, minority status, divorced parents and little or no familiarity of English. I didn’t realize what “at risk” meant until I read this section in our text. The drop out rate is astonishing and shocking. Reading these numbers saddens me and makes me more motivated in helping theses types of kids. I know there are some students out there that cannot be reached, but it doesn’t hurt to try. This is our future and it is looking pretty scary at the moment, so we as teachers must do our jobs successfully because if I had kids I would not want my kids growing up in a helplessness learning society.

Effective Learning Environment for “At Risk” Students:

Unfortunately, students who are placed at risk need supportive learning environments. This involves focusing on respect between teachers and students, personal responsibility, and cooperation. For a school to obtain these components, they must include: safe, orderly school climate and purpose behind classroom rules, academic objectives focusing on content mastery, caring and demanding teachers and high expectations for each student, cooperation, sense of community and social values. The mission statement for this at risk environment of learning is “You can and will succeed if you try.” I really like this mission statement. I think I will use this statement in my room while I’m decorating my new classroom.

Effective Teachers for Students Placed at Risk:

It takes a certain kind of teacher that deals with at risk students on a daily basis. This type of teacher needs to be skilled in making instructional decisions that encourage challenge and support of the student. I enjoyed reading the example given by our text about the 9th grader’s response. He said it’s like being a family. They argue sometimes but they make up. He also said that in his class, teachers get on you, but they try to make you understand what’s in the future. I’m sure this student didn’t notice, but he just made an analogy of what teachers are suppose to do. Support, motivate, and encourage a student using real life examples during the process of their content. Another student in our text named Melinda says that she acts different in her teacher’s class because the teacher is himself. He laughs and has fun with the students and he’s not trying to be what somebody else wants him to be. Now that’s what I’m talking about. This teacher sounds like me. There is a time to laugh and a time to be serious. You just have to know how to cut on and off these personality traits. It’s ok to be yourself because it’s obvious that students pay attention toward a teacher’s actions and responses. If you show empathy and sympathy, most of the times a student will respect that and listen closely to what you have to say.
The text also gives definitions for low and high impact teachers. Between the two, they are night and day. My personality falls under the high impact section. It is just in my nature to care and support individuals, especially our youth. For example, I substitute teach for a P.E. teacher who also coach’s tennis. These students have the same characteristics of “at risk” students. The kids in the P.E. class and his tennis class either hate to see me or love to see me. I’m hard on the ones who don’t participate in P.E. because I know they can do better, but I also pull those type students to the side and ask them “what’s wrong today buddy, are you sick or something?” “Why are you not doing your exercises today?” If you approach a student nicely, 90% of the time they will cooperate. The other 10% I won’t discuss. There was female student in my P.E. class that had the symptoms of alienation. She was an outcast because I think her boyfriend wanted her to be in a gang, but she was doubtful. So, I asked her, what’s wrong with you today. And she told her situation. Before our conversation, I had already built a rapport with her, as I try to do almost every student. It’s kind of hard when you sometimes have 50 to 60 students in a P.E. class to try and build a rapport, but I try. Meanwhile, I asked this young lady, how many Hispanic gangs are there? Believe it or not, she wrote down about 10 gangs and told me which colors they wore. After our conversation of me telling her that I grew up in the “hood” she was shocked of the stories I told her and was amazed of where I am today. The next year, that young girl broke up with her boyfriend and started to come to class more often.

Inclusion:

This section was very informative and I learned a great deal. I’m glad that students with disabilities are in the same classroom as regular students. Back when my older brother, Stephon, who is totally blind, was not involved in mainstreaming. Times have changed for the better I see and the laws are fair now towards students with disabilities. I’m sure that inclusion is very challenging for a teacher because you have to design and implement special programs for these students individually according to the nature of their disability. The table on page 273 explains in detail the IEP program and how it works. This is a great system and are there other systems in place like this one? Also, are there any of you that have special education students or students with exceptionalities in your class? If so, in a brief paragraph, what is the process like?

Diversity and Technology:

Technology is growing as fast as we speak. It is amazing how schools obtain a slew of computers. When I was in high school, I can remember there wasn’t such a class call keyboarding. It was called typing. Yes, typing on an electrical typewriter. My brother Stephon told me to taking typing because you may need this in the long run. He was right. I’m just glad I’m not a pecker on the computer like most of my peers. I did not realize that computers were being viewed as essential parts of instruction to helps students develop critical thinking skills. I hope that UTA offers a course in technology in regards to the “seeking certification program” because I’m a slow learner when it comes to computers.

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
Our society is diverse and like you said, it is increasing every second. I don’t think student’s at the undergrad level has gotten any experience in diversity through the undergrad Teacher program. I’m friends with a teacher who I interview consistently in my EDUC 5329 class and she said that the classes that she took at the undergrad level did not prepare her enough for the “real world” of public schools. And another point I would like to make is that colleges in their education program should offer information about substitute teaching and how it gives you a chance to be in a learning diverse environment. I always wanted to teach and coach, so when I went back to school part time and wanted to see how schools were like now, I decided to get a job substitute teaching. I applied to both Fort Worth ISD and Keller ISD because I attended a school in the Fort Worth district and my wife attended Keller High. It was night and day between the two districts, but I saw that students in the Fort Worth district were less fortunate that students in the Keller district so felt like I could contribute more to the my own district that I attended during grade school and high school.

After reading your response, I’m so glad to hear that your friend got motivated and is going to attend UTA. And about your two questions about how did your friend slip through the cracks? Well, I’m not stung on that situation. You have some teachers that just don’t care. I think these teachers are labeled low-impacted teachers from our text. The situation on “at risk” students is troublesome and I hope one day that our educational system will create better alternatives and solutions to the problem. And like you stated, students who have parents that are involved in their students education, is more likely to receive attention than the student who do not support their child at the academic level. It is a sad case and teacher’s already have there hands filled twice. Answer me this, why is teacher’s pay so low if we are practically raising some of these students on a daily basis versus there parents? Maybe we should send our responses to Perry and Bush and let them respond to our concerns about the educational environment.

I can relate to your situation about the inclusion of disabled students. My brother is visually impaired/totally blind and has done wonders for himself. Unfortunately, when he was going to school, inclusion did not exist. But having a supportive and loving family encouraged my brother to advance himself into being just like one of the guys. Stephon, my brother did just about anything he could physically do as a child and a student. He would play basketball in our driveway with my oldest brother and me. My dad and his best friend took us all skiing one time and Stephon enjoyed skiing with my dad and me. And in 8th grade, he started wrestling for the Fort Worth Wrestling club and got me involve with the program. As he excelled in this sport, he went on to obtain a silver medal at the 1976 Handicap Olympics. Afterwards, he went on to wrestle for UT (Austin) where he obtained a law degree and now he is practicing law in Houston with two kids and married to a visually impaired woman named Marilyn.
Your Hispanic friend is the prime example of how parents who are not involved with their child’s education or well being could possibly fall through the cracks versus parents who care like yourself and motivate our kids so they can feel confident about anything they are trying to succeed in, like participating in P.E. I was getting a little steamed myself about the P.E. situation. Also, what is the 504 unit? Is that a special program for the disabled? Overall, you ask some great questions, but unfortunately, I wish I had the answers to all of them.

Margarita,
Your right in Spanish, it does give the students a chance to talk about not only the Spanish culture, but all other cultures that exist. This should give your students a chance for class participation and oral reports on their particular culture.
Is there another way that an individual can perceive self-perception instead of looking in the mirror? Probably, but the only thing I can think of is other individuals perceive you on an emotional and physical outlook.
The increase in Spanish culture was also mentioned in my undergrad intercultural communications class. And yes, it is important for our students to be able to speak a second language, especially Spanish. Now, I wish I took Spanish instead of French, but I had a terrible Spanish teacher in high school and I also took French in high school and enjoyed it.
I was intrigued to learn about the ELL programs. I never knew how they worked but I’ve seen these programs take place. Do you think that most students who are placed in the ELL programs are “at risk”? Do you help other teachers with strategies to use on ELL and ESL students?
In this section you made all good points. It is sad to see this happen, but what you did by asking them “what’s wrong” at least makes their day. It shows that you are concerned about them and that’s probably all they want. Students who have the attitudes most of times, want to be disciplined and noticed because there not getting that at home.
Well, Margarita, I saw that on the news. I never heard such a thing. What are the kids suppose to do on Friday? What are the parents suppose to do while there kids are at home and what about day care expenses. The administration is thinking what’s best for them, not the students in this case. Also, I think the administration is trying to run the schools like a fortune 500 business instead of a place for learning. I feel sorry for you guys if this 4 day week is implemented. If you notice, crime is at a constant increase in the summer because kids can’t find anything to do. That’s the parents fault.
Great strategy on effective learning towards the at risk students. I think questioning helps students think deeper and prepares them to evaluate problems in a wider spectrum of situations.
In this section, it sounds like the case manager is just collecting a pay check and not concerned with the outcome of students in the IEP program. I’m glad you questioned him on that particular situation because it shows that administration probably have not looked at this in that particular way. Your questioning skills are awesome. Way to think on your feet quickly Margarita! I’m not sure what you do when something like this is going on, but maybe you could go to other teachers in the district and build a support group on this situation.
Table 8.4 was very helpful for me too. Answering these questions for myself, if found that I preferred a quiet environment for learning and hopefully my classes will be the same. I want to present a comfortable, inviting, fun, but stern learning environment for my students, so they enjoy coming to my class. And that’s what it is all about. Students wanting to come to class and wanting to learn, I think?
This is what it’s all about. Trying to figure out what type of learning styles each student obtains. Whether its field dependence/independence, every student needs support and encouragement from the teacher and the parents, no matter what type of learning style he/she works well or better in.

Kim,
This chapter was very informative, I do agree. I also asked the question in my RR, if anyone of you guys have had an at risk, ELL, and exceptionality students in your classes before? I would like to know some more information on a real world level instead of a text. Not that the text wasn’t helpful or detailed, but I just like to hear situations and incidents regarding hands on experiences.
This chapter also helped me differentiate ELL and ESL students. I’ve seen this program while I was substituting, but I had no idea what it entailed. Both of these types of students have challenging goals to accomplish and I hope most of our teachers motivate and encourage them to achieve these goals. Taking 14 hrs of another language was pretty difficult for me and I can’t imagine what they have to grow through to understand the English language. I see you mentioned the “sink or swim” mentality and how it could have students fall in between the cracks, in a sense of dropping out or skipping tons of school.
A question arises in regard to at risk students and their behaviors. Take violent student for instance. Will some or most students grow out of this behavior as they grow older? Does studies show at what age do these particular individuals start acting this way? Some students at one time in their life need some type of emotional and psychological assistance and support, not just at risk kids.
The learning styles kind of through me off just a little bit too. The text goes from different cultures and behaviors to learning styles. I thought they discussed this in the early chapter in this text.
I also agree with you about inclusion and how it is helpful for other students to understand why and how they learn. I’ve never had a person with a disability in one of my classes in high school, but there were students in my high school who I saw were disabled, but were very strong hearted and determined to be like other students. These students didn’t let their handicap bother them, because they were so eager to involve themselves in every activity they could perform in.

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Rubric

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.

9.5
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

9.5
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.

9.5
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.

38.5/40= 96

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

In my field report, I interviewed two elementary teachers named Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley. Mrs. Tracey teachers 5th grade students and Mrs. Kirkley, 4th grade students. In this particular interview, I wanted to see the difference between the two grade levels’ class environment and see which impacted their teaching the most, diversity, technology, or inclusion.
Diversity in our public education environment is consistently increasing daily. At Bowie Elementary, where both Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley teach, diversity barely exists. As I’ve noticed, when you mention diversity in an educational environment, some teacher’s seem to relate to the ethnic side of diversity instead of different types of learning skills or how students think cognitively or analytically. According to Mrs. Tracey, she viewed diversity in an ethnic sense. She stated that the majority of the school’s population is of low socio-economic status. 80% of the students are on reduced lunch, 80% are Hispanic, and their school has less than 1% African American students. The percentage of teachers at Bowie Elementary is 50% White and 50% Hispanic. There is diversity between the student and the teacher’s, but there is hardly any diversity in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom. Therefore, diversity regarding ethnicity is not a major impact in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom environment.
In my interview with Mrs. Tracey, she said that technology was a major impact in her teaching. She stated that “We are blessed at Bowie to have a computer lab with 30 stations, a library with 24 stations, and a wireless lab cart that has 22 lap tops. I never would have imagined that schools would be this far along in technology compared to when I was in high school. Mrs. Tracey also goes on to say that she takes advantage of the technological sources by applying a variety of applications in her class. Unfortunately each year, she has about 5 to 8 students who have access to a computer at their home. As she chuckles, she says that “I also usually have 3 to 4 of them that know more than I do on the computer.”
Inclusion has a more challenging effect on Mrs. Tracey. She is currently self-contained with the special education students in her class. For instance, they have a set requirement of minutes that they have to be pulled away from her class to be given adequate material at the grade level that she teachers, the 5th grade. She says that it is really hard when you have 24 students in your room and you then have to modify assignments for 3 to 4 students. She states, “It’s hard helping the regular students and the special education students simultaneously.” She says that this upcoming year, she really will be challenged. Mrs. Tracey has a student coming to her that doesn’t know how to write. This is sad. This student is in the 5th grade and has problems writing basic sentences. Mrs. Tracey also stated that at the end of the school year, these student are still required to complete 5th grade content in some way, shape, or form.
In reference to inclusion, there is also the “GT” student (gifted and talented). Mrs. Tracey says that these students “are a great help at times, but can be challenging other times. They can help others, or they become a handful when they are not being challenged.” The GT student also requires special attention as well. Like the special education students, the GT students are pulled out of her class daily for 45 minutes to get “GT” as Mrs. Tracey exclaimed with a certified GT teacher. Overall, Mrs. Tracey says that inclusion is good for the student learning environment, but challenging on the teachers.
My interview with Mrs. Kirkley was quite different in terms of diversity and technology than Mrs. Tracey. Mrs. Kirkley stated that diversity impacts her classroom the most, but in a learning style approach. She says that “some kids learn very quickly, while other kids learn slower. You also have to think about the different ways they learn. Some may learn auditory, visually, cognitively, or analytical.” The diverse learning style in Mrs. Kirkley’s classroom affects how she plans lessons and how she will teach students.
Instead of technology impacting Mrs. Tracey the most, in Mrs. Kirkley’s case, technology impact her classroom the least. She says that she tries to use as much technology as possible, but her kids have not been exposed to computers very much. She says, “With that in mind, you have to consider what their abilities are when it comes to computers, media, etc. because we see something that we think is cool and would be beneficial, doesn’t mean we can use it because the kids may not understand it.”
I thought that these interviews went quite well, but I wish I could have gotten a little bit more information from Mrs. Kirkley about diversity and inclusion. Overall, diversity and technology both had impacts in their classrooms, but inclusion seemed to fall by the waist side. No matter what type of classroom a teacher encounters, different components will always come into play such as diversity of all kinds, mainstream technology, and inclusion in regards to exceptionalities or at risk students. In chapter 8, I’ve come to some conclusion that a teacher has to learn how to balance three of these components in order to reach their goals and the student’s goals.

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
This was an exciting field report. I enjoyed Coach Hayes’ comments and opinions on diversity, technology, and inclusion. It seems as though coach has experienced every one of our topics to the fullest. It is great to see that all three topics have had an impact on coach’s teaching. When I first read this assignment, I thought that each teacher would have one topic that would stick out the most, but coach has covered them all. It also sounded like you and coach had the same opinions and facts that students with disabilities will sometimes fall through the cracks because of the lack of parent, teacher, and society’s support and encouragement. But, inclusion is a great thing and a helpful tool for our disabled individuals. It is also sad to see a system that contains the expenses to back it up, but there is no leadership or drive to make a difference.
I think coach has beaten every teacher out their in regards to teaching a diverse crowd. I am sure having all of those cultures together made UTA’s team exciting to watch and I’m sure there was some conflict that Coach Hayes had to deal with.
Becky G also had some interesting points. I saw that diversity impacted her teaching the most. In a positive sense, diversity has created a sense of femininity to the sporting scene. Title IX has been implemented and we have several new sports out there, like softball and field hockey. In a negative sense, diversity has caused budget changes in most schools athletic programs. There is one incident in Fort Worth’s district where they cut out soccer at the middle school level. They said it was too expensive. I substitute taught at many middle school’s where 80% of students were Hispanic and that is practically one important part of there culture. How is that expensive where the only equipment to buy is shorts, shirts, 2 nets, 2 flags and soccer balls. It’s not like they are playing the most expensive sport in the world, golf! I know students don’t play golf in middle school, but some of that money is going to golf programs at the Secondary level, not that I’m bad mouthing golf, but I think Fort Worth’s district could have taken into consideration that soccer is the only sport that these kids look forward to playing.

Margarita,
Between the two interviews, it sounded like Mrs. W and Mrs. Kidd had totally different teaching styles. According to our text, Mrs. W is defined as a low-impact teacher versus Mrs. Kidd who is a high impact teacher. You would think that Mrs. W would you her BCIS class to her advantage in regards to teaching students about technology, but it sounds like she’s just going through the motions. You would think an individual who teaches technology would be current on educational “verbage” like inclusion and diversity, but everyone’s teaching style is obviously different.
In Mrs. Kidd’s case, it seemed as though diversity impacted her in the classroom. It’s good that she recognized students’ different learning skills, ways of thinking and solving problems, and ways of socialization. It is also great to hear that teachers are going back to school to receive more knowledge on how to teach diversity in the classroom. This is one suggestion I should have given Joanna in our activity in our classroom management class (5329).
Overall, times have changed as Mrs. Kidd stated in the interview, but they have changed for the better. Technology, inclusion, and diversity all have something in common. They are steadily increasing in an instructional and a productive way.

Daniela,
One thing about coach’s sometimes, they don’t sugar coat anything. All through out the responses I’ve read, diversity seems to the number one impact. Well, it should because in our society, it is increasing by the minute. In Coach Fuller’s interview, he said that he could not believe what student’s have to go through sometimes. Taking on two jobs, taking care of their siblings and expected to attend school regularly is the norm for some students and is required for some cultures.
I have to agree with Coach Gibson on some issues. Diversity and inclusion is challenging in the classroom, but when it comes to technology, sometimes I think that’s society’s fault. People are just lazy sometimes. I am very old school and I don’t understand how sometimes technology is advantageous. For instance, you have two cubicles placed beside each other with two individuals in each cubicle. Person A has a problem that needs to be solved and he e-mails Person B because their communication is getting twisted because of the inconsistent “verbage” being sent between the both of them. Now, what’s wrong with face-to-face communication? Society has seemed to loose touch of this communication style.
Coach Gibson also made a good point about diversity in a gender sense. As male teachers, you really have to watch what you say and who you say too or you really will end up on the channel 5 news. I really wouldn’t be joking about that because we’ve seen several teachers on the news lately about some type of incident and it’s usually related to sex. Overall, both teachers had great points and it seemed as though diversity has ranked the highest of all the topics during my interviews and my peers interviews in this activity.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Session EightField Report
Very near perfection!Exceptional Quality in content, mechanics, and organization10-9
Exceeds ExpectationGives the required information in a correct neatly organized format9.3-8.6
Meets minimal expectationGives the basics; may or may not be well organized and mechanically correct8.5-7.9
Needs Improvement 7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.

9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.

9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from interviews with TWO teachers to find how diversity, technology, and inclusion impact their teaching.
You discussed in depth your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching.Provided at least three specific examples.

9.8
You discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least two specific examples.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least one specific example.
You only discussed in depth findings from ONE teacher. At least two examples provided.
OR
Your discussion is superficial concerning your findings from TWO teacher interviews. Only one example provided.
Compare and/or contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing the chapter
You thoroughly discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.

9.5
You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Your report provided only superficial discussion on the comparison between your interview and your text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Provided comments to at least two colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.

48.3/50= 96

Competency 003: The teacher understands procedures for designing effective and coherent instruction and assessment based on appropriate learning goals and objectives.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I’ve learned and understand the creating of lesson planning. In the EDUC 5314 course, one of our objectives was to conduct a field report that included constructing an appropriate lesson plan for our content level (the specific subject you wish to teach) and the grade level you wish to teach. In this field report, I chose to create a lesson plan that instructed students how to present a persuasive speech. During my research of creating a lesson plan, I experienced several formats that accommodated a coherent and conducive instruction, which gave me the knowledge of selecting goals and procedures that were set forth in my endeavor of creating an appropriate lesson plan for 9th -12th graders. Also in our course, we were to reflect on our chapter readings and respond to other classmate’s reading responses, which developed a sense of understanding of different issues that involve the implementing of lesson planning. Web exercises were also completed to further my understanding of objectives, goals and procedures to create a more detailed and efficient lesson plan that would be appropriate for the conventional and diverse classroom.

Coursework (Session 6):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Introduction:

In the introduction, it mentioned that teaching was a combination of an art and science. I was not familiar with this concept, but now I clearly understand. I like how the text said that “teachers must practice and apply what is known according to their own personality and to a certain extent their own intuition” (Jacobsen 168). It relieves me that we can use our own intuition and personality in the classroom because I obtain a great deal of that.
The introduction also briefly touches on questioning. I always wondered why teachers questioned so much in class. Now, I know why. It is to check for student understanding of instruction, evaluating the effectiveness of the lesson plan, and it also increases the higher level of thinking. As a high school student, I was always shy when it came to answering a teacher’s question. Now that I’m older, my comfort level is more secure in an educational environment and I try to answer questions from the teacher regularly. I hope I can acquire that type of comfort level in my class so students feel secure and not embarrassed to answer questions in my class.

Question Levels:

The text says that teachers use questions for five major purposes. Theses purposes consist of 1) involving students in the lesson plan, 2) promoting student’s thinking and comprehension skills, 3) review important content, 4) control students, and 5) assess student’s progress. Do some of these purposes outweigh more than one or the other? The text also says that different questions are effective at different times. For instance, what if a teacher asks you a question that doesn’t have anything to do with the content or subject she/he is teaching? What do you do? What do you say?

Low-Level Questions:

In low level questioning, the text offers advice as to why teachers use this type of questioning. It says that teachers use this type of questioning “to assess a students’ background knowledge, to remind students of important information, and to establish an informational base that will be used at a higher level of learning” (Jacobsen 170). Are there any other factors or examples of low-level questioning that the book forgot to mention? How many of you teachers out there use low-level questioning on a daily basis? Please give me at least one low-level example question you use for your students? Our text also mentions that at the cognitive taxonomy level, low-level questioning targets memorization from the student. Is that such a bad thing?

High-Level Questions:

High-level questioning gets a student to connect their ideas and expand their thinking. On a cognitive taxonomy level, high-level questioning deals with a higher level of learning such as understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. During high school, I had no clue what type of questions that the teacher was trying to ask. I thought they were mostly questions to see if we read the chapter, which sometimes got the entire class in trouble because we didn’t read the chapter. What type of question is that? Is it low-level or high-level? At the collegiate level, I’ve noticed that if a teacher asks the class if they read the chapter, a pop quiz is sometimes given that day or the next day or next week. Do you some of you teachers do that in your classes? Does this encourage the students to read the chapters for next time? The text gives us several different high-level examples and they were very helpful. Are there any high-level questions that you can share with me instead of our book’s examples?

Question Focus (Convergent Questions):

The text says that convergent questions are questions “that require one correct answer. They are also useful for establishing facts or ascertaining answers to problems that have one correct answer” (Jacobsen 174). In school, I love these type questions. I also don’t mind them on tests at the collegiate level either. I know these are some what easy questions, but at times, isn’t it necessary to ask these type questions for the slower learners in your class? Or, does the low-level/convergent questioning sabotage the gifted and talented student from learning at a higher level? The text never said, but I’m guessing that a convergent question involves memorization?

Divergent Questions:

A divergent question is the opposite of convergent. A divergent question involves multiple answers. While involving a large number of students, divergent questions help the teacher to asses the students understanding. I did not like these type questions in high school, nor in college. This is a great tool to use though and I’ll probably use this questioning in my class. A divergent question reminds of fill in the blank and essay questioning. Does anyone use this type questioning in their classrooms?
Questioning Strategies:

The text mentioned that a major goal of a teacher is to develop question strategies to increase student participation. During class activities, a more verbally aggressive or knowledgeable student is involved mostly, but others who are not interested in the subject matter tend to drift away from the class activity. How do we the attention of the students who drift away during a class activity? The text says that using open-ended questions and redirection strategies work. Open-ended questions allow students multiple choices to the equation or problem.
There are two types of open-ended questions that were discussed in this chapter, descriptive and comparative questions. Descriptive questions promote student involvement, success, and thinking. Comparative questioning requires the student to look at two or more objects, illustrations or demonstrations. It also allows the student to identify two or more statements, differences and similarities between the two. This is a great concept to use for elementary students. Can you use the two types of questioning at the Secondary level, but at a higher level of open-ended questioning?
Another strategy that comes into play is the redirection teaching strategy. This involves a single question in which a student can respond or acknowledge different responses from different individuals. I like this type of questioning because it gives multiple answers that are correct. This makes a student confident while answering a question, knowing that his/her answer was correct. I am definitely using redirecting questions in my class. It gives off a positive vibe and also promotes student participation.
Prompting is another strategy that is used by teachers, but a higher level of learning. Prompting requires quick thinking or thinking on your feet. This is a difficult strategy, but can only be practiced in the context of a lesson plan. Is prompting used more at the collegiate level or the Secondary level?

Probing:

Probing deals with incorrect responses in an informative way. At times a student’s answer may be correct, but it needs more explanation or depth. This is where probing comes in and the teacher uses what and why questions to get the student to elaborate more on his or her answer. Probing provides the student the opportunity to support or defend their answer or case of the problem or solution. Several employers use probing questioning on an interview to get to know the interviewer and it lets the interviewer to elaborate on information that might have not been displayed on their resume. Husbands and wives probe each other daily to encode and decode information.

Wait Time:

I like the idea of wait time. Wait time can become a negative or positive situation. If a teacher gives a student 1 second to answer a question, usually their answer will be vague and choppy. This is not a good learning tool to use. Regardless of a student or not, the descent gesture to use is to wait until a person finishes their thought or sentence. The 1 second rule is almost rude and disrespectful. If I was a student and a teacher constantly used this strategy, I would probably drop the class if I didn’t have to take that semester. In contrast, if a teacher waits 3 seconds for a student to answer a question, they receive a more clear and affective answer. Giving students the 3 second rule influences student learning in a more positive way. The 3 second rule is courteous and considerate, regardless of any circumstance, whether in the class room or just conversing with friends.

I’ve learned that question is one key factor that teacher must use an effective learning tool. Like most of my college instructors say, “If you don’t ask questions, you must know the material pretty well.” It is very hard sometimes to get our youths to open up and express their feelings. So, I know it’s extremely hard for teachers to encourage class participation. I think that question helps the student and the teacher by interacting in an educational environment and also expressing your thoughts orally. Communication is the key to understanding information and others.

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES

Doug,
I think you and I have the same thought on the text when it mentioned that “Teaching is basically a combination of art and science.” This was well said by our authors. I know I don’t have any teaching experience as of yet, but by reading the chapters and taking in all of this teaching knowledge, I can see and understand what the authors meant by “art and science.”
When you were talking about communication and using examples on how teachers should take theater class and record or video tape their selves on how they use questioning strategies was wonderful. It’s funny to hear someone else other than a communications major to say that communication is a key factor in every industry we perform or participate in. My wife graduated the same time as me, in May, 2007 with a Finance degree. As I looked over the classes she had to take before we were getting into our majors, I noticed that she only had to take a freshman level speech class. So, I started doing some research and almost every business major had to take the standard freshman level speech class.
Now, universities graduate several millions or billions of business students out into the world with only freshman level speech courses. Don’t you think they need more public speaking practice to perform their job effectively and efficiently in order to climb the corporate ladder? I always gave my wife a hard time about how she will have to give a presentation one day and she’ll be sweating bullets in front of her bosses instead of students picking their noses or surfing the web on their lap tops.
You used a great example of how coaches sometimes use poor communication with their players. I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it when coaches get mad at their players and expect them to change their behavior or the skill at the drop of a dime. Some coaches don’t want to know why or what the problem is, they just want the self gratification that very moment in the field of play.
This chapter taught me a lot about questioning. Luckily I’ve acquired some of the tools of different questioning skills that were provided in most of my speech courses in my undergrad studies. This chapter of questioning makes me even more determined to teach speech to our youths. People need to learn how to communicate properly and successfully to make situations and relationships run smoothly, so why not teach that to individuals at an early age.

Margarita,

I also like the introduction about implementation. It sounds as though you implement well. Maybe you should use probing and redirecting techniques to get a clearer answer out of the students instead of reading your prepared questions. Ask why, what questions relating to the topic and use it in an example if possible relating to their favorite sport or actor.
It’s good to see you use open-ended questions. I asked if anyone of you teachers used this type of questioning in my RR. This is a great technique to use while analyzing a students understanding of a poem or literature. Self gratification that the students get from open-ended questioning is great and probably makes them feel confident.
I’m sorry about your appraisal situation. Do they come in your class every year or periodically monthly? It’s hard to keep students 100% quiet while working in groups. Even in all of my under grad speech courses, the decibel level was quite loud. Group work is brainstorming and helping other individuals in your group. Maybe the appraisal person didn’t know the definition of group work?
The wait time concept was pretty interesting. I didn’t know that someone had a developed a concept like this. I just thought it was rude to wait 1 second after you ask a question to someone. One second is not enough time for anyone to get their thought out, much less a young student. I’m glad you abide by the 3 second rule. Where did you learn this?
Critical thinking questions are pretty hard and getting someone to think critical is a challenge. It is even hard for college instructors to get their students to think critically. At times, it’s hard for me to think critical.
Questions that motivate students are a big plus. Any type of questioning motivates individuals, if you asks the right ones is the trick. That’s something that not only teachers, but individuals should and could work on. Working in retail I’ve noticed that people do not know how to talk to people in general. If you come across the wrong way, you get no respect from me. So, questioning can motivate anyone if you use a little probing and figure out where they are going with a topic.

Jana,
You are right Jana, question strategies is something that everyone should work on, not just in the education field, but in general. If a person learns how to ask a general question no matter what the situation is, he or she should be able to receive an exact or detailed response. Like you said, questions take time and experience if you want to get a positive response out of a lesson or out of an employer.
It’s great that you use low-level questions with the little ones. What other questions would you use besides low-level questions to start the year off? Doesn’t low-level question get the student involve with the activities and class participation? I think so, so it’s good that you start off with this type of questioning. I also agree with you when you said that questioning will help our student’s better speakers, writers and test takers. Looking back on high school, I wish I had asked more questions. Maybe I would have been a better test taker. Convergent and divergent were very good questioning concepts. Do you use either of them in you class?
Low versus high achievers was a great example that you gave. People do want to hear positive things and want self-gratification when receiving feedback from others. You’re not human if you don’t. I can see where you coming from and thank you for the heads up. I’ll try and remember to ask everyone, not just the high achievers in my class.

RESPONSES TO REPLIES

Dg,
Thanks for the encouraging words Doug. I know it's real hard to talk in front of people,
but if you are comfortable and interested in a subject it shouldn't be any problem.
I am usually the same way as you are. When you talk about wheelchair basketball, I
can talk about soccer all day. It's just our passion that's all!

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Outstanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.

9.5
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

9.5
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.

9.5
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

FE: Lesson Plan

Title: Persuasive Speech

Grade Level: 9th- - 12th Grade

Time Frame for Teaching: 50 min

Time Frame for Individual Speech: 3 to 5 min.

Goal:

A. Expect students to learn and understand how something said and how they physically present themselves is just as important as what they say.
B. Expect students to learn and understand the dynamics that are involved in an effective persuasive speech.
C. Expect students to improve their overall confidence in communicating and in public speaking.
D. Expect the students learn how to motivate their audience.
E. Expect students to learn how establish credibility in a presentation.

Objectives:

Students will learn and understand how to demonstrate appropriate public speaking and listening skills.
Students will learn and understand how to demonstrate the elements of persuasive speaking (e.g., body language, articulation, pronunciation, pitch, speed, pausing, volume, quality, and variance).
Students will learn and understand how to recognize the elements of personal credibility.
Students will learn and develop methods to analyze other students' speeches
Students will learn and understand how to outline main ideas.

Resources: Teacher will inform students that they can use or pick any topic that they want.

Anticipatory Set:

During the class discussion, I will define and explain to students how people make decisions based on what they see and hear.
I will also explain how sometimes we have to use skills to convince others about our positions.
I will have the students recall and list their own experiences trying to convince their friends about something, and then ask them to share their experiences with the class.
Procedure & Activity (Modeling by the Teacher):

A. The Procedure/Activity: I will inform the class that they will be participating in a persuasive speech. I will have the students pick out a proposition or topic that every student would not agree upon, like “chocolate ice cream taste better than vanilla ice cream. Given this information, have the students write a 3 to 6 minute speech in outline form to persuade the class, why chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla. Each student will then deliver this speech in front of the class while the rest of the students take notes and prepare to give the speaker feedback on the speech.

Guided Practice for Students:

Have the students define in class, the 9 academic elements of persuasion.
1) body language
2) articulation
3) pronunciation
4) pitch
5) speed
6) pausing
7) volume
8) quality
9) variance

Independent Practice/Homework for Students:

1) Students will now perform and demonstrate on their own, a persuasive speech.
2) They will pick any topic and present it to the class.
3) The persuasive speech has to be between 3 to 5 minutes.
4) I will critique their speech with a critique sheet that will be given to them a week before the oral assignment is due.

Elements that I will grade them on/ Critique Sheet:

1) Introduction:
a. Begin with an attention getter
b. Motivate audience
c. Establish credibility
d. Make your purpose clear
2) Main Ideas:
a. Were they easy to identify and follow
b. Were they arranged in an effective pattern
c. Were transitions used
3) Miscellaneous Items:
a. Articulation
b. Excessive mannerisms (e.g., uh, um, and uh, You know, plays with pencil, hair, and clothes, slouches, taps feet, reads their outline verbatim)
4) Conclusion:
a. Summarize main arguments
b. Ask audience questions
c. Close in a memorable way

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
I think that your reflection was great. Every individual needs to learn and understand the cardiovascular system. I wished I could have been one of your students when teaching this topic. I enjoyed how you incorporated games into the lesson which fit the type of learning environment that was needed at a day camp. Not to stressful, but fun. Like you responded, there is not a wrong way of doing cardio. The main factor is that we need some type of cardio in our lives, “so we don’t grow up/end up like our parents.” That was a good attention getter for the kids. I wasn’t able to download your lesson plan. Can you send it again in my mail box?

Margarita,
I enjoyed your social environment lesson plan. It was really easy to follow and informative. The hours, minutes, and seconds was one of my favorite lessons in my French class in high school and at the collegiate level. This a lesson plan that every individual needs to learn. I’m sure that the students enjoyed this lesson plan because it is essential in a social environment. I have not seen your reflection and I will respond to it as soon as you post it.

Kim,
I enjoyed reading your report. It had a wide spread of different conflicts. I want to
touch on the dress code situation. I’ve noticed at the schools I have been substituting at,
that the dress code is quite laxed, especially with the girls. Half the time, it looks like
there going bar hopping. The boys dress code is quite laxed also. A lot of kids get away
with wearing their pants sagged down to their knees. What is that all about? I substitute
teach at the high school level in Fort Worth ISD. They were thinking about promoting a
dress code at this level, but it never passed. At the middle school level, a dress code
has been enforced, but kid’s (boys) still get away with wearing saggy khaki pant now.
What do you do about that? In your Rene’s case, I’m sorry they can’t wear tank tops
even though we do live in Texas! (Scorching hot/humidity)
Theft is a socioeconomic conflict. It’s sad to say, but when you have social differences in
a public school environment, these things occur. When your daughter, Rene, mentioned
that her school had programs for students with ADHD, I thought that was wonderful. I
always wondered were there programs for students with this condition.
It is good to see that our schools are trying to accommodate student’s special needs.
These certain inclusion programs and other programs like Content Mastery have
developed into positive programs we can count on. Diversity is in every arena, but it is
how you deal with it, is the key to a successful learning and social environment.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Lesson Plan Rubric

Session Six:Lesson Plan DevelopmentDid the lesson plan include the following? Please rate on a scale of 0-10 the quality of the following elements.
Very near perfection!Exceptional Quality in content, mechanics, and organization.10-9.3

9.3
Exceeds ExpectationGives the required information in a correct neatly organized format.9.2-8.6
Meets minimal expectationGives the basics; may or may not be well organized and mechanically correct.8.5-7.9
Needs Improvement7.8-0
Title
The title clearly illustrates the context of the lesson and how the lesson relates to the unit as a whole.
9.3
The title illustrates the context of the lesson and how the lesson relates to the unit as a whole.
The title may be too vague or too specific to clearly illustrate the context of the lesson.
The title does not correspond to the lesson in any clear way.ORNo title provided.
Grade Level
The content is appropriate for the grade level selected, and it is linked to the TEKS for that level.

9.3
The content is appropriate for the grade level selected but it is not linked to the TEKS.
The content may be appropriate to the grade level with several modifications.
The content is not appropriate for the grade level OR the grade level was not specified.
Time Frame for Teaching
Time frame is provided and it is adequate for the amount of content and or activities.

9.3
Time frame is provided. The time allotted was less than 15 minutes under the required time to implement the lesson.
Time frame is provided. However, the time allotted was longer than needed or the implementation took longer than planned by 15 minutes or more.
Time frame is not provided. OR time frame was totally inaccurate.
Goal (Should be broad)
Goal is broad. It is a clear expression of what you expect your students to learn from the lesson. The connection of the goal and the lesson are clear.

9.3
Goal is broad; however, it does not express your expectations clearly. The connection of the goal and the lesson are not very clear.
Goal is too specific. OR the goal does not connect clearly connect to the lesson.
Goal is not provided.
Objective (s) (Must be specific and include behavior, condition, criteria)
The objectives are specific and well written. The
objective(s) specify what the students should know or be able to do at the end of lesson and provide a measurable outcome. The objectives correlate with the unit.

9.8
The objective specifies what the students should know or be able to do at the end of lesson and provides a measurable outcome.
The objective is missing the specifics of what the students should know at the end of the lesson OR the objective is missing a measurable outcome. The objective may not correlate with the unit.
The objective is not specific enough for a single lesson; it is not clear what the students should know or be able to do; no measurable outcome provided.
Resources:
Provided a complete list of all of the resources used during this lesson, such as text book, articles, websites, people, materials etc.

10
Provided a list of the most important resources used during the lesson. Left out common use items or resources.
Provided an incomplete list of resources used during the lesson. Key resources were left out.
Did not provide a list of resources used during the lesson.
Warm Up/Anticipatory Set/ or Introductory Activity
This activity was clearly identified and served the purpose of introducing the topic to the class. Students will be “hooked” to participate in the lesson.

9.5
This activity was present but not clearly identified or was not strong enough to engage students to participate in the lesson.
This activity was present but not identified and was not relevant enough to engage students to participate in the lesson.
This activity was not included in the lesson plan.
Procedures and Activity/iesModeling by the teacher
Provided detailed directions on how to present the lesson using modeling by the teacher to demonstrate the content. The procedures clearly relate to the content. The procedures will effectively facilitate student learning.

9.3
Provided directions on how to present the lesson using some modeling by the teacher to demonstrate the content. The procedures relate to the content. The procedures will facilitate student learning.
Provided steps to present the lesson, but the order may be unclear. Modeling by the teacher is limited. The procedures relate vaguely to the content. The procedures may facilitate student learning.
Procedures are not included or do not provide enough detail for another teacher to follow. Modeling by the teacher was not used. Procedures do not relate to the content and will not facilitate learning.
Procedures and Activity/ies Guided Practice (for the students)
Provided detailed directions on the procedures and activities using guided practice. The guided practice clearly relates to the content. The procedures will effectively facilitate student learning.

9.3
Provided directions on the procedures and activities using guided practice. The guided practice relates to the content. The procedures will facilitate student learning.
Provided steps for some of the procedures and activities using guided practice, but the order may be unclear. The procedures relate vaguely to the content. The procedures may facilitate student learning.
Procedures are not included or do not provide enough detail for another teacher to follow. Modeling by the teacher was not used. Procedures do not relate to the content and will not facilitate learning.
Procedures and Activity/ies Independent Practice (for the students)
Provided detailed directions on the procedures and activities that students will perform independently. The procedures clearly relate to the content. The procedures will effectively facilitate student learning.

9.3
Provided directions on the procedures and activities that students will perform independently The procedures relate to the content. The procedures will facilitate student learning.
Provided steps for some of the procedures and activities during independent practice, but the order may be unclear. The procedures relate vaguely to the content. The procedures may facilitate student learning.
Procedures are not included or do not provide enough detail for another teacher to follow. Independent practice activities were not used. Procedures do not relate to the content and will not facilitate learning.
Extension of Activities/Homework
The homework was an excellent extension of the lesson. Designed to reinforce and further expand the content of the lesson.

10
The homework was a good extension of the lesson. Designed to reinforce OR further expand the content of the lesson.
The homework did not clearly relate to the lesson. It did not reinforce the lesson OR it did not expand the content of the lesson.
There were no homework or extension activities.
TotalDivide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the Assessments Folder
104.4/11= 94

PART G) ACTIVITY III FIELD REPORT RUBRIC

Did I fully address each of the following questions?
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
1. How appropriate were the topics? Should they be taught again?
In your essay you thoroughly addressed how appropriate were the topics you selected and whether they should be taught again. You identified supporting evidence for your topic selection. (i.e. TEKS)

9.5
In your essay you addressed how appropriate were the topics you selected and whether they should be taught again. You identified supporting evidence for your topic selection. (i.e. TEKS)
In your essay you briefly addressed how appropriate were the topics you selected and whether they should be taught again. OR You did not identify supporting evidence for your topic selection. (i.e. TEKS)
Your essay does not clearly address how appropriate were the topics you selected. AND/Or you did not discuss whether they should be taught again. AND/OR you did not identify supporting evidence for your topic selection. (i.e. TEKS)
2. Was the sequence of topics appropriate? If not, how should they be sequenced?
In your essay you thoroughly discussed whether or not the sequence of topics was appropriate and why. If applicable, you thoroughly discussed how to sequence the topics more appropriately.
9.5
In your essay you discussed whether or not the sequence of topics was appropriate and why. If applicable, you discussed how to sequence the topics more appropriately.
In your essay you briefly discussed whether or not the sequence of topics was appropriate; if applicable, you briefly discussed how to sequence the topics more appropriately.
Your essay does not clearly address whether or not the sequence of topics was appropriate. AND/OR You did not discuss how to sequence the topics more appropriately.
3. Were my objective(s) appropriate for my students?
In your essay you thoroughly discussed if your objectives were appropriate for your students and why you feel that way. Cited sources to support your opinion (i.e. TEKS).

9.5
In your essay you discussed if your objectives were appropriate for your students and why you feel that way. Cited sources to support your opinion (i.e. TEKS).
In your essay you briefly discussed if your objectives were appropriate for your students and why you feel that way. OR you did not cite sources to support your opinion (i.e. TEKS).
Your essay does not clearly address if your objectives were appropriate for your students and why you feel that way. AND you did not cite sources to support your opinion (i.e. TEKS).
4. Was my instruction aligned? Did my lesson plans facilitate my unit plan, and were the procedures and assessments I specified consistent with my objectives?
In your essay you thoroughly discussed how your instruction was aligned. Provided 3 or more examples of how the lesson facilitates the unit plan and how the procedures and assessments were consistent with the goal and objectives of the lesson.

9.5
In your essay you discussed how your instruction was aligned. Provided 2 examples of how the lesson facilitates the unit plan and how the procedures and assessments were consistent with the goal and objectives of the lesson.
In your essay you briefly discussed how your instruction was aligned. Provided one example of how the lesson facilitates the unit plan and how the procedures and assessments were consistent with the goal and objectives of the lesson.
Your essay does not clearly discuss how your instruction was aligned. AND/OR You did not provide examples of how the lesson facilitates the unit plan. AND/OR you did not address how the procedures and assessments were consistent with the goal and objectives of the lesson.
5. Were the procedures I used as effective as they might have been? If not, what procedures might have been better?
In your essay you thoroughly addressed whether or not the procedures selected were completely effective and if applicable, also discussed 3 or more alternate procedures that could have been more effective than the ones selected.

9.5
In your essay you addressed whether or not the procedures selected were completely effective and if applicable, also discussed 2 alternate procedures that could have been more effective than the ones selected.
In your essay you briefly addressed whether or not the procedures selected were completely effective and if applicable, briefly discussed 1 alternate procedure that could have been more effective than the ones selected.
Your essay does not clearly address whether or not the procedures selected were effective. AND/OR you did not discuss any alternate procedures that could have been more effective than the ones selected.
6. Did the materials I used adequately represent the topic? What representations would have made the topic more understandable?
In your essay you thoroughly addressed whether or not the materials used were adequate to represent the topic, and if applicable, also addressed what materials would have been more appropriate.

9.5
In your essay you addressed whether or not the materials used were adequate to represent the topic, and if applicable, also addressed what materials would have been more appropriate.
In your essay you briefly addressed whether or not the materials used were adequate to represent the topic, and if applicable, also briefly addressed what materials would have been more appropriate.
In your essay you briefly addressed whether or not the materials used were adequate to represent the topic, and if applicable, also briefly addressed what materials would have been more appropriate.
7. Is there a way that I could have made the overall environment more conducive to learning?
In your essay you considered the environment where you taught the class and thoroughly discussed how it could have been made more conducive to learning.

9.5
In your essay you considered the environment where you taught the class and discussed how it could have been made more conducive to learning.
In your essay you considered the environment where you taught the class and you briefly discussed how it could have been made more conducive to learning.
In your essay you did not considered the environment where you taught the class. AND/OR did not discuss how it could have been made more conducive to learning.

TotalDivide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the Assessments Folder

66.5/7= 95

Competency 005: The teacher knows how to establish a classroom climate that fosters learning, equity, and excellence and uses this knowledge to create a physical and emotional environment that is safe and productive.

Reflection:
In regards to this competency, I understand the importance of classroom management and its prevention methods. In my chapter 9 reading, I learned the prerequisites of effective management. I understand how a well managed classroom and a positive classroom climate supports effective learning and how it can create a physical and emotional, safe and productive classroom environment. Also in my readings and other exercises that I participated in through out the course, I have the knowledge of planning an effective management environment by creating and establishing clear rules and procedures. I also have recognized and have taken into account the developmental characteristics of students and the arrangement of a physical environment to avoid disruptions.
A field report that I conducted fostered my learning of an effective classroom management objective and in result, increases higher learning achievement and learner motivation. In this particular field report in session 9, I was to conduct and interview and find out how a teacher organizes her classroom to prevent management problems.

Coursework (Session 9):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Reader Response Report

Classroom Management vs. Classroom Discipline:

Until I read this section in chapter 9, I did not know that there was a difference between the two. Our text says that “Management refers to teacher’s strategies that create and maintain an orderly learning environment, whereas discipline involves teacher responses to student behavior, such as talking inappropriately, leaving desks without permission, making hostile or sarcastic remarks, or more seriously, fighting and assaults” (Jacobsen, 290). Is discipline to harsh of a word to use for our authors? In some ways I disagree with this their comparisons between the two words.

Outcomes of Effective Management:

To maintain an effective managed classroom, our text says that there are two components that must be involve. First, in the classroom, a teacher must obtain increased achievement. Increased achievement occurs when there is student engagement, a decrease in disruptive behavior, and an enhancement use of instructional time. Increased motivation in the classroom occurs when teachers are seeking student input on instructional and management issues, the teacher then promotes ownership and involvement. I would love to have these two components in my classroom. In my opinion, it takes good planning and strong rules to enforce this type of strategy in the classroom.

Classroom Climate:

As a teacher, you have to have a good classroom climate in order to have an effective learning environment. Our text says that classroom climate revolves around a feeling of some sort from the student. A student must feel that his or her environment is healthy, positive, and supportive. A student must also feel a sense of capability and security. Like our text mentioned, we’ve all been in classes that didn’t have these elements in them and we preferred other classes to go to instead of the cold climate ones. What I mean by cold climate, I mean that the classroom has constant disruption, negative views about any situation, no structure and a feeling of not safe.

Teacher Characteristics:

To be an effective teacher in a class management scheme, a teacher must hold certain characteristics to achieve his or her goal in the classroom. Caring is one characteristic you must show to give the student a sense of capability or a sense of trust. Students that think a teacher cares when he or she listens and tries to see things from a student’s perspective. This is one characteristic that I will definitely have with some students because I know where their coming from because I wasn’t a good student in high school. A teacher shows that they care when they create a safe and secure learning environment and helps with school work by making sense of the learning task. Be mobile. Do not stay at your desk like a snail. A teacher should move around and help students who need help and be supportive.
Being firm is the second characteristic that a teacher should obtain. Being firm helps the student develop a sense of responsibility and holds them accountable for their actions. I’ve seen many teachers that have a laxed attitude and their class is a total chaos. You must be firm, but fair so students are not afraid to raise their hand and ask questions. A teacher’s demeanor and facial expressions must be inviting sometimes, in order for a student come to you for advice or even just trust in you about problem that they may have. You don’t want to be one of those teachers who look like and acts like a drill sergeant! Kids are scared of you all the time and won’t confide in you if you partake in this type of attitude.
Teacher’s have to model by enthusiasm to get the student to enjoy what their leaning. If a teacher is not enthusiastic about a chapter the class is about to go over, don’t let the students know that you are not interested in that chapter. This type of communication shows that you’re negative about the chapter and your class may act figity or bored or even disruptive.
This falls under the next characteristic about setting high expectations for your students. If you set high expectations for yourself, you should set high expectations for your students. This takes a lot of support and dedication from the teacher because you will have some students in your class that you call on who usually give you that correct answer to a problem. In this case, you have to call on everyone to show that class that you are concerned about the class climate. Don’t just call on the smart students, call on the ones who maybe shy or the ones who are disruptive just to get their attention. As teacher, just be aware of these actions.

Management and Instruction:

Great information I can use in this section. Our texts states, “it is virtually impossible to maintain and orderly classroom in the absence of effective instruction and vice versa” (Jacobsen, 295). One element they are book discusses in this section is organization. Starting on time and having the student’s materials layed out on their desks, shows that you are in control of the class. The opposite of organization is when a teacher takes several minutes to check role, fumble with papers at the desk and starting writing the assignment up on the board. The characteristics of organization that our text displayed on Table 9.1, was very helpful for me as an up and coming teacher. I think the most important characteristic that I have to work on is transition. Making transitions sounds and seems hard on paper. Is for you teachers out there?
Time is essential in the classroom. Researchers say that teacher spend most of their time on nonistructional activities. Is that a true statement? In my opinion, if you have good classroom management skills and you are very organized, that teacher should be able to cover the lesson plan in an efficient manner, right?
Lesson focus, student involvement, and feedback are all elements that fall under management and instruction. I think that all of these elements play a major role in the management of a classroom. Lesson focus, promotes attention from the students by using a chalkboard, overheads, and demonstrations. Should you or should you not turn you back to the class, when writing on the chalk board? Probably not, because I remember when I was in school and I knew what other student and me did when a teacher turned their back to the class. Now I know why they use overheads! Student involvement increases learning, therefore, it helps prevent management problems. Giving feedback to students is also an important factor because it gives students information about accuracy of their understanding and it helps satisfy their need of how they are progressing or not.
Review and closure is another important factor in management and instruction. A review summarizes previous work and lets the student’s know what’s coming up in the next chapter so to speak. Closure comes at the end of the lesson, pulling content together and signaling the end of the lesson. How do you prevent students from closing their books and zipping up their backpacks when you start your closing remarks? It is my pet peeve when students do that in my college courses. It is a sign of disrespect because the teacher has not finished her statement.

Creating Classroom Rules:

This is probably my favorite section in our text so far. If you don’t have consistent, stern, effective, but fair classroom rules, good luck through out the year. As one of our students said or used in one of her reader responses, FE’s or in my classroom management class, “Don’t Smile until Christmas!” I love that statement. Every item in this section is pertinent to an effective classroom management environment. But, there are two rules that I have a hard time swallowing. That rule is providing rationales for rules and soliciting student input in creating rules. I grew up in a very authoritarian household and my brothers and I never ask the question why, we just did, if you get my point. So, times have changed and I know it is therapeutic to enforce the rationale of rules and student input in creating rules. But, one day, I would like to send you guys a survey I conducted in one of my undergrad speech classes. This survey involved corporal punishment and one of the questions involved parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and indulgent-permissive). The results were pretty interesting if anyone would like to see it. Why should students get to implement their own rules, when it is not there class?

Creating Classroom Procedures:

I am sure creating classroom procedures is a job in itself. Some of these procedures involve beginning the school day, dealing with absences and tardies, entering and exiting the classroom, making transitions from one activity to another, turning in homework, sharpening pencils, and asking for help. Our text says that the procedures that deal with these activities must be well established where students do not have to be told over and over. This is where planning comes in because if those activities are not established, you then spend most of the period reminding your students about them. I also noticed that when substitute teaching an elementary class versus a middle school. The procedures were quite different. The hardest time I had at the elementary level is the sharpening the pencil procedure. I had never experienced subbing at the elementary level, so I wasn’t quite informed of the class climate. Therefore, the teacher did not give instructions on what to do or when is a good time to do it. At the end of the day, I lost about 5lbs. and I came to the conclusion that I never want to teach at the K-4 level ever! I really praise elementary teachers to the fullest. My personality is made for the high school level and I am not that nurturing. Not that much! I never got the concept of sharpening pencils until I left there. Now, I get it.
In this section, I had no idea that creating or planning a physical environment could increase achievement in leaning and class management. Our text mentioned visibility. I never knew that teachers had certain ways of designing the desks to get clear view of monitoring students and for instruction.
The book illustrated different types of seating arrangements. I thought that this was a good idea because it gave me some different alternatives to go by, when my time comes in setting up my classroom. There is one seating arrangement that I didn’t see in our text. I’ve been in some classes where the teachers desk in located behind or in the back of the room, facing the student’s backs. This arrangement wasn’t too bad because I could see everything that went on in class. Is this an effective arrangement or not?

Teaching Rules and Procedures:

In this section, I noticed that teaching procedures to students must be treated as concepts and taught with examples. In this situation, I think I would have to physically show my students what I want and need to be done. That’s just so they can visualize what needs to be done when you ask a question or ask permission to leave your seat. I liked the examples our text used when teaching procedures. I guess with younger students, a teacher’s procedures have to be specific and concrete. Now, at the secondary level, do the procedures have to be explicitly taught to the students?

The Beginning of the School Year:

Not that I paid most of my attention to all the sections in our text, but this is one section that I put extreme attention to. Is the first day the most important day of the school year? I think so because you get to enforce rules and procedures and try and get to know the students. For me, I’m going over my rules and procedures that entire class time to explain clearly my expectations of them and what I will not tolerate. Once these rules are embedded in them, I hope I shouldn’t have any problems in the disruptive department, but everyday is a new day.

Communication with Parents:

Good advice was given in this section about how teacher should go beyond the tradition of parent-teacher conferences. My question is why wouldn’t teachers encourage parents to be involved with their child’s academic career? Parents play a major role in a child’s learning environment. I wish my mom would have been more supportive in my studies when I was in high school. Instead, my brother Stephon helped me with my lesson because my mom worked the second shift and my parents were divorced at the time, so there was no parental advice, instruction, or support in the household when I got home from soccer, football, practice. So, I urge any parent to try and be a part of their child’s academic career, which could really benefit them in the long run.
Our text says that sending communication home with students is a not good. There could be grammatical errors in the letter you send to the parents, which could cause a lack of credibility towards you as the teacher. I’ve never heard of that before, but I guess that could be a problem. I would think that teacher’s would edit or get some else to edit a letter that’s going out to parents, just to see if it accommodating to the parents. Wouldn’t you?
The text also discusses calling the parent. This is important for two reasons. First, it strongly communicates caring. Second, it allows you to be specific in describing a student’s strengths and weaknesses. This is my strong suit. I would love to call or meet with parents because this is a more formal communication method, versus e-mailing. That’s just my old school coming out! I know e-mail is more efficient, but sometimes you’re dealing with parents who like the old school method of calling and meeting depending on their age.
E-mails feeds into technology in the classroom. I like the example our text used about e-mailing the parents out a newsletter each week to update them on current events. This is a great way to encourage technology in the classroom. However, some parents don’t have computers at home, so it’s hard to e-mail them. Our text also said that teacher’s ask their students to hand deliver the newsletter to the parents. Do you think that’s really going to happen? Depending on how well your students are responsible, probably, 50% of the time the parents won’t get their newsletter. So, I would just bite the bullet and mail them out. It’s probably an out of pocket expense, but it would surely help me on the academic and classroom management playing filed for parents’ input and involvement.

Diversity in the Classroom: Communication with Parents

Communication with parents in a diverse environment is a challenging situation at hand, economically, culturally, and linguistically. The teachers in my field report have told me that the language barrier is difficult with parents. Most of times, the Spanish speaking students have to relay the message in Spanish to their parents. If communication breaks down during this situation, how do you resolve it or make it clearer? If you’re listening Margarita, can I hire you to be my translator if I happen to have Spanish speaking parents in my parent-teacher conference?

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Dg,
There are a couple of points that you mentioned that I would like to comment on. In one paragraph, you talked about students no showing respect to teachers. I also think that is one of the main problems with students today, R.E.S.P.E.C.T.! It makes me kind of wonder, if teachers are not consistent with rules and procedures in the classroom, how are they with their own children? That maybe a different subject, but the same concept should apply at times. Don’t you think? You are so right. If there are not clear cut rules, procedures and consequences for behavior, kids will take advantage of you quickly. And kids will be kids, so consistently you have to stay on them and keep them in check. You made excellent points and used good examples on behavior and Pavlov’s dogs.
That was a funny situation between Dustin, Chris and the teacher. I see how feedback would play an important role in a student’s life. I kind of see the teacher’s point when you have a million things throw into your plate and you’re trying to monitor everyone in the class, quick, negative feedback would probably be the only solution in that manner, don’t you think? But, I also see where consistency plays a part in this too.
You also mentioned on lesson focusing by using the example of a girl who didn’t focus because a particular skill didn’t involve her. When I’m coaching this is something I would like to work on. It seems pretty challenging when have players who are not focused on what you’re trying to explain to them on the field and off. Is there an effective way in keeping a person’s focus? Just sitting in a collegiate classroom is sometimes hard to focus because you have several things rolling around in your brain. it is hard to concentrate at times.
Review and closure is something I would like to work on also. You made the comment that students are more likely to remember that first thing and the last thing that they hear. In writing and in speaking, I have the same problem. I have a strong introduction, but my conclusion is lacking at times. So, in the conclusion of class or on the field, do you reinforce what practice skills or activities you went over that day?
I agree with you on the communication section with parents. There are times when the language barrier gets challenging in some schools. I ask one of our classmates, do they have someone to translate a parent-teacher conference when that occurs? She hasn’t responded yet. I also asked Margarita if I could hire her as a translator if/when that occurs. Parents do know most of the times what is going on in their child’s life and I believe that they will tell the teacher to help him/her along the way to get a better understanding of where the students is coming from.

Jana,
You made some great suggestions in your first paragraph about new teachers getting more experienced in the classroom. I also asked a couple of my teacher friends who have taught 7 to 8 years, did college prepare them for the classroom. I won’t tell what the first thing that came out of their mouth’s, but the last word was no! Since cultural diversity is increasing by the minute in our society, why doesn’t our educational system create an observation class or system like you discussed? That would be awesome. There are also some teachers out there who have never been surrounded by other cultures, so how do we (administration, college educational programs) expect these individuals to succeed in this type of environment if they have no clue about another culture’s learning styles and their emotional and social communication skills? Maybe I should promote a class like this when I finish my master’s.

Margarita,
1) The prevention of management problems is a challenging goal to accomplish, and I cannot image how hard it was to start developing strategies during the middle of the school year. I am glad that you picked up some tools from our 5329 that you will implement in your class. I think after reading sections in our 5329 text, will get anyone ready for their first day of class.
2) Increased motivation is great when a teacher has this in his/her classroom. If motivation is absent, learning would not be productive. I also agree with the text when it said that classroom management is the foundation of a motivating classroom.
3) It seems for awhile that your classroom climate for engaging students to learn was a bit shaky. But, you reflected back on your mistakes and modified your lesson plans. You are the perfect example of what our text said about reflection. We all make mistakes and for someone to reflect on those mistakes, makes that person a more effective teacher.
4) Margarita, I’m so glad that you will start out this year to be firm. From reading your RR’s, it seemed as though you had a hard time with punishing students or not being firm enough. Now that you’ve read of this information on “firmness,” you shouldn’t have a problem this year. Firmness is my middle name. When I substitute teach, I can only get away with so many things in the classroom because it is not mine. Now, there are some situations I would entirely do different when I have a classroom because some of the teacher’s who I subbed for, let students get away with a lot on nonsense. NOT ME!
5) As a beginning teacher, I would expect for me and others to fumble with papers because of nervousness. That’s human! When you found something that wasn’t working, you changed direction by finally memorizing names where you could just look at the assigned seating chart and mark them absent. How long did it take for you to memorize all your student’s names? And how do you remember all your student’s name, is there a trick you use?
6) Man, your school didn’t give you much leeway in class did they? I can’t believe you couldn’t create your own procedures, but I guess the school has there own for every teacher to follow, correct?
7) The ideas you had for decorating your room were great. That’s one thing that I will need major help on. Some of your ideas were used in my college French class. I’m trying to figure out what do I decorate my room for a Speech class? I’ll probably have several posters of soccer games and individuals that are great in soccer, since I will be coaching the sport.

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.
9.8
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.
9.8
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.
9.8
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.
10
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.
39.4/40= 98

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

FE Report

Several teachers have different techniques when it comes to designing their class rooms in order to maintain or prevent a hostile environment. Placing desks in a circle or lining desks in straight lines can promote a positive or negative learning effect in certain classrooms. In this report, I interviewed through e-mail, a high school Spanish teacher named Margarita. Through out our interview, we discussed how she organizes her classroom to prevent classroom management problems.
Seating arrangements can be difficult to establish, but if planned in advanced, a classroom climate can be quite a learning experience. For large group instruction, Margarita places the first five rows facing the front and the next two rows facing the first five rows. This arrangement lets her get to her students easily and efficiently. For small group discussion, she forms groups of four in order to have interactive conversations in Spanish where each of her students had roles and responsibilities to fill.
As far as organization goes, Margarita places her rules and procedures at the front of the classroom where her students can see them. She also places projects on a smaller board and leaves the written instructions up on the board until the project is due. Margarita writes the bell ringer to the right of the board and the daily objectives to the left of the board to have a proper visual affect for her students.
In every class, there is always some type of disruption of some sort. Whether it’s someone dropping the pencil sharpener or a student disrespecting a teacher, disruption will occur periodically. To prevent or alleviate disruption, there are several rules and procedures that teachers implement. Margarita has implemented three rules. These three rules consist of respecting yourself and others, bring school supplies, and come to class on time. She arrived at these three rules by engaging in certain effective methods in her practicum class, 5315.
Teachers also implement different techniques in there class procedures to develop an effective way for student to have a safe, learning classroom climate. Margarita’s procedures consists of collecting your folder on your way in, be in your seats when the first bell rings, raise your hand when you have a question, you must get permission before you go to the restroom or to drink water, no more than one person should be standing up to sharpen the pencil, you must turn in your finished work before you leave the classroom, you must not use profanity in the classroom, and you must use your quiet voice when working in groups. All of these procedures that Margarita mentioned are effective and useful. Hopefully when I begin my first day of class, some of these procedures may be in one of my rules and procedure’s binder. Margarita came to the conclusion that in order to have control in her class, these procedures must be implemented.
Our text says that an effective teacher usually reflects on their mistakes at the end of the day. They ask themselves, what could they have done better? What impacted the students the most or least? In Margarita’s case, the rules on respecting yourself and others is what impacted her student’s the most. More than likely, if students respect themselves, the chances are they will respect others. Margarita also adds, “When this happens, then labels, profanity, offensive comments, anger, and other negative classroom characteristics disappear or are minimized.”
The least impact that Margarita’s students dealt with is the procedure of “you must turn in your work before you leave the classroom.” In her class, many students want to receive a grade because they do not want to carry extra papers home. Times have changed. If I didn’t bring something home that related to school, I practically got the third degree from my parents. Of course, I was fortunate enough to have concerned parents like most of these students should have. Wouldn’t you think?
Overall, I thought that the interview went well and we touched upon very pertinent topics regarding the prevention of classroom management problems. Margarita’s rules and procedures and her organizational skills definitely encouraged me to try out some of these techniques in my future endeavor in the classroom.

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Dg,
I like the statement you made about prevention. “If prevention is the key to classroom management and discipline, then awareness is the key to good prevention.” I also enjoyed coach’s rules and procedure. They were concise and straight forward. I also liked the physical and mental break during practice. What does he go over during this period of time?
You also talked about expectation. Coach expects his players when they step onto the court to contribute and be a part of the team where everyone is trying to achieve the same goal. If students can take the same attitude when they step into the classroom, then there shouldn’t be a learning problem. Unfortunately, everything isn’t gravy like that.
Great example on showing what sportsmanship is like. I cannot believe that a player would do that. I think coach did the right thing and your right. Synergy for the team is very important and if a player or student ruins the synergy of the group or team, that team or group will not be productive.
In this situation, I like how players/students are involved in making there own rules in regards what’s best for the team. You mentioned that one of the rules was that they were not to drink alcohol during the week. Good choice! This is so they can bring there “A” game for practice and tournaments. But do you think that at the secondary and elementary level that student’s should make there own rules?

Margarita,
I liked Mrs. Sadberry’s seating arrangement when she taught English. Her seating chart was a bit unorthodox because I’m use to seeing desks in rows of 5 to 7. This does create a better group engagement for the entire class. And I also liked how this seating arrangement made the student’s more enthusiastic.
Mrs. Sadberry also made some good points about classroom rules and procedures. I can’t believe she had only 3 rules. But, these 3 rules worked great in her class. She stated that the most important component is to get students to learn how to respect themselves and others. Where do you think this type of behavior comes from? Why do so many students have a hard time with the respect issue? I know where it’s coming from, but do they have to bring it to school? Mrs. Sadberry sounded like a very good classroom management teacher and a teacher in general when she was in the classroom, before she became a VP.

Jana,
No matter how old the students are, I think the kindergarten teacher’s rules can apply at the secondary level because some of them act like kindergarteners. I liked how her rules were short and to the point. She created rules that didn’t allow too much confusion. I think I will add some of these to my list of rules when I get my own class.
I like the green, yellow, and red cards for misbehaving. This displays a visual and mental picture for her students to see what they have done wrong. Do you think I could use this system at the secondary level? Just kidding! Taking away privileges is just something that you have to do to let them know that you, the teacher, means business.
Her seating arrangement is fantastic. I like how she moves the talkative students close to her desk. I saw that a lot at the elementary and sometimes at the middle school level, when I was substitute taught. You would think that all the methods that she uses would carry on to the secondary level, but somehow it slips between the cracks.
The teacher you interviewed seemed like an incredible teacher. She’s very experienced and she sounds like she’s stern, but fair in her rules and procedures. I wish I could observe her class one day to see how her students behave and learn.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Session NineField Report
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3Exceptional Quality in content, mechanics, and organization10
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6Gives the required information in a correct neatly organized format9-8
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9 Gives the basics; may or may not be well organized and mechanically correct7
Room to Improve7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.

9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.
9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from an interview with ONE teacher to find how he/she organizes his/her classroom to prevent management problems.
You discussed in depth your findings from one teacher on how he/she organizes his/her classroom to prevent management problems. Included 2 or more experiences that influenced your interviewee in organizing his/her classroom.

9.5
You discussed your findings from one teacher on how he/she organizes his/her classroom to prevent management problems. Included 1 or 2 experiences that influenced your interviewee in organizing his/her classroom.
You discussed your findings from one teacher on how he/she organizes his/her classroom to prevent management problems. But you did not include experiences that influenced your interviewee in organizing his/her classroom.
The discussion was very superficial and you did not include experiences that influenced your interviewee in organizing his/her classroom.
Compare and/or contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing the chapter.
You thoroughly discussed how the knowledge gained from your interview compares with what you have learned so far about classroom management.
9.5
You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interview compares with what you have learned so far about classroom management.
You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about classroom management.
Your report provided only superficial discussion on the comparison between your interview and your text about classroom management.
Provided comments to at least two colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.
10
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.
48/50= 96

Competency 009: The teacher incorporates the effective use of technology to plan, organize, deliver, and evaluate instruction for all students.

Reflection:
In relation to this competency, I have learned and discovered that technology is an essential part of instruction to help students develop critical, problem solving and inquiry skills. I have also developed the knowledge of using technology to help plan, organize, deliver, and assess student’s academic growth. In my course readings which fell under chapter 8 of our text, I have also learned that technology has a major impact on instruction in the classroom. For example, the presence of computers have developed in basic skills like math and reading, which has increased a higher level of learning, like problem solving and inquiry. I have also learned how to incorporated technology through instruction by creating certain practice drills, tutorials, and simulations in order for students to get a better understanding of the subject content.
My reading reflections, web exercises, and field reports I have completed, have helped me to understand fully the impact that technology has influenced instruction, student learning and assessment in a diverse learning and cultural environment.

Coursework (Session 8):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Session 8: All Work

Part A) READER RESPONSE

Reader Response: Session 8

Multicultural Education:

When I think of multicultural I think of diversity in the classroom. Diversity in the classroom for the teacher is challenging. In a positive way, different ethnic groups and classes can and may learn from each other and the teacher also. It also brings into the classroom a variety of ways to teach. In a negative sense, diversity brings several different types of personalities into the classroom where conflict strongly exists. For a teacher, he or she will have to sift through and find out how and why these different behaviors function. Get to know yours students, find out what there favorite color is or who is there favorite basketball player and why. Doing the little things will help you have a comfortable and inviting learning environment. Our text defines multicultural as a “comprehensive term for a variety of strategies schools use to accommodate cultural differences and provide educational opportunities for all students” (Jacobsen, 259). This is a good textbook way of defining this style of education.

Culturally Responsive Teaching:

This type style of teaching accommodates and acknowledges culturally diverse classrooms. It’s a given when teaching in Texas, diversity will always exist. So, I hope that several teachers will learn how to relate to their diverse student population. If not, there are going to wind up like Joanna, a teacher in our case study in my EDUC 5329 class where she quit teaching when she found that she couldn’t not reach her students because she was not prepared for a diverse classroom. Our text gives us many components of culturally responsive teaching. One is a creation of a positive classroom where every student is treated with respect and is valued. Second is a communication of positive expectations for the students. Third is attempting to interacting and integrating within the classroom and in the curriculum. Fourth is using teaching strategies that build on a student’s background and strengths. All of these components must be implemented to have a comfortable learning in environment is our diverse classrooms.

Teaching ELL Students:

When I first read this section, I was amazed on the numbers. There are approximately 28% of ELL students in Texas and 30 years from now, that number will triple. Our text also says and I agree that diversity is a challenge because instruction is mostly taught verbally. It makes me realize that I should have taken Spanish in college instead of French. I knew that our state was flourishing with diversity, but I had no idea how fast. The table that our text shows on page 261 is very detailed and clear. The section about immersion was fascinating. The sink or swim approach sounds very hard on the students and this may make a student’s self-esteem quite low, don’t you think? When they say that immersion and ELL programs emphasize a rapid transition to English, how fast is and do most of the students pretty fluent or not?
Our text said to add to our repertoire strategies to help ELL students learn both English and academic content. I think that my subject matter of Speech will help those individuals tremendously. Not only will they’ll be able to speak clear English, but they will leave my room with the confidence of speaking English clearly and properly. I noticed in my interviewing other teachers that Mrs. Kirkley is dealing with this situation her first year in her school. Approximately 80% of her school is Hispanic and she sometimes has a hard time getting the parents to come to a parent/student conference because some of the parents do not speak English. I really feel for her because she has to jump through many hoops to find a resolution to a student’s behavioral problems that may exist in her classroom.

Teaching “At Risk” Students:

There are many personalities and concerns that students bring into the classroom and one of them falls under the “at risk” label. These students consists of behaviors like, lower economic status, inner city residence, minority status, divorced parents and little or no familiarity of English. I didn’t realize what “at risk” meant until I read this section in our text. The drop out rate is astonishing and shocking. Reading these numbers saddens me and makes me more motivated in helping theses types of kids. I know there are some students out there that cannot be reached, but it doesn’t hurt to try. This is our future and it is looking pretty scary at the moment, so we as teachers must do our jobs successfully because if I had kids I would not want my kids growing up in a helplessness learning society.

Effective Learning Environment for “At Risk” Students:

Unfortunately, students who are placed at risk need supportive learning environments. This involves focusing on respect between teachers and students, personal responsibility, and cooperation. For a school to obtain these components, they must include: safe, orderly school climate and purpose behind classroom rules, academic objectives focusing on content mastery, caring and demanding teachers and high expectations for each student, cooperation, sense of community and social values. The mission statement for this at risk environment of learning is “You can and will succeed if you try.” I really like this mission statement. I think I will use this statement in my room while I’m decorating my new classroom.

Effective Teachers for Students Placed at Risk:

It takes a certain kind of teacher that deals with at risk students on a daily basis. This type of teacher needs to be skilled in making instructional decisions that encourage challenge and support of the student. I enjoyed reading the example given by our text about the 9th grader’s response. He said it’s like being a family. They argue sometimes but they make up. He also said that in his class, teachers get on you, but they try to make you understand what’s in the future. I’m sure this student didn’t notice, but he just made an analogy of what teachers are suppose to do. Support, motivate, and encourage a student using real life examples during the process of their content. Another student in our text named Melinda says that she acts different in her teacher’s class because the teacher is himself. He laughs and has fun with the students and he’s not trying to be what somebody else wants him to be. Now that’s what I’m talking about. This teacher sounds like me. There is a time to laugh and a time to be serious. You just have to know how to cut on and off these personality traits. It’s ok to be yourself because it’s obvious that students pay attention toward a teacher’s actions and responses. If you show empathy and sympathy, most of the times a student will respect that and listen closely to what you have to say.
The text also gives definitions for low and high impact teachers. Between the two, they are night and day. My personality falls under the high impact section. It is just in my nature to care and support individuals, especially our youth. For example, I substitute teach for a P.E. teacher who also coach’s tennis. These students have the same characteristics of “at risk” students. The kids in the P.E. class and his tennis class either hate to see me or love to see me. I’m hard on the ones who don’t participate in P.E. because I know they can do better, but I also pull those type students to the side and ask them “what’s wrong today buddy, are you sick or something?” “Why are you not doing your exercises today?” If you approach a student nicely, 90% of the time they will cooperate. The other 10% I won’t discuss. There was female student in my P.E. class that had the symptoms of alienation. She was an outcast because I think her boyfriend wanted her to be in a gang, but she was doubtful. So, I asked her, what’s wrong with you today. And she told her situation. Before our conversation, I had already built a rapport with her, as I try to do almost every student. It’s kind of hard when you sometimes have 50 to 60 students in a P.E. class to try and build a rapport, but I try. Meanwhile, I asked this young lady, how many Hispanic gangs are there? Believe it or not, she wrote down about 10 gangs and told me which colors they wore. After our conversation of me telling her that I grew up in the “hood” she was shocked of the stories I told her and was amazed of where I am today. The next year, that young girl broke up with her boyfriend and started to come to class more often.

Inclusion:

This section was very informative and I learned a great deal. I’m glad that students with disabilities are in the same classroom as regular students. Back when my older brother, Stephon, who is totally blind, was not involved in mainstreaming. Times have changed for the better I see and the laws are fair now towards students with disabilities. I’m sure that inclusion is very challenging for a teacher because you have to design and implement special programs for these students individually according to the nature of their disability. The table on page 273 explains in detail the IEP program and how it works. This is a great system and are there other systems in place like this one? Also, are there any of you that have special education students or students with exceptionalities in your class? If so, in a brief paragraph, what is the process like?

Diversity and Technology:

Technology is growing as fast as we speak. It is amazing how schools obtain a slew of computers. When I was in high school, I can remember there wasn’t such a class call keyboarding. It was called typing. Yes, typing on an electrical typewriter. My brother Stephon told me to taking typing because you may need this in the long run. He was right. I’m just glad I’m not a pecker on the computer like most of my peers. I did not realize that computers were being viewed as essential parts of instruction to helps students develop critical thinking skills. I hope that UTA offers a course in technology in regards to the “seeking certification program” because I’m a slow learner when it comes to computers.

Part B) READER RESPONSE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
Our society is diverse and like you said, it is increasing every second. I don’t think student’s at the undergrad level has gotten any experience in diversity through the undergrad Teacher program. I’m friends with a teacher who I interview consistently in my EDUC 5329 class and she said that the classes that she took at the undergrad level did not prepare her enough for the “real world” of public schools. And another point I would like to make is that colleges in their education program should offer information about substitute teaching and how it gives you a chance to be in a learning diverse environment. I always wanted to teach and coach, so when I went back to school part time and wanted to see how schools were like now, I decided to get a job substitute teaching. I applied to both Fort Worth ISD and Keller ISD because I attended a school in the Fort Worth district and my wife attended Keller High. It was night and day between the two districts, but I saw that students in the Fort Worth district were less fortunate that students in the Keller district so felt like I could contribute more to the my own district that I attended during grade school and high school.

After reading your response, I’m so glad to hear that your friend got motivated and is going to attend UTA. And about your two questions about how did your friend slip through the cracks? Well, I’m not stung on that situation. You have some teachers that just don’t care. I think these teachers are labeled low-impacted teachers from our text. The situation on “at risk” students is troublesome and I hope one day that our educational system will create better alternatives and solutions to the problem. And like you stated, students who have parents that are involved in their students education, is more likely to receive attention than the student who do not support their child at the academic level. It is a sad case and teacher’s already have there hands filled twice. Answer me this, why is teacher’s pay so low if we are practically raising some of these students on a daily basis versus there parents? Maybe we should send our responses to Perry and Bush and let them respond to our concerns about the educational environment.

I can relate to your situation about the inclusion of disabled students. My brother is visually impaired/totally blind and has done wonders for himself. Unfortunately, when he was going to school, inclusion did not exist. But having a supportive and loving family encouraged my brother to advance himself into being just like one of the guys. Stephon, my brother did just about anything he could physically do as a child and a student. He would play basketball in our driveway with my oldest brother and me. My dad and his best friend took us all skiing one time and Stephon enjoyed skiing with my dad and me. And in 8th grade, he started wrestling for the Fort Worth Wrestling club and got me involve with the program. As he excelled in this sport, he went on to obtain a silver medal at the 1976 Handicap Olympics. Afterwards, he went on to wrestle for UT (Austin) where he obtained a law degree and now he is practicing law in Houston with two kids and married to a visually impaired woman named Marilyn.
Your Hispanic friend is the prime example of how parents who are not involved with their child’s education or well being could possibly fall through the cracks versus parents who care like yourself and motivate our kids so they can feel confident about anything they are trying to succeed in, like participating in P.E. I was getting a little steamed myself about the P.E. situation. Also, what is the 504 unit? Is that a special program for the disabled? Overall, you ask some great questions, but unfortunately, I wish I had the answers to all of them.

Margarita,
Your right in Spanish, it does give the students a chance to talk about not only the Spanish culture, but all other cultures that exist. This should give your students a chance for class participation and oral reports on their particular culture.
Is there another way that an individual can perceive self-perception instead of looking in the mirror? Probably, but the only thing I can think of is other individuals perceive you on an emotional and physical outlook.
The increase in Spanish culture was also mentioned in my undergrad intercultural communications class. And yes, it is important for our students to be able to speak a second language, especially Spanish. Now, I wish I took Spanish instead of French, but I had a terrible Spanish teacher in high school and I also took French in high school and enjoyed it.
I was intrigued to learn about the ELL programs. I never knew how they worked but I’ve seen these programs take place. Do you think that most students who are placed in the ELL programs are “at risk”? Do you help other teachers with strategies to use on ELL and ESL students?
In this section you made all good points. It is sad to see this happen, but what you did by asking them “what’s wrong” at least makes their day. It shows that you are concerned about them and that’s probably all they want. Students who have the attitudes most of times, want to be disciplined and noticed because there not getting that at home.
Well, Margarita, I saw that on the news. I never heard such a thing. What are the kids suppose to do on Friday? What are the parents suppose to do while there kids are at home and what about day care expenses. The administration is thinking what’s best for them, not the students in this case. Also, I think the administration is trying to run the schools like a fortune 500 business instead of a place for learning. I feel sorry for you guys if this 4 day week is implemented. If you notice, crime is at a constant increase in the summer because kids can’t find anything to do. That’s the parents fault.
Great strategy on effective learning towards the at risk students. I think questioning helps students think deeper and prepares them to evaluate problems in a wider spectrum of situations.
In this section, it sounds like the case manager is just collecting a pay check and not concerned with the outcome of students in the IEP program. I’m glad you questioned him on that particular situation because it shows that administration probably have not looked at this in that particular way. Your questioning skills are awesome. Way to think on your feet quickly Margarita! I’m not sure what you do when something like this is going on, but maybe you could go to other teachers in the district and build a support group on this situation.
Table 8.4 was very helpful for me too. Answering these questions for myself, if found that I preferred a quiet environment for learning and hopefully my classes will be the same. I want to present a comfortable, inviting, fun, but stern learning environment for my students, so they enjoy coming to my class. And that’s what it is all about. Students wanting to come to class and wanting to learn, I think?
This is what it’s all about. Trying to figure out what type of learning styles each student obtains. Whether its field dependence/independence, every student needs support and encouragement from the teacher and the parents, no matter what type of learning style he/she works well or better in.

Kim,
This chapter was very informative, I do agree. I also asked the question in my RR, if anyone of you guys have had an at risk, ELL, and exceptionality students in your classes before? I would like to know some more information on a real world level instead of a text. Not that the text wasn’t helpful or detailed, but I just like to hear situations and incidents regarding hands on experiences.
This chapter also helped me differentiate ELL and ESL students. I’ve seen this program while I was substituting, but I had no idea what it entailed. Both of these types of students have challenging goals to accomplish and I hope most of our teachers motivate and encourage them to achieve these goals. Taking 14 hrs of another language was pretty difficult for me and I can’t imagine what they have to grow through to understand the English language. I see you mentioned the “sink or swim” mentality and how it could have students fall in between the cracks, in a sense of dropping out or skipping tons of school.
A question arises in regard to at risk students and their behaviors. Take violent student for instance. Will some or most students grow out of this behavior as they grow older? Does studies show at what age do these particular individuals start acting this way? Some students at one time in their life need some type of emotional and psychological assistance and support, not just at risk kids.
The learning styles kind of through me off just a little bit too. The text goes from different cultures and behaviors to learning styles. I thought they discussed this in the early chapter in this text.
I also agree with you about inclusion and how it is helpful for other students to understand why and how they learn. I’ve never had a person with a disability in one of my classes in high school, but there were students in my high school who I saw were disabled, but were very strong hearted and determined to be like other students. These students didn’t let their handicap bother them, because they were so eager to involve themselves in every activity they could perform in.

PART C) READER RESPONSE RUBRIC

Rubric

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.

9.5
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

9.5
Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.

9.5
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.

38.5/40= 96

PART D) FIELD EXPERIENCE

In my field report, I interviewed two elementary teachers named Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley. Mrs. Tracey teachers 5th grade students and Mrs. Kirkley, 4th grade students. In this particular interview, I wanted to see the difference between the two grade levels’ class environment and see which impacted their teaching the most, diversity, technology, or inclusion.
Diversity in our public education environment is consistently increasing daily. At Bowie Elementary, where both Mrs. Tracey and Mrs. Kirkley teach, diversity barely exists. As I’ve noticed, when you mention diversity in an educational environment, some teacher’s seem to relate to the ethnic side of diversity instead of different types of learning skills or how students think cognitively or analytically. According to Mrs. Tracey, she viewed diversity in an ethnic sense. She stated that the majority of the school’s population is of low socio-economic status. 80% of the students are on reduced lunch, 80% are Hispanic, and their school has less than 1% African American students. The percentage of teachers at Bowie Elementary is 50% White and 50% Hispanic. There is diversity between the student and the teacher’s, but there is hardly any diversity in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom. Therefore, diversity regarding ethnicity is not a major impact in Mrs. Tracey’s classroom environment.
In my interview with Mrs. Tracey, she said that technology was a major impact in her teaching. She stated that “We are blessed at Bowie to have a computer lab with 30 stations, a library with 24 stations, and a wireless lab cart that has 22 lap tops. I never would have imagined that schools would be this far along in technology compared to when I was in high school. Mrs. Tracey also goes on to say that she takes advantage of the technological sources by applying a variety of applications in her class. Unfortunately each year, she has about 5 to 8 students who have access to a computer at their home. As she chuckles, she says that “I also usually have 3 to 4 of them that know more than I do on the computer.”
Inclusion has a more challenging effect on Mrs. Tracey. She is currently self-contained with the special education students in her class. For instance, they have a set requirement of minutes that they have to be pulled away from her class to be given adequate material at the grade level that she teachers, the 5th grade. She says that it is really hard when you have 24 students in your room and you then have to modify assignments for 3 to 4 students. She states, “It’s hard helping the regular students and the special education students simultaneously.” She says that this upcoming year, she really will be challenged. Mrs. Tracey has a student coming to her that doesn’t know how to write. This is sad. This student is in the 5th grade and has problems writing basic sentences. Mrs. Tracey also stated that at the end of the school year, these student are still required to complete 5th grade content in some way, shape, or form.
In reference to inclusion, there is also the “GT” student (gifted and talented). Mrs. Tracey says that these students “are a great help at times, but can be challenging other times. They can help others, or they become a handful when they are not being challenged.” The GT student also requires special attention as well. Like the special education students, the GT students are pulled out of her class daily for 45 minutes to get “GT” as Mrs. Tracey exclaimed with a certified GT teacher. Overall, Mrs. Tracey says that inclusion is good for the student learning environment, but challenging on the teachers.
My interview with Mrs. Kirkley was quite different in terms of diversity and technology than Mrs. Tracey. Mrs. Kirkley stated that diversity impacts her classroom the most, but in a learning style approach. She says that “some kids learn very quickly, while other kids learn slower. You also have to think about the different ways they learn. Some may learn auditory, visually, cognitively, or analytical.” The diverse learning style in Mrs. Kirkley’s classroom affects how she plans lessons and how she will teach students.
Instead of technology impacting Mrs. Tracey the most, in Mrs. Kirkley’s case, technology impact her classroom the least. She says that she tries to use as much technology as possible, but her kids have not been exposed to computers very much. She says, “With that in mind, you have to consider what their abilities are when it comes to computers, media, etc. because we see something that we think is cool and would be beneficial, doesn’t mean we can use it because the kids may not understand it.”
I thought that these interviews went quite well, but I wish I could have gotten a little bit more information from Mrs. Kirkley about diversity and inclusion. Overall, diversity and technology both had impacts in their classrooms, but inclusion seemed to fall by the waist side. No matter what type of classroom a teacher encounters, different components will always come into play such as diversity of all kinds, mainstream technology, and inclusion in regards to exceptionalities or at risk students. In chapter 8, I’ve come to some conclusion that a teacher has to learn how to balance three of these components in order to reach their goals and the student’s goals.

PART E) FIELD EXPERIENCE REPLIES & RESPONSES

Doug,
This was an exciting field report. I enjoyed Coach Hayes’ comments and opinions on diversity, technology, and inclusion. It seems as though coach has experienced every one of our topics to the fullest. It is great to see that all three topics have had an impact on coach’s teaching. When I first read this assignment, I thought that each teacher would have one topic that would stick out the most, but coach has covered them all. It also sounded like you and coach had the same opinions and facts that students with disabilities will sometimes fall through the cracks because of the lack of parent, teacher, and society’s support and encouragement. But, inclusion is a great thing and a helpful tool for our disabled individuals. It is also sad to see a system that contains the expenses to back it up, but there is no leadership or drive to make a difference.
I think coach has beaten every teacher out their in regards to teaching a diverse crowd. I am sure having all of those cultures together made UTA’s team exciting to watch and I’m sure there was some conflict that Coach Hayes had to deal with.
Becky G also had some interesting points. I saw that diversity impacted her teaching the most. In a positive sense, diversity has created a sense of femininity to the sporting scene. Title IX has been implemented and we have several new sports out there, like softball and field hockey. In a negative sense, diversity has caused budget changes in most schools athletic programs. There is one incident in Fort Worth’s district where they cut out soccer at the middle school level. They said it was too expensive. I substitute taught at many middle school’s where 80% of students were Hispanic and that is practically one important part of there culture. How is that expensive where the only equipment to buy is shorts, shirts, 2 nets, 2 flags and soccer balls. It’s not like they are playing the most expensive sport in the world, golf! I know students don’t play golf in middle school, but some of that money is going to golf programs at the Secondary level, not that I’m bad mouthing golf, but I think Fort Worth’s district could have taken into consideration that soccer is the only sport that these kids look forward to playing.

Margarita,
Between the two interviews, it sounded like Mrs. W and Mrs. Kidd had totally different teaching styles. According to our text, Mrs. W is defined as a low-impact teacher versus Mrs. Kidd who is a high impact teacher. You would think that Mrs. W would you her BCIS class to her advantage in regards to teaching students about technology, but it sounds like she’s just going through the motions. You would think an individual who teaches technology would be current on educational “verbage” like inclusion and diversity, but everyone’s teaching style is obviously different.
In Mrs. Kidd’s case, it seemed as though diversity impacted her in the classroom. It’s good that she recognized students’ different learning skills, ways of thinking and solving problems, and ways of socialization. It is also great to hear that teachers are going back to school to receive more knowledge on how to teach diversity in the classroom. This is one suggestion I should have given Joanna in our activity in our classroom management class (5329).
Overall, times have changed as Mrs. Kidd stated in the interview, but they have changed for the better. Technology, inclusion, and diversity all have something in common. They are steadily increasing in an instructional and a productive way.

Daniela,
One thing about coach’s sometimes, they don’t sugar coat anything. All through out the responses I’ve read, diversity seems to the number one impact. Well, it should because in our society, it is increasing by the minute. In Coach Fuller’s interview, he said that he could not believe what student’s have to go through sometimes. Taking on two jobs, taking care of their siblings and expected to attend school regularly is the norm for some students and is required for some cultures.
I have to agree with Coach Gibson on some issues. Diversity and inclusion is challenging in the classroom, but when it comes to technology, sometimes I think that’s society’s fault. People are just lazy sometimes. I am very old school and I don’t understand how sometimes technology is advantageous. For instance, you have two cubicles placed beside each other with two individuals in each cubicle. Person A has a problem that needs to be solved and he e-mails Person B because their communication is getting twisted because of the inconsistent “verbage” being sent between the both of them. Now, what’s wrong with face-to-face communication? Society has seemed to loose touch of this communication style.
Coach Gibson also made a good point about diversity in a gender sense. As male teachers, you really have to watch what you say and who you say too or you really will end up on the channel 5 news. I really wouldn’t be joking about that because we’ve seen several teachers on the news lately about some type of incident and it’s usually related to sex. Overall, both teachers had great points and it seemed as though diversity has ranked the highest of all the topics during my interviews and my peers interviews in this activity.

PART F) FIELD EXPERIENCE RUBRIC

Session EightField Report
Very near perfection!Exceptional Quality in content, mechanics, and organization10-9
Exceeds ExpectationGives the required information in a correct neatly organized format9.3-8.6
Meets minimal expectationGives the basics; may or may not be well organized and mechanically correct8.5-7.9
Needs Improvement 7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.

9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.

9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from interviews with TWO teachers to find how diversity, technology, and inclusion impact their teaching.
You discussed in depth your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching.Provided at least three specific examples.

9.8
You discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least two specific examples.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding how diversity, technology and inclusion impact their teaching Provided at least one specific example.
You only discussed in depth findings from ONE teacher. At least two examples provided.
OR
Your discussion is superficial concerning your findings from TWO teacher interviews. Only one example provided.
Compare and/or contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing the chapter
You thoroughly discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.

9.5
You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Your report provided only superficial discussion on the comparison between your interview and your text about diversity, technology and inclusion and how these factors impact teaching.
Provided comments to at least two colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.

10
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.

48.3/50= 96

Competency 013: The teacher understands and adheres to legal and ethical requirements for educators and is knowledgeable of the structure of education in Texas.

Reflection
In relation to this competency, I have come to understand the different reasons for preparing goals and objectives and how they are influenced at the national, state, and local levels. I have also learned that by adhering to legal and ethical standards in an educational realm, a teacher must be aware of his or her classroom climate, a student’s developmental needs, an individual learning style and the understanding of cultural, social, and emotional differences while planning objectives, rules, procedures, and goals.
When conducting field reports, reflecting on a reader’s response to chapter readings, and web exercises, I have come to understand the structure of education in Texas, based on the interviews I conducted with teachers who argued and discussed their opinions and objectives toward the national, state, and local standards that have impacted their instruction and teaching strategies.

Coursework (Session 3):

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Session 3 Reader Response

Influences on Class Room Goals and Objectives:

In this section, the author discusses the state, local and national level goals in which they set. A national goal that was set for the year 2000 was that American students will be first in the world in math and science. In my opinion, we as individuals need to worry about the literacy rate instead of competing with other countries on who’s first and second. Education is not about who ran the race. Education is about how and what effort did it take to compete in the race.
On a state level, the text uses the example of a Colorado elementary social studies curriculum. In Colorado’s social studies curriculum, the educator’s goal is to get the student to understand economic, political, cultural, and social processes and patterns of human populations, interdependence and cooperation. An example that comes to mind from a Texas perspective is the “no child left behind” law. I need help from my fellow teachers to clarify this law or issue. Is this law to encourage educators (i.e. teachers) to help and instruct our students to reach major goals and achievements? Or, does this law hinder the student or teacher if he or she cannot read at a 2nd grade level and that student happens to be in the 9th grade?

Role of Goals & Objectives in Planning:

The text discusses three operational levels of goals. Our text argues that goals provided direction for educators and teachers through long-term or annual planning, unit planning, or daily lesson planning. In a long-term and annual perspective, goals are set to determine what type of knowledge students should acquire over the span of a course or term. In the state of Texas several school districts base their annual or long-term goals over a course of 9 months. When I was in high school, I thought they measured our knowledge every 6 weeks and if you participated in sports, you had “grade checks” every 3 weeks. The example the text uses as a long-term goal is where a high school American history teacher “realizes the need for students to understand the role wars played in the growth and expansion of the nation” (Jacobsen 77). The long-term goal I will set in my Speech class will be that students will be able to communicate verbally and speak clearly. Our kids today have gotten too comfortable with text messaging. You can teach an animal (e.g., monkey) how to use something or play something, but you can’t teach them how to talk or speak.
In unit planning, the purpose of this goal is to provide a unit of instruction without being too specific or directly measurable. The text uses the example of an American history teacher having his or her students to be become more familiar with the expansion of the Spanish-American War. In my unit-plan, I will provide tools for students to incorporate clear speaking habits into how you present your self in any type of interview you will give or receive.
Lesson plans are specific and concrete. Again, the text turns toward the American history example by explaining that the teacher may get his or students to write an essay and use three causes of the Spanish-American War. In a few of my lesson plans, I will use daily activities to get the student accustomed to talk in front of an audience.

Decision Making in Preparing Objectives:

In this section, teachers answer two important questions in regard to the operational levels. 1) What does the teacher want her/his students to know and understand after completing the units and lessons? 2) How will the teacher determine the students know how and understandings? The answers to both of these questions is that teachers determine the student’s know and understanding through assessment. Several teachers perform activities and analytical assignments for students to think on their own. Through these activities, teachers can set goals and guidelines for students and themselves.

Alternate Formats:

Ralph Tyler’s basic principles and instructions argues that “the most useful form for stating objectives was to express them in term which identify both the kind of behavior to be developed in the student and the content or area of life in which this behavior is to operate” ( Jacobsen 78). I am not clear on what this statement means, but I think it means that a teacher can determine their students learning capacity, base on their behavior.

Mager’s Behavioral Objectives:

Mager’s argument is that teachers should be able to see or hear their student doing something and that objectives should have three parts. These three parts contain: an observable behavior, the conditions in which the behavior will occur, and criteria for acceptable performance. In my opinion, observable behavior is when a teacher can see and hear a student’s behavior and react to a specific situation. When the behavior occurs, the teacher reacts to the behavioral problem in my hypothesis. Setting the criteria of an acceptable performance should involve a teacher planning her lesson plan and her/his students understand the lesson.

Summary:

Chapter 3 was not interesting reading than chapter 1&2. This chapter mostly dealt with objectives and its two primary parts. It asks questions like “What do I want the students to know, understand, or be able to do?” To me that’s a given question when a teacher walks into their first classroom environment. I think the text should have given the reader more examples on state, local, and national objectives. The second evaluative question/statement asks a question. “How will I (e.g., the teacher) determine whether the learner knows or understands?” This type of question can be answered in two parts. First, pertaining to a first year teacher, the text should have explained or illustrated examples for a teacher to look out for certain behavioral hints of determining whether the student know or understands. Secondly, a teacher who has been in the education industry should already know how to determine a student’s ability to know and understand. I hope this statement was not too harsh. I just think that by the 5th month, a teacher should know her class, whether behavioral or in a objective concept of learning.

Session 3: Field Report

At the national, state, and local level in education, I’ve come to realize that these institutions have taken upon themselves to create a competition issue. Is Texas competing against California? Is the U.S. competing against China? I didn’t know that we play with a child’s education to beat an opposing opponent, but I do know that our western culture derives from individualism. I have come to realize that living in an individualistic country we have added the letter “I” in the word team, while other countries spell the word team like it sounds. I understand that standardized testing has become a staple in the education arena, but do we have to use this type testing to prove we are better in science, math, or reading than other states or countries. Can we as a country take care of our own, instead of worrying about what other counties are excelling in on an education level? After interviewing a 5th grade teacher and a 7th grade History teacher, I have come to the conclusion that at the national, state, and local level have created a major impact on how a teacher should teach his or her classroom, no matter if they are not learning how and why for example a particular math problem is set up a specific way.
In this particular field report, we must determine on a national, state, and local level, how these different institution’s goals and objectives influence a teacher’s curriculum. My first interview was with a 5th grade elementary teacher named Mrs. Tracey. Mrs. Tracey currently teaches in the Grand Prairie ISD and has been teaching for approximately 10 years. When asked this question, she stated, “interesting question.” In her opinion, the state has the most influence in her curriculum. She starts out by saying that the district wants their teachers to drive instruction based upon each individual student’s need. The district examines a student’s need by collecting data from the Benchmark exams, which is a released version of the TAKS test. The district (i.e., the state) tells them what ideas they will teach each 6 weeks along with required and a suggested lesson plans. Now, here is when teachers get a little distraught about the state’s goals and objectives. Mrs. Tracey follows the curriculum, but when it comes to tutoring students for a specific instruction, “I don’t do that.” She does not have the time to individualize instruction when she has 12 to 14 kids to tutor for one hour after school. In the beginning of the school year, she reviews anything and everything possible. Secondly, on Tuesday’s, she focuses on Reading and on Thursday’s she focuses on Math, and on Saturday’s on Science. I was very impressed and shocked that teachers worked on Saturdays.
Following the state’s goals and objectives, Mrs. Tracey tries to enhance a student’s test score by starting in October selecting students who have scored 50 or lower on the first practice Benchmark. In January, she then evaluates the Benchmark test scores and looks for score of 70. Unfortunately, each year she has had a large number of students that did not pass the TAKS test from the previous grade level. This is why she starts at the beginning of each school year and reviews as much as she can. Last year, Mrs. Tracey also found that 14 students did not pass the 4th grade Reading TAKS test and 11 did not pass the Math TAKS test. She says that, “there is a lot of ground to make up and the test is cumulative and Math and Reading build upon each other.” In Mrs. Tracey’s class, 3 students did not pass the Reading portion of the TAKS test and 2 did not pass the Math portion. In my opinion that’s pretty good, but I hate to see students not passing anything because I could have been in their shoes because and I am very poor test taker.
In Mrs. Tracey’s opinion, the state has a big impact on her curriculum. She goes above and beyond to make sure her students are successful. She thinks that the goals of the state, district and the school are to get each student to pass the TAKS. To amplify Mrs. Tracey’s concern of the state’s goals and objectives, she ended our interview by stating, “I think there needs to be more to just teaching the test. We need to teach them so much more, including life skills and building character.”
In regards to the national, state, and local influence that they seem to have on education, I interviewed another teacher that had a different view point on which institution impacts their curriculum the most. My second interview was with Mr. Walters who teachers 7th grade Social Studies in Keller ISD. The goals and objectives that affect his curriculum the most, involves the “No Child Left Behind” bill, which is at the national level. For example, when Mr. Walters create lesson plans, his goal is to create assignments that will grab each of his students and meet each of their intellectual needs. This goal is very challenging because he expects to meet each of these levels. In comparison to Mrs. Tracey, Mr. Walters also has extremely smart and gifted students and he also has students who require special attention in which he provides modified class assignments and tests. Mr. Walters says that the students who have documentations that require modifications for assignments and tests are “tough,” because you have to create so many different tests and worksheets, depending upon their modification level. Mr. Walters also goes on to say in great lengths that “parents are watching and making sure that these modifications are being met and they do not hesitate to sue the district if they are not met.”
In regards to the state and local goals, Mr. Walters says that they go hand in hand due to the TAKS test. In the Social Studies department, they meet at the beginning of the year to determine what skills and objectives need more attention than other in the upcoming year. Next, the department will make a recommendation on what needs more attention after viewing the percentages for each object and determine the school’s weakest objective. Although the 7th grade is not tested on the TAKS, the 7th grade Social Studies teachers receive enormous pressure from the 8th grade Social Studies teachers. The 8th grade teachers make sure that Mr. Walters and other 7th grade social studies teachers teach certain skills and objectives, so the 8th grade teachers can start where the 7th grade teachers left off. In my opinion, I hope the 8th grade teachers review their students and not always count on where other teachers have left off. Mr. Walters says that “It seems every year [that] seventh grade teachers are expected to do more in regards to preparing students for the TAKS the following year.” It seems to me that some 8th grade teachers are not doing there job and seem to be pretty lazy.
This field experienced report was very informative in regards to the influence and impact that the national, state, and local institutions have on the educational arena. Mrs. Tracey and Mr. Walters gave me insight on how all of these institutions create challenging goals and objectives for teachers to meet. In my opinion, teaching the TAKS test shows and teaches an individual how to take a test and provides them with the correct tools on how to be successful while taking a standardized test. In life, we are tested everyday and from those tests, we are put into a certain class or category on how well we succeed in life. Individualism will always be a part of our western culture, but do we have to tests our children based on a math score of 60 or 70 to determine if they will be successful in life or failures at the beginning of their educational career. Or, is math and science competitions between states and countries more important than teaching a child how to balance a check book or read and sign his/her mother’s birthday card?
Reader Responses:

Margarita,

I liked your conversation about a global goal. Do you think that any subject content can create a global goal? I believe that all teachers should incorporate into their goal setting the three operational levels of goals. Long-term goals give the teacher and the student a template to follow in their progression of learning. The unit level in my subject content will have to be a little specific because that’s just the way I am, so I will have to disagree with the text on that point. At the lesson plan level, you have good examples and I bet the student in your class achieve at the goals you set for them because they are challenging.

You know, the first question is hard to examine. How would you know how to prepare objectives until you try it or experience the situation. Sometimes you have to expect a lot out of students and at the same time you have to take into consideration that some students are not as motivated as others, like you mentioned in session 1 reader response. Interesting points your students made about studying at home. Why do you think they don’t study at home? Is it because they have to work or run errands and do house chores? Realistically, some parents are not worried about their child’s homework because have the time they didn’t do homework themselves when they were in school. Don’t let me get on my soap box about parents. You have a hard subject to teach in my opinion. I wish I could have taken Spanish seriously when I was in high school. I could have been bilingual by now. Instead, my Spanish teachers did not make the course fun. She practically drilled conjugated verbs into us. As I moved on into my junior/senior year in high school I took French. I was good in that subject because the teacher was fun and she was patient with us. So in college, I took 14 hrs of French because I some what remembered the language because it was fun to learn. My college instructor also baked and brought in several different pastries from the French culture. I think you’re doing a great job, just make the activities fun and think of homework assignments that they can bring home and interact with their parents. I like your reaction center idea!

Just from reading your reaction to this section, made me even a little frustrated. I didn’t know that some schools change lesson plans during the semester or do they? How many times were lesson plans changed during the course of a year? I guess it’s probably hard to stick with one lesson plan because information/technology can change from day to day.

I agree, Mager and Gronlund’s objectives were a bit general in their concepts. In our profession, don’t you think that we need some specific criteria in our objectives? By examining each classroom’s physical environment, we do have to make the right choices and decide if our objectives and goals fit the right criteria for each of our classroom environment.

You gave some interesting points about how you were going to develop and improve on different learning techniques for Spanish. Using any type of technology in you class will be very advantageous for the students and very innovative on your part.

Reflection is a good thing for a teacher. The text talked about in chapter 1 about how reflection can help and motivate a teacher’s goals and teaching structure. It also said if a teacher doesn’t reflect on his or her issues, that particular teacher will not succeed successfully.

I am not a teacher yet and that’s a good question. How do you end a class effectively? Do you give them activities that last until the bell rings? Or do you present them with a project on how you want it done and after your presentation, the students work on it in class? I’m sure I’ll figure it out when the time is near!

Doug,

I always enjoy reading your RR because it’s filled with good details and examples like I
try to display in my RR. I too want to coach and I think I can learn from your
experiences. My specialty is an outdoor sport, soccer. It was interesting when you
talked about the mileage increase in your Arkansas district. Can you elaborate more on
what type of mileage you are talking about? I can see how this particular district was
setting objectives because of the average ACT scores, the percentage of students going
to college, and the successful extracurricular programs both academic and athletic goals
they were trying to achieve.

In regards to Mr. Tyler’s argument which was quite amusing and somewhat old school.
You are right about subdividing subject content and I thought that it could also work both
ways. How are the students going to know if they need to know how to use information
about motivation. Good Point! But you do have to take into consideration the era Mr.
Tyler’s thought process was in.

Providing a course of action is always a major goal to achieve when it comes to sports.
There are many skills that will enhance my player’s knowledge about the game of
soccer. As you may already know, skills don’t come easy. You have to work at them.
Teaching and coaching student athletes has to be one of the hardest jobs because you’re
not only setting goals for them to achieve, but these goals are physical and sometimes
these goals are unachievable because of the players lack of talent or skill. So, do you
set really high goals for certain individuals on your team or the entire?

Overall, there is a need for the educational system to have specific goals and objectives.
But at the same time, do administrators set achievable goals? In your questioning
statement about the freedom of having information that you present. Can you not ad
certain motivational tactics to the content that your teaching?

Thank you Janna for that information.

I had no idea that we are so behind in those
particular subjects. I was just trying to make a point about literacy. I was probably not
clear enough. It was a long day that day. What I'm trying to say is that in order to
achive a math or science project, you have to be able to read.

Thanks, for your input!

Field Experience Reponses:

Margarita,
I enjoyed Mrs. Sierra’s concept about the national level. I like how she guided herself to
find a desired goal to reach for her and her students at the end of each year. Now, I am
confused. You said she looks at the TEKS. Does the Foreign language department use
the TEKS or the TAKS? Regardless of which of the tests are presented, I enjoyed how
she selects chapters that will be covered to support student/teacher interaction. She
then accommodates the different learning styles and creates questions that will guide her
when she develops lesson plans. Can you give me an example of questions she
develops? She sounds like a very structured and organized teacher. I like that in a
person.

The second teacher you interviewed seemed to impact her curriculum on the national
level. Do you think that several high school teachers are impacted at the national or
state level? One of my teachers that I interviewed leaned more toward the national level
too. I can understand in Mrs. Gonzales approach to setting goals. For a non-speaking
Spanish person like myself, it was hard to remember how to put subjects and verbs
together, where it is a common thing to do in the English language. Anything that
appears to be different is always a challenge in my eyes. I like your final statement
about how “Both teachers told me that if the goal meets the students’ cultural, social,
academic and developmental needs chances are that the desired goals will be obtain in
one way or another.”
Douglas,
Your opening paragraph was classic. What do teachers do when they don’t’ agree on the specific goals and objectives that has been set by other? Especially when those “other’s” (e.g., national, state, local) have probably not set foot in a classroom in 10 to 12 years. As a physical education teacher, which institution impacts or influences your curriculum the most or least?

Doug,

Thank you for those encouraging words. By using the example about coaching,
enlightened my view on competition. I can now see how competition is a good thing.
This particular paragraph is great in my book:

“Look at it as a coach, which you are working to be. The teams you will be playing are
your competition. By having competition, your team will become better because you
want to beat them, or at least do well against them. They are not your enemy, in fact,
some of your players will be friends with some of their players, and you will probably get
to know some of the other coaches. You will borrow ideas from them, and plays from
them, and coaching tips from them. Why? Because you want your kids to become
better, Not necessarily because you want to be better than them, but because you know
that, just as they are working hard to train a better athlete, you are inspired to do more
for your athletes.

I will definitely have to use some of this information when my coaching career starts.
And you are so true about improving our product and providing a better service for the
student, which will benefit their learning ability in the long run.

SESSION 3: READER RESPONSE – RUBRIC

Reader Response Rubric
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Includes points to remember from the reading.
Several valid points from the reading are thoroughly discussed and analyzed.
9.4
Valid points are discussed, but not thoroughly OR not many points are discussed.
Some points are discussed or several points are discussed but are insufficient.
Few points are discussed and discussion is insufficient.
Connects readings to present or prior experience in education. Includes stories or examples to support these recollections.
Stories and examples clearly connect readings to present or prior experience; support is obvious.

Stories and examples attempt to connect, but support is not clear.
9.2
Few stories or connections were shared, lacked depth OR support lacked connection.
Little to no connection was supported.
Raises questions and/or offers comments for discussion on the discussion board thus offering opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Questions and/or comments facilitated discussion between members of the class; opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension was furthered.
Questions and/or comments were shared but did not offer opportunity for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
9.0
Few questions and/or comments were shared; opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension were limited.
Few or no questions and/or comments were shared; if they were shared, they did not offer opportunities for clarification, explanation, and/or extension.
Responds to colleagues initial posts and acknowledges all follow-ups to own initial post.
Respond to at least 3 peers with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.
9.5
Respond to at least 3 peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to only 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total your points and divide by the maximum. Post the rubric, % score, along with a copy of your reader response posting, and responses to others to your self assessment folder.
37.1/40 = .9275

SESSION 3: FIELD EXPERIENCE – RUBRIC

Session ThreeField Report
Clearly Oustanding10-9.3
Exceeding Expectations 9.2-8.6
Minimally Met the Requirements 8.5-7.9
Room to Improve7.8-0
Multi Paragraphed Report
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. More than 4 logically developed paragraphs.
9.5
Your report includes an introduction and conclusions. Like topics are addressed in separate paragraphs. 4 paragraphs are logically developed.
Your report includes an introduction or conclusions. 2 to 3 paragraphs are logically developed or multiple unrelated topics are included in one paragraph.
Your report lacks an introduction and conclusions. Only 2 paragraphs are developed. Meaning is not clear.
Well organized (topic sentence, supporting examples, closing sentence for each paragraph) with good mechanics.
Your paragraphs are well organized. Each paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting examples and a closing sentence. Transitional words/phrases are used correctly and sentence structure is excellent.
9.5
Most of your paragraphs are well organized. Some paragraphs are missing one of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used correctly most of the time.
Few of your paragraphs are well organized. Many of the paragraphs are missing one or more of the components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentence). Transitional phrases are used incorrectly.
Your paragraphs lack organization. Most of your paragraphs are missing multiple components (topic sentence, supporting examples, and closing sentences.) Transitional phrases are not used when needed.
Lists and discusses findings from interviews with TWO teachers to find out which national, state, and local goals and objectives influence their curriculum the least and most. Includes specific examples from interview subjects.
You discussed in depth your findings from TWO teachers regarding the influences of the different levels of goals on their curriculum.Provided at least three specific examples.

9.5
You discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding the influences of the different levels of goals on their curriculum. Provided at least two specific examples.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding the influences of the different levels of goals on their curriculum. Provided at least one specific example.
You only discussed in depth findings from ONE teacher. At least two examples provided.
OR
Your discussion is superficial concerning your findings from TWO teacher interviews. Only one example provided.

Compare and contrast to what you have learned from reading and discussing chapter 3 about formulating goals and objectives.
You discussed in depth how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about formulating goals and objectives.

You discussed how the knowledge gained from your interviews compares with what you have learned so far about formulating goals and objectives.

9.0
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding the influences of the different levels of goals on their curriculum. Provided at least one specific example.You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about formulating goals and objectives.
You briefly discussed your findings from TWO teachers regarding the influences of the different levels of goals on their curriculum. Provided at least one specific example.You briefly discussed the comparison between your interview and the text about formulating goals and objectives.
Provided comments to two or more colleagues' reports and answered or acknowledged any posts in response to my original posting of the field report.
Responded to 2 or more colleagues with a question or comment that facilitates discussion; every peer who posts to you is responded to.
9.5
Respond to at 2 or more peers but question or comment does not facilitate discussion; or every peer who posts to you is not responded to.
Responds to 2 peers; questions do not facilitate discussion or are irrelevant to the topic; few peers who posted to you are responded to.
Few peers are responded to; questions or comments do not facilitate discussion; little to no communication is occurring between you and your peers.
Total:Divide your points by the maximum possible, and post your scored rubric to the folder labeled with your name under the assessments.
47/50 = .94

Email Address

2007-07-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

breedlovedarren@sbcglobal.net

Heading 5314

2007-06-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5314
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Heading 5329

2007-06-02T11:01:00.001-07:00

Darren Breedlove
EDUC-5329
M.Ed.T (Certification Only)
Secondary Speech 8-12
English/Language Arts
TeXes Speech 8-12
Content Practice Test: Study Assignment Given by Dr. Hadaway/ In progress
TeXes Content Exam: Scheduled to take in October
PPR Practice Exam: Not Taken
TeXes PPR: Not Taken

Autobiography

2007-06-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, it has been a long journey to discover my educational and career goals. I was one of those individuals who got a little side tracked and enjoyed the college life too much. After trying to walk-on the soccer program my freshman year at North Texas State/UNT, being put on academic suspension at Texas Tech, and working odd jobs just to make ends meet, I finally grew up. I got my life in gear, got married and started my college education in 2001. Six years later, after working full-time and going to school part-time, I finally received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications from UTA (Arlington) in the spring of 2007. As far as continuing a higher level of education, my plan is to receive a master’s degree in Education (M.Ed.T.) and teach Speech and coach soccer at the Secondary level.

In a professional working environment, my background was in the freight industry. I was a supervisor for Emery Worldwide for 5 years. I decided that was too much stress and worked as a customer service freight agent at Forward Air for 3 years. During this time, I was 30 years old and always lurking in the back of my mind, was to teach and coach young individuals. After finally leaving the freight industry in 2004, I found my niche in something I enjoyed doing everyday, substitute teaching. Since 2004, I’ve been substitute teaching at Fort Worth ISD and I have to say that substituting is an excellent job for college students who either want to pursue a career in Education or just maintain a part-time job for several semesters.

In any educational course, not just EDUC 5329, I would love to learn teaching strategies, managing intercultural classroom environments, and a teacher’s role in the classroom. I would also like to be more informed on classroom instruction and curriculum. Upon finishing the 15 hours of certification requirements, I hope that classes like EDUC 5329 will give me the proper tools to make my educational career a success.