Demographics of one of my classes

I am uploading my Class Profile to box.net @

http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

It is really exciting to learn about the individual and group dynamics in my classes.

Check it out! I really think we should have to profile each of our class periods to learn more about our students and what we can do better to teach them.

Community of Learners!!!

Some of the great things I learned and will try out over then next several weeks…

·      “What do you think?” – This question allows the student to question his own thoughts on any situation.

·      No rules – except those specified by the students (working agreements type), then using a strategy like, “That was a bad decision, I will have to do something about that, I will let you know tomorrow what it is.” (Problem’s don’t have to be solved on the spot)

·      “I Noticed…”  - - Create a relationship about outside of school things & then try to ask them if they will do something for you.

Quote I liked:

“The self worth of a teacher is never in question, only the value of the technique.”

Great Idea

So here is my great idea----

I am going to put together a "checklist" of great ideas I want to implement when I begin teaching.

Here is a start to the list:

• Rules created in an animation - like xtranormal.com to get my kids excited and show how cool I am.
• Do a learning profile on my students during 1st week of classes - so I will know how they learn. Tell students how my learning style is and take it with them so they learn some about me.
• Use Warm-Up's and Exit tickets each day to gauge prior knowledge & post assessments. An idea given in class today was to do it like this: "3 things I learned today, 2 things I contributed to class, 1 Question I still have about the topic", then at the bottom have them select the portion of this sentence that applies to them, "I did/did not give 100% today." and then have them sign it.
• Use a paragraph writing tool of a hand with the 5 W's & How on the palm.
• Create a poster explaining, "How to turn in an Assignment", So I am not repeating myself a hundred times.

So those are just a few things I thought of...

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First couple weeks of September

So it has been a stressful couple of weeks, however it is getting better. I have been attending classes, and visiting Romig two days a week.

I had some miscommunication issues with my mentor, but it looks like I am figuring it out. Today was a good day, we took a lot of steps in the right direction, I got my parent to sign off on allowing me to do my case study on their student. It is really looking up.

Hopefully, it will continue to be that way.