Placement+1+Wk+4+Experience

FloridaWrites! part of FCAT: for 10th Graders: 02.09.10

Timber Creek High School


 * (*All real names are substituted for made-up names for teachers' and students' safety.)**


 * Monday, February 8th, 2010**

So it's the Monday after SuperBowl Sunday and quite a few kids are out. The teacher thought perhaps it's because of the game? During 1st period, a couple of students talked to me about how they go to Mid-Florida Tech across town to participate in programs like Culinary and Hotel and Hospitality Management. Students also started talking about the upcoming Prom dance in April. One student showed me the guidelines for attending this social event. I learned that students need to have a minimum of 2.0 GPA to attend prom and that students are not allowed to stay in the hotel unless they're parents are staying also.

I discussed with my supervising teacher my lesson plan on poetry the next day for English 4th period. She approved it.

After lunch, I got to sit down in another session with a few students during their session with the school Speech and Language Pathologist inside the Guidance Office. It was a very good session. The students were motivated to read and participate in the discussion, maybe because I was there. They were learning to re-tell a story verbally including details about the main characters.

After school during planning time, my supervising teacher shared some burdens and challenges of teaching high school. One current issue she's dealing with is Cyber Bullying where 2 girls in the cheerleading team where going back and forth with inappropriate and very vulgar comment in Facebook for the whole school to see. The verbal fights between the girls is over a boy. Parents are in denial while the coaches involved are concerned for the students' safety. Big sticky situation.


 * Tuesday, February 9th, 2010**

Today, those 10th grade ESE students pursuing a Standard High School Diploma are taking the writing part of the FCAT called FloridaWrites! I prepared my lesson plan on a poem well and made sure I have all the details to make it effective. I made enough copies of reproducibles I needed. I made sure I brought in an personal example of a poem I wrote when I was in high school so I can hook students and really relate to them. I activated prior knowledge by asking them if they've ever written a poem before. Some haven't but some pointed to the short poems they wrote with a group and are displayed in the classroom. I related writing poems to rappers and famous artists today who write lyrics. I mentioned that most of artist lyrics come from their personal poems they've written.

In 3rd period, I was working with a senior student who is 19 yrs old but has a very low academic level. He was off task so many times after every number in the workbook and was engaging in quite a few inappropriate behaviors that day such as teasing other classmates. It was a challenge to keep him on task working on his Math Workbook. I think the teacher needs to take turns having him work by himself so he's not distracted but also have him work with a partner on other days so he can get his work done.

At lunch time, I went to the Media Center to borrow a dictionary that I can use for a couple of vocabulary words I wanted to discuss for my lesson plan. I also wanted to model to students the act of picking up a handheld dictionary when I need to look up meaning of unfamiliar words.

I did a Read Aloud of the short poem to model reading fluency. Then each of the 7 students took turns reading a poem line by line. Everyone participated in our discussion. I did a graphic organizer that looked like a tree that really got them participating. We had fun talking and engaging into finding out what the literal and figurative meanings of the poem.

I was so pleased with how my lesson went especially because that group of students have varying exceptionalities. Two of them are in wheelchairs, one is hearing-impaired, and the others have moderate to severe learning disabilities. But in the discussion of relatable things, they came alive!

I was recording myself teach using Powerpoint's Record Narration feature. However, I later learned that it only recorded the first 5 minutes of the lesson because my laptop went into Sleep/Energy Saving mode. You can still get a pretty good idea of how vibrant and alive the rest of the lesson flowed from the 5 minute audio. I carried out the lesson all the way till the end with just enough time for the students to pack up and get ready for their next class. My supervising teacher sat in the back with a pen and the evaluation paper in hand.

She told me after that she was very impressed with the way the lesson turned out having the students all engaged and enthusiastic about the poem. She said poetry is really hard to teach because of the underlying figurative meanings. The students all had something to say and contribute to the lesson which really impressed her. They were into it!

One other thing I learned though, is that next time I do a lesson, I will make sure any student who has hearing impairment will be seated infront or right next to me so they can maximize listening to the lesson.