Placement+1+Wk+5+Experience

Timber Creek High School


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

Monday, February 15, 2010

It's President's Day today and Orange County Public Schools have no classes. It's a teacher and student holiday although I wish there was school so I can see my high school kids and my supervising teacher. I can already tell I'm gonna miss them when I leave in three weeks.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I stayed up late and worked real hard on my 2nd lesson plan. It's titled, "Stomp Out Bullying." I arrived at Timber Creek just in time to set up my pocket video cam and digital recorder quickly. Then when the bell rang, I dove right into the lesson. I made sure I introduced myself and took the time to go around saying each students name. I also gave time for students to share how their 3-day weekend went.

After our introductions, expectations, and going over the order of the lesson, I had students do a covert activity where I had them close their eyes and imagine a time in their life when they were either the person bullying or the one being bullied. After activating their prior knowledge through that activity, we brainstormed types of bullying on the board. They had some pretty good ideas! Then we moved on to the main part of the lesson which is reading the article "Stomp Out Bullying" from their Scholastic Magazine by taking turns. I was surprised that a few of them were willing to read aloud in class.

It's amazing to see students' strengths and weaknesses. Those who are not necessarily strong in math are wonderful readers and vice versa.

We had a great discussion throughout. Students shared their experiences and knowledge, and misconceptions about bullying. I touched on cyber bullying and one student asked how one can be bullied online. I explained that if someone leaves you negative comments, feedback, emails, that is considered cyber bullying.

Then we moved on to the 6 steps/strategies they can use when they are in a bullying situation. I made sure I went through each step slowly and clearly. I also made sure that I pointed out the 2 website resources mentioned on the article so that they can check them out.

After reviewing the lesson and making sure the understood the difference between 'tattling' and 'reporting,' I gave the Comprehension Quiz that they usually get after each of their English lesson. The teacher allows them to start the quiz and finish it the next day.

Today, I didn't bring my lunch because I wanted to eat lunch with my students at the cafeteria. I wanted to see how it was like for them to go to lunch. We went early because they get released earlier than everyone to give them time to get there and get their food. I've always wondered what it's like to sit with the students with disabilities in the cafeteria and I finally had my chance. They're just like other teenagers. They're full of stories of things and people they like and don't like.
 * Lunch Time**

I was going to go and observe another On-the-Job training. This time within the school grounds where students clean cars but it was too cold even though the sun was out. Besides, my supervising teacher said I can do that next week. She wanted me to observe another session with the Learning and Reading Strategies teacher's class. They started a new program for the lower reading level students.
 * After Lunch**

The teacher wasn't particularly excited about implementing the Decoding Strategies program because she said it does not match with her teaching style. The exercises were so basic reading. It was in the kindergarten and 1st grade level.

In the end, I know it's not so much about the teacher's teaching style but ultimately what our students need and what will benefit them.

I'm so privileged that my supervising teacher is also the ESE Coordinator at Timber Creek High School. She had another IEP (Re-Evaluation) meeting today that I was able to sit in and observe. This time, both the student and the parent (father) was present. The student is a senior, very smart but just has some processing difficulties. She wanted to make sure her accommodations carry through into college.
 * IEP Meeting**

First, the school psychologist gave a review of the student's history and compared her test results from years before to her current status. This included her academic skills, oral communication to work on, cognitive skills and her strengths and weaknesses in reading, fluency, and math.

Both the student and parent were very optimistic and are looking forward to a bright future after high school.