Reflecting on the fall semester can only put a smile on my face as I have taught my 6th graders to be organized, respect themselves and others including listening skills. We worked hard on the informative unit which turned out to be quite successful. Students are able to maintain what they have learned when use text and videos that more less follow along with the content we are studying. Students have told me time and again how they love the way I teach using text and videos, discussions and writing. They are also proud that they are able to keep their notebook organized. They are not allowed to use pencils, only colored pens. I call my classes the pen classes. We color code, highlight, and draw to make sense of what we are doing. I have students being the teacher of the day which is quite enjoyable and they get a sense of what it feels like to be a teacher - sometimes very frustrating, but not only that, it gives them a deeper perspective of the content they are teaching. I have already planned the next unit "What will happen if bees go instinct" which will be very interesting
I can say that many things went well. Kids were eager to learn and although not perfect, they tried to improve from what happened in previous years. Many admitted and understood that previous years weren't the best, and that they have fallen behind, but were willing to try.
Having Mr. Mozer in the library in the afternoon and after-school has helped us increase our library access, book circulation, and AR success. More students are reading and quizzing, and I want to continue/increase this trend in the spring semester!
I loved using elbow partners last semester. I found that students who were in my class during the 2014-15 school year were already familiar with routines and expectations, leaving us free to dive deeper into a group learning atmosphere. I am hoping to incorporate more Kagan strategies into this classroom this semester, including RallyRobin and Timed Pair Share.
Last semester was the turning point for the guitar program. It was the first time there were 3 year members playing! It was a big difference to see the sequential progress of that group of students. The band was also going through a turnover of 3 year members that started together. This was the first time "underclassmen" saw they can do it!
This semester I want to present more music theory in the advance classes to enhance their music education!
I was happy with how much my students were open to the process of learning annotations in my class. I went through a very scaffolded process which I wondered if it might've been too long or drawn out and possibly risk losing them. They did pretty well though, and I was proud of their resilience.
This semester I am going tofocus on writing and chunkingit out as a scaffold. I look forward to syncing up with the ELA department to seektheir support/advice on how to prep my students in history.
Last semester was a great success incorporating more written work and problem solving. It was an uphill climb but the students have really shown perseverance and strong will to master the strategies in place. I look forward to incorporating more STEM projects and open-ended questions.
One thing I was very successful last semester was the routine I established in my classroom. My students knew that we always started class with a warm-up question and writing their homework in their agenda. They also knew that at the end of class, we ended with an exit slip to reflect on their learning and performance. Every Tuesday, the students got to self-assess their learning as we did the notebook check and a bi-weekly quiz. This semester I want to work on strategies to promote critical thinking and increase student discussion. I want to work on different Kagan strategies. I want to give students more chances to analyze their work and their peers' work.
Last semester, the students were able to successfully get their notebooks organized. Also, students are improving their scientific writing and speaking. They are now using some of my sentence starters for Evidence-Based Reasoning or Developing and Using Models. I want to push a standard Claim-Evidence-Reasoning strategy to get students to use that in a science setting. Ferrel
Something that worked very well and I use daily is helping students develop the skill to decode new text from a Green & Latin root approach. That is, many times students give up on a new word they encounter when reading. I taught them that every 'new' word is a compound of other parts they can recognize in other words they know. This allows students to not simply learn content but to develop the skill to decode new words when they read.
Reflecting back on last semester, I believe that I was successful at ensuring that students were participating through Kagan structures and popsicle stick questioning. While I have yet to improve on these strategies, I am satisfied with how Fall Semester went. I also believe that we were able to keep the students organized with their notebooks, and accountable for their own grades through Engrade.
I am looking forward to using more Kagan strategies that I have yet to try out.
I feel that most of my successes came in my science classroom. My students created brochures on the descriptions and effects of drugs and alcohol on the human body. My students will be making these brochures available in the nurses offices and also in the library. My students really enjoyed working with professional software to create these brochure and saw the real world application of their work.
I have been and continue to love the Kagen strategies. I found a lot of fruit giving students time and tools to share what they may know and what they may be struggling with. Cooperative learning is such a pathway to help students with the new Common Core. Even with students with disabilities and IEPS, you can scaffold discussions and topics to accommodate them to be involved in the classroom discussions.
Reflecting back on first semester, I am satisfied with the routines, procedures, expectations, and consequences I have established in my classroom. By establishing these norms students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, and have reached a level of comfort that allows them to ask questions, have peer to peer conversations, and participate effectively in laboratory activities. Second semester we can tackle more challenging labs, projects, and topics because of these established norms.
Last semester I really liked developing a class culture in which students are expected and willing to help each other out. I had success with the following Kagan Strategies : #heads and Showdown. I also incorporated technology by using Kahoot.it and my students loved that.
This semester I plan to keep using Kagan strategies and I want to be better at implementing my CPM TEAM Roles. I also want to challenge myself to use more technology in the classroom and to use class-buiding and team-building activities daily in my classroom.
Last semester I felt successful in incorporating more writing and reflective writing into the lessons. I am still working to increase ways for my students to communicate because it helps them retain the information. I am looking forward to keep challenging my students to think for themselves and owning the math they discover.
My students learned how to organize their composition notebook. They now know how to take notes and keep their classwork in one notebook. I'm proud of my students for tackling rigorous word problems. They have shown perseverance and willingness to learn. This semester, I would like to include more written work. Students should be able to explain and respond their work/solution in their own words.
Looking back on my Science classes, I am very pleased with how well I have seen most student's work habits grow in Science. I am happy to see how students are asking more questions and not expecting a one only answer. I have been the proudest of how well they delivered their project presentations. I am looking forward to the projects I have in mind to have students present. Leadership, considering it is my first year and I struggle with some of the strong characters in this class. I am proud of how mature they can sometimes act and deliver activities in social/school tours. I know it is a working progress. However, they are currently working on a PLUS ME project and I am looking forward to seeing these.
The challenge last year was determining the body or foundation of knowledge that the students needed to obtain in order to achieve the often overarching, comprehensive, and somewhat vague way the new NGSS is presented. I'm more satisfied with the way my unit progressions went this year compared to last year regarding the implementation of the standards. I was able to adapt them to better streamline the lessons, as well as eliminate a bit of "fluff."
This semester, my goal is to incorporate a wider variety of technology and software to enhance group interactions and subject application.
Coming in the last two weeks of the semester was very challenging and a true learning experience. I learned the true importance of structure, planning, and discipline.
This semester, I plan to work on interactive reading and writing notebooks. I also planned a debate that will take place beginning February. As for myself I am working on reacting less and acting more.
Last semester was my very first semester of teacher. It was a very challenging experience but I have learned so much over those four months. Despite the challenges of being a first-year teacher, I believe their are a quite a few things that went well. A few things in particular that went well for me was keeping the students organized with student notebooks and having students working together with their elbow partners and table members. The students responded well to the notebooks and almost all of them were able to keep their notebook updated for the entire semester. The group-work works really well with how we have are tables set up and group-work has become a great routine for the students. Something that I want to work on more this semester is increasing student participation (I plan to start incorporating equity sticks) and developing deeper relationships with my students.
Kagan grouping and activities have gone well in class. Groupings such as Pair Shares, and Stand up-Hand up-Pair up have really brought kids out and empowered them in their verbal communication and people skills. I am looking forward to our LTEL students reading Enrique's Journey and applying argumentative skills to its content.
Thhis next quarter for 7th and 8th grade English is Response to Literature. The emphasis is on identifying recurring themes in fiction. I look forward to teaching great short stories and seeing my student produce insightful scholarship.
Reflecting on the fall semester can only put a smile on my face as I have taught my 6th graders to be organized, respect themselves and others including listening skills. We worked hard on the informative unit which turned out to be quite successful. Students are able to maintain what they have learned when use text and videos that more less follow along with the content we are studying. Students have told me time and again how they love the way I teach using text and videos, discussions and writing. They are also proud that they are able to keep their notebook organized. They are not allowed to use pencils, only colored pens. I call my classes the pen classes. We color code, highlight, and draw to make sense of what we are doing. I have students being the teacher of the day which is quite enjoyable and they get a sense of what it feels like to be a teacher - sometimes very frustrating, but not only that, it gives them a deeper perspective of the content they are teaching. I have already planned the next unit "What will happen if bees go instinct" which will be very interesting
ReplyDeleteI can say that many things went well. Kids were eager to learn and although not perfect, they tried to improve from what happened in previous years. Many admitted and understood that previous years weren't the best, and that they have fallen behind, but were willing to try.
ReplyDeleteHaving Mr. Mozer in the library in the afternoon and after-school has helped us increase our library access, book circulation, and AR success. More students are reading and quizzing, and I want to continue/increase this trend in the spring semester!
ReplyDeleteI loved using elbow partners last semester. I found that students who were in my class during the 2014-15 school year were already familiar with routines and expectations, leaving us free to dive deeper into a group learning atmosphere. I am hoping to incorporate more Kagan strategies into this classroom this semester, including RallyRobin and Timed Pair Share.
ReplyDeleteLast semester was the turning point for the guitar program. It was the first time there were 3 year members playing! It was a big difference to see the sequential progress of that group of students. The band was also going through a turnover of 3 year members that started together. This was the first time "underclassmen" saw they can do it!
ReplyDeleteThis semester I want to present more music theory in the advance classes to enhance their music education!
I was happy with how much my students were open to the process of learning annotations in my class. I went through a very scaffolded process which I wondered if it might've been too long or drawn out and possibly risk losing them. They did pretty well though, and I was proud of their resilience.
ReplyDeleteThis semester I am going tofocus on writing and chunkingit out as a scaffold. I look forward to syncing up with the ELA department to seektheir support/advice on how to prep my students in history.
I will focus primarily on language and vocabulary development along with writing and speech with our RSP students.
ReplyDeleteLast semester was a great success incorporating more written work and problem solving. It was an uphill climb but the students have really shown perseverance and strong will to master the strategies in place. I look forward to incorporating more STEM projects and open-ended questions.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was very successful last semester was the routine I established in my classroom. My students knew that we always started class with a warm-up question and writing their homework in their agenda. They also knew that at the end of class, we ended with an exit slip to reflect on their learning and performance. Every Tuesday, the students got to self-assess their learning as we did the notebook check and a bi-weekly quiz.
ReplyDeleteThis semester I want to work on strategies to promote critical thinking and increase student discussion. I want to work on different Kagan strategies. I want to give students more chances to analyze their work and their peers' work.
Last semester, the students were able to successfully get their notebooks organized. Also, students are improving their scientific writing and speaking. They are now using some of my sentence starters for Evidence-Based Reasoning or Developing and Using Models.
ReplyDeleteI want to push a standard Claim-Evidence-Reasoning strategy to get students to use that in a science setting.
Ferrel
Something that worked very well and I use daily is helping students develop the skill to decode new text from a Green & Latin root approach. That is, many times students give up on a new word they encounter when reading. I taught them that every 'new' word is a compound of other parts they can recognize in other words they know. This allows students to not simply learn content but to develop the skill to decode new words when they read.
ReplyDeleteReflecting back on last semester, I believe that I was successful at ensuring that students were participating through Kagan structures and popsicle stick questioning. While I have yet to improve on these strategies, I am satisfied with how Fall Semester went. I also believe that we were able to keep the students organized with their notebooks, and accountable for their own grades through Engrade.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to using more Kagan strategies that I have yet to try out.
I feel that most of my successes came in my science classroom. My students created brochures on the descriptions and effects of drugs and alcohol on the human body. My students will be making these brochures available in the nurses offices and also in the library. My students really enjoyed working with professional software to create these brochure and saw the real world application of their work.
ReplyDeleteI have been and continue to love the Kagen strategies. I found a lot of fruit giving students time and tools to share what they may know and what they may be struggling with. Cooperative learning is such a pathway to help students with the new Common Core. Even with students with disabilities and IEPS, you can scaffold discussions and topics to accommodate them to be involved in the classroom discussions.
ReplyDeleteReflecting back on first semester, I am satisfied with the routines, procedures, expectations, and consequences I have established in my classroom. By establishing these norms students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, and have reached a level of comfort that allows them to ask questions, have peer to peer conversations, and participate effectively in laboratory activities. Second semester we can tackle more challenging labs, projects, and topics because of these established norms.
ReplyDeleteLast semester I really liked developing a class culture in which students are expected and willing to help each other out. I had success with the following Kagan Strategies : #heads and Showdown. I also incorporated technology by using Kahoot.it and my students loved that.
ReplyDeleteThis semester I plan to keep using Kagan strategies and I want to be better at implementing my CPM TEAM Roles. I also want to challenge myself to use more technology in the classroom and to use class-buiding and team-building activities daily in my classroom.
Last semester I felt successful in incorporating more writing and reflective writing into the lessons. I am still working to increase ways for my students to communicate because it helps them retain the information. I am looking forward to keep challenging my students to think for themselves and owning the math they discover.
ReplyDeleteMy students learned how to organize their composition notebook. They now know how to take notes and keep their classwork in one notebook. I'm proud of my students for tackling rigorous word problems. They have shown perseverance and willingness to learn. This semester, I would like to include more written work. Students should be able to explain and respond their work/solution in their own words.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on my Science classes, I am very pleased with how well I have seen most student's work habits grow in Science. I am happy to see how students are asking more questions and not expecting a one only answer. I have been the proudest of how well they delivered their project presentations. I am looking forward to the projects I have in mind to have students present.
ReplyDeleteLeadership, considering it is my first year and I struggle with some of the strong characters in this class. I am proud of how mature they can sometimes act and deliver activities in social/school tours. I know it is a working progress. However, they are currently working on a PLUS ME project and I am looking forward to seeing these.
I was glad to see students successfully working in cooperative groups. I look forward to doing more of that this semester.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge last year was determining the body or foundation of knowledge that the students needed to obtain in order to achieve the often overarching, comprehensive, and somewhat vague way the new NGSS is presented. I'm more satisfied with the way my unit progressions went this year compared to last year regarding the implementation of the standards. I was able to adapt them to better streamline the lessons, as well as eliminate a bit of "fluff."
ReplyDeleteThis semester, my goal is to incorporate a wider variety of technology and software to enhance group interactions and subject application.
Coming in the last two weeks of the semester was very challenging and a true learning experience. I learned the true importance of structure, planning, and discipline.
ReplyDeleteThis semester, I plan to work on interactive reading and writing notebooks. I also planned a debate that will take place beginning February. As for myself I am working on reacting less and acting more.
Last semester was my very first semester of teacher. It was a very challenging experience but I have learned so much over those four months. Despite the challenges of being a first-year teacher, I believe their are a quite a few things that went well. A few things in particular that went well for me was keeping the students organized with student notebooks and having students working together with their elbow partners and table members. The students responded well to the notebooks and almost all of them were able to keep their notebook updated for the entire semester. The group-work works really well with how we have are tables set up and group-work has become a great routine for the students. Something that I want to work on more this semester is increasing student participation (I plan to start incorporating equity sticks) and developing deeper relationships with my students.
ReplyDeleteKagan grouping and activities have gone well in class. Groupings such as Pair Shares, and Stand up-Hand up-Pair up have really brought kids out and empowered them in their verbal communication and people skills. I am looking forward to our LTEL students reading Enrique's Journey and applying argumentative skills to its content.
ReplyDeleteThhis next quarter for 7th and 8th grade English is Response to Literature. The emphasis is on identifying recurring themes in fiction. I look forward to teaching great short stories and seeing my student produce insightful scholarship.
ReplyDelete