Search results matching tags 'teacher' and 'middle school'

The Road to Independence

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:52:12 GMT

My main concern when I receive a special education freshman from middle-school is to guide him/her toward occupational independence. After 4 years of high school, this student must have a clear idea of what path he is going to follow and my job is to make sure he has had all the information at his finger tips in order to decide. There are questionnaires, surveys, assessments, manual practice, pamphlets, state agencies, presentations by colleges and vocational schools, and all kinds of vocational supports in a public high school. Even if we do not offer a particular field, we can “bus” the student to the specialized institution where he will receive a thorough preparation. For example, we offer classes and practices focused on business, on personal care such as cosmetology, cooking for large groups (complete with a trained chef), auto mechanic, air-conditioning technician, woodwork, plumbing, electricity, construction, medical field (nurse, medical assistant), computer design and website construction, and quite a few other areas where the student should be able to find work more or less easily.

Working on a car

The X Factor

We all know or should know that not every student is bound for college and this is particularly true for challenged teens. They all possess however some marketable skill and our job is to discover which area will be more suitable for the young man or woman. I have seen Down Syndrome kids work in supermarkets, bagging the purchases. I have seen students with a very low level of intelligence find a job in a school cafeteria. Most of the special education students however enjoy an average level of intelligence which allows them to follow the vocation of their choice. The X Factor* is going to determine whether they’ll be successful or not, and that is true for all high school teenagers.

*X Factor: Also known as the Fighting Spirit, Motivation to Succeed, or “I Will Prevail”

The Wall

Alas! Some special education students, though I prefer to call them challenged students, have been so battered in their K-12 academic career that when they reach high school they have lost the desire to test their limits. Their self-esteem is so low that our main goal as special education teachers is to rebuild their confidence, a difficult task indeed. They usually erect an inner wall for self-protection; it may be aggressiveness, sullen withdrawal, I don’t care attitude, what’s-the-point, nobody-cares-about-me, don’t-bother-me, or even a twisted sense of humor during the class to make their peers laugh. They crave attention, they desperately want to be one-of-them, i.e. non-disabled peers, but their ability to trust others has been severely blunted. They become, in short, greatly at-risk students. Some will drop out; some will fall prey to unscrupulous peers who lead them to criminal activities; some teen girls will become mothers before they can care adequately for their children.

Willing Parents

As usual, the cooperation with parents is extremely important; some mothers become grandmothers against their will but they offer a safe haven for these unwanted and unexpected babies while their teen mother finishes high school. Others simply cannot or will not help. Broken families often make for broken spirits; on the other hand, I have seen mothers come to ARDs with three little kids hanging from their skirts or pants. They struggle to educate and feed their large family and still find time to cooperate with the school. Such stories of courage go unnoticed by the media, which is more interested in scandalous affairs involving sick celebrities. Yet the enormous sacrifice by these single mothers – they could have chosen the easy way through abortion, is not recognized.

The road to independence is indeed arduous for these challenged students; we can make it a little easier as special education teachers but we need more support from the school districts. We spend too much time doing paperwork when we could dedicate it to helping these struggling teens.

Break Through the First-Day Jitters

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:35:15 GMT

Follow @CoughlinLaura

I’m not talking about mine – although I know I’ll have them – I’m talking about the students’.

I teach in a 7^th and 8^th grade building, which means that 50% of the students are navigating the building for the first time on the first day of school, in addition to meeting a huge number of new people – adults and peers.

You Are Here by mag3737

Not only are they scared – they are scared to look scared (oh, to be an adolescent again). They do NOT know what they are doing, and they are NOT going to ask for help, so I use 3 basic rules to help make their day easier.

-Show Them Where They Are

-Show Them Where to Sit

-Show Them Who They’re Dealing With

Show Them Where They Are: If your building is like mine, your room number is written on a 1 inch by 1 inch tile and attached above your door – 3 feet above the average human head. Although that might seem well labeled to an adult traveling empty halls, it is virtually useless to a panic-stricken twelve year old who knows they have less than 60 seconds to find their next class or they will be LATE on the first day! Solution? I got 2 pieces of construction paper, marked one with a giant “Rm. 5” and the other with “Mrs. Coughlin, RW/WW” – huge, bright, and right at teenage eye level.

Show Them Where to Sit: Please do not make middle school students choose their own seats in your room on the first day. This may be the only time all year that they are begging you not to give them a choice. Think of the shy kid, the gawky kid, the new kid, grumpy kid. Think back on all the teenage social awkwardness that can be manifested in having to choose who to sit by (and who not to sit by).

This problem was solved for me last year by some brilliant advice I got from another teacher. Get 2 decks of cards. Tape 1 card from the first deck on each seat in your classroom. Pull the duplicates of all the cards you used out of the second deck and make yourself a pile. Before each new class begins, meet the students at the door, hand each a card, and tell him or her to find their card’s match and sit in that seat. No anxiety, to awkwardness, no questions, no-brainer. (Also no BFFs sitting next to each other and catching up on summer chit chat).

Show Them Who They’re Dealing With: Now that they’ve found the room and their seats, the next thing they are worried about is just how boring and mean the teacher is going to be. I like to get started on the first day by showing them a presentation about myself (check out this previous post). They will not remember any actual details (at Christmas I WILL have a student say, “Mrs. Coughlin, you have kids??”), but hopefully they will get the feeling that I am a human being who teaches because she loves it and wants everyone (including them) to have a good time doing what they love.

Once all this is accomplished, we will have survived the first-day jitters. Theirs and mine.

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How Do We Get There?

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:55:31 GMT

I was scanning videos on Youtube and ran across the one below. Watch now and come back, or read on and watch when you’re done – it doesn’t really matter.

Made in 2007, the creator says it was meant to “inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills” and it’s pretty good at its job. Many of its intended points are well made (despite a brief and arguably misguided comparison with China), and I thought it was especially thought provoking in unintended ways:

4 minutes and 8 seconds long! I almost didn’t watch it. What does that say about my attention span? I bet it’s longer than my students’…
Notice the laptop – what a clunker. In 4 years, our devices have streamlined so much.
The video encourages educators to let kids create, and what did I do as soon as I watched it… blogged about it of course!
Made 4 years ago, and this still feels like such a current battle in schools! We have to meet our students where they are (online!)
Check out the Youtube comments… always thought provoking – after weeding out the crackpots, of course.

What do you think? How is this issue playing out where you are? Leave a comment!

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Beautiful Buzzards – Why Middle School Students are the Best

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:54:49 GMT

Imagine the face you would make if your best friend called and told you that she had just dropped a 50 lb weight on her big toe. Freeze. That is the face people make when I tell them I teach middle school.

The conversation usually goes something like this:

“Oh, you teach? What grade?”

“8^th grade reading and writing.”

“Ooh! [insert smashed toe face].”

“I really love it.”

“I didn’t even like my own kids when they were in middle school!”

This feeling is true of my own mother, who taught K-12 art for 30 years and is not afraid to tell me that I was not her favorite person when I was in middle school.

The summer before my 7^th grade year, my mother went to a parent orientation at my middle school (then jr. high). The night was begun by a veteran middle school teacher who described her students this way:

"Delightfully Ugly" by Runner Jenny

“Elementary students are like fuzzy yellow ducklings – adorable and sweet. High school students are like swans – graceful and independent. And middle school students are like buzzards – awkward and disagreeable.”

Although I wasn’t there, I’m sure this description was meant with love, because the woman who gave it was what I call a middle school junky. One of those rare teachers (like me) who know the secret – middle school students are the best students.

Of course parents struggle with these 12, 13, and 14 year olds. They are just beginning adolescence. They are yearning for independence (i.e. they stop doing what you tell them to do), but they can’t always handle it (i.e. “Mom, where are my tennis shoes?”), and they are becoming socially aware (i.e. texting at the dinner table). But these factors that are so admittedly hard for a parent at home make these kids fantastic in the classroom.

Ideas that are old news to high schoolers and adults, and too abstract for elementary students, have the ability to mesmerize middle school students. During a great discussion you can literally see a 13 year old’s mind expand while watching the look on his face. Independence can be magic in the classroom if you teach them how to use it and make them earn it by showing you examples of great thinking. Even the social butterfly effect that takes over the minds of adolescents, while definitely tricky in the classroom, can work to everyone’s advantage if these students are carefully grouped and thoughtfully planned to make the best of the way middle school students naturally behave.

I think that is the trick to being a middle school junky. Remember that these children ARE 12, 13, and 14. Remember that they are SUPPOSED to be social; they are SUPPOSED to be trying things their own way instead of just following instructions; they are SUPPOSED to be transitioning from childhood to adulthood. And it is the job of the middle school teacher to help them figure all this out.

To teach middle school you have to plan for all these factors, use them to your advantage (and theirs), and manage to teach the curriculum besides! I’m not saying I’m great at it yet, but I want to be great at it. My students deserve that. I’m getting ready to start my 4^th year at a middle school, only my second in my own classroom, but despite being in the beginning stages of my career, I can tell I’m a going to be a middle school junky for life.

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Tech skills are life skills

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:17:18 GMT

photo by Ed Yourdon

My children (1 and 5 years old) are often the most thought-provoking people I know. On the way to get ice cream last night I asked my 5-year-old son whether he wanted chocolate or vanilla. His reply? “It’s hard to decide. Let’s do an online poll… it was all even until the last person clicked vanilla. The winner is vanilla.”

Huh??? THAT is where my son’s mind goes instantly when asked to choose between two things? A make-believe online poll? Let me tell you a few things I know about my son:

1) He has never taken an online poll (he’s in preschool… he can’t read)

2) He spends between 1 and 3 hours on the computer each WEEK, total (not much)

3) He is A LOT like all the other kids his age

So where is this coming from? The world he, and almost all American children, lives in! Technology, with all of its good, bad, and as-yet-undetermined qualities, absolutely saturates every aspect of young peoples’ lives. And the very young, like my kids, have never lived any other way.

If you haven’t had these kids in your classroom yet, they’re coming. This generation of kids is not just tech savvy, they are tech dependent. You and I walk up to a faucet and expect to turn it and have water come out. These kids see something with a screen and expect to be able to touch it and access nearly every person and thing in the world in seconds.

A 2011 poll showed that the number of 2-5 year olds who could use a smartphone more than doubled the number that could tie their shoes. My son is one of those. You may have heard about this poll when it was first reported, often with the tag “kids are learning tech skills before life skills”. I’m not so sure that tag is fair… anyone can buy shoes nowadays that don’t need to be tied, but can you find or keep a job without using online tools or a smartphone?

I’m not saying my son doesn’t need to be able to tie his shoes. He’s working on it. But I don’t think we can say that using a smartphone ISN’T a life skill in the world we live in.

Parenting issues aside, I think that as educators we have to accept that our students not only want to be doing interactive online activities, they need to be. It keeps them engaged. It fits into their comfort zone. And it builds the technology expertise that will be some of the most important skills for their lives.

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Second Home

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:25:38 GMT

Before school started last year my department did a big push for having teachers organize their space thoughtfully, focusing on ideas from Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy by Debbie Diller. We all got a copy of the book, and a week before school started they held a district-wide tour of example classrooms that, while impressive, mostly made me think: These teachers have done a fantastic job. I will never get my room to look like this!

But I did my best. I made curtains in calming colors for my windows and centered different sections of my room around area rugs to make it feel homey. I even got floor lamps and vanilla scented candles, and although I wasn’t allowed to light them, they definitely scented my room when helped along by the oppressive heat of the first weeks of school.

As the year went on, I got more and more immersed in the day-to-day survival of teaching and learning, and thought less and less about how my room looked. I left it how I had designed it, for the most part, but I stopped actually SEEing it.

Until about a week before the end of the year when one of my students said, “Please don’t be one of those teachers who pulls everything off the walls and puts the stuff away before school is actually over. I love how it feels to be in here!” And I remembered I had put a lot of thought and effort into creating the look of my classroom, which in time had turned into the feel of my classroom, and my students appreciated it.

And it had grown to matter to me too. This summer I happened to stop by my classroom to drop a few things off on the day the maintenance staff had gutted it for cleaning. Even though my tables, lamps, and carpets were neatly labeled and stacked in the hall, and my curtains were neatly folded (thanks maintenance folks!), I still felt shocked and a little bereft to see my classroom, my second home for 9 months of the year, naked before me.

But then my horror subsided and I thought: A clean palette! Won’t it be fun to set it up again in a few weeks?

Never fear Room 5! I’ll bring the love back sometime in August.

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Does Free Get Better Than This?… Award Winning Resources From The JASON Project

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:18:24 GMT

Welcome to one of the first in a series of summer posts. My plan is to bring to you some of the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan on sharing resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to these sights. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and to my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

JASON Project – Wow.. I am not sure if free gets any better then this!

I remember the JASON Project from close to 20 years ago being a source of some video field trips which were pretty cool for the era! If you have not visited it lately, you are in store for one of the most amazing sources found on the internet! If you advocate for STEM, Project Based Learning, and Science then get your clicker ready. I am not sure if free gets any better than this!

The JASON Project connects students with great explorers and great events to inspire students in their learning. It truly is an award winning curricula. It includes embed cutting-edge research from NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Geographic Society and other leading organizations. JASON allow leading scientists to work side by side with JASON students. Best of all, it promotes 21st century skills by challenging students to apply their knowledge to the real-world scenarios.

The JASON curriculum is just one part of this massive web site. It is designed to light the spark of inspiration in students, fit within school districts’ core 5th-8th grade curriculm, adapt to higher and lower levels, align to state and national standards, cover at least five to nine weeks of material and include numerous research articles, hands-on lab activities, videos, games, and multimedia resources. It also includes suggested lesson plans, extensions, interdisciplinary connections, and teacher resources for alignment, assessment, and classroom management. It emphasizes the studies of Energy: Operation Infinite Potential, Ecology: Operation Resilient Planet, and Weather: Operation Monster Storms. A new unit, one that I had the opportunity assist in some game development on will be available in 2010 and is called Geology: Operation Tectonic Fury. Note that the curriculum is supplied for free by PDF downloads or on-line web access. It can be purchased is a published book style format. (there is a 50% NEA discount).

Once you become a free member be sure to check out extended curriculum including Expeditions: Mysteries of Earth and Mars and Expedition: Disappearing Wetlands. All curriculum can be used, customized, lengthened, shortened, or even used in small sections as needed, to supplement current curriculum. You will be amazed at the multi media and interactive resources available. Be sure to check out these online demos. (must register for free)

Be sure to visit the JASON Mission Center. The (JMC) Web site is filled with curriculum, videos, games, tools and community possibilities. Simular to NASA’s Mission Control Center, the JMC is a hub for exploration. Learn about powerful storms, watch a video about sharks, see if you can design a thrilling roller coaster and tell others about it in the message boards. Students will even be able to ask JASON researchers questions. The JMC is like a web version of the curriculum… but contains so much more. The Online Curriculum becomes alive and engaging with videos, animations, vocabulary terms, and games, all embedded right in the text. Exciting JASON Videos which are available on curriculum DVD are also available for free viewing online! Immersive Games and Digital Labs allows students to work with real, cutting-edge scientific research to explore lessons. The Teacher Tools allow teachers to create a virtual classroom and give your students their own accounts. Design custom assessments online and ssign and review student journals. The Student Tools allow students to explore JASON at their own pace. Discussion boards, online science fairs, and high-score gaming competition; students have the world of JASON at their fingertips. The Live Events allow teachers and students to Interact and ask questions while getting feedback with JASON scientists and Argonauts. Last, Online Communities allow for teacher to teacher collaboration on JMC Message Boards. Students can also visit the boards to discuss their explorations in a fully-moderated forum. Bes sure to check out this JMC tour video.

Available for free, from JASON , are the online games and digital labs that will capture your students’ attention and sustain their interest. JASON games and digital labs are written and designed with the practical realties of the classroom. Teachers can even search for games and labs by state standards and will also find worksheets and handouts. One game is Operation Resilient Planet, be sure to watch this preview. Another, which is one of my favorites, is Coaster Creator. Watch this informative video to learn more. Storm Tracker gives students a front row seat in learning about a hurricane as can be seen in this video preview. Last, you will find some great gaming and lab resources in the Mini Lab portion of the JMC.

Not to be forgotten is JASON Project’s comprehensive professional development program. It has been designed to increase teachers’ expertise in implementing inquiry-based science curricula in the classroom. Download this PDF brochure for more details. (must register for free)

In closing, The JASON Project has long been a winner of multiple awards. The energy curriculum most recently won three coveted CODiE Awards from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Operation Infinite Potential was named the nation’s best K-12 Instructional Solution, Best Online Instructional Solution and best Education Game or Simulation. The CODiE Awards are the industry’s sole peer-recognition awards program, designed to celebrate excellence and vision in educational technology, digital content, and software. ”These awards validate our belief that JASON is an important contributor to 21st century learning and can have a significant impact on raising student achievement,” said Caleb M. Schutz, President of The JASON Project. “Our focus was on creating a multimedia curriculum that allows students and teachers to work and learn in an exciting and engaging online global community.”

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as the Jason Project this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year, or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the 21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply! Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Write a Letter to a Friend

Anonymous — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:18:00 GMT

Hello again,

Today I came into class with a nice lesson plan, but I was short about 10 minutes. I never like to have the class sit around with nothing to do, because that leads to them talking, then getting loud, and it's harder to get them back on task, so I had to come up with a 10 minute activity. I could have shown a 10 minute video clip, but I wanted something more interesting. That's when I came up with a pretty good idea - go figure. After my incredibly exciting lecture (Yes it is.) I had the students pull out a sheet of paper and told them to choose a student who is not in the class and write them a quick letter about what they learned today in History class. I told them that it needed a intro sentence like, "Dear friend, I have to tell you about what I learned today in Mr. Rangel's class." Then they had to include at least five important facts in the body of their letter and finish it off with a closing sentence. To get credit for the assignment, the students had to have the friend to whom they wrote the letter write a sentence about what they read and then sign it at the bottom. Once it is signed, the student has to return it to me within the week. This way, the student is forced to re-read the notes they took during the incredibly exciting lecture and it allows them share what they learned with their friends. It also filled my 10 minute time slot.

Here's Today's Tip for New Teachers: Don't yell. I learned early in my career that yelling doesn't work. It only serves to show your students that you can be flustered. When you raise your voice in anger, the students win. I have had many problem students in my class. I have some now, but I never raise my voice in frustration. If the class is too loud, I cross my arms and wait. Once the class settles down, I continue. There will be times when the students will take longer than I expect to settle down. It's in those times when I'll start calling individual names. I'll say, "Johnny," and wait till I get his attention, "We're waiting for you." Most of the time the students will notice me waiting, and they'll start with the "shhhhhh." There will be, however, those rare times when I will raise my voice, but they are what I call "Strategic Detonations." I, and not the students, determine when I will yell, and when I yell, it is to make a very important point. It happens maybe twice the whole year - sometimes never. If a teacher raises his/her voice on a regular basis, eventually the students become numb to it, and it will no longer have an effect. There will be times when the students will cause you to be flustered. Do everything you can to keep from raising your voice. Wait till the students leave, - then scream.
Thanks,
Sam
SuccessintheClassroom.com

More Great Advice

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:44:00 GMT

Hello all,

I added some more good advice for new teachers. I found these on a forum that I joined. Check it out here:

http://www.successintheclassroom.com/bestadvicefornewteachers.html

Still on my vacation, but I'll be back in the classroom next week. That month just flew by. Once I'm back in school, I'll be updating the blog more regularly.

Today's advice: Celebrate your students' birthday. It's a small thing, but it's something my kids look forward to. In my class, I start each day with a sponge activity called, "Today in American History." I have important events that happened in our history on that particular day projected on my Power point, and the students have to copy it down. I go over the events and their importance. I always check my birthday list in the morning, and if there is a student who has a birthday on that day, I add it to the important historical events. I always come up with a story about how I'll always remember that day. The earth shook. The birds sang extra loud, etc. Then I tell them how since that day the world has never been the same. (I clarify that it has been better.) Kids appreciate it. Stay tuned for my next post.

Who I Am

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:08:00 GMT

Hello all,
My name is Sam Rangel, and I've been a middle school teacher for about 21 years now. I've decided to create a blog to document my thoughts and hopefully offer some insight to new teachers or prospective teachers about what they can expect once they jump into their new career.

Teaching is a great profession, and I consider myself blessed to have spent so many years in the classroom. There are always those days when you wish you had a job that paid more, offered more benefits, maybe some kind of bonus that other professions offer, but when I think of the times that former students have come back and thanked me for the difference I made in their lives, it all seems worth it.

I've been a teacher at Corona Fundamental Intermediate School for the last 13 years. I teach American History to 8th graders. Every time I mention what I do to people, I always get a, "Wow!" Like I deserve a medal or something. I actually love my job. The kids sometimes can be a little tough to deal with, because they're going through that time in their lives when everything is changing. They're discovering their identity, and that causes them to act a little unpredictable. But I still love my job. To be able to help these kids in their journey through adolescence, having a little influence on their life decisions, giving them a little encouragement as they figure out just who they are make my job so rewarding. You can't put a price tag on that. I heard someone say, teachers don't make a lot of money, but they do make a difference.

Last night we had Open House. Open House is a night when we invite parents to come and walk through our classrooms to see work that we have posted. Hopefully, at least in my case, their child's work was good enough to hang on the wall. We have Open House in the evening, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. I was tired. I had stayed at school after the last bell to finish fixing up my room. I don't normally have my room decorated with a lot of student work. I used to, but at my school, we have to rotate classrooms every three months, so the less I have up, the less I have to take down. I hate rotating classrooms. I don't hate too much about my job, but I hate rotating rooms. Anyway, I had one parent tell me something that no matter how many times I've heard it, it still makes me smile. This mom told me that her son hated history until he took my class. Now he loves it. She thanked me for making her son love history. That was nice.

I want to try and give at least one word of advice in my posts to new teachers or teachers who are looking for advice from a teacher who has pretty much seen it all. You are welcome to take it or ignore it, but here's my first one:

Sam's Advice for New Teachers: When you find yourself in a confrontation with a student, he/she says one thing or wants to do something that you don't want them to do, don't back them in to a corner by trying to get your way or nothing. "My way or the highway" should never be your stance. Always give them a way to save face with their friends. Students will take the consequence regardless of how severe to save face. For example, you want the student to move to another seat. He doesn't want to move. Don't give him the choice - either move or go to the office. This will lead to more drama. Instead, give him the choice of seats. "You can sit in this front seat or you can sit in that front seat. You choose." Trust me. This will make your life easier. That's all. See you next time. - Sam