Field Journal 3.1

Rachel Lorenzo

10/15/11

LAE 4530.001

Tara Payor & Nina Graham

Bellwork and Mini Lesson

Last Thursday I took over the bellwork for Ms. Rich's sophomore classes. This has been my favorite part of the entire practicum so far! It was exhilarating to teach a class, I felt nervous the first period I did it, but the other two times it felt more natural, especially since I knew what to expect from the students. 

When I got to the first period class and talked to Ms. Rich, I found out she had not had a chance to read my last e-mail and did not have a laptop prepared for me to project the image I had prepared for the bellwork. Instead of panicking - the initial reaction that surged forth, I thought ahead and told her it would be alright as long as I could print it out. The printed image wouldn't show large enough to read the text, so I zoomed in on what I was originally going to zoom in on with the computer, cropped it, and printed it that way. Meanwhile Ms. Rich was instructing the students on another assignment they had to finish. I was very grateful to her for staying calm as well and for not giving me a hard time about not having brought my own laptop as a backup. Her instructing the students as I worked to get things together made me see one of the great benefits of co-teaching, something I haven't given much thought to until now. Although it would probably take some practice and coordination, I feel that co-teaching would be an excellent idea for some classrooms.

I prepared a "common misspellings" lesson and used a real conversation I had on facebook as the text students would read and find the misspellings in. Some students asked, "Is this really facebook, is this real?" They seemed to like that it was something they interact with everyday. Before showing them the facebook page, however, I asked the class a few questions to which they answered by show of hands, "Who here has a facebook?" was the first and of course most of the class raised their hands in each period. Next I asked if they normally chat with friends on facebook, again the same result, and whether they used "text talk" on facebook. Here a few students told me how they wrote on facebook, some saying they use text talk, others saying they write normally. When I showed them the facebook page I had taken a screenprint of and edited, I explained that even on facebook it's important to write correctly because it's good practice and people can get the wrong impression, thinking you're not as smart as you are.

I gave them the directions that they were to find and correct the misspellings only within the paragraph I zoomed in on. I made sure to tell them not to worry about punctuation other than apostrophes or capitalization. After the first period, I noticed it would be best to write the directions on top of the sheet of paper with the zoomed in screen shot as well. I am so used to college and how we as students are used to simply listening to the teacher once for a direction and being able to follow it. I need to remember to give my students written directions because they kept asking the same question about what they should be looking out for. Still, even later when the other periods had the directions written out, they continued to ask the same things that were on the directions and that I had just directed. It's understandable though, I remember being in high school and the same thing happening.This just shows how imperative it is to have directions written down and read aloud several times. 

Next we transitioned into the mini lesson where I passed out a handout with common misspellings. We went over it as a class after the students settled down because the handout was so amusing to them. Seeing a handout with common misspellings seemed to make them feel more open about expressing, "Oh yeah, this is one I always have trouble with, can you explain it?" They were quick to admit their own faults because they saw that it's something everyone struggles with. I was glad to be able to help them.

In the second class I taught, there was a student in the back of the class who went on talking to the students in front and behind him. Apart from not paying attention himself, he would not let them concentrate on their bellwork (assuming they wanted to). Although I am not personally offended by a student's not paying attention to my lesson, I want to at least try to get them to participate. While going over the answers, I calmly asked, "Would the gentleman in the red like to give the next answer?" It took him a while to realize he was being spoken to since he was facing away, but the rest of the class was aware of who I was referring to and some looked to be impressed. While impressing the students was not my intention, it is not without advantage to let them know that I can handle them despite my limited experience. 

Aside from this there were really no problems. The students seemed to really benefit from the bellwork and mini lesson. After opening the floor to questions, one girl asked me to further explain the difference between "you're" and "your." I explained it in depth using examples off the top of my head that they could relate to such as, "Your dog is pretty," versus "You're pretty."The girl and other students that I answered questions for seemed to gain a better understanding but I am concerned about students that say they understand something but remain confused. Some students may do this out of embarrassment for themselves or because they just aren't following along with what you're saying. This is something I will likely bring up the next time we talk, how can we assess whether students understand what you're explaining as you're explaining it to them in particular? I know there are methods of doing a class survey where students show a thumbs up or down in front their chests, but this is when singling out one student.

Overall, the students seemed to really enjoyed the handout and wanted to keep it. At the end of the day when I asked Ms. Rich if she wanted to keep the handouts and printout of the bellwork as I already had it in my computer, she said she did and might use it herself! I was very glad and proud that she liked it enough to consider using it in the future. Beforehand I was afraid that the bellwork would be too easy but it seemed to fit students just right! Students are following the social media more than published works these days, it is important to show them that they shouldn't rely on social websites like facebook to be an example for how they should write. Just because they see others making common mistakes, doesn't mean they can't be ahead of the game.

The following are the bellwork (the facebook page, I zoomed in on the middle message from "Alex") and the handout I later gave them and went over together. Click the artifacts to enlarge them (to view them full size, click on the written link to the left of the image).