My goal for teaching vocabulary was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. On average, students have improved an average of 8 points per test. I consider this to mean that my goal was a success. I attribute the success to the bell ringer I gave at the beginning of each class which allowed them to practice their vocabulary. My bell ringer usually took 15 minutes which is 10 more minutes then my goal. Fifteen minutes may seem like a lot of time for some of you but my school is on block scheduling and each class is 80 minutes long. I will continue to allow the student the time at the beginning of each class to practice that weeks vocabulary words and review words from past weeks.
I would consider my reading goal a success as well. My goal was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. The second part of my goal was to discuss reading techniques with a colleague. I was able to complete both parts of this goal. The colleague I spoke with was able to give me many helpful techniques and resources to aide in my students continued reading success. I also read two short stories with my class and we completed a T-Chart and Venn diagram to show similarities and difference of the stories. The students seemed to grasp the idea of comparing and contrasting but it is something that we will need to continue to work on.
The goal I set for writing was easy and fun to be successful at. My goal was to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while they were instructing students how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have always enjoyed watching other teachers teach and picking up strategies from them so it was helpful. I feel that I learned more then just how to teach student how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I also picked up behavior management strategies and classroom organizational ideas.
My goal for grammar was to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”. Even though I read this book I do not feel like I was successful at my goal for grammar. The book was supposed to help me brush up on my English skills but, I don’t think it was enough. I still feel very weak in the area of grammar and could use some more practice with it. Grammar is something I struggled with in high school, in college and now as a professional. It has never came easy to me and is something I will have to continue to work on.
My goal for technology was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. This goal was very easy for me because I was granted my wish to receive a permanent Smartboard in my room with an airliner. I then was given the opportunity to go to several training sessions to learn how to implement the Smartboard technology into my classroom. The program has been amazing and I try to use the technology at least once a day. Using the Smartboard can be overwhelming at first but it gets easier with time. I find new ways to implement the Smartboard every time I turn it on.
As a special education teacher, assessments are an everyday event whether they are informal or formal. I am constantly checking my students understanding of a subject and taking anecdotal notes. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. I had help on this goal from my mentor teacher because she uses a checklist system as well. She was able to show me her checklist and helped me set up my own. The checklist has been useful monitoring the progress with my curriculum as well as their progress towards their IEP goals.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Personal Goals
I have been successful at my goal for teaching vocabulary. This goal was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. I am still continuing to give the students a bell ringer at the beginning of each class that deals with their vocabulary words. A bell ringer is a paper that the students grab before the bell rings and gives them something quiet to do as I take attendance. It also allows for learning to take place truly from bell to bell. I have seen a big improvement in the students test scores over their vocabulary words as a result of the bell ringer. I have also observed two other teachers who teach vocabulary and learned a few techniques from them. One of the teachers reads a novel with her students and as they read she pulls words that they might not be as familiar with from the text. This helps with vocabulary as well as reading comprehension.
My goal for reading was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I also wanted to discuss with a special education colleague the best method to read a short story with the class. I was able to meet with one my special education colleagues a while back and she helped to give me some suggestions on ways to read a short story. I am currently reading a short novel (110 pages) with my class. I designate certain days of the week for how they will read. For example, Monday’s they read in small heterogeneous groups and on Tuesdays they read silently by themselves. I try to vary the way that they read in order to help all students.
My goal for writing was to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while they were instructing students how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed both of the people I have intended to and have learned some great strategies from both of them. One thing that I do is I give my students a topic sentence and then they form a conclusion sentence based on the topic sentence I gave them. I then reverse this idea and do it the opposite way by giving them a conclusion or a story idea and have them write a topic sentence from it.
Grammar is one subject I have always struggled with so I decided my goal would be geared at improving my personal grammar skills. In order to do this I set up the goal to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”. The book makes jokes about some of the most common grammatical errors so it keeps the reader interested while allowing the reader to brush up on their skills. The book was somewhat helpful. It reminded me of skills I had forgotten but didn’t really allow me the hands-on practice I would have liked.
I was born in the age of technology so this goal was very easy for me. My goal was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. Right after I made this goal I was fortunate enough to get a Smartboard installed in my room. Once the Smartboard was installed I was given the opportunity to go to a Smartboard training in-service. I of course went and have begun implementing the Smartboard into my lessons ever since. The students think its great and reminds of them of playing a video game. The technology helps to hold their attention longer then I ever could.
I do informal and formal assessments everyday so this goal only seemed natural to me. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. My mentor teacher actually helped me develop a list because this is actually the method that she uses. The checklist is serving two purposes, it allows me to monitor their progress with the English curriculum as well as the progress towards their IEP goals.
My goal for reading was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I also wanted to discuss with a special education colleague the best method to read a short story with the class. I was able to meet with one my special education colleagues a while back and she helped to give me some suggestions on ways to read a short story. I am currently reading a short novel (110 pages) with my class. I designate certain days of the week for how they will read. For example, Monday’s they read in small heterogeneous groups and on Tuesdays they read silently by themselves. I try to vary the way that they read in order to help all students.
My goal for writing was to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while they were instructing students how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed both of the people I have intended to and have learned some great strategies from both of them. One thing that I do is I give my students a topic sentence and then they form a conclusion sentence based on the topic sentence I gave them. I then reverse this idea and do it the opposite way by giving them a conclusion or a story idea and have them write a topic sentence from it.
Grammar is one subject I have always struggled with so I decided my goal would be geared at improving my personal grammar skills. In order to do this I set up the goal to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”. The book makes jokes about some of the most common grammatical errors so it keeps the reader interested while allowing the reader to brush up on their skills. The book was somewhat helpful. It reminded me of skills I had forgotten but didn’t really allow me the hands-on practice I would have liked.
I was born in the age of technology so this goal was very easy for me. My goal was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. Right after I made this goal I was fortunate enough to get a Smartboard installed in my room. Once the Smartboard was installed I was given the opportunity to go to a Smartboard training in-service. I of course went and have begun implementing the Smartboard into my lessons ever since. The students think its great and reminds of them of playing a video game. The technology helps to hold their attention longer then I ever could.
I do informal and formal assessments everyday so this goal only seemed natural to me. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. My mentor teacher actually helped me develop a list because this is actually the method that she uses. The checklist is serving two purposes, it allows me to monitor their progress with the English curriculum as well as the progress towards their IEP goals.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Personal Goals
Personal Goals
My goal for teaching vocabulary was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. This goal has been successfully met and I have seen great results from it. The students receive a bell ringer at the beginning of each class that asks them to do different things with their vocabulary words. As students are completing the bell ringer I walk around the room and quiz students on their words. The students then spend a few minutes studying the words they missed and try to get them right the next day. I have seen a big improvement in the students test scores over their vocabulary words. I have students who were receiving 25% on their tests before and are now getting an average of 85% when tested. I have also observed the one of the teachers who teaches vocabulary but, still I still need to observe the second teacher.
The reading goal I had set up for myself was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I also wanted to discuss with a special education colleague the best method to read a short story with the class. I have read both short stories with my class and we then used a T-Chart to compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I have also met with one of my special education colleagues. As I stated before, she told me that she usually puts students into heterogeneous groups and assigns them different chunks of the story to read.
Writing is one subject that students will use everyday and in most of their classes. I decided that my writing goal would be to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while instructing students on how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed another special education teacher who teaches a higher level English class then mine. I also observed my mentor teacher when she instructed her students no how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. She makes sure the students re-state their original topic sentence somewhere in their conclusion. She made learning how to write a fun experience for all the students. Grammar is one of my weakest spots as an English teacher. My goal for teaching grammar was to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” to better my understanding of grammar. I have read the first 2 chapters of the book and have already picked up a few grammar rules I had forgotten. A lot of the book is making fun of the English language so the book is enjoyable to read but allows me to learn as I go.
My goal for integrating technology into my class was one of the easiest goals for me to reach. My goal was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. Right after I made this goal I was fortunate enough to get a Smartboard installed in my room. Once the Smartboard was installed I was given the opportunity to go to a Smartboard training in-service. I of course went and have begun implementing the Smartboard into my lessons.
Assessments are something that we must do everyday, whether informal or formal. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. This was an easy goal to meet because my mentor teacher assigned to me by the district actually uses a checklist to monitor her students. She helped me to develop my own checklist and I have been putting it to use every since. The checklist helps me to keep an eye on how students are moving towards their IEP goals as well as the goals of my curriculum.
My goal for teaching vocabulary was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. This goal has been successfully met and I have seen great results from it. The students receive a bell ringer at the beginning of each class that asks them to do different things with their vocabulary words. As students are completing the bell ringer I walk around the room and quiz students on their words. The students then spend a few minutes studying the words they missed and try to get them right the next day. I have seen a big improvement in the students test scores over their vocabulary words. I have students who were receiving 25% on their tests before and are now getting an average of 85% when tested. I have also observed the one of the teachers who teaches vocabulary but, still I still need to observe the second teacher.
The reading goal I had set up for myself was to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I also wanted to discuss with a special education colleague the best method to read a short story with the class. I have read both short stories with my class and we then used a T-Chart to compare and contrast the various parts of the story. I have also met with one of my special education colleagues. As I stated before, she told me that she usually puts students into heterogeneous groups and assigns them different chunks of the story to read.
Writing is one subject that students will use everyday and in most of their classes. I decided that my writing goal would be to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while instructing students on how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed another special education teacher who teaches a higher level English class then mine. I also observed my mentor teacher when she instructed her students no how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. She makes sure the students re-state their original topic sentence somewhere in their conclusion. She made learning how to write a fun experience for all the students. Grammar is one of my weakest spots as an English teacher. My goal for teaching grammar was to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” to better my understanding of grammar. I have read the first 2 chapters of the book and have already picked up a few grammar rules I had forgotten. A lot of the book is making fun of the English language so the book is enjoyable to read but allows me to learn as I go.
My goal for integrating technology into my class was one of the easiest goals for me to reach. My goal was to learn how to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. Right after I made this goal I was fortunate enough to get a Smartboard installed in my room. Once the Smartboard was installed I was given the opportunity to go to a Smartboard training in-service. I of course went and have begun implementing the Smartboard into my lessons.
Assessments are something that we must do everyday, whether informal or formal. My goal for assessments was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. This was an easy goal to meet because my mentor teacher assigned to me by the district actually uses a checklist to monitor her students. She helped me to develop my own checklist and I have been putting it to use every since. The checklist helps me to keep an eye on how students are moving towards their IEP goals as well as the goals of my curriculum.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Personal Goals
My goal for teaching vocabulary was to spend 5 minutes per day allowing students to practice or study their vocabulary words for the week. I have been doing well with this goal and have made this my bell ringer for the beginning of each class period. I have varied how the students practice their vocabulary such as having them read a story with the vocabulary words in it or writing sentences using their words. I have yet to observe 2 teachers and how they teach vocabulary which was part of my goal.
I believe literature is extremely important and therefore made my reading goal to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of a story. I also wanted to discuss the best method to read a short story with my class with one of my special education colleagues. I have read a few short stories in my English class but have not yet compared and contrasted them. I have met with one of my colleagues and we discussed how she reads stories in her class. She stated that she usually puts the students into heterogeneous groups and assigns them different chunks of the story to read.
I believe some of the best resources I have as a teacher is other teachers. This is why I made my writing goal to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while instructing students on how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed another special education teacher who teaches an LD English class which is a higher level then my class. The teacher I observed taught me a few different techniques on how to instruct students in their writing.
I will admit I have done very poorly on my goal for teaching grammar. My goal is to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” to better my understanding of grammar. I have already checked this book out of the library but I have yet to begin reading it. I would like to begin reading this book over our long Presidents day weekend.
I had a major breakthrough on my goal for integrating technology into my English class. My goal was to learn to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. I originally thought I would get a Smartboard from the library when I wanted to use one but to my surprise, a Smartboard was installed in my room this week! Woo Hoo!! This had made this goal very easy and I have already begin to experiment with this new piece of technology.
The last goal I had was in regards to assessment. My goal is was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. I have actually developed a checklist and have begin putting it to good use. The checklist has the various topics we cover throughout the semester. There is then 3 categories that I then use to monitor the progress of my students on the various topics: Limited, Proficient and Mastery.
I believe literature is extremely important and therefore made my reading goal to read two short stories with my class and compare and contrast the various parts of a story. I also wanted to discuss the best method to read a short story with my class with one of my special education colleagues. I have read a few short stories in my English class but have not yet compared and contrasted them. I have met with one of my colleagues and we discussed how she reads stories in her class. She stated that she usually puts the students into heterogeneous groups and assigns them different chunks of the story to read.
I believe some of the best resources I have as a teacher is other teachers. This is why I made my writing goal to observe my mentor teacher and one other English teacher while instructing students on how to write a topic and conclusion sentence. I have observed another special education teacher who teaches an LD English class which is a higher level then my class. The teacher I observed taught me a few different techniques on how to instruct students in their writing.
I will admit I have done very poorly on my goal for teaching grammar. My goal is to read the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” to better my understanding of grammar. I have already checked this book out of the library but I have yet to begin reading it. I would like to begin reading this book over our long Presidents day weekend.
I had a major breakthrough on my goal for integrating technology into my English class. My goal was to learn to use a Smartboard and integrate it into my English curriculum. I originally thought I would get a Smartboard from the library when I wanted to use one but to my surprise, a Smartboard was installed in my room this week! Woo Hoo!! This had made this goal very easy and I have already begin to experiment with this new piece of technology.
The last goal I had was in regards to assessment. My goal is was to develop a checklist to monitor the progress my students make towards the mastery of a subject. I have actually developed a checklist and have begin putting it to good use. The checklist has the various topics we cover throughout the semester. There is then 3 categories that I then use to monitor the progress of my students on the various topics: Limited, Proficient and Mastery.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Introduction
Personal Information:
My name is Robin and I am 22 years old. I enjoy shopping, scrap booking and hanging out with friends. One of my biggest vices is coffee, ask any of my students and they will tell you that I can't live without it! I am very close to my family and can't wait to start my own family one day.
Professional:
I was fortunate enough to get a job right after graduation in May and am enjoying my first year of teaching at a school in Toledo. I teach high school special education and am working on my Masters in Educational Administration. My areas of specialty include: motivating students, coming up with creative teaching techniques and teaching poetry.
What I hope to get out of this course:
I hope to get creative ideas on techniques to teach basic English skills to high school students. I also hope to share ideas with my colleagues all around Toledo.
My name is Robin and I am 22 years old. I enjoy shopping, scrap booking and hanging out with friends. One of my biggest vices is coffee, ask any of my students and they will tell you that I can't live without it! I am very close to my family and can't wait to start my own family one day.
Professional:
I was fortunate enough to get a job right after graduation in May and am enjoying my first year of teaching at a school in Toledo. I teach high school special education and am working on my Masters in Educational Administration. My areas of specialty include: motivating students, coming up with creative teaching techniques and teaching poetry.
What I hope to get out of this course:
I hope to get creative ideas on techniques to teach basic English skills to high school students. I also hope to share ideas with my colleagues all around Toledo.
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