This post strays away from my usual. Inspiration can stem from many places, and I have been inspired by one teacher (@raehughart) more than once. If are reading my blog and do not know who Rae Hughart is, you are missing out. She is a phenomenal educator with such a passion for teaching. She has accomplished so much as an educator so far, and I aspire to teach with the amount of passion she has.
I remember seeing her at a teaching conference (#t21con) at my university, and I left her session filled with joy and inspiration. This has never happened to me before at any other session. Little did I know that session would be the start of something bigger. After hearing about the teach further model, I got excited because that was how I envisioned teaching math. When I was a student, I wanted to know the reason why, and especially due to teaching middle school students, I want them to see the instant relevance. The teach further model has expanded since I last saw her present, and the grid method then came into the picture. I plan on using the grid method next year in my classroom because this is the direction I would like to go in. Rae has inspired countless of individuals, and she will inspire many more. She has one of the kindest hearts and deserves much recognition. She works so hard, and that hard work has paid off. She has obtained many awards and is a strong advocate for Middle Level education. She teaches from the heart and is the embodiment of what it means to be a passionate educator. I hope I can impact lives just like Rae has impacted mine and many others, and I know that her career is just starting to take off. I have no doubt in my mind that she will continue to be successful at everything that she does, and I know that she is changing the world one student at a time. Let's all take a page out of her book and truly teach further. She has influenced me as a pre-service teacher, and I plan on spreading her passion for teaching. I am lucky to have met her because she has changed me for good. If you have not followed her on Twitter, please do so. I promise you will not regret it.
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During this past week, we had PARCC testing, and I was able to see the effect that testing had on these young adolescents. I had a student who worried that he would not be able to pass 6th grade because of this test due to that being the message he got from home, and another student started to cry due to worrying. It saddened me that this testing culture has led these students to view themselves as a test score instead of the amazing qualities that they have that cannot be measured such as passion, excitement, and many more. Our school has such a positive culture, and we make sure that every student knows that he/she should try his/her best. I also had time to give the students the reward which was approximately 6-10 minutes of free time depending on how behaved they were the week before. My students enjoyed the reward especially due to it being PARCC testing and them needing a break, but for me, it was hard to let go of that control due to some students choosing to not play a math game and just sit there. After reflecting on whether or not that system worked for me, I though it worked well to an extent, but I felt like some students did not seem to care whether or not the class would lose time. Due to that being the case, while implementing this system, I was trying to think of another one. I saw a teacher post about a system where, if a student is talking, he/she gets his/her name written on the board. If the same student talks again, the students gets a check which is like a warning. If the student talks a third time, he/she would get a check and a consequence. I wrote names of students on the board for my EDTPA forms, and when a student sees his/her name on the board, they begin to ask questions and wonder what this is for. I am planning on trying out this new system and seeing if it works better for me. I would have to explain what the new system is to my students so that we are on the same page, but at this point, I want to try new things to see what works particularly for this group of students. Also, I was focused on consistency last week, and I felt like it paid off because the students began to see that, if they were not doing what I asked them to do, they would have to go sign the caution log. Although this system works, I know that, as a teacher, I do not always update the caution log online as much as I should, and, because of that, the students do not get an immediate consequence following 3 cautions. I feel like, if I did update it on a daily basis and assign consequences the day after, this would be more effective. I also started using Google Keep to keep track of to- do lists and suggestions. It has kept me focused on what I strive to accomplish on a daily basis because, as a teacher, my brain has many file cabinets open. I learned that I need to write things down in order to remember them, and for me, Google Keep is a system that I will utilize next year as well to keep me from feeling overwhelmed. I am doing my EDTPA this upcoming week, so I have been busy planning my lessons, but I am excited to reflect on my teaching so that I can get better. I aim to be a reflective and responsive educator, and I am amazed by my PLN on a daily basis . A teacher on my team told me that she should be more active on Twitter due to seeing me bring in these new ideas. I introduced her to SeeSaw, and she said that the students loved it. It made me smile when a student came up to me thanking me for introducing that platform to the other teacher, and it also made me smile when I forwarded a blog post from Danny Steele (@SteeleThoughts) called Every Kid to my team teachers. A teacher on my team shared the information, and as a school, we are going to do that activity that was mentioned with our students. Through this, I learned that change can happen if a group of individuals wholeheartedly believe in the change and take initiative to make it happen. I think my favorite part of the week was getting to email 17 teachers/ professors/ faculty members at my school. We had Safety Week at our school following the tragedy that occurred at Stoneman Douglas, and we had a challenge to give 17 high fives or 17 smiles. I took it upon myself to spread kindness and thank my former teachers and other individuals who made a difference in my life. The responses I got are below, and the responses truly made me tear up. While I was figuring out which teachers to email, I saw the name of a biology teacher I had who I have not emailed since I left high school. She mentioned below that she had tears in her eyes after reading my email, and it made me realize how much a small act of kindness can truly go a long way. How often do we forget to thank the individuals who make a difference? Do the people who have made an impact in your life know that they made a difference? Even though I try to express gratitude, I fall short, but I promise that the time you invest will reap many benefits. I read Lee Ann Halls post this morning which truly spoke to me. I am a student teacher, and I am passionate about utilizing Twitter for educational purposes, but sometimes, when I look at all the great things being shared, I question whether or not I am doing enough.
I really enjoyed one of the questions on #waled chat on Thursday which asked us to reflect on an average lesson. Some days, I admit to teaching lessons that are perceived as "average", but I am always striving to get better. As a student teacher, I have ideas of how I want to structure my classroom next year, and I want to set a solid foundation for both myself and my future students. I want my students to enjoy math and see the beauty of it while cultivating a growth mindset as well. The reason that this post is called failing forward is because I believe that attitude is everything. When I make a mistake, I try to think in my head "how fascinating" which is something I learned from a LeaderShape session. It keeps me focused on the positives and makes me realize that I need to figure out how to change something in order to make that lesson go better next time. We all fall down from time to time, and, when I have a rough day once in a while, I reread sections from "Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth" by Aaron Hogan which keeps me focused on the fact that not everything I do has to be perfect. I tend to be a perfectionist, so that mentality of being a "perfect" teacher led me to worry about whether or not I would be able to meet the standards that were expected of me, but after reading that book, I realized that failing forward is the key. A professor of mine told me that what truly matters is how we react to a situation, and I view that to be true. Our response can escalate or deescalate a situation, and that is a heavy burden to bear, but from what I have experienced thus far during my student teaching experience, a caring teacher truly can make a difference. When a student of mine emailed me that she was dealing with things in her personal life and that I made her excited to go to math, that almost brought me to tears. She was missing school a few times, and I emailed her parents letting her know how proud I was that she got a 4 on her last quiz. The student emailed me back saying how happy those emails I send make her, and she thanked me for cheering her up on her most miserable days. She also said that she does not know what she would do without me, her family, and the rest of her teachers. Now, if that email did not make my day, I do not know what would have, I got this email the day before my job fair, and I talked about that impact. This student has become a big part of why I teach, and I wish she knew the impact she has made on my life . I have hard days when I come home crying, but that email is one I will treasure forever because it showed me that someone is watching and someone takes notice of all that I do. It is so true that our students end up inspiring us to do better. I take pride in failing forward because #kidsdeserveit. |
AuthorMy name is Ms. Jachymiak, and I am a pre-service teacher currently attending Illinois State University. This blog follows my journey as a student teacher. @MsJachymiak Archives
May 2018
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