Math
The students were introduced to the process of the learning
protocol that required them to use the technology of the Promethean board with
their workbook, and discuss possible answers in their groups. They worked on Fibonacci sequence as a way to
learn inductive reasoning. The process
was impressive in the way it incorporated the technology to provide visual aids
for geometry along with practical uses that include showing a bridge that used
arcs, parallels, perpendicular lines, angles and bisectors. I thought it was a good way to teach definitions
in a way that is suitable for different learning styles. Near the end of class a student named Africa entered
tardy so naturally she had no clue what was going on. She sat in the back of the class and squinted
to see the Promethean board. The
Promethean board is also called a smart board.
The school has them spread out through the building in various classrooms
but not all of them. In Jessica’s classes, there were three classrooms without
them and three with them. She has seven periods including lunch. The smart board is connected to the teacher’s
PC and allows whatever is on the computer to synchronize with the smart board
screen. With the use of a special
pencil, the teacher can draw or write on the smart board and at the same time,
operate the computer. Of course
technology means nothing if a student is late and has no glasses. I told Mr. Carter that Africa did not have
her glasses on and she had trouble seeing the board. He thanked me for the insight and told me to
feel free to share anything that I noticed regarding students who may have
problems with this program.
I learned then that the math program was part of a program
that the school purchased called Agile Mind.
It was something that Mr. Carter advocated for two years ago when he was
the department chair for math. He
thought it would help raise math scores in the district, and although he was
removed from the campaign for it, he was now finally able to see it come into
fruition. On the purchase of the math program it appears
that the school did not plan or pay for training of the teachers and Mr. Carter
said that he was the only one who was trained.
The irony in all of this is that he had also applied to become a student
disciplinary dean and was recently approved by the school board and the finance
committee. He had hoped that he would
start the school year as the disciplinary dean but for whatever reason, he did
not and a new teacher was not hired to take his place. He
seemed comfortable with the program and had what appeared to be a definite
strategy in teaching it and familiarizing the students to the concept. He repeated often that he was not there to
teach them, but that he was just a facilitator, and that it was up to the
students themselves to learn through inquiry as opposed to traditional
regurgitation of material.
Assembly
We had an assembly during second period but before we were
dismissed to attend, Ms. Martinez informed Jessica that she did well enough on
the placement exam to be moved to the Spanish 2 class. Jessica was a bit nervous about this because
although she is Mexican, and her mother is an immigrant who speaks very little
English, she speaks very little Spanish and claims that Spanish is her second
language. When we arrived at the assembly, we learned
that it was only for sophomore students.
It was held in the field house where the school team played
basketball. At the assembly, the
counselors introduced themselves and explained to the students that they had
various resources such as a study table in the library and the career center. They explained why some sophomores were still
classified as freshman. Apparently there
were over 100 students who did not move from freshman status to sophomore
status, even with summer school as an option.
The counselors gave them threats about what would happen when they are
seniors if they did not study and get their graduation credits. Next, the disciplinary dean came to the
podium and went over the progressive discipline policy and the rules that she “will
not waver” in enforcing. Those rules
were the dress code, rules relating to attendance, cell phone use, fighting,
and bad language. I learned then that second
period was divided in half and that the junior class was to come into the gymnasium
and have a similar meeting. So after all of the threats were done, we were
told to return to class for the remainder of second period. I leaned that the problem with this schedule
was that Jessica’s new class was made juniors and seniors. She was one of two sophomores in that Spanish
class. This left the teacher in a bad
position because she could not do anything in terms of teaching as half of her
class was missing during the second half of the class.
Looking back in hind
sight, the threats meant nothing to the students. In the end, the students were the victors
being that they endured the first ten weeks of harsh rule by the disciplinary
deans. After those ten weeks, the
discipline system broke down and things were back to the way they were. The dean’s promise that she would not waver
fell short. I guess the lesson in this
is that students will push the envelope as long and as far as they can. Idle threats are just that … Idle.
English Class
I felt very disappointed in the English teacher this day. She gave as an assignment for the students to identify
the plot of the story. They read over a short story that was about 2 and one half
pages long. It took them 13 minutes to
read it. I noticed that seven students
did not read at all. Instead they put
their heads down on the desk. I was also disappointed in that and also noticed
that six of the seven sleeping students were African American. As I sat in the back of the class, I could
not help but to notice that the teacher had not taken time out to discuss the
conflict or the inciting incident which separates the exposition from the
rising action. In my opinion this is a
crucial point to make in a story, as there can be no story without a
conflict. I doubted that the students
would ever understand what they are supposed to do or if they will show mastery
of the assignment. I began to think that
she assumed the students already knew these things and she just used this
assignment for a review. If that was so,
she was painfully wrong. They did not
know, and when I took a look at one of my football player’s paper, I saw that
he wrote virtually nothing on his paper.
It was as I had anticipated; he did not identify or show mastery of
understanding the beginning and the end of the rising action nor was he able to
identify the conflict and climax.
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