Thursday, December 3, 2015

Self Reflection for MicroTeaching 2



                                        Reflection for MicroTeaching 2
            I feel very proud of my MicroTeaching 2. Personally I think that it came out a lot better than my first one did. The whole experience went very well, all of my classmates/students answered the questions that I had. They also were very involved with the reading and acting out the play that I assigned to them for my indirect teaching class.  I personally cannot think of any area of weakness. If I had to choose something, I wish that I did something different with my technology portion, maybe make a PowerPoint, like a lot of other people in my group did.
            In my opinion my objective was met, the students were able to answer my questions, and they were able to come up with their own predictions about what might happen in Part 2 of the play, just by reading Part 1. The evidence of my objective being met is the class discussion that was had after they read the play, and their ability to answer the questions that I assigned to them for homework. I feel that all of the students were able to meet the objective because everyone participated in the class discussion, but if any of the students did not understand the questions that I gave them, that would be because they didn’t understand the play that I had them read. If this was the case I would hope that those students would ask me to clear any confusion up for them.
            I learned that as long as I act like myself and feel comfortable in my own skin then I will appear more comfortable in front of my class. I was just as nervous before this MicroTeaching 2 as I was before MicroTeaching 1, but I felt more comfortable with the particular classmates that I was with this time, and I also felt more professional because I was dressed much better compared to the first MicroTeaching.  Dressing more professional was big for me, it helped me feel like a real teacher, and I believe that feeling more professional is also what helped me feel more comfortable teaching my lesson.
            This experience helped me with my professional identity by showing me that dressing better helped make me feel like a real teacher.  I still feel like I need to slow down my speech in some areas, but I will have to work on that with time because I am normally a very fast talker. MicroTeaching 2 showed me that as long as I am comfortable with myself and my lesson, then my passion for my content will shine through. I felt much better that I did not go first on the first day, it made me feel more comfortable that I was able to watch several of my classmates teach their lessons before I taught mine. I am very happy with how my MicroTeaching 2 came out, and it made me feel very good that after I was finished all of my classmates told me how great it was and how much fun they had preforming out the play.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Conference Paper


          The conference that I went to was the RIASCD Pre-Service Conference.  Personally I enjoyed it. There were two different meetings that I attended during the conference. The first one was called “Write to Learn” Strategies to Support Student Achievement, and the second was about Formative Assessment. Both of the meetings were very informative, but I preferred the first one over the second.  It seemed to me that the teacher in the first one was much more knowledgeable about her topic then the teacher in the second one.  The second one also seemed like it was more lecture based, and the first one had more activities that the teachers and future teachers could use.
            In Strategies to Support Student Achievement, some of the activities that we learned about were called one word strategy, which asked the students to write one word to describe an article or small passage. Then there was also the muddy moment technique, which has the students anonymously write down questions, or things that they don’t understand about the reading that they all did, onto a post-it and then they stick it on the board.  The teacher then grabs random questions and reads them outload one at a time, each time either asking other students to answer the question or she answers the question if none of the students volunteer. 
            The last strategy that we learned briefly was called the “stoplight”.  She couldn’t go over this one in great detail because we were running out of time, but what she did say about it did stay with me.  Near the end of the class you give the students different colored post-it notes and have the students write their names and write any question they have on the back, and then they stick it on the “stoplight”. Green meaning they understood the class, yellow means a little confused, and red means they didn’t get it at all.  I really like this because they allows the teacher to know how her or his students are understand when you are trying to teach them. It also allows you to have a clearer way of knowing if you as the teacher should revisit any particular area with your students.  Overall I really enjoyed this conference and I really feel like I learned a lot.

Observation 4



Observation 4
            The class that I that I observed today was Mr. Gomes 10th grade class at Coventry High School. They did an out loud reading of Act 4 of The Crucible.  So the quiz that I am going to create is going to focus on Act 4 of The Crucible.
    
            1. I think the objective for this particular class is; The students will be able to examine Act 4 of the play and have full understanding of the theme(s) of the play.
  
       2. That is the Analyzing level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

             3.The quiz is how I will assess the student’s knowledge of Act 4, and I will correct it quickly by using Plicker. So that will allow me to scan the classroom and quickly determine and catalog how many of my students knew the answers.


QUIZ
Name: ____________________________________________________
Date: _________________________
Act 4, The Crucible
You will have 10 minutes to complete this multiple choice quiz, it should take you approximately one minute for each question. After finishing the eight questions, you will still have 2 minutes to REVIEW your previous answers before the quiz is completed.


1.      Why does Reverend Hale try to get the prisoners to confess?

A.
He knows that they will be hanged immediately instead of having to wait.

B.
He thinks that the judges will take pity on their families and leave them alone.

C.
He knows that if they confess, they will be released from jail.

D.
He thinks it will cleanse their souls of impurity and they will be guaranteed a place in Heaven.

2. 
Why are Danforth and Hathorne so intent on getting John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse to confess?

A.
Their confessions would help make other imprisoned people to confess.

B.
Everyone knows them to be witches anyway.

C.
The judges want to be able to release them from jail.

D.
Elizabeth needs John and Francis needs Rebecca.

3. 
What does Reverend Parris say has happened to his niece, Abigail?

A.
She has secretly freed John from prison and they have boarded a ship to Barbados.

B.
She and two other girls stole money from him and are hiding in Putnam's attic.

C.
She has stolen his money and run away.

D.
She has been saved in the church.

4. 
What happened to Giles Corey?

A.
After confessing to witchcraft, he was released from jail.

B.
After not giving up the names of the people on the affidavit, he was pressed to death by stones.

C.
He broke out of jail, with Abigail's help, and left town.

D.
He committed suicide.

5. 
Why does John Proctor decide to rip his warrant to pieces?

A.
He would rather die for honesty than be freed for a lie.

B.
He knows Elizabeth and their unborn child need him.

C.
He wants the judges to know that he is not a Christian man.

D.
He is willing to die for his friends.

6. 
What does Parris say he found lodged in his door?

A.
John Proctor's warrant

B.
The head of a fish

C.
A small dagger

D.
An arrow

7. 
What does Elizabeth think about John's decision?

A.
She is devastated and vows to help change his mind.

B.
She believes that the judges will take pity on him.

C.
She believes that he has found his goodness and is at peace with his decision.

D.
She is heartbroken and pleads with the judges to take pity on him.

8. 
Elizabeth tells John that in their marriage she has been guilty of

A.
Being unfaithful

B.
Being unChristian-like

C.
Telling lies about him

D.
Keeping a cold house






Answer Key:
1.      C
2.      A
3.      C
4.      B
5.      A
6.      C
7.      C
8.      D