Monthly Archives: September 2014

Growing with a Student Teacher

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First off, I have to say I won the student teacher lottery.  My student teacher @ochoajon8 came into his summative experience ready to take over his own classroom.  I discovered that all of my self preparation to have difficult conversations was completely unnecessary and I needed to think completely differently about this process. Here’s what we’ve come up with.

I observe Jon formally 1-2 classes per day in a shared Evernote notebook so he has my notes to augment his own on how the class went.  I format my feedback with these three headings:

  1. Lesson notes – this includes word choice, general observations (positive and things to improve)
  2. Reflective Questions – These are questions designed to get him to think about things that we need to think about.  Some have been about our planning process, some have been thinking about the very positive things that are happening and how to make them happen more often.
  3. I notice you’re improving on… – What has made Jon so great is that his reflective practice is already well established.  He shares his own personal growth goals with me and I let him know where I’m seeing growth.  He’s great at self monitoring, but a second set of eyes is always a good thing.

 

Keeping all of this in a shared notebook in Evernote has turned this process into a two way dialogue about how the day went.  It was difficult to talk about the specifics of the day before I started taking detailed notes and sharing through Evernote.  In addition, the time constraints of our day made it difficult to plan and have the conversations we needed to have.  Seeing his fresh perspective in his responses to my feedback has turned this into an extremely symbiotic relationship.

 

How have you framed your formal relationship with your student teachers?

What ways can we improve this process for the good of all?

 

Stuck on an Escalator

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Over the summer I stumbled onto this video and thought it would be a great way to begin to create a culture of learning this year with the students I lead – Stuck on an Escalator

While watching the video most students chuckle and get frustrated with the characters in the video.

“Why don’t they just walk up the escalator?!”

After the video finishes we talked about how the video was literally about people getting stuck on an escalator, which is kind of silly.  It’s deeper meaning is the powerful one; most of the time the solutions to your own problems are just a few mental steps away.  After students talked and shared experiences they had last year working in groups I made them two promises…

1. There will be a time this year where you will be stuck on the escalator.  You’ll come up to me thinking you need my help but if I can see that you’re really close to figuring it out, I’ll tell you you’re stuck on the escalator and give you more time to work.  If I tell you this, don’t get frustrated, get excited because you’re really close to a solution!

2. There will be a time this year when you are working in a group and someone else is stuck on the escalator.  If you get frustrated with them at a time when they are already frustrated with themselves it will just make the problem bigger.  If a group member is stuck, be patient and help!  Think of a time you were stuck and how you would have wanted your partners to help.  Be the change you want to see.

I want my students to feel like its ok to struggle with their work.  We all struggle with our work.  We don’t need to get frustrated, it will just take time and planning to solve.  Giving them a silly metaphor to understand struggle has taken our community one step closer to dealing with frustrating situations with empathy instead of judgment.