Teaching the Everyday
Setting & Context
A Daily Experience
Bell Middle School is located in Golden, Colorado, boasting a scenic view and (more importantly) pride in the Bobcats! Student work is beginning to be displayed throughout the school, as the year progresses. Posters promoting the “team” around the business of learning, that being the students, the parents, and the teachers. There are reminders of the school’s anti-bullying policies mounted on the walls. Lockers line the halls, one for each grade: sixth, seventh, and eighth. Before the start of class, many teachers stand beside their doors, some keep their students outside the classroom and ensure that each student is greeted individually upon entering the class.
Students are able to participate in a number of sporting activities, as well as clubs like the Mountain Bike Club, Yearbook, SeaCamp, and Interact.
I am glad to be able to student-teach during the fall, when the school year is new and everyone is refreshed from summer. Walking the halls before school started, I was able to feel the “newness” of the school year with blank walls like empty canvas. As the year has progressed, I see student work almost creating the school specific to the school year. The same experience is especially felt in my classroom. I can see how teachers can stay year after year, because each year has its own nuance.
There is a variety of classes and extracurricular activities where students can participate. I plan on joining the Yearbook Club and see how the students create the yearbook, even though I won’t be around to see the final product. Yearbook Club is important to recording what the school year was like, so I’m interested in seeing how the art teacher is going to inspire the club to capture the memories throughout the year.
integrated with the core teachers in discussing different students
during the electives teacher's planning period once a week. From attending the meetings I learned about how much teachers can really care about students, enough to conduct some research to find out the possible problems in a student’s life.
From an elective teacher’s point-of-view, I also learned so much about how important it is to have planning time, and how some politics in the school system works. There are certain contractual agreements that are to the benefit of the teacher, specifically concerning planning periods and being part of discussions concerning students who are part of their class, instead of just any student. Additionally, I have been observing Mrs. Baer (my cooperating teacher) and have learned how much a department leader can help ensure that teachers are given the time and resources needed to make the most of their time.
I’ve learned from the administrators that while there are great ideas being tried to benefit students, sometimes there must be some compromise particularly when it comes to the equal treatment of core class and elective teacher’s time and responsibilities. Compromise can only be met through communication, and by understanding the pros and cons of systems in place and how it affects everyone involved.
Students are part of teams, based on the teachers they have for their core classes. Some follow traditional courses of instruction, and others follow the iSTEM model taking courses in engineering and robotics. The teacher teams have a positive influence on the student by discussing what kind of interventions can be put in place for those who are not succeeding as much as they could be. Every week teachers gather in small working groups, to come up with different strategies to help students learn. These Response to Intervention meetings work to research, document, and discuss different interventions for students who appear to have a difficult time in their classes.
The teams do their best to find possible sources for disruptive behavior, and not just excuse behavior as deviant, but understand that student behavior is often a reaction to something else going on in the student’s life. Often students don’t have an issue in just one class, but their issues are systemic in their learning. Having a team of teachers looking to work together with the student, and communicating any progress or setbacks is beneficial to the student. While RTI teams are not new to the school, Bell is attempting a new system to research, document and communicate interventions. With the implementation of the new system, electives teachers were
Teacher Teams & RTI
One of the counselors said that Bell is the largest middle school in the district, the having such a large population could be a contributing factor in the incident rates. The counselor is in her first year at Bell, and has seen that an increased number of students can increase the number of incidences because students can “feed off of each other”. While I can understand her point of view, the data does not support the hypothesis as Bell had a smaller population compared to Ken Caryl at the time the data was collected.
No matter the possible factors for the increase in incidences, the most important thing is to understand students’ needs. Some students will have access to technology, have strong family support, and be incredibly motivated to learn. Other students won’t have internet access at home, are from unsupportive families, and are struggling to just survive middle school. Most other students fall somewhere in between.
The best way to provide for students is to understand where they come from by being approachable and available through different avenues to include in person, and by email. To help some of my students who are not succeeding in my class, I have opened an individual Google Drive folder for them with information concerning the class. It is my hope that these students will also be open about some of the struggles they may be having, and have more ready access to this information even outside of class.
Demographics & Comparisons
The most recent demographic available is from the 2013-14 school year. The enrollment of Bell has increased from 621 during that year, to over 800 students. According to the demographics available, the school is about 78% White, followed by 14% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 2% Multi-racial, 1% Black, 0.6% American Indian, and 0.2% Pacific Islander. There are nearly equal numbers of males and females enrolled. While the school is predominantly white, about 33% of the students are on a free or reduced lunch program which is in line with district statistics.
An interesting observation of the school demographics is that Bell has about 20% of student incidents in the population compared to 8% in the district. While the statistic seems to reflect poor behavior at Bell Middle School, it leads me to think more about how schools are run, and what kind of expectations are placed on students. I compared the statistics from Bell against other schools of similar demographics, and found the Bell did have more student incidents compared to those schools and I would like to understand more about this topic.
In speaking to Mrs. Baer, who lives near the school I compared Bell to, there is less socioeconomic diversity there compared to Bell. This observation is seen in the statistics with nearly 33% of students qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunches at Bell compared to just over 22% at the other school.
Student Integration
Teachers are informed of the needs of students such as IEPs, 504s, health issues, and other concerns through the computer system Infinite Campus. Teachers are only able to see information concerning students in their classes. Infinite Campus also includes other information like former enrollment, contact with parents, and behavior issues. Paraprofessionals are provided for some core classes for students requiring additional assistance, but are not provided for elective classes.
Infinite Campus can be useful for teachers only if the information is kept up to date. Having this information is essential to providing appropriate support, but also to help identify any trends that could be occurring with a student. There was one student in a class who was uncharacteristically defiant. I did some manual paperwork on him
and planned on talking to him about the incident, but I also looked at the contact log and saw that other teachers had a problem with him around that same day. After some thought, and discussion with Mrs. Baer, we concluded that the student probably just had a bad couple of days. That being said, such behavior is important to note in case there is a trend that may develop as the year continues.
I’ve seen information from Infinite Campus and other programs used in RTI Team Teacher meetings, and the data can provide important context on what the student may be experiencing outside the classroom. Getting to know students, and having them trust you is an important step in furthering their education, because data cannot always capture everything a student is experiencing.
The week before the start of school, teachers attended Professional Development sessions within Bell. Besides new teacher introductions and team building exercises, essential information was also put out to all teachers and staff to get everyone on the same page as far as the norms of the school. There are a number of norms that are being used throughout the school known as “Strategies for Success”. The class schedule allots time for teachers on specific days of the week to work with their students on these strategies to try to help students throughout their academic careers. In addition to Strategies for Success, Bell also uses the anti-bullying curriculum Olweus.
While the Strategies for Success are a great idea which incorporate a lot of higher level thinking, teachers are required to prepare, teach, and grade activities associated with the strategies. During one of my classes is the time set aside for the anti-bullying curriculum. I’m still waiting on the actual curriculum, so I’m having
to fill in the time that is still pertinent to anti-bullying. I’m finding this task simple because I’ve been creating a norm that the class discusses topics at given times. Often the students will ask questions that will continue the discussion and increase student engagement. This engagement is especially increased when I ask them to turn and talk to people at their table and then share out.
One more management strategy in place is the use of TRACK, it is not only the stated values of the school (Teamwork, Respect, Achievement, Courage, Kindness), but are also an in-school currency that are rewards given by teachers and staff for exemplar behavior and work which can be used at a “goodies cart” or for a party at the end of the school year. These TRACKs are part of Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) of the school.
I have used TRACKs for positive reinforcement of desired behaviors, from participating in small in-class competitions, to completing all work for the class on Fridays.
Classroom & School Management
Requirements & Expectations
technical education requirements that are fulfilled to ensure that the school can receive funding for programs.
There is a lot that goes on in performing well as a teacher, both in and outside the classroom! Teaching isn’t just an eight-hour day, not to mention writing lesson plans and grading. Teaching is a profession, and the requirements of a professional are more and more evident as I’ve progressed in my student teaching. This understanding helps me to imagine my life as a teacher, that if I were to build my own curriculum that it would take a lot of time so using someone else’s may be helpful as I learn to balance teaching and everything else. Curriculum can be adjusted based on students, so differentiation can still be used.
In an interview with Mrs. Baer and other teachers, I’ve found that there are certain contractual requirements and professional expectations. Some contractual requirements include the number of hours that are given for preparing for classes, and how teachers or on “probation” for the first three years of working for a school. These contracts are signed at the beginning of their time at the school, and if they are retained, will continue on year after year. Some professional expectations include “bus duty” and other hours spent working, but not during the school day. Fulfilling expectations, performing well as a teacher, and student performance are all essential in teacher evaluations. In addition to these requirements and professional expectations are the career and
It is one thing to read about some of the theories of learning, and to discuss with other university students about how to manage a classroom; but actual experience is the best teacher! There is so much more that goes into the profession of teaching. The most important thing I have learned, and continue to learn, is that I am not alone in this profession! Even though I may spend hours and hours as the only adult in the classroom, there are many teachers with many years of experience who can help along the way.