Week 11

This week was a good week. We had a lot of Halloween activities planned. Despite all the fun the students were still really focused. It was really fun to hear the students talk about how they have fun all day and didn't do any learning. While we are doing the same lesson just tailored to a fun way. This was encouraging that if I can have more lessons that are "not learning" but just fun. I graded my first set of papers this week. It was good to see how other teacher grade. One of the things that I wanted to make sure I do in my own classroom is having the students come up with a rubric on their own. One challenged that I face is grading for parents. There was a student that did not fit the criteria for meeting grade level expectations. He is a student that scored the highest reading and writing scores in our class. He gives about 75% effort throughout the day. When he flunks a test because he did not try, he is allowed to retake the test. For our writing assignment this week. I would have given any other student a 2 (below grade level) for the work he submitted. However, my teacher said that he worked independently so he earned a 3. If I gave my students, who were supported, a 3 for meeting all the correct aspects, I should give him a 3 as well. She mentioned that the parents would be upset.  This is something that I did not anticipate. I have always thought of keeping myself unbiased by grading. However I do have to reflect on how I will use this input going forward.

In Chapter 11, Schmidt talks about the importance of communication. I agree that the frequent and positive interaction is key. I would like to send home weekly how I did this weeks home for the students and give credit for when they return them on Monday. I also think it is important to understand the cultural background of the families. While I was observing our parent teacher conferences, I witnessed multiple things I took away. First, it needs to be communication, not a monologue. Listening and taking the parents part of the conversation, and having the student be a big part of the conversation. I also want to make sure that if I have a translator working with the translator to make sure that all the information is being received. I want to make sure that I make it a warm and welcoming to input.

Lastly, science was great this week. The students were engaged in our experiments and they are really engaged and their assessments show that the students are learning and growing. It is important for me because of the lack of engage on the team side for science. This engagement is really encouraging for me and the class and my CT is really impressed as well.