TE+804-09+March+20

=TE 804 - March 20, 2009=

9:10 - 9:55 - Three discussion topics

 * **What are your ah-ha's from lead teaching?**
 * **Please nominate topics for consideration. What did you learn from this experience? (sign your posts)**
 * **//My attitude// effects my teaching AND my students' attitudes about learning and engaging in class user:maestraH**
 * **I really do love working with kids. I love seeing them everyday and knowing their personalities and having inside jokes with different classes. All this time I've been asking myself why I'm doing this and I get it now! user:KathrynHin**
 * **It really is important to give students two positives for every negative comment. It changes their attitude for the better. Also, keeping up with personal things (Ex: Is your dad back in the country yet? Did you make the soccer team?) really means a lot to the students and helps them want to open up and perform well in class. user:lucasme2**
 * **Building those relationships that help you progress throughout the year without conflict! They take care of 95% of my problems! user:litwins5**
 * **I agree with litwins5 about the relationships...having those good relationships with students and staff will also make the days more enjoyable! user:kendal53 I completely agree with building positive relationships- it makes the world of a difference in the classroom!! user:lemonhe1**
 * **Bad planning = a bad day, kids act up when they are under-stimulated or when a task is way too challenging or not well explained user:darkcait**
 * **It's much easier to plan for a week or two before planning each day! I also think that changing things up (like having class in the computer lab) challenges and interests students...not every lesson is predictable. Also, it is hard to keep track of each class-like a student will ask me at the end of the day if we have homework and I'm like uhhh I don't know! And I really don't...user:pumer30**
 * **I am beginning to figure out my own personal style of classroom management!! Some methods I used in the past just didn't sit well with who I am as a person. Half of classroom management is carefully lesson planning anyway!! user:ZirollerCoaster**
 * **That I love teaching - I have learned so much about myself and my style. I love my kids and although 5am in the morning isn't getting easier :) I enjoy school and I have definately learned from my mistakes and know how I will do things differently in the future! One major one if you give kids too much freedom they will take it a run with it! user:LRobertson1386**
 * **I had an ah-ha moment when I showed up for class last week at MSU- and we did not have class!! user:lemonhe1**


 * **Learning Centers**
 * **Now that you've taught two learning centers lessons, what do you think? What problems arose? What went well? Please nominate ideas and sign your posts.**
 * **They are very useful to touch on a wide variety of items all at once. However, they take lots of planning - so we need to start a month in advance if we are going to do one, at least I do! user:litwins5**
 * **The learning centers are very helpful for the kids, but I never felt like we had enough time. Both times I felt as though each of the centers could have been a full lesson plan. I agree with litwins, I think that they take a lot of planning and I wish that I had planned just a little longer for them to get them worked out just right. Now we will have these to use as a base though which will help a lot with planning. user:darkcait**
 * **I really think learning centers are amazing. They take lots of time to plan. Problems arise from student doubt if they can complete the task if you are not there to walk them through it. I love post its! user:pumer30**
 * **I like learning centers because it keeps the students constantly on their toes and the time FLIES. Pairing activities to last the same amount of time can be hard to gauge. It is difficult to figure out exactly how long each activity will take and sometimes some stations finish earlier than others. user:ZirollerCoaster**
 * **With some classroom arrangements it is harder than others user:LRobertson1386**
 * **Organization is the key to learning centers in my opinion. user:beechlau**


 * **Personal goal and where do you go from here?**
 * **Think about the personal goal you set at the beginning of the semester. How have you grown in this area? Be prepared to reflect on this.**
 * **My goal was to focus on speaking with my students. I started my goal when I started to teach my first unit plan (yes, we are finally in our books!) and it's working out really well. I have started to differentiate the instruction within the classroom and the students are really responding. user:litwins5**
 * M**y goal was to use more target language and I feel that I have really progressed. I have used a sign that tells them when we are speaking only in Spanish and that works out really well. They get points taken away for speaking in English and it has really encouraged them to use the TL. Some of them even ask for "Solo Español" time. I still feel like I can do a lot more though. I am halfway between where I started and where I want to be, so I will keep working on it. user:darkcait**
 * **My goal was dealing with classroom management. I have really grown, my students and I have been on the same level for quite some time. I think that it takes time for students and teachers to find their happy medium. user:pumer30**
 * **My goal was to plan ahead of time and not on Sunday the night before. I have drastically improved although I have still had those Sundays full of work overall I think I'm better at planning ahead. user:LRobertson1386**

9:55 - 10:10 - Swap Shop
http://languagelinks2006.wikispaces.com/TE+804-09+Swap+Shop+Page - Be sure to post a description and the link.
 * Kerry
 * Jade
 * Alison
 * Anny - sub plans

10:10 - 10:45 - Issue Presentations

 * Lauren and Kerry (DPS, part 2)
 * Lizzie

Housekeeping:

 * Intern panel for TE 408 in April
 * Next week (3/27)- We'll spend some time giving feedback to each other on portfolios. Bring your portfolio in whatever condition it's in.
 * End of year video??
 * Pick up graded assignments
 * Letters of rec