Entry 20

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

Grade(s)/Subject(s) of Placement: 6-12 (Sports Medicine, AP Statistics, PE (6-12))

Date: 9/22/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

It's homecoming week - today is Character Day!

We are operating on a special schedule this week (no classes on Friday) so we are meeting in long periods this week but for a shorter duration of time. 

Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th, long periods) - At the start of class, I handed out the requirements for the summative project for Chapters 1 & 2. To make sure everyone understood what was expected of them, I took my time to explain every component and how it would be graded. Since I also allowed for group/collaborative work, I used most of the class period to let the students pick their group and write their job description "contracts". To ensure that one student wasn't taking on most of the responsibility, I met with each student to make sure they were on track with the assignment and assisted them in writing a detailed description of what they would be responsible for, individually. The last part of class allowed for a little time for the groups to get started on their project. 

AP Statistics (6th period) - Dr. Brenner came to visit! I started out the class with a warm-up that helped reinforce what we learned over the last 2 class periods. Then we moved into our M&M activity that focused on Standard Deviation and Variance. The students loved this, especially because they got the candy at the end of class! The last part of class explored into the AP Statistics Exam and how Free Response questions were set up and more specifically, how to answer them. At the conclusion of class, I assigned a FRAPPY, which is essentially more practice with AP Free Response Questions. 

Reflection about Today’s Activities:

Since Dr. Brenner came to visit today - I actually have reflections related to my class! Dr. Brenner observed my AP Stats class today and offered a few suggestions that I can adopt into my teaching practices to help me become a better teacher. First, since I'm teaching a math/writing course (aka AP Stats) it would be helpful if I included more visual references for my students to follow along with. Another suggestion would be for my students to get in the practice of raising their hands when they want to answer a question, or call on students at random to ensure that everyone is following along and everyone can hear the answer - then stem a discussion. Sometimes when I get into my zone, I forget to do some of the small things that would make a difference in the learning outcomes of my students. I really appreciated the feedback from Dr. Brenner, and I'm looking forward to adopt this into my practice.