First Teaching Round:
Class background:
The class size lends itself to the smaller side, that while we have a total of 17 students, since my take over, I have averaged between 9-12 students. The low attendance rates relate to the fact that some of my students are undergoing external life issues which interfere with their ability to get to school. Some of these issues relate to family emergencies, prioritizing work over school, even homelessness that has led to at least two students being unaware of my take over due to being absent for over a month. There are ML students who’s accommodations are met through the use of images, and google translating on their phones. Close to half of the students however, have some kind of IEP in place that can stem from needing time to themselves, extra timing on quizzes, or general learning accommodations to support the students.
Currently, we are approaching the end of our unit on forces and motion. So far, we have covered what forces are before delving more in depth into the types of forces such as F=ma, and the different types of forces such as normal force and friction. The day of the round, we are beginning the new subunit of Newton’s laws of motion. While these laws are normally covered at the start, me and my mentor decided to do the reverse where we end on the laws which leads to a situation where my students understand the focal point of the laws but haven’t put a name to them, or the nuance behind them.
The most notable difference about this classroom is that we have implemented what is known as “The modern classroom project” which is a self-paced learning model based on the flipped classroom style with the notable difference that everything is completed in class. Walking in at any given time may lead to you observing a large portion of students on their phones or chromebooks. While they may seem distracted, they are actively learning since they are watching videos personally created by myself to fill in the notes. A key component of Modern Classroom is that whole class lectures have been replaced by bite sized videos that the students watch at their own pace. The students themselves have been enjoying the modern classroom design as it has allowed me to utilize my time in different ways, and let them be at their own pace. Lastly, they show completion by filling out a Mastery Check versus the entire worksheet which is meant to act as a source of notes.
Round Focus:
Modern Classroom has been a completely new style of teaching that is also being piloted at South High with several of the 9th grade teachers. While they have been having success with it, it is still something that is new to my mentor, and to myself who is still trying to grow as a teacher. I have been unsatisfied with certain aspects of it as it feels like I have placed myself in a box with the modern classroom, which has led to me trying to experiment in how to merge modern classrooms, whole class moments, and finding my teaching style. Currently, I am planning to experiment with setting aside the beginning of class for the modern classroom before ending together as a whole class. Additionally, I aim to have that week’s lesson better lead into Friday long block where I have set it aside for labs/activities that require more than 47 minutes.
Round Reflection
Second Teaching Round:
Class background:
Hello, welcome to my period 6 physics classroom! This is a classroom with 25 students with many different personalities. Due to this being a college preparatory class, there are several students here who have an IEP related to general learning accommodations, or emotional-socio related accommodations which can show up at times in ways such as general frustration, random outburst, or as they interact with their peers. Due to this, I have been fortunate to have a special education teacher, Mrs. Mooshian, who comes to assist and even steps in to co-teach as a way of explaining some of the more complicated physics concepts through the lens of a special education student who knows these students in a variety of different environments. This is also a very lively class, as while walking around you may see students chatting with each other, occasionally off topic, but also talking through problems together.
During the round, we will be beginning our unit on energy, covering the initial ideas of what is gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. These students have already learned about what Work and Power is through the theme of a chain lift in roller coasters, now that we are moving to energy itself, we will be talking about how energy changes as you enjoy the roller coaster ride. As a result, we will begin the lesson with a few demonstrations to visualize what and how potential and kinetic energy is experienced. After that, we will break out into individual/small group work to identify and compare scenarios with potential and kinetic energy. Ending it with them making their own scenario with a roller coaster, and finally, discussing the findings.
Third Teaching Round:
Class Background:
Welcome to my period 1, honors physics classroom. There’s a total of 26 students in this class and it is full of diverse learners. There are several multilingual students in the class, such as some who spent part of their lives in another country and while no students here are placed on any IEPs, there are still ways in which keeping accommodations in mind is important and helpful, such as for the student who has dyslexia for example. The class as a whole knows each other well, as there are many pockets where group collaboration happens as that is something that’s been more of a regular occurrence since the start of the school year. The students do enjoy chatting with one another during classes which can at times be a source of disruption that leads to moments needing to address the situation, but they have been responsive to the class management methods I’ve implemented, even being the ones who suggested which method to use. And being their teacher has given me many opportunities to grow as a teacher as finding ways to meet the needs of this new set of students has led to me expanding my teaching methods.
The lesson in today’s round follows a series of lessons on what are waves and the anatomy of a wave, such as wavelength and frequency. Finishing up the section of identifying the parts of the waves, we are moving into the electromagnetic spectrum. While there have been references to it and the types of waves, this is the first time we are delving into it. To start off this new subunit, the students will begin by doing a research project into a device of their choice and choose how they want to show their project, either as a poster, Google slides, or a Google Doc if they want. This will be the first time in which they will be doing a multi-day project within this class as well, but it was built with giving the students choice.