Intern Year: Spring 2014: Week 4

This week has been a very interesting week so far.  I have really enjoyed teaching middle school.  The students have really opened up to me and have given me an opportunity to learn from them.  I never thought I would enjoy teaching middle school, but I feel like my expectations and classroom management techniques really agree with middle school students.

One of the students who is on the APTA grading scale was supposed to be in the library this morning.  However, the librarian could not find her.  It was a mad search to find the student.  In the end, she had let to go to the gym to see her boyfriend.  She was very upset when she got in trouble, and the self-contained classroom teacher was very hard on her.  The student cried for the majority of the class period.  I understand that what she did was wrong, but I thought it could of been handled in a way that would have been more effective for the student.

When I was teaching Read 180 in the general education classroom today, we were developing activities on expository writing.  However, some students did not want to participate and complete the activities.  I explained to them that I at least wanted them to try and put in some effort for the activity.  I also explained that I understand this was not the most fun thing to do, but it was something we had to work on to become a better writer.  Even then some students would not participate.  So, I decided to take a participate grade for the activity.  I walked around the room and observed what each student was completing independently.  I did not think it was fair for  them to discuss and share their answers if the other students were not even attempting the activity.  Some students did get a very low participation grade, so I am hoping this will encourage the students to be a part of the class and be engaged in the lesson.

I have really noticed the struggle to get some students, special ed. and general ed., motivated to complete work and participate.  Some students will not even follow along in class, and it seems they do not care at all about their grades.  This is very surprising to me, and I am also surprised at the lack of the teacher's involvement to get these students motivated and on the right track to be developing and learning.  I feel as the students are just there,and the teachers just let them go because of all the students they have throughout the day.  When I was looking at grades, it did not shock me to see the students who were failing with a D or F.  I feel like those are the students that I am constantly tracking down for homework or assignment or assigning them to think room or lunch detention, because they will not complete their work.  In class, I am constantly prompting and observing the same students repeating the same behavior of just sitting there and not caring about the assignments or learning.  I feel like this is a major problem, and the schools are failing some students in not being their to push them and hold them accountable.  In my future classroom, I hope that I am the type of teacher that is aware of the students and their motivation and grades and is able to play a role in making sure the students succeed and are held accountable for their actions.