Week 2 Clinical Practice

Almost finished with 2nd week of clinical practice. Bad news, this week has been rough. Good news, SPRING BREAK! Im here to discuss about the bad news. I am realizing the challenges and difficulty as a student teacher. Last semester was perfect with no challenges to where I thought I was a GREAT teacher. However, that dream lasted 1 semester. I have had more challenges in 2 weeks than I had all last semester. I am having difficulty with time management since I was so used to block schedules. I am also having difficulty with one of my classes since one of my CT is on maternity leave and I was left alone with a full time sub teaching a PLATO course (math lab class) by myself. Not only did I have to learn how the PLATO course works with the technology but also had to learn about classroom management. Lastly, the last challenge I have in my clinical practice is the challenge of not having the freedom to do what I want to do in the classroom. I have to follow a specific calendar and cannot be behind or be ahead of this calendar. Last semester my CT let me do whatever I wanted and we debriefed what went well and what I needed to change. This semester, everything seems scripted and I cannot teach freely.
Even with all these challenges, I am glad that I do have these challenges. Challenges will make me a better future educator. I would rather see all the challenges in my clinical practice than see it when I have my own classroom. This was a reality check and I hope that this will make me a successful future educator!

Week 1 of Clinical Practice

Week 1 of Clinical Practice

This week has been very exciting due to the first week of clinical practice. There has been a lot of changes from what I have learned from last year. I prepared myself during observations to get to know the students before my clinical practice started. This made the transition process quicker and smoother when I took over my CT's classroom.
I love my class! The students are amazing and it is great to teach an Algebra II course. The students are more mature and older so the classroom management aspect of it is not too bad. However, I am also teaching 2 plato courses in mathematics. Plato courses are lab classes where students are on the computers and learning their individual mathematic content. There is not too much teaching involved besides assisting students if they need help. The biggest challenge for myself in the plato classes is the classroom management aspect. These are students who have failed multiple times in a course and most of the students have lost motivation to learn. Students have to complete 100% of their modules to pass the course. There are many students in the class that are still taking their first semester course still. But I do enjoy trying different classroom management approaches and see what works and what does not work. My goal for ALL the students is to have them at 100% by the end of the semester. It is a huge goal but I know if I focus on them, and be prepared to fail, then I know I can prevail at the end of the semester.

Week 1 has been a success with wonderful students, wonderful teachers, and a wonderful OSL to make my clinical practice a comfortable learning experience as possible!

Ipads In Mathematics

Ipads in Mathematics

Going to El Camino HS was a great experience. This was probably one of the observations I was looking forward to because this is what the future is going to represent. The traditional teaching style using whiteboards and taking notes will be revolutionized in the classroom and this observation was a clear example of the first steps into doing this. At first, when I observed I thought Ipads was just a luxury in the classroom and not a necessity. Even now, I still believe this is true, but I also see the importance of Ipads. When I talked to both teachers, I got a better understanding on how the Ipads were being used. At first,  I was confused because half of the class was showing their work on a piece of paper while the other half of the class had nothing on their desk besides their Ipad. The teacher told me students can use both methods that they prefer. Once I got to see the App evernote I realized how powerful the Ipads can be. One student showed me all her work, notes, PDFs, teacher notes, worksheets, pictures they have taken on different websites. I thought this was very useful because there are a lot of visual learners in the classroom. Being able to take a mental image can be lost, however, taking an image and putting it on your Ipad will never be lost. You can write on the picture if students have any notes they wanted to add.
During the debrief was when I realized how important Ipads can be for students. The biggest challenge in the classroom is student participation due to students being scared to participate. The Ipads will now allow students to shoot their questions from their Ipad to the projector and ask teachers questions. Just like what Dr. Lawler stated on how the doc cam improved student participation because students did not have to go in front of the classroom to either present or show their work. This allowed students to focus on the more important thing: All student participation.

EDSS 531 Journal #5 - Needs of Students

Respond to the following prompts : 

· Looking back at your teaching last semester, what did you discover about the needs of students in your classes? What kinds of “needs” surfaced that surprised you?

• To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students? How wide is the “gap” between them and you?
• What might have surfaced in the reading or in your teaching (about the realities of students’ needs) that triggered a negative response in you? Try to identify why this response was triggered and how it relates to your biases. 

One of the biggest needs that students had that surprised me was the lack of material. Students never had paper, nor a pencil to write with. This was very surprising to me because it happened EVERY DAY. 


Another need that students had that surprised me was the lack of not using their text book. In my class homework was assigned through the book but besides that, the book was rarely used. Students even had access to classroom text books so they can leave their own textbooks at home. Yet, students did not even know how to use their textbooks.


I try to make the "gap" between myself and the students as narrow as possible. I believe the most important thing in teaching a class is communication. If the communication level from teacher to student is very high, I believe the gap for student needs are very minimal. If students are able to talk to the teacher comfortably, then I believe students are able to say anything they want to or ask anything they want to.

EDSS 531 Journal #4 - Reflection On Your Biases

What are your biases and how do you mitigate your behavior when working with students? 

I am very bias when it comes to students who try and who do not try. Being equitable to all students and leaving no child behind is probably the biggest challenge I face everyday. I tend to assist those who attempt to try in class rather than assist those who never tries in class. To me, it should be the total opposite.  
Another topic I am bias is to be more harsh on students of my own race; Asians. I guess it is because the way I was raised: typical Korean parents who cared solely on education and receiving a 4.0. Anything less would be a disappointment. When I see Asians, I tend to become stereotypical especially in a math course and expect that all Asians should be good in Math. I realized in Clinical Practice that this is not the case and I had a lot of learn. After couple weeks of struggling, I realized I need to be equitable to all students without looking at the color of their skins. If students need help, I should help and not assume. My expectations for my students should be the same for all my students and should treat all my students equally.