Student Teaching

So I had a unit where I allowed my students to teach the lessons. I didn't give them must guidance, kind of let them go at it and try for themselves. Even during the lessons, I didn't correct much of what they were doing or saying, let them try some things, make mistakes and figure it out for themselves. Wanted to see how they would handle things on their own. I learned several things from this activity about myself as well, and I feel it was a great activity.

First, I noticed that only one group out of 12 or so, used any form of technology. One group in all my classes made a powerpoint presentation for their lesson. It was a really good powerpoint presentation as well. So I was impressed with that. Most of the students decided to use a lecture-style teaching approach. This allowed me to relaize how these students view the activities in my class. They obviously think that the only way to teach math is through lecture, and I think my teaching style has caused this view.

So I am currently looking at ways to get away from the lecturing-style so much and try some new things. Mix it up a little so the students have different activities and utilize different intelligences in a lesson. Also, I'm starting to realize that I do not need to use the exact book lessons in succession to show and display the concepts. I have learned this from my principal as well. He said that the text should be a supplement, not the source of information and lessons in the classroom. Currently, I am starting to look for ways to implement different concepts and then summarize a little later with the book or get some practice from the book.

Things this year are still busy. Just starting to get different ideas and other things like that. The prep and work for these ideas is keeping me busy. Looking for ways to get the same ideas across to the students while at the same time diminish my workload and not kill myself so much. Just need to change things up a little and make adjustments.

Aaron

China Trip (Finally)

Well, I finally got the chance to put some pictures up from my trip to China. It was a good trip and I got to see a lot of great things. When I tell people that I went to China, they ask where. I tell them Wuhan and Xi'an. They seemed shocked that I did not go to Bejing, Shanghai or Hong Kong. I guess its similar to going to America and not going to New York or LA. Probably like a foreigner going to America and visiting Indianapolis or Cincinnati. Hey, just had some things I wanted to see.

Anyway, the first two pictures are of me (obviously) at Hua Shan. Hua Shan is a sacred mountain, one of 7 in China (I think that number is correct). It interesting. We left at about 7am, and it was a two hour ride to the mountain. Well, we would expect to get there around 9:30 or 10. But we stopped at some temple for a while and ended up not getting to the mountain until noon. Then we had lunch and didn't actually get going to the mountain until 1pm. You could walk all the way up or you could take a life that would take you most of the way up (three hour walk, one way, or a 5 minute lift). Problem is the line for the lift was over an hour.

We finally got to the top and could not see hardly anything with the clouds. Started walking around and it was hard and hot. The steps were steep and there were a lot of steep cliffs. Had to hold on to chains in certain places to simply make it up the steps. But it was still interesting. did not get as far as I would have like, or all the way around (the path makes a loop going up and down certain peaks), since we had a time limit to get down to the bottom and there was another hour long wait for the lift back down to the bottom. Still, it was a good day and a good experience.

The next picture is of the Bell Tower in the center of Xi'an. There is a giant bell in the tower which would ring when the farmers were supposed to come home from the fields. Xi'an was a very interesting city. I really liked it and even looked into international schools there. I think there was one, but it was very small and I feel I would have similar problems there as I am finding at ASB with the schedule and lack of resources. But it is a very neat city and a place that I would consider living if I could.

The final two pictures are of the Terracotta Warriors. This was a really cool thing and I am very happy that I was able to make it to see this. In fact, it was the main reason for me even going to Xi'an after Wuhan. I was very impressed with this and even got a chance to take a picture of the farmer who found the first warrior while drilling a well (though I wasn't supposed to take a picture). The pictures are of Pit 1, which is the largest pit. Pit 2 was not completely uncovered yet and Pit 3 was a lot smaller.

One thing I didn't understand about this was the fact that these were first discovered in 1974, but they only have three pits. There is a tomb of the emperor who built these and that has yet to be excavated. The tour guide said this is because of some rivers that run underneath and around the tomb which do not allow people to get in. I have a hard time believing that people cannot get into the tomb to excavate it or we have not found more pits. It seems odd, with all the technology, that more has not be discovered. The guide said they are looking, but I would think they would have found much more between then and now. Something seems a little odd about that.

Another thing about the trip that was interesting, the emperor (and I forgot his name) who built these warriors also built the Great Wall and they kept on saying how great of an emperor he was, uniting China into one nation. But in the same breath they talked about how mean he was and how he worked the slaves to death and trapped some of them behind or under the wall. Odd that he can be this great man, yet he can also do so many horrible things.

Anyway, it was a really good trip and I had a great time.

Aaron

Slick

I have a student that just came in during a break to read me his summer story that he wrote for Language Arts class. He talked about going different places and traveling and what he did. The reason he wanted to read me the story is that he included me in it. I never saw him this summer, but he did go to America for a little bit and he's a pretty big wrestling fan (WWE). He told me the other day that Wrestlemania is might come to Indianapolis in a few years and that he will see me there. Thats what he put in the paper, that he can't wait to get back to America for Wrestlemania and visit with Mr. Aaron.

This is a kid who had some problems last year with different things and was/still is on medication for certain things. I don't know what the deal is, but I've really connected with him this year and he seems to be thriving on it. He still struggles in class and staying focused, but he has a little more energy and enthusiasm about himself this year, which is a good thing. I even started calling him "Slick" as a nickname and he loves it, gets a big grin on his face when I call him that and is happy.

He wanted me to come watch him give his presentation during his language class today, but I have classes and cannot make it. It does make me feel really good that he would come to me and ask me that. Makes me feel like I am doing something right, makes me feel that I am helping, like I felt with my kids that I coached back home. Been a while since I really had that feeling, and I like it, can't get enough of it. I hope I can build on this, because this is why I changed and went into teaching. This is the reason I am doing what I am doing right now.

Slick... thats one cool kid.

Aaron

New School Year

Started the school year up again today. It was pretty hectic, as bad as last year if not worse. I thought we had planned for a lot of things before we left last year and had a lot of things organized and ready for this year, but things still are chaotic. This is attributed to several aspects,

1. Our curriculum coordinator/assistant principal took a leave of absence for the year. This forced one of the HS Social Studies teachers to take the assistant principal position and give up a few of his classes. So, even though we are extremely over-staffed, we were running around trying to find a social studies teacher. A few times people were placed there and then it was changed (for various reasons). Not sure how it will end up, but its crazy.

2. There is a new bell schedule for the school. HS is on a block, MS is on half-blocks/semi-block (most middle school classes are half a HS block, the core subjects have a full block one or two days a week) and I do not even know what Elementary is doing. Anyway, there are some teachers who teach both HS and MS, or all three. Trying to fit their schedule into the actual schedule is a mess. It is forcing the MS kids to not have the same class at the same time on a daily basis.

In fact, on the first schedule given to me, I had 7th grade for 3 bells on Monday and 3 bells on Tuesday, and didn't see them the rest of the week. It is better now, but still confusing with all the differences in the schedule. I've been told this comes from above and is something that has been decided well above the principal. I'll just smile and do my best to make it work and have some fun while I'm at it.

I know I am not fully prepared for the school year. I am teaching pretty much the same classes, but I am changing up the way I teach them a little and I could have prepared better for that. I was going to come in last week but got busy with MEDO classes. So I'm catching up a little the rest of this week and seeing how things are going. I'll try to prep a little more each day and go from there.

The classes are also much smaller than last year. Enrollment is down and I notice it in the classrooms. Right now, I have 5 students scheduled for my Geometry class next semester. I'm also team teaching Pre-Calculus with another teacher. That will be good because I'll be able to see his style and incorporate it into my style if I want. Hopefully it will make things better for me as a teacher.

I know things will improve, they always do. But I am upset that things are not going as smooth as I expected. I really thought we had things sorted out before the start. However, we do have a new principal as well and I think that plays into the confusion some.

Aaron

Summer School

Started summer school today and it was rather interesting. As with many things in Thailand, I have to be flexible and able to adapt to different circumstances. Didn't know how many kids I was going to have or what subjects I was going to teach. I now know that I have about 11-12 kids (which could increase come tomorrow) and I am teaching a variety of classes ranging from Statistics to Algebra.

Its rather interesting how it works, but the kids are supposed to make up the classes they failed and use the summer school as a way to improve a grade, which makes sense to me. However, I was orignially going to have about 15 kids all day long for math, which is about 4 hours. Well, they also almost had me teaching science this summer since there was no one to teach science originally. We did find that the Language Arts teacher has taught some science before and could handle it.

Still, the schedule is not set yet, but we have improved upon it greatly. I am not 100% sure what exactly I will be teaching, but I'm working on that. The worst thing about all of this is that we don't have access to the library so I can't check out books for the students. I've been told that I can get books from the library with someone else opening it up for me. I'm not exactly sure how its going to work, but I guess I'm going to have to do a lot of independent study with the students. Presenting them with problems and having them find notes and information on the internet so they can solve the problems and get some practice with the stuff.

I think I'm going to have to assign a lot of projects to the students and hope things work out for the best from there. At least through projects I will be able to keep the students busy and they will be working towards something. Obviously, I've never taught summer school, so this is a different experience. The fact that it is in Thailand and unorganized only adds to the adventure.

Aaron

TAS

Visited some friends in Taiwan this past week and also had the chance to stop by a school in Taipei called Taipei American School. I was given a tour by the Associate Principal of the Upper School (high school) and it is a really nice school. They just hired a lot of new teachers in the math department, but they never know when they will need more. They are also expecting to expand the school to add more classrooms. So there may be an opportunity there in the future.

They have a very different schedule, which provides the students with a great deal of support. The middle school teachers teach a total of 2 classes per day, either in the morning or afternoon, then have the rest of the day for a group meeting with the other teachers at that grade level to discuss the changes necessary and how to adapt the teaching methodologies for each student. Pretty much, they sit and discuss strategies for improving student success and what they can do to help each student.

Its a very different approach, but it works very well according to the teachers. Not only do the students have an opportunity for extra help and more attention, but the teachers have a light load as far as teaching is concerned. It does have one draw back and that is the financial aspect of hiring more teachers for the school. The parents pay for extra help through the tuition cost of the school.

From my short visit, it looks like a really nice place to work. I also spoke to the HR department and dropped of my resume and other information. Hopefully things will work out, meaning they have a math position available when I am available and I can fit in. We'll see how it goes.

Summer school starts in a week. Not sure exactly how this will go, but can only wait and find out.

Aaron

Winding Down

Its been a while, but the year is finally winding down. We are in our last week of the year, one more day of classes and then 3 days of finals. I feel the year went well for being the first full year of teaching. It had its ups and downs and I had to adjust quite a few times, but I do feel that I have become a better teacher over the course of the year.

I have already decided on some changes for next year and different approaches I will have in my classroom.

First, I am not going to allow anything other than English in any class. I came into this year not thinking it was going to be an issue and I was not as hard on the students as I should have been. I did have to buckle down in my 6th grade class, but the other classes I was not so hard on. Surprisingly, my 8th graders are the worst at following this and speaking English only. At the same time, they are my weakest class as a whole. Next year I am going to make a point of this from the start.

I think I am going to have my students maintain a portfolio/binder for the class next year. This will force them to be organized and have everything in order. Also, it will allow them to see what their grade is at any point in the year and they don't have to ask me all the time. I will give them a guideline for what the binder should look like and expect them to keep it up-to-date. I will also collect the binder at the end of each quarter to check and make sure they are keeping it updated.

As part of this, I am thinking about having them complete a reflection for each lesson, just a few lines. Possibly have them give me an example of where this topic would be used in the real world. This would allow them to reflect on their experiences in the class and also give the subject matter some importance and value to everyday life.

The first year is trial and error, we make adjustments and improve from there. I feel very good about my progress already this year and look forward to the chance to improve next year.

Aaron