Student Teaching #2

The past couple of weeks have definitely had their ups and downs.  I finished my KPTP “unit” and have been swamped with grading.  In addition, conferences and parent contacts have definitely given me insight into my students.  I am sure that my colleagues are faced with the same situations.  However, in regard to the 1920’s research project, which I presented in my college class last week, two of my students have gone to extreme lengths to avoid writing the 2-3 page essay, film in the 1920’s.  I had graded all of the essays and noticed that this two persons group had not turned in an essay.  I asked them both for the paper and they assured me that they would get it done.  At conferences one of the two’s parents inquired as to why their child’s grade was so low.  I explained that they had not turned in the paper.  The very next day this student brought me a flash drive.  I happily plugged it in and found nothing.  He exclaimed that he grabbed the wrong drive and then brought another the next day; nothing on that one either.  Frustrated and after talking with my CT, I then talked to the other student involved in the group.  I gave him the option to turn in a paper by himself.  I told him I would grade it independent of his partner and only give him the grade.  He turned in a paper the very next day.  That being said, I was suspicious.  I know people that have written papers in a night but they were college students about to graduate.  I checked and a simple Google search proved that he had indeed plagiarized the entire paper, copy and pasted, right off of Wikipedia. I gave him the talk, the really ominous English teacher talk, gave him a zero, and called his parents.  I did explain that it wasn’t personal, that I wished that I didn’t have to do this, but he gave me no choice.  His partner found out and turned in a paper the following Monday.  It didn’t fit the rubric for MLA formatting and honestly I haven’t graded it yet.  I don’t want to have to call home again and talk to this kid’s parents for the third time.  They are both bright kids, participate in class, and do their other homework and it kills me that they keep doing stupid stuff in regard to this paper.  However, I will do what is necessary.

The AP classes are going well.  We are about to complete Henry IV, part 1 and move into Dubliners.  The juniors have just begun A Raisin in the Sun.  I would love to teach only plays, and I find them infinitely easier to teach than novels.  My students seem to love them too, and have been more engaged and interested than at any other time during the semester.  I have followed the same basic format that I followed in my other units this semester.  Analytical guides, analytical essays, and a fair amount of discussion over the pieces.  I have had to scrap a couple of activities because of school events and the snow days to keep us on track.  As we quickly approach spring break I felt like we were in a rut so I have been breaking things up by showing scenes from the film versions of the play and then comparing and contrasting them with the text.  It seems to work well and keep the students interested and awake.  In addition, as an introduction to A Raisin in the Sun, I had students complete a project that required them to work as a group/family.  The scenario was similar to the plot of the play but changed so nothing was spoiled.  They worked in groups and then the head of household decided what to ultimately do with $100,000.  They had a lot of fun with the project and it built great background with the students while engaging their multiple intelligences. 

We have professional learning groups at my placement school.  I want to share what we went over last week.  Some may find it rather basic, but I found it to be, in the least, a nice reminder.  Right Is Right is the name of the article that we focused on.  In a nut shell we, as teachers, are too quick to say “right” when we should be holding out for the exact correct answer.  “Many teachers respond to almost correct answers by rounding up. They will affirm the students answer and repeat it, adding some detail of their own to make it fully correct even though the student didn’t provide the differentiating factor.”  I am guilty of doing this and so are you.  Admit it.  The article goes on to say that by holding out for the right answer, the whole thing, you set the expectation that the students answers really matter.  Hold out by using phrases like, “I like what you've said.  Can you get us the rest of the way?”  or “We’re almost there.  Can you find the last piece?”  Other ways to hold out for right include, using precise technical vocabulary, and only accepting a definition, instead of an example.  In this way we can keep our students engaged and keep them from tuning out once they think they have provided the “right” answer.   

On a side note WSU is 30-0.  What a nice send off for my senior year.