Return and Conquer

Made it back from fall break today in one piece and tried to get my students going again with a pep talk. since we are starting a new nine weeks, I reminded the students about the importance of participation and my willingness to do anything I can to help them succeed. I have also raised my expectations a little to try and improve their writing skills by forcing them to answer every question in complete sentences if possible (exceptions for listing, numbers, etc.). I even went so far as to break down the components of a sentence and to give them some grammar pointers as some of them read and write on a 5th grade level or below. I am hoping that by increasing some of the challenge in the classroom but letting them know we are in it together I will see some positive results. I guess only time will tell.

Sunday Funday

Alright, so i have successfully defeated an infection in my foot and food poisoning in the course of the past 5 days.  If I have one recommendation from all of this, don't eat Jimmy John's!  This is my 2nd case of food poisoning from them and I know at least three others who have gotten sick off their "Freaky Fast" delivery. That being said, I did have some time to complete and look over my lit review and am pretty happy with it.  The more I looked at it, the more ideas I got regarding measurements, scope, and focus of my project. Looking forward to actually drawing out the plan and implementing it next semester.

Fall Break and a Hole in My Foot

Just my luck.  I was supposed to be spending today at Keeneland today for a "team-building exercise" with other teachers from my school, but on Tuesday I got the news that a sore on the arch of my foot had become infected, so I am now confined to the house with my foot elevated an painful.  On the upside, I was able to complete my literature review for my action research project and feel okay about it. I always end up writing to much, so i had to go back and revise to ensure I wasn't overdoing but was still covering the necessary issues. I feel like my approach is coming together and I am starting to develop an idea of exactly how I can implement the plan. Gonna keep on the work train and get the discussion done for class so i can quit worrying about the work I have to do.

Portfolio Fun

I've been sitting here for a few hours working on getting things together for our portfolio review on November 1st and I really just felt like stopping to reflect on what I have been doing (sarcasm intended!). Now that I have settled on motivation as my focus for action research, I am taking it a step further to focus in on motivating African-American students to increase their performance in schools. My thoughts are to find a way to collect data on 2 African-Americans I currently teach based on their perceptions of the school, education in general, and their vision for their future.  I will use this data to analyze an approach, developed through the analysis of several research-based methods and to see which one I think will work the best.  I will then use this strategy to measure any increases or decreases in performance with a final survey that revisits goal-setting and motivation.  I think this is where I am heading so I am taking some steps to identify an analyze research focused on this area.

The Grind!

After a weekend that went by way too fast, we were back at school today finishing up the final week of our first quarter grading period. As I ran the tests from Friday through the scanner, I was pleasantly surprised by the high scores from a majority of my students.  However, thinking back to discussions on Thursday, I noticed that some students performed very poorly on the test and I believe it is due in large part to a lack of motivation. I have football players who just want to pass in order to play, kids who are grounded and just want their phones back, and students who refuse to do anything regardless of any attempt I make. As a result, I think I am going to do my research project on fostering intrinsic motivation in high school students by working with a small number of students who seem to be lacking motivation. I will need to determine their level of motivation, what their goals are, and push them to find an internal motor to drive them in their education. I am currently in the process of looking for measurement tools to help me (surveys, questions, etc.) to guide me in the process. I am glad that I am taking this route and hope to find some answers to the question of "What happened to intrinsic motivation in high school students?".

Back on the train!

Tonight's class got me thinking about the next step in my research project.  While trying to whittle down the various factors that relate to student motivation, I am left with two options that peak my interest: 1) the effects of relationship building in improving student behavior and 2) developing intrinsic motivation in high school students. While I am still not sure which direction I am going, both of these subjects are very important to me as I attempt to address the challenges facing teachers and students in the classroom. I have several low achieving students whose main problem (from what I perceive) seems to be a lack of belief in themselves or a lack of direction for their future.  I have found it difficult, year in and year out, to motivate these students who don't believe that they can achieve at a high level since their peers have passed them by and those who lack any direction in planning for their future.  On the other hand, I find that students of mine who I get along with well (since I focus on respect and a non-confrontational approach) often misbehave in other teachers' classes.  Not to say these students act perfect in my class, but I really do not have the frequent issues with disrespect that many other teachers seem to have with these students. I am looking for a way to develop tools to track student self-efficacy or goal-setting as well as trying to wrap my head exactly how I could measure student behavioral improvement that is correlated to a specific fostering of a positive teacher-student relationship.  Any ideas would be appreciated:)

Getting Ready for a Crazy Week

So we just got the phone call everyone with kids dreads.  Turns out the stomach bug that hit our house last weekend has made its way to our daycare person's house, meaning that someone has to stay home with the little guy for Monday at least.  It normally wouldn't be that big of an issue and I could take a half day or something, but I will be out of town Monday night, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon at the KASC conference in Louisville.  While it does present a problem, we will figure it out (like there was some other option) and I'm sure the week will be over before I know it.  While at the KASC conference, I plan on attending a couple of sessions that speak directly to my action research on student motivation.  While I had originally planned to do it on uniformity of classroom procedures, I feel that even with uniformity in the classroom you must still have motivated students.  I am hoping that the conference will continue to develop my thoughts on the subject and possibly provide me with some useful tools to take back to my school.  One way or the other, the KASC conference was useful last year and I expect some good things to come out of it.  I'll post again after day 1 to give any tips or ideas that sprung up while attending the sessions.

Well the week's almost over and I can't wait!  The week started off terribly as I contracted a nasty stomach bug that had wreaked havoc the entire weekend and kept me out of class until today.  To top it all off, today wasn't exactly one of the best days I've had this year.  The kids were like zombies and despite my best attempts, I could hardly get them to answer questions loud enough to hear.  I tried a plain discussion, going over questions from their classwork, and at one point I was just asking them about the past couple of days but i couldn't get anything more than a few sentences out of them. Follow that with an hour long parent-teacher conference (it went well) and another 45 minutes of my KTIP teacher's orientation meeting combined with class until 7:30 and I am ready to crash.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better and the kids will be back to themselves.  If they're not I'm just going to have to go David Blaine on 'em and work some magic!

A Relaxing Weekend (This was not!)

So it's Saturday evening and this has been one crazy weekend. We are up in Cincinnati for the weekend with my sister and it turns out my son decided that the stomach bug was the perfect recipe.  It started last night at bedtime and continued for several hours (and several clothing changes).  He woke up this morning in a fantastic mood and had been going strong all day until dinner.  We went to Morelein (sp?) on the river and he basically slept through the whole meal.  Then we get home and he is running around like crazy, only now he has a fever!  I'm assuming he is just fighting the stomach bug and that he'll get better soon, but I guess we'll see in an hour or so when he goes to bed.  Anyway, I head back to Lex tomorrow and have a mountain of schoolwork for UK and grading for my classes to be done.  This all leads into a week where I have two parent meetings, a department meeting, an SBDM meeting, and a class that is guaranteed to test my patience.  Oh well, nothing to do but take a deep breath, regroup, and take care of business in the morning.  Oh yeah... GO CATS!!!!

Finishing the Week

So as the week is coming to a close, a few things have lingered with me from a week of school that took forever it seemed. First, I am really enjoying my new approach to classroom instruction that seems to be going well.  The students are more engaged in discussions and I am finding some real topics that are connecting the past with the present.  Secondly, I am really searching for ways to motivate some kids who are behind.  I have tried talking to them individually, reducing their workload, calling home, and everything else I can think of and very few of them have responded positively.  It seems as though I am having to step into the shoes of parents and not only teach students content, but to be a motivating force behind their education as a whole.  Its one thing to motivate students to learn in your own class, but motivating them across classes (or to come to school at all) is very difficult and at times seems impossible.  I am continuing to research methods relating to motivation and will keep trying, but sometimes it just seems like a lost cause.

Crazy Tuesday

So, this morning started out with a bang and with me getting cussed out by a student for telling him to go to class instead of stand around waiting for a fight to start.  I can honestly say that it was the longest cussing I have ever gotten and it did not work out well for him.  Besides that, it has been a productive day.  I make it a point to take time around 9/11 to remember what happened and let my kids ask questions that they commonly hold misconceptions about (Islam, the wars, etc.). I found an excellent video last night for the kids to watch today that should shed some light on the fear and confusion that surrounded the events of 9/11 (the video is 102 Minutes that Changed America). It really got me thinking about student motivation, as each kid was completely drawn in to the video and inquisitive about what was going on.  If I can find lessons that hit home like this one did, I think I have found a pathway to getting my students motivated to learn.  It really does center around my ability to make the learning relevant and to find materials that engage the student.

Hello Light Bulb, Good To See You Again

So, I just completed my Photo Voice project and it really got me thinking about how much is out there that I can use in my class (if you want to see the project, go to http://www.slideshare.net/rush4280/making-school-cool-again ).  One of the most dangerous things a teacher can do is to go into a rut and just accept it.  I'm glad to say that I have not reached the burnout stage of teaching, but I was beginning to question whether I was really doing the necessary things to keep up with the interests of my students and to teach them how to learn in the 21st century.  What I realized is that I can't put out 21st century students if I don't become a 21st century teacher.  I have started to use YouTube clips to facilitate discussions (without written work), using Prezi's instead of powerpoints, and had my students create a facebook group for our AP class so they could work with each other outside of school.  The Photo Voice project gives me another non-conventional approach to teaching where I can let the students take the lead and serve more as a facilitator of knowledge rather than the sole giver of it.  My goal for this year is to adjust my approach in the classroom to increase student engagement and learning, and trying out new things has reinvigorated me in that pursuit!  I encourage everyone who is beginning to wear down to accept the challenge of new ideas and practices, it can really start to move you closer to your students.

A Perplexing Epiphany

Today was a pretty easy-going day at school that started with my early morning class being ready and willing to get going.  Even though we were just doing some notes (with a video clip by John Green in it), we wound up having a great discussion on the merits of Buddhism and Hinduism that had nearly all students participating and the class overall was having a good time.  It seems as though this continued throughout the day with my regular and AP classes actively engaged in discussion and asking some really good questions.  I remembered the reading I did for Bain and looked at how class was going today and came to the realization that I really want to restructure the way I approach teaching.  I have already been attempting to move away from arbitrary grades and focusing more on content mastery, but I am struggling with getting away from the traditional test as the main indicator of understanding.  I am going to continue to look at changing my methods to try and replicate the direction of class today.  Haven't quite figured out what exactly I'm going to do, but I can't wait to get started!

Thoughts on the Week

What an exhausting week of school!  The students are starting to settle in and their personalities are beginning to show (for better or worse).  It's really weird that the number of fights has increased in school dramatically, especially after 3 years of a steady decrease in major discipline issues.  On Tuesday, I filled in for the 3 assistant principals as they were out of school all day.  It made me realize how crazy and hectic the school day can become and how little time it takes for situations to escalate if no teacher is around who is capable of stepping in to stop it.  While it does little to decrease my desire to step into administration, it was definitely an eye-opener as to the need to adjust to the school day.  Finally, to finish the week, I had a situation with a student who I really want to do well and I was attempting to make sure that the student was in a position to be successful.  Unfortunately the issue was not handled all that well on several levels and my intentions got buried underneath a pile of misconceptions about who I am as a person and teacher.  The real heartbreaker was that the student, who is a wonderful person, felt like they let me down (which wasn't the case) and I had to make sure that they understood I was only doing in what I believed was their best interest.

Way Too Early

I figure I might as well go ahead and post on the blog for the first time since it is 5:30 in the morning and I can't sleep.  Woke up at 4 and started to think about everything I had to get done for school this week (both university work and teaching work) and laid in bed for an hour until I realized that sleep was not going to happen so I just got up and made some coffee and started working.  Not sure my mind is sharp enough to make any mind-boggling observations this morning so I'll check back in when something comes to mind.