INDEPENDENT STUDY: CONRAD BALL MIDDLE SCHOOL
This page addresses how I met the teacher quality standards for this particular course.
ABOUT THIS INDEPENDENT STUDY
This was an opportunity arranged by my former professor, Linda Williams, and the teacher education preparation program at Colorado State University to be an independent study practicum study student under Kendra Vair, an adjunct professor at Colorado State University and social studies/social-emotional learning teacher at Conrad Ball Middle School. I was interested to work with Kendra because I am passionate about social-emotional learning, and I aspired to incorporate it into my future art lessons. I also appreciate the value of social-emotional education curriculums to schools, particularly in a middle school setting. To earn credit for this independent study, I observed Kendra's 5th and 6th period social-emotional learning class for the first half of the semester, practiced "See One, Teach One" with a lesson activity that Kendra had already prepared, and teach two of my own lessons to her class. Kendra and I agreed that I would be able to get the greatest learning value out of her class if I were to get as much hands on experience in her classroom as possible. I appreciated having this kind of practicum experience because I was able to reflect on my teaching style in a hand's on way.
ABOUT CONRAD BALL
Conrad Ball Middle School is part of the Thompson Valley School District in Loveland, Colorado. According to their website's mission statement, students at Conrad Ball are empowered to "take ownership of their learning, think larger than themselves, persevere through challenges, redefine the use of technology to enhance connectivity and achievement, and contribute positively to their local and global community." Demographically there are 638 students (grades 6-8) and 38 teachers. 34% of the student population are non-caucasian, with about 33% of those students being Hispanic. 47% of the students are on free and reduced lunch.
2018 was the first year that Conrad Ball introduced a social-emotional learning class for students to take as an elective. Kendra created the entire curriculum with support from Conrad Ball's counseling department, aligning the Colorado Comprehensive Health Academic Standards. Her lessons focused on subjects like physical and mental health, peer pressure, risky behavior with drugs and alcohol, test preparation skills, leadership skills, and college/career readiness. Kendra was also able to relate some of her lessons to current events like the Parkland High School shooting and the March for Our Lives. Students attended class with peers in mixed grades (such as 6/7 and 7/8). Most of their work was completed in class using iPad given to them by the school. Common apps and programs that students used to complete their work were Google Slides, Notability, Pic Collage, and Kahoot! All of their assignments were turned in digitally and graded using Schoology.
2018 was the first year that Conrad Ball introduced a social-emotional learning class for students to take as an elective. Kendra created the entire curriculum with support from Conrad Ball's counseling department, aligning the Colorado Comprehensive Health Academic Standards. Her lessons focused on subjects like physical and mental health, peer pressure, risky behavior with drugs and alcohol, test preparation skills, leadership skills, and college/career readiness. Kendra was also able to relate some of her lessons to current events like the Parkland High School shooting and the March for Our Lives. Students attended class with peers in mixed grades (such as 6/7 and 7/8). Most of their work was completed in class using iPad given to them by the school. Common apps and programs that students used to complete their work were Google Slides, Notability, Pic Collage, and Kahoot! All of their assignments were turned in digitally and graded using Schoology.
Standard 3: Knowledge of Standards and Assessments
Evidence: I was required to create two lessons and teach them for Kendra's 5th and 6th period classes. Kendra chose the themes of both lessons. The first one was about test anxiety and test preparation. Students made a Venn diagram that combined text with images to reflect on ways they prepared for tests, what they were scared about, what new habits they would try, and a positive affirmation going into the test. In the second lessons, students worked in teams to create a list of skills that connected a random degree (such a performing arts) with a random job (such as video game designer). The goal was to have students critically think about skills that could be transferrable between any degree and setting, helping them to think about what kinds of skills they think are important when they go to school. The rubrics are included inside each of the lesson plans.
Lesson 1
vair_lesson_plan.pdf | |
File Size: | 926 kb |
File Type: |
Lesson 2
vair_lesson_plan_2.pdf | |
File Size: | 641 kb |
File Type: |
Reflection: Despite having to write and teach a lesson that was outside of my content, I felt confident being able to teach these two lessons after observing Kendra's previous lessons, teaching style, and classroom culture. Being able to align my lessons to the Colorado Comprehensive Health Academic Standards gave me some structure for my learning targets. It also helped that Kendra told me exactly what she wanted my lessons to focus on. Drawing from my personal experience on the subjects I was teaching helped me to feel confident about explaining my activities, learning targets, and assessments to the students.
In regards to the assessments, I believe that I could improve on planning better formative assessments. In art education, a formative assessment usually involves checking on preliminary sketches and walking around the room to offer feedback. After teaching both my lessons, I realized that I needed something a little more structured that helped me to get on the same page with the whole group, not just individual students. This will be one of my goals going into student teaching. Also, I believe that I could have done a better job scaffolding the student work had I set better expectations for what proficient work looked like compared to developing or emergent--particularly when it comes to the learning takeaways rather than the aesthetic look of the work. I will also keep this in mind as I go into student teaching.
In regards to the assessments, I believe that I could improve on planning better formative assessments. In art education, a formative assessment usually involves checking on preliminary sketches and walking around the room to offer feedback. After teaching both my lessons, I realized that I needed something a little more structured that helped me to get on the same page with the whole group, not just individual students. This will be one of my goals going into student teaching. Also, I believe that I could have done a better job scaffolding the student work had I set better expectations for what proficient work looked like compared to developing or emergent--particularly when it comes to the learning takeaways rather than the aesthetic look of the work. I will also keep this in mind as I go into student teaching.
Standard 5: Knowledge of Classroom and Instructional Management
Evidence 1: Reflection on how lesson 1 went (see evidence for Standard 3).
Reflection: Kendra felt that the strengths of my lesson involved stating a clear learning target, having an interactive and technological way for students to engage with the information, and speaking with confidence. However, there were a lot of things that she pointed out that I needed to work on. Examples were:
Reflection: Kendra felt that the strengths of my lesson involved stating a clear learning target, having an interactive and technological way for students to engage with the information, and speaking with confidence. However, there were a lot of things that she pointed out that I needed to work on. Examples were:
- giving students more choices to show their learning if they weren't comfortable with sketchnoting
- taking advantage of wait time to get students attention, and not proceeding with the lesson until all of the students gave me eye contact
- not talking over students to get their attention
- being able to explain how to complete the lesson activity in step-by-step term
Evidence 2: Teaching Reflection and Conflict Resolution Reflection for January 26th, 2018.
|
|
Reflection: Both of these documents represent my ability to reflect on my actions and thoughts during Kendra's class particularly, when there were guest speakers and a substitute teacher. This particular reflection made me think about what kind of speaker students resonate with, how other teachers in the school handled disruptive behavior, and how this applied to my experience as a teacher. I also made mistakes managing behavior as a teaching assistant, but I was able to use a conflict resolution reflection formula that I was taught during PassageWork's transformational leadership program to reflect on how could I respond to these students in the future. This reflection process is very important for me to understand what kind of classroom management strategies work and how I can improve for the next day I teach.
Standard 6: Individualized Instruction
Evidence: I created a survey for Kendra's 6th period class to fill out so that I had a better understanding of how to manage her classroom. Here are some examples of student responses from that survey. I marked with orange marker the key themes that I took away from their responses.
|
|
|
Reflection: Being a guest teacher in Kendra's class, I wasn't as clued in to the nuanced needs and attitudes that Kendra's students had to create their classroom culture. This was the best way for me to get a sense of how I could treat each student with respect when it came to behavior management, specifically when it came to redirects, tone of voice, compassion, and differentiating work. I really appreciated doing this survey because I felt a lot closer to this particular group of students, which affected my flexibility to work around their personalities during class. It also impacted my confidence to create the test preparation lesson in a way that accommodated their interests. I believe that individualizing instruction to address behavior--particularly in a middle school setting-- is very important for knowing how to individualize instruction. I plan to continue using surveys for classroom management during my teaching career.
Standard 7: Knowledge of Technology
Evidence: For my first lesson, I had students create a Venn diagram picture collage on ways they could prepare for a test, what scares them about taking a test, and what new test-taking habits they could practice. Half of the students created paper copies of their Venn diagrams while the other half created theirs on Pic Collage and Notability (paper examples included in standard3 evidence). I also create a Kahoot! quiz on test-taking strategies when students were finished with their work.
Kahoot quiz link: https://play.kahoot.it/#/lobby?quizId=b3000a41-9707-48c3-b69d-f7b1a445a8c5
Game Pin: 5848286
Game Pin: 5848286
Reflection: Both Notability and Kahoot! were digital tools that students were familiar with in Kendra's class. Choosing to work with these tools for my lesson kept the learning routines consistent. However, students had the option to create hard copies of their Venn diagrams if they preferred to practice sketch noting, which was an aspect of the lesson's learning target. Using these digital tools also made grading a more streamlined, environmentally-conscious process. Though I'm not sure when I would be able to use Notability and Kahoot! in an art classroom, I felt that using these tools increased my digital literacy as a teacher. This will help me out if I were to teach a lesson using technology, whether that be as an art teacher or as a substitute teacher for a core subject.
Standard 8: Democracy, Educational Governance, and Careers in Teaching
Evidence: Reflection from February 22, 2018.
reflection_2_22.pdf | |
File Size: | 49 kb |
File Type: |
Reflection: I made it a practice to keep a teaching journal to reflect on what went well, what didn't go well, and what I learned from both my classroom observations and my teaching experience. This particular reflection took place after a "See One, Teach One" scenario, where I taught Kendra's lesson for her sixth period class after seeing how she taught the same lesson for her fifth period class. After having a coaching meeting with Kendra, I infused her observations and my thoughts on my teaching experience to reflect on my next steps moving forward as a teacher. I believe that, as a new teacher, having a journaling routine is important for tracking my growth and determining ways that I can improve as a teacher. I know that I will make mistakes, but as long as I am able to reflect on them, I can problem-solve new ways to approach the situation and come into the next day of teaching with a more positive or objective attitude.