Assignments: Classroom Interactions
Spring 2005
J. Smith
This handout describes the requirements for most of the written assignments in this course. There may be additional assignments made. Please note that many of these assignments can be used to fulfill requirements of your UTeach teaching portfolio.
Mentor Teacher Interview
On February 3, you will meet your mentor teacher at Crockett High School from 5:30-6:00 . Along with the others who will be teaching in your mentor teacher's classroom, you should ask your teacher any questions you may have about his/her teaching philosophy, classroom management style, class policies (bathroom, homework assignment/collection/grading), and so on. We will discuss a possible list of questions to ask in class. After this meeting and one classroom observation, you will write a 2-3 page paper summarizing your impressions of the teacher's classroom, teaching style, and classroom management style. Rather than be critical of your mentor teacher's class or teaching style, this paper should simply record what you have observed.
SATIC Evaluations
You will complete three SATIC evaluations during this course (see course schedule for due dates). For each evaluation, you will use your micro cassette recorder to record yourself talking with a student for at least five minutes. Make sure that the teacher and students are aware that you may be recording conversations in class, and emphasize that you are evaluating yourself , and not the students. Tell them that this tape is for your personal use and no one else will hear it. If any student objects to being recorded, do not record them. It is a good idea to take the recorder with you every time you go to the classroom, and to record your conversations with students as frequently as possible. (You may also be able to use conversations with students captured by your videotape.)
You will then analyze the transcript using the SATIC framework (see handout in the course packet). You may find it useful to first transcribe your tape, but this is not a requirement. What you will turn for each analysis is a 2-3 page written reflection in which you discuss the results of your analysis and a separate page detailing the number of statements coded into each SATIC category and your interaction index. In your paper, give at least five specific examples of statements/questions from the tape. Discuss the form, content, and purpose of your questions, and if applicable, describe what you could have done or said differently in that instance to get a better response from the student. Finally, discuss your goals for improvement in your one-on-one interactions with students.
Written Reflections of Teaching Experiences
Immediately after both three-day teaching experiences, you will write a 2-3 page reflection about the experience. In this paper, describe how the lessons proceeded, what surprises you encountered, positive and negative aspects of the experience, the extent to which you feel your lessons were successful, and what you plan to improve upon next time. In particular, discuss revisions you would make to your lesson plan if you were to teach it again. These reflections are to be done individually .
Rationale for Teaching
One of the requirements for graduation from the UTeach program is the submission of a teaching portfolio. An item that is required to be contained in the portfolio is your “Teaching Philosophy.” A teaching philosophy is generally a statement outlining your rationale for structuring your classes and teaching them in the way that you do.
For this assignment, you will write an extended research-based statement of teaching philosophy. The rationale will be developed over the course of the semester and should demonstrate how you are building your philosophy of teaching upon experiences gained in the UTeach program. This rationale should be considered an extended version of the teaching philosophy that will be included in your portfolio. It is also a summative assessment for this course; that is, in this paper you will tell me what you have learned in the course and from the UTeach program in general.
Tues 2/1: Outline of the paper is due (2 pages)
Fri 3/11: First draft due (4-5 pages)
Tues 5/3: Second draft due (6-7 pages) (Bring 3 copies to class)
Fri 5/6: Final draft due
Your final paper should be approximately 7 pages long, double spaced, (the length does not include the list of references). An assessment rubric will be made available later in the semester.
You should consider the following questions when writing your rationale:
• Why do you want to be a teacher of science/math/computer science?
• What is the goal of school science/math/computer science?
• What is it that you want your students to take from your class at the end of the year?
• How do people learn concepts in science/math/computer science for understanding? (Discuss learning theories as appropriate.)
• What factors must you as a teacher keep in mind that will affect your students' learning?
• How will you structure your class in regard to curriculum, instruction, and assessment? (One way to approach this question is to think about what a typical day in your class will be like.)
• How will you determine your effectiveness as a teacher?
• How will you ensure your on-going development as a science/mathematics/computer science teacher?
The essay should be interesting to read and should convey your passion for teaching your subject. You should draw on readings and experiences from this course, the “Step” courses, Knowing and Learning, and other relevant courses. Feel free to include a few personal anecdotes from your field experience, but you should try to justify your positions using readings from the semester as much as possible. The idea here is that you will explain how your approach to teaching math/science/computer science is based upon research findings about how people learn those subjects . An essay that is based entirely upon your own opinion is not acceptable for this assignment – you must draw on the readings for this course and demonstrate to me that you understand and can apply the material we discussed this semester.
Teaching Team Presentation
You and your partner will prepare and give a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation about your teaching experience. In your presentation, you will:
Final Reflection on Teaching Experience
This course was centered around the field component – the fifteen or more hours you spent in high school classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to give you an opportunity to synthesize and summarize that experience. In other words, show me what you learned: how you took theory and put it into practice, and how the experience affected your development as a teacher. There may be some overlap between this paper and your rationale, but this paper should specifically focus on your experiences in classrooms , and your reflections upon those experiences.
There were several components of the field experience:
• Observations of math and science classes
• SATIC analyses of your one-on-one interactions with students
• Design of problem-based math or science as inquiry lessons
• Two three-day teaching experiences
You should draw upon each of those experiences in your paper. The following questions are intended to guide your writing. Your paper should address all of them, but please don't simply answer them bullet-by-bullet.
• What were your expectations for the teaching experience, both for yourself and for the students? How did these change over the semester?
• How did the observations of the class before and between teaching days help prepare you to teach? In retrospect, what more could you have done during those observation times that would have improved the teaching experience?
• What concerns did you have before teaching, and after the first teach? How were these concerns addressed before the second teach? What concerns do you still have about teaching your subject?
• How did you use what you've learned in courses such as Step 1 and 2, Knowing & Learning, and this course when you were in the classroom? For example, you've studied theories of learning, expert-novice behavior, questioning strategies, development of classroom community, etc. To what extent was this knowledge helpful or useful to you when you were teaching?
• How confident are you in your understanding of the subject you will be teaching? What did you learn about math or science as a result of your teaching experience?
• Rate yourself on the rubric we developed in class. In what areas do you need to improve? How do you plan to make those improvements?
• What did you do well during the field experience? (Give at least three things.) What do you need to improve? What topics do you need to learn more about?
• What are your best and worst memories from your field experience? How have they affected your development as a teacher?
• Is there anything I (as the instructor) should know about your field experience that would help me make the experience better for future students? Other suggestions or comments?
This paper should be 5-7 pages (double-spaced) in length, and is due by Tuesday, April 24 . Please turn it in on BlackBoard. Please turn in copies of your videos on CD by the last day of class. These will be kept on file.