Promising Practices Conference

In November, I attended the Promising Practices Conference at RIC. This year, the topic was Civic and Community Engagement. The first session, which everybody attended, was the Plenary Session. The panel discussed how they plan to make the education system in Rhode Island as strong as it can be. I did not really get much out of this session that I could use in the future. However, the next two sessions that I attended were very useful.

The first session was called “Real Voice-Real Action-Real Results”.  The panel, which included the Mayor of North Providence, the Principal of North Providence High School, and a representative from the North Providence Youth Commission, discussed a program that they created called the North Providence Youth Commission. This program aims at connecting youth with social workers. The members attend a leadership academy in the summer, where they plan community service projects upon other projects and activities. These students have a community service component implemented as a part of their curriculum. The projects that these students run are completely youth led, they decide and plan everything. The program has been extremely successful, as it has graduated every single member from North Providence High School, and every member has either gone on to college or the military. Listening about this great program showed me that we can truly make a difference in our own community. Starting programs like this in other communities would be a great thing and would benefit the students tremendously. I think other towns should take notice of this program. It is certainly something that I will keep in mind throughout my schooling and professional career. 

The next session that I attended was called “Engaging Students in Anti-Bullying Efforts”. Two teachers from Barrington Middle School led the presentation. They talked about a program that they created at their school. The program aimed at ending bullying by engaging students in activities and discussions. The group grew quickly and now consists of roughly 100 students. These students break into 4 groups and have discussions on important issues such as bullying, suicide, and eating disorders, upon many other things. They also take part in team activities and weekly challenges among the groups. The program has been extremely successful at Barrington Middle School, as grades have improved,  and the kids are happier and better connected to each other, which helps decrease bullying. This is another program that really spoke to me. Instead of simply standing by and allowing things to stay how they are, which would be the easy route, these teachers went out of their way to do something that they believed in, and thought was right. Stories like this can be very inspiring. Hearing about people trying, and succeeding in making a difference really makes you think about ways that you can contribute and help your own community, and school in the case of a teacher. These two presentations will certainly stay in my mind in the future, and will hopefully make me a better teacher. 

Observation Assignment #4

Name______________________________                                                    Mr. Willett 

Algebra I, Quiz I

Read directions carefully and show all work!

I.               Multiple Choice (Circle the correct answer)

1.    Which of the following is not an arithmetic sequence?

   

   a) 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, …                                  b) 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, …

 

   c) 8, 4, 0, -4, -8, …                                    d) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, …

2.    What are the next three terms of the following arithmetic sequence?

                                    4, 0,- 4,- 8, -12,…

   a)  -16,-20,-22                                            b)  -14, -18, -22

   c)  12, 16, 20                                              d)  -16, -20, -24

3.    Which of the following is an arithmetic sequence?

   a)  10, 19, 28, 37, 46, …                            b)  4, 6, 8, 12, …

   c)  -4, -10, -14, -18, …                               c)  2, 4, 8, 10, …

II.             Short Answers: Write an equation for the nth term of each arithmetic sequence.

4.    7, 13, 19, 25, …

             5.    30, 26, 22, 18, …

Observation Assignment #3

The third class that I observed was a Calculus class. The students entered the room quietly and pretty well behaved. They went right to their seats and only talked to each other briefly before the teacher began class. As the teacher was talking, I noticed that about three-quarters of the class was paying attention very closely. The others either had their head down or were looking down at their phone, not focusing at all, or only very little. The teacher took attendance by verbally calling out each student’s name, and they responded if they heard their name called.

The teacher then distributed a worksheet to each student. She told the students that the worksheet contained material that they learned the previous class, and they would go over the first problem together as a class. Before they started that though, the teacher walked over to each student and collected his or her homework. They then did the problem using a smart board. The teacher would ask students to volunteer to either come up and actually write out a step, or instruct her how to do it. She used this same strategy until the problem was finished. The students then worked on the worksheets independently. As they did this, one student approached the teacher and asked her for the materials from the last class that she was absent from. The teacher then talked to that student for a few minutes, and gave her another worksheet.

The teacher then walked around the room and observed how the students were doing. When she noticed success on a certain problem, she would say something to the student like “Good job” or “Very good”. She did this very often, and it seemed to give the students a little extra confidence. When the teacher noticed any sign of misbehavior in a student, she quickly addressed it to make sure that it did not become an issue. This strategy seemed to work very well, as there were never any major behavioral issues during class. The class very rarely got too loud to the point that the teacher had to address it, but when it did, the teacher only had to tell them to quiet down, and they did so without any argument or attitude.

When the students finished the worksheet, the teacher instructed them to keep it in their folders, and that they would go over it next class. The teacher then handed out another worksheet to each student for them to do for homework . The bell then rang shortly after that, and the teacher dismissed the class. The students then got up and left the room in the same quiet and well-behaved manner that they had entered it in. Overall, I thought the teacher showed great classroom management. She used positive reinforcement, which the students seemed to respond very well to. She was also very quick to stop any distractions or signs of misbehavior in a stern fashion. This prevented any issues from arising in class. 

Microteaching II

We all got through Microteaching II! Any helpful comments or suggestions would be great. Thanks!