Week 1 Prompt:
Describe the environment and/or atmosphere in the classroom where you are student teaching, as you observe and experience it this first week. Consider both tangible aspects of the classroom (such as what is present in and the use of the physical space, the materials/resources available for teaching mathematics) and intangible aspects (such as attitudes and behaviors of students toward mathematics and toward learning in general). You might note whether the environment/ atmosphere seems common across all classes or if it differs and why. Are there any aspects of the classroom environment/atmosphere that you would like to change when you teach?
The room that I teach in for student teaching seems like a typical high school classroom. There is a dry erase board in the front and the back of the room. And there is also a hanging projection screen that is used with the old overhead projector. I heard rumors that there will be a projector you can hook up to the computer installed in our rooms. This classroom also has a bookcase full of math books, which gives Jane Miller and myself multiple resources we can use while teaching. There are a lot of student projects that are hanging up in the classroom as well as math posters.
There are five classes that I will be teaching this semester: Probability and Stats (I will not be teaching a whole lot in this class), three geometry classes, and an algebra class. After the first week of student teaching I have noticed a lot about the students in each of the classes. My three geometry classes and the probability and stats class are almost polar opposites of each other.
In the algebra class there are 17 kids on the class roster. This last Friday we have seven kids in class because of suspensions, ISS, and the decision not to show up for class. Tardiness to class has been and will be a huge problem for these students as well. When they are suppose to be working on worksheets or taking notes, a majority of the class either has their heads down or they are doodling on their paper. On Tuesday we will be trying to do an activity with them to try and spark an interest instead of having them take notes. Every student in this class has taken and failed or got kicked out of another algebra class previously.
There are students in the class that understand the material and try to complete their homework and know the material well enough to try and teach others. This happened on Friday and it really surprised me that it occurred. I let them go about it and sat back and listened. It made me happy to see that they understand the material. There are times where I can see that they understand it, but they have no motivation to do any work or try. I have tried several times but I am still unsure how to handle this.
This class tends to be a management problem when Jane is teaching. Sometimes I am kind of shocked at how strict she has to be during this class. I feel this is a catch-22 situation. To try and control them you need to be strict, which leads to students getting angry and not wanting to work. Having angry students will lead to having to be strict when they act out (I’ve observed multiple times that they tend to do that when they are angry). If you are not strict with them, I would feel like they would take advantage of that. This might be something I could try while teaching, but I am kind of nervous to do this.
The other four classes are completely opposite. There have been no behavioral problems yet and they seem to have the motivation to try during class. For the most part homework gets done and minimal students will sleep through notes. I find it very interesting to compare these classes with the algebra class. I know that most of the kids in the algebra class do come from rough backgrounds, and I wonder how they compare to the kids in these four classes.
There are several things that I want to try to change when I fully take over. The use of technology in the classroom is minimal. I think this might be because of the limitations of the available technology. Incorporating technology could be beneficial to students in all of my classes. Another thing that I would like to try and change is the format of the lessons. Jane and the rest of the math department have a set way of giving notes and then after notes the students work on their assignment. This gives the chance for the teacher to assess the students’ understanding after the notes. I like how she has it set up, but I think I might want to try another way of teaching them. I am still unsure what I could do, but I think I will be looking into it during the next couple weeks.
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