Reflection #3

          Inclusion can be a wonderful thing when used at the right time. I actually have three special education students in my third period class and it's a wonderful experience. Inclusion keeps the student's with their peers, so that they do not feel different or left out. My students are usually only removed when we have a test or something of that nature. Also, inclusion is a wonderful way to teach the non-special education students about acceptance. Now as for meeting the needs of all students, I can honestly say that’s a tough job. I do not believe we can meet the needs of all students at all times, but I know we can try our best. The No Child Left Behind is certainly not on my list of great things. It focus's too much on grades and not enough on growth.  The little boy that jumped four reading levels is the perfect example. Garris says "This child has had tremendous growth, but he'll still bomb the PSSA test because he isn't on grade level" (Wallis & Steptoe, 2007). Now, to me, that is ridiculous. The state is only looking at the standardize grade so instead of that child getting build up his confidence and feel proud, he gets to focus on being a failure because some test says he is.

            I haven’t certainly tried my hardest this semester to meet the needs of all my students, even offering before school, during lunch, and after school tutorials. I have to say though, the white board game I played last Friday was a great way to meet the needs of my students. They got to work together, have fun while learning, and even bring out the competitiveness that most of the students have in them. I have never had so much participation in my classroom and my special education student from third period actually won the game and was happy. It was a wonderful experience.

Wallis, C. & Steptoe, S. (2007, May 24). How to fix no child left behind. Time magazine, Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625192,00.html

Monday: I created a new seating chart that successful helped my classroom management.
Tuesday: After having an inspirational talk with a failing students, she decided to come to tutoring three times                today!
Wednesday: Did my ESOL 2 and got advanced in all categories. Feels amazing.
Thursday: I made my first pop quiz and had an "aha" moment with the students when talking about the areas                   of a triangles.
Friday: I kept my composure when one of my students was clearly testing my patience.

           This week, I tweeted about my successful new seating chart. I created it because I had lots of "friends" sitting next to each other that continuously talked while I was teaching. I rearranged the seats, not only so the students wouldn't be talking, but also sat the students who struggle next to students who are doing well. This actually created less individual talking, more focus, and the student began to help each other in class. The student I tweeted about coming to tutorials three times in one day is my project student. She was failing very terribly last six weeks and told me she would never graduate and that she was planning to drop out. I had a few different conversations with her and told her that I believed she was worth more than that and I had faith that she could succeed. She has come to morning tutorials everyday since and sometimes after school. On that particular day she came before school, during lunch, and after school for tutoring. she has made a hundred on the last three homework's and I could not be prouder of her. There really is not much more I need to say about getting advanced in all categories. It was a great feeling. On Thursday, when I was discussing the area of triangles, we talked about the area formula for rectangles and parallelograms, which most student know is base times height. Then, when I cut the rectangle in half and asked them what the shape was, they said a triangle. This was their "aha" moment, when they realized that the area of a triangle was one-half the base time the height. They all kind of smiled and said that was pretty cool. It was so simple, but really registered with them. On Friday, I twitted about keeping my composer, which I felt was a true success because a student that just got out of ISS decided she was going to question and fight me about every little thing. She even call someone secretly while I was teaching which infuriated me, but instead of getting upset and yelling I kept a calm, stern tone to defuse the situation.
           My biggest success goal will be to have great classroom management. I am very small and look like I am still in my teens, so I am already at a disadvantage teaching at the high school level. On top of that I have a very kind heart and it's hard for me to be strict. I know this is something I will have to overcome in order to have great classroom management and keep my sanity. They always tell us to be strict at the start of the year and then let up later on. That will be my goal for my first year of teaching.