The Journey of a Teacher

Throughout the year, I constantly need to ask myself, "Is this what I want to do when I am older?". It is an important question that we must all ask ourselves when in any internship. This is what Honors Mentorship is all about. They take teens in high schools, place them in internships, help us become aware of the realities of our dream jobs with a mentor, and help us answer this question in the end. For a large part of my life, teaching was (and still is) something I have considered as my future career. Getting there might be hard and confusing, so some of this post will be dedicated to what I would need to do to become a teacher.

• Obviously, a high school diploma or a GED is required
• In college, after you complete your Core classes, go through the Education pathway/major and focus on whatever subject you want to teach (Social Studies in my case). Do required hours with a mentor, take subject test
• Earn a Bachelor's Degree in the subject area you would want to teach or in Education
• Teachers must have a license/certificate to teach in a certain state. You have to take a test for this certificate

Although my list is short, I figured that a basic, summarized list would be best because everyone's journey is different. These are just the requirements necessary for becoming a teacher, specifically, in Georgia. If you would like to learn more, I will attach a link to a website that has always helped me in the past and where I got this information from.

On a different note, growing up with a parent that works in Education, I have always known what the basic tasks of a teacher were. Also, being a student right now, I see my teacher doing what I would probably be doing when I become a teacher. Luckily, I'm not going in this blindsided. As technology is being used more in the classrooms, teachers (especially Mr. Cantrell) are doing everything online (which makes grading a lot easier). I had the opportunity this week to sit with Mr. Cantrell in a Canvas (online program for students and teachers) Meeting. Another teacher, Ms. Jones, sat with me and walked me through the program and taught me how to post assignments, grade them, and basically all of the useful tools Canvas offers. It is definitely a program I hope to be able to use in the future.  

~Sarah

https://secure.gacollege411.org/Career_Planning/Career_Profile/Career_Profile.aspx?id=Lke6IRyX7CbNKcfNlRibZAXAP3DPAXXAP3DPAX&screen=1

Final Project Update

As the final project presentation is coming closer and closer, I am slowly but surely gathering all of my information needed for this project. Each weekend I devote some of my homework time to researching my topic of PBL. I believe I am almost finished with the internet research portion of my project, as the information is becoming very repetitive. This week or next week I plan to create a student survey about if they believe PBL is effective or not and interview more teachers about PBL in their classrooms. Thankfully, all of my research process is almost complete and I can begin creating my website!

~Sarah

Interview with Mr. Cantrell

 This week I have had my first interview for my big end of the year project. For my first interview, I had chosen Mr. Cantrell, who I believe is a great source to get my information from because he incorporates Project Based Learning in every unit he teaches. Below I will list my questions (S:) and Mr. Cantrell's reply (MC:).

S: How do you incorporate PBL in your classroom?
MC: I used to do it a lot more than I do now. What I try to do, is scale down from the PBL schools (see below) and since we have had such a 21st century learning type of goal at Davis, I try to have all of my projects with digital possibility, where they can take something and make it into a video or a student can take it and make it into a digital presentation, or something like that. I have had a student make a presentation of the colony of Savannah [GA] out of a Minecraft, where they can go on and physically build it by coding. That's what I try to drive that out of.

S: How can PBL vary from school to school?
MC: The big thing with education now, is differentiation. You have students that learn better by hearing it, students learning things better by writing things down, and you have some students that learn things better if they can [physically touch/manipulate things] (kinesthetic) and that's the whole basis of PBL. I have been exposed to the traditional PBL theories... but that can be really expensive for schools, you almost have to have a charter school scenario in order to afford to be able to do that. Those schools have all kinds of incredible projects.

S:How do you think PBL has helped your students?
MC: It's a different approach. For example, I can explain what a North Star Quilt (a quilt used for the Underground Railroad to signify a safe house) is and how it was used, but if you spend time to actually construct one for a project, it's going to give you a better appreciation for it. To be able to say "Here, I made this, I did this" is something that is really unique. The students become more interested and they tend to understand the material better.

S:What kind of projects have you found to work well/not well with students?
MC: One of the projects that I do every year with the Civil War is the Mammoth Project. I give the kids all kinds of options. I've had students make quilts, flags, dioramas, cakes, and hardtack (a extremely hard cracker that many soldiers to eat, trust me... it's like a rock). It fires up the kids who don't really want to read or watch a video or something like that. I have learned that kids making videos does not work really well. It tends to be kind of the worst case scenario, because the students get giggly and silly, and it ends up being 1/3 the project and 2/3 [bloopers]. Video projects tend to be better if only one person does it. What really works well, is the type of project that is open ended. The kids can do whatever they are good at; even coming up to me and asking me to do something that they feel would be better.

S: What kind of students do you believe work well with PBL?
MC: It's funny how the students who would knock a project out of the park are usually the ones in the class, who sit by themselves, kind of the square peg that does not necessarily fit in (I love this comparison!),  and sometimes even ostracized by the rest of the students come in and do unbelievable things. That's the one that really gets fired up about these kinds of open-ended projects. It's that one wallflower (also love this comparison!) that comes up with stuff that you weren't really expecting. That's where it really hits home.

S: What would you suggest for kids who do not work well with PBL?
MC: The best thing to do is to try to make the project where the students can do whatever they may be good at. For example, if they are not good at public speaking, then they can create a project where they could just show it on the projector and have it present itself (like the Mindcraft project mentioned earlier). If that person does not really work well, then try to give them an alternate assignment.

S: Have you noticed any drawbacks of PBL?
MC: It's very tough for me (teachers) to grade properly. I try to set my rubrics up to reward the people that put the most effort into it, but if you can tell someone put a lot of effort into their project, but is still not very polished because maybe it just wasn't part of their skill set, I try to take that into account. It's still hard for me to grade. I have to be really careful to be fair to those who put a lot of work into their projects and make sure the grades reflect the actual project itself.

S: What other teaching strategies do you prefer to use in your classroom, besides PBL?
MC:I try to do a balanced approach. I do some lecturing, even though I'm not a huge fan of lecturing notes, but I also know that realistically, when my 8th graders get to high school, that is going to be a lot of that going on.

S:How do you think technology has impacted PBL and other strategies?
MC: New technology has made it to where [teachers] can incorporate PBL more in their classrooms. It can make schools into an almost 100% PBL environment very possible. The students are able to do so much more. I have shown students websites where they can make their own music by layering different instruments. They can use these kinds of sites to make their own background music. They can post their videos. It just really opens up a lot of possibilities. You can go anywhere with technology and make almost anything.

S: What kind of advise would you give to new teachers about PBL or other strategies?
MC: Especially when you are doing student teaching, rely a little on your mentor to give you ideas of things you can do. It's always good to use resources such as the internet, YouTubing, educational organization websites, teacher blogs, and things like that to get ideas. You really need to do things that work well with you. If you don't believe it, you are not going to be able to convince a group of students to believe that. What I would recommend for your first few years of teaching, is to do what the other teachers are doing in your subject area in order to get a feel of what you like, dislike, or how you would change something to fit what you like better.


 Mr. Cantrell made some really good points in his interview. It's very important to incorporate different ways of teaching for those kids who learn differently. It's always good to mix things up with the lecturing and note-taking to the projects. I like Mr. Cantrell's idea of keeping projects a little open-ended. That way, kids can shine with whatever they may be good at. I do remember being in his class some odd three years and really enjoying that I could do something different, since I am not incredibly tech-savvy, I was able to create something with what I was good at. I do believe that technology has a big impact on PBL, and it can be hard to incorporate PBL if there is not readily available technology. You really need technology to implement PBL in your classroom. To add to the drawbacks of PBL, I have read that PBL can be very time consuming along with what Mr. Cantrell had mentioned.
 I have defiantly learned many things from Mr. Cantrell's interview, as I hope that my readers had also and can use this information for my project.


~Sarah

Project Based Learning

As mentioned in my previous post, I have chosen Project-Based Learning (or PBL) as my topic for my Honors Mentorship final project/presentation. There were many topics I could have chosen for teaching, but I believe that the PBL research I must do will benefit me the most for my future classroom because history can be a difficult subject to teach, and you have to be able to engage students or they will not remember or understand the material. PBL is a wonderful way to engage the students! Through this project, I want to know if PBL helps students understand the material better. I want to learn about the projects I could assign that would be helpful to students. I need to know what will engage students the most! That's why my project would be about distinguishing and evaluating the pros and cons of PBL and comparing and contrasting PBL techniques with other teaching strategies- What is PBL? One of my ideas for this project, is to use real-life examples. I could use some of the wonderful projects that I have seen in Mr. Cantrell's class to demonstrate the effectiveness of PBL. I plan to interview teachers, conduct student surveys and interviews, as well as research to help answer my essential question/statement. I am doing this in order gain a perspective of how teachers feel about PBL and their experiences of using projects in their classrooms. I think that the students surveys would also provide an unbiased (I would be considered biased) student view of projects and their effectiveness (or ineffectiveness). These can lead me into finding out what I can do to engage my students in history.

~Sarah

My Style of Teaching

When becoming a teacher, one must think about what teaching strategies he/she believes will benefit the students the most. There is the ever classic textbook-type teaching and the lecture style of teaching, but I have become very interested in the project-based learning style of teaching. Sure, a good balance of every style must be presented to the students, as each student learns differently, but I believe a project-based style of teaching would really benefit students. I believe so, because for each project, a student must do his/her research on their own instead of me just reciting them the information (which I would have to do first, then they would have to research more info for their projects). If they have to look up information, usually the information would stick with them more. The students have the opportunity to dig deeper in whatever we are learning about at that time. It is also beneficial in that projects typically encourage creativity and individuality. It seems like in today's society, we are not encouraging creativity as much as we should. The students might be able to do something they are passionate about and go above and beyond with their project.

 My mentor, Mr. Cantrell, uses this strategy in his classroom. They do a project for every standard. For example, they are beginning to work on a project Mr. Cantrell dubbed "The Mammoth Project"(which it truly is); the students have to look more into the lives of soldiers and events of the Civil War. They can make a North Star quilt (quilt to indicate a safe house of the Underground Railroad), make a regiment flag, create a diorama of a battle, and basically anything they would like to do (with the approval of Mr. Cantrell) that they are passionate about to learn more about the Civil War. I remember doing this project when I was in his class (an odd 3 years ago) and I learned so much more than I would have reading a textbook or taking notes about it. I really enjoyed this project, and I am looking forward to be able to help the current students with their projects.

On a somewhat different note, our big Honors Mentorship final project is coming up. We are required to come up with an essential question that is related to our choice of career and our mentorship and present it to a big group of people at the end of the year (doesn't it sound scary?). What I would really like to discuss, is project based learning. Distinguish and evaluate the pros and cons of project based learning and comparing and contrasting project-based learning techniques with other strategies would be my "essential question/statement". It is something that I am really passionate about and fully believe in this idea. I would be able to go in depth with this topic. Is it wrong that I am beginning to become excited for this project?


~Sarah

Mentorship So Far...

My mentorship in an 8th grade classroom has been interesting so far. Most of my time is just observing how Mr. Cantrell teaches. After every class, I take notes on some of the strategies and activities he does that I might use in my future classroom. Mr. Cantrell encourages me to not only take notes on the activities he does with his students, but to take notes on how I would do things differently. While the students are working on their assignments or projects, I always walk around the classroom to help students and ask them questions about whatever standard they are learning about. Mr. Cantrell is always encouraging me to interact with the students as much as possible. He has even mentioned to me recently, that I could have a special day within the week and take the last 10-15 minutes of class and talk to the students. I could talk about whatever they are learning about , I could answer any questions they have about high school (as they will be freshmen next year!), or I could ask the students questions on what kind of activities and teaching strategies they like. This time can end up being really beneficial for me! Also, as I have been mentioning a lot, I will be able to teach a lesson this year!! It's almost like I am teaching my own class!

Both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, the U.S. History class I am taking this year is really helping me with my mentorship. We are learning almost the same thing and we are almost in sync. Mr. Cantrell's class is basically one standard behind with what I am learning. For example, I am currently learning about the Civil War in my U.S. History class and the 8th graders are learning about the Antebellum Period (pre-Civil War period). I am sure that when they are on the Civil War unit, I will be learning about Reconstruction.  My U.S. History class goes in a little more in depth than Mr. Cantrell's class, so I am able to help the students with any questions they have or if they wish to know more, I would be able to teach them more.

It's kind of funny how one needs to be taught how to teach. Mr. Cantrell is teaching me all that he can to help me prepare for this career. This mentorship is giving me extra experience that I can use as I begin taking teacher classes in college and in my own classroom in the future. 

~Sarah

  

Having "Social Intelligence"

I am not sure if I am the only person that thinks this, but some of the younger generations (mine included) have/are becoming more and more disrespectful and arrogant. These are not the qualities that future employers want. I have recently read an interesting article by Growing Leaders called "The First Soft Set Skill to Develop in Students". This article is about how first impressions are extremely important and how having "social intelligence" is something employers look for. Going back to being disrespectful and arrogant, no employer wants these kinds of people in the workplace, and unfortunately, more people are becoming so. It's not just our generation too, we may encounter a coworker who does not really treat us like they should, or treat us like we are inferior or below them (which is a really mean thing to do). We could encounter these people on a day to day basis in the workplace. The key is know how to personally deal with these kinds of people. You could politely ask them to not treat you in that manner, or even ignore their behavior all together.

 The article defines "social intelligence" as "the capacity to effectively negotiate complex social relationships and environments"(Growing Leaders). The article states that having social intelligence includes:

• Empathy
• Attunement
• Social Cognition
• Concern
• Self-presentation
• Influence

I agree with all of these. You definitely need these attributes in order to create relationships in the workplace, which is very important. Also, because social intelligence is becoming a rare quality to have, many employers are looking for this, especially in a first impression. Employers tend to know whether or not they want to hire you within the first minute of meeting you, so having "social intelligence" or learning how to have these qualities will definitely make a positive impact.

~Sarah