![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's August. I'm not sure how it got here. Last I looked it was mid/late June and I was working on AP materials. Then it was mid July and I was at Rusticatio Virginiana, speaking Latin 24/7 and learning how to run more effective oral drills in class (gosh, Nancy Llewellyn is such a master!) at a week long retreat. Then it was home to work feverishly on a massive overhaul on Lindsey Davis's website (www.lindseydavis.co.uk - it seems to have problems with the browser Firefox for some reason). I just posted the new design today.
And now, my gosh, I have to start getting ready for school! My family is supposed to go on vacation at the end of this week (still discussing the length of the vacation) and the week before school starts I'm going to London for a friend's 60th birthday. So, omigosh, it's time to start thinking about school.
One thing I'm doing is diving into the "moodles" that have been set up to cover some of the topics usually addressed during in-service. Most teachers really want time to work in their rooms, organizing it physically, getting up posters and whatnot. Ok, it doesn't sound like much, but we have to pack up EVERYTHING at the end of the year so each room can be emptied, floors waxed, etc. So, I have bookshelves to fill and organize. Decide on the arrangement of desks, which really is important in a language classroom. Determine where the AP/Latin 4's will work if there's really going to be 28 Latin 3's. (I usually only keep 28 desks in my room.) Setting up worthwhile bulletin boards takes time. Deciding the most effective place for posters--because my posters are important pictures of Rome or Pompeii, etc. If I have time, I've labeled the room in Latin.
I like to also put post it notes on the desks of who sits where. It is important that you, as a teacher, set the stage from the very beginning of who is in charge of the room, and that includes who decides where the students sit. This isn't college; students aren't necessarily in your room because they really want to be there. But who knows whether I'll even have my rosters in time to decide that. (That is, if I'm in London when the rosters are finally set and posted! But maybe I can get mine online while I'm there....)
Then there are all the first day papers and such that must be done, including syllabus, procedures, any late passes and whatnot, etc. We're also supposed to write out our first 3 weeks of lesson plans. (Ideally, ok, yeah this should be done... do I get this done? I'd like it if I did, but the only detailed syllabus I have written out is for AP because no matter what those 1800 lines have to be covered. I like being more flexible with Latin 1 and 2, to meet the needs of students. And, ok, I'm just not that organized. No time to be that organized, mainly because there's just so many things to do.
And what about those "moodles"? Well, these are the topics--many of which would be topics covered during in-service. Schools districts are required by law to cover many of these. Some will seem like just more education classes, many of which people didn't like the first time. I'm open-minded and like to think about things seriously to consider why certain philsophies (or whatever you want to call them) keep coming back. Maybe there's something to them. Tell you what; let's look at the list. I would actually post the moodle link so people could explore these topics and the information provided, but it's password protected. I respect that. If you aren't currently teaching and are only thinking of teaching Latin, you may be surprised at these things and even at first think that some don't have anything to do with what you do in your classroom. But if you want to teach Latin, you can't just love Latin; you have to love teaching to--all of it. Ok, maybe not every single bit, but you have to understand that it's like having a baby. Babies are cute (esp when asleep or laughing), but you still have to change diapers....
Topics covered:
1) Professional Development Appraisal System annual update: This is the appraisal system that I believe is used throughout the state of Texas. The update/review is to remind teachers of the procedures with regard to evaluations, plus how to appropriately appeal an evaluation, protections under the law, etc. Having once been on the unfair end of an evaluation that was hijacked from my appraiser by a principal who was retaliating against me for desperately trying to get the district to understand the dangerous situations at our school (I had broken up a gang fight in a girl's restroom--pretty scarry), I wish I had known then all of my rights, in particular the nature of the time-table for appeals. For instance, if you feel your principal is being unfair, you can request another evaluation which would be done by the principal at the middle school. It is sooooo easy to get complacent about these things if you already feel you are a solid if not truly good teacher; but if you value and respect your own work, you need to value and respect how this works.
2) Acceptable Use, Copyright, and Fair Use: Teachers are often assuming anything they do in the classroom can be considered "fair use" (that is, photocopying and distributing materials from a variety of sources, etc), but more and more court cases are teaching teachers that they need a better understanding of the law. Oh so true.
3) Sexual Harassment: Always a good topic to clarify, even if you think it is dirt obvious.
4) Pest Management: Truly this is about pests such as insects or mice, etc. The problem: teachers might want to spray or set their own traps, but you just cannot do this in a school where you must consider the health of the students who could react to pesticides. So, yes, this has to be addressed. (And better in a moodle than wasting time that could be better spent in your classroom.)
5) Crisis Response Procedure: This of course covers everything from tornados to gunmen, chemical spills, etc. Also good to have in a moodle and not repeated in in-service. It's important information but we have this information. It should be reviewed every year but it doesn't need to take up prep time.
6) Response-to-Intervention: Program, Monitoring, & Documentation: This is the one I'm on now. I'm finding it interesting but it raises a lot of questions in my mind. Here's a related link: http://www.rtinetwork.org. This is addressing the issue of kids falling through the cracks. We simply can't afford it anymore and this provides a, what, management system to address the problem and use various types of interventions. As always, there seems to be a lot of pressure on the classroom teacher to do the majority of the interventions and different instructional strategies, which some will seem as onerous. Others will, I'm sure, simply ignore this. But it raises in my mind numerous questions on teaching style to begin with. I haven't finished the moodle and this is a new topic for me, but I'm not writing it off until I truly ponder it and think about how it might apply in my Latin classes--specifically who could have benefitted from these interventions last year, how it could have made different outcomes (or not), etc.
I haven't gone through any of the following but can provide some information:
7) Basic info on the software we use for grades, attendance; copier, phones, etc: just how to get the most out of our equipment.
8) Standards, TEKS, College Readiness, and ELPS (English Limited Proficienct Standards, I believe): These are all the different instruments and issues that govern how a school is viewed and specifically how a teacher's performance (or rather, student's performance) is viewed. Are we addressing the standards for our discipline and are we covering the TEKS, are my students ready for College Latin and college in general, and have I done my best by my English limited students--all things I really do think about.
9) Sheltered Instruction and Peer Coaching (ok, I honestly don't remember sheltered instruction but it has to do with either ELP students or low SES students) and I can guess about peer coaching, but I definitely want to review this moodle.
10) Student Friendly Learning Objectives: That is, you as a teacher may have written your objective on the board, but do your students understand it? (I think that's what this is.) Students learn best if they know why they are reading something and what you want them to get out of it. It's common sense, but not always done.
11) Student Level of Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy): Some people hate Bloom's Taxonomy, but some years back I started really thinking about Blooms and how it applied to Latin and came to the realization of why there is often such a disconnect with a student's knowledge of Latin vocab and endings and their ability to read a sentence of Latin. Knowledge level information is easy; application and synthesis is more difficult. Therefore one of the things I am constantly striving to do is to help students make that transition to higher level thinking.
12) How are we Assessing Student Learning? Another one I'm looking forward to going through, because I know that grades just aren't enough, esp grades on only quizzes and tests. And yet, that's the majority of the grades I give. But that's for another discussion. (This one is getting long enough.
13) Student Engagement: This is something I excel in. I must or I wouldn't have 150+ students signed up this year. And frankly, if I couldn't engage the students, I couldn't teach them. If they start getting a glazed look, I know I'm lecturing. that's not active learning.
14) LEarning Environment: This gets back to why it truly IS important to set up your room in a way that truly fosters learning and students wanting to be there.
15) Academic Vocabulary: Not sure about this one; will let you knwo when I know.
16) Marzano's Instrucitonal Strategies: Same with this one.
17) How to Communicate with Parents: probably about learning how to diffuse angry or offensive parents. Or perhaps defensive parents. :)
18) Academic Dishonesty: Something our school takes very seriously, esp with research papers.
19) Failure is not an Option: And what is your first reaction as a Latin teacher? I was at a workshop summer before last when one person was bragging that she had failed something like 20 students, arguing that that demonstrated academic rigor in her course. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to upset her, but it demonstrated to me that she believes there is only one way to learn: "my way or the highway". I'm sure she loves Latin, but does she truly love students, or only the students who were brainiacs like most assuredly she was? I just wonder. The only students who end up failing my class are students who just totally shut down and don't try and sleep through class. A couple a year.
20) Understanding by Design: Not sure, though I've heard of it.
21) Differentiated Instruction: This is about recognizing that some students can handle more challenging versions of the assignment and some need a more watered-down version (because of, for instance, a learning disability). I've seen/heard of really brilliant examples in a colleague's Latin class, but I admit I rarely do this--not because I don't want to, but because it takes planning and I already have 4 preps. But this year I don't have any "new to me" classes so maybe, just maybe....
22) Classroom Management: just when you think you've got it under control you get a new group of students that confound what you used to do.... yeah, one of my weaknesses. Usually just the pace of what we do can drive my classes, but every now and then one or two students will undermine what I had in mind, often not meaning any harm but still causing damage none the less. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to doing this moodle. maybe I'll do it after the R-T-I one.
It is very easy to think that Education courses or even some or much of the above has little to do with what we do in a Latin classroom. But I think this is wrong. I think more than ever we should NOT be using Latin as a weed-out course but teaching it in a way that reaches more students and transports more students through the various levels of Latin to AP in a meaningful way. I don't mean passing them on paper. I truly mean teaching them, but also understanding that not every single AP student needs to be able to conjugate every irregular verb met.
But more on that another time. This is enough for tonight and for getting my head back into the game. Kick-off is soon. Time to return to practice!
And now, my gosh, I have to start getting ready for school! My family is supposed to go on vacation at the end of this week (still discussing the length of the vacation) and the week before school starts I'm going to London for a friend's 60th birthday. So, omigosh, it's time to start thinking about school.
One thing I'm doing is diving into the "moodles" that have been set up to cover some of the topics usually addressed during in-service. Most teachers really want time to work in their rooms, organizing it physically, getting up posters and whatnot. Ok, it doesn't sound like much, but we have to pack up EVERYTHING at the end of the year so each room can be emptied, floors waxed, etc. So, I have bookshelves to fill and organize. Decide on the arrangement of desks, which really is important in a language classroom. Determine where the AP/Latin 4's will work if there's really going to be 28 Latin 3's. (I usually only keep 28 desks in my room.) Setting up worthwhile bulletin boards takes time. Deciding the most effective place for posters--because my posters are important pictures of Rome or Pompeii, etc. If I have time, I've labeled the room in Latin.
I like to also put post it notes on the desks of who sits where. It is important that you, as a teacher, set the stage from the very beginning of who is in charge of the room, and that includes who decides where the students sit. This isn't college; students aren't necessarily in your room because they really want to be there. But who knows whether I'll even have my rosters in time to decide that. (That is, if I'm in London when the rosters are finally set and posted! But maybe I can get mine online while I'm there....)
Then there are all the first day papers and such that must be done, including syllabus, procedures, any late passes and whatnot, etc. We're also supposed to write out our first 3 weeks of lesson plans. (Ideally, ok, yeah this should be done... do I get this done? I'd like it if I did, but the only detailed syllabus I have written out is for AP because no matter what those 1800 lines have to be covered. I like being more flexible with Latin 1 and 2, to meet the needs of students. And, ok, I'm just not that organized. No time to be that organized, mainly because there's just so many things to do.
And what about those "moodles"? Well, these are the topics--many of which would be topics covered during in-service. Schools districts are required by law to cover many of these. Some will seem like just more education classes, many of which people didn't like the first time. I'm open-minded and like to think about things seriously to consider why certain philsophies (or whatever you want to call them) keep coming back. Maybe there's something to them. Tell you what; let's look at the list. I would actually post the moodle link so people could explore these topics and the information provided, but it's password protected. I respect that. If you aren't currently teaching and are only thinking of teaching Latin, you may be surprised at these things and even at first think that some don't have anything to do with what you do in your classroom. But if you want to teach Latin, you can't just love Latin; you have to love teaching to--all of it. Ok, maybe not every single bit, but you have to understand that it's like having a baby. Babies are cute (esp when asleep or laughing), but you still have to change diapers....
Topics covered:
1) Professional Development Appraisal System annual update: This is the appraisal system that I believe is used throughout the state of Texas. The update/review is to remind teachers of the procedures with regard to evaluations, plus how to appropriately appeal an evaluation, protections under the law, etc. Having once been on the unfair end of an evaluation that was hijacked from my appraiser by a principal who was retaliating against me for desperately trying to get the district to understand the dangerous situations at our school (I had broken up a gang fight in a girl's restroom--pretty scarry), I wish I had known then all of my rights, in particular the nature of the time-table for appeals. For instance, if you feel your principal is being unfair, you can request another evaluation which would be done by the principal at the middle school. It is sooooo easy to get complacent about these things if you already feel you are a solid if not truly good teacher; but if you value and respect your own work, you need to value and respect how this works.
2) Acceptable Use, Copyright, and Fair Use: Teachers are often assuming anything they do in the classroom can be considered "fair use" (that is, photocopying and distributing materials from a variety of sources, etc), but more and more court cases are teaching teachers that they need a better understanding of the law. Oh so true.
3) Sexual Harassment: Always a good topic to clarify, even if you think it is dirt obvious.
4) Pest Management: Truly this is about pests such as insects or mice, etc. The problem: teachers might want to spray or set their own traps, but you just cannot do this in a school where you must consider the health of the students who could react to pesticides. So, yes, this has to be addressed. (And better in a moodle than wasting time that could be better spent in your classroom.)
5) Crisis Response Procedure: This of course covers everything from tornados to gunmen, chemical spills, etc. Also good to have in a moodle and not repeated in in-service. It's important information but we have this information. It should be reviewed every year but it doesn't need to take up prep time.
6) Response-to-Intervention: Program, Monitoring, & Documentation: This is the one I'm on now. I'm finding it interesting but it raises a lot of questions in my mind. Here's a related link: http://www.rtinetwork.org. This is addressing the issue of kids falling through the cracks. We simply can't afford it anymore and this provides a, what, management system to address the problem and use various types of interventions. As always, there seems to be a lot of pressure on the classroom teacher to do the majority of the interventions and different instructional strategies, which some will seem as onerous. Others will, I'm sure, simply ignore this. But it raises in my mind numerous questions on teaching style to begin with. I haven't finished the moodle and this is a new topic for me, but I'm not writing it off until I truly ponder it and think about how it might apply in my Latin classes--specifically who could have benefitted from these interventions last year, how it could have made different outcomes (or not), etc.
I haven't gone through any of the following but can provide some information:
7) Basic info on the software we use for grades, attendance; copier, phones, etc: just how to get the most out of our equipment.
8) Standards, TEKS, College Readiness, and ELPS (English Limited Proficienct Standards, I believe): These are all the different instruments and issues that govern how a school is viewed and specifically how a teacher's performance (or rather, student's performance) is viewed. Are we addressing the standards for our discipline and are we covering the TEKS, are my students ready for College Latin and college in general, and have I done my best by my English limited students--all things I really do think about.
9) Sheltered Instruction and Peer Coaching (ok, I honestly don't remember sheltered instruction but it has to do with either ELP students or low SES students) and I can guess about peer coaching, but I definitely want to review this moodle.
10) Student Friendly Learning Objectives: That is, you as a teacher may have written your objective on the board, but do your students understand it? (I think that's what this is.) Students learn best if they know why they are reading something and what you want them to get out of it. It's common sense, but not always done.
11) Student Level of Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy): Some people hate Bloom's Taxonomy, but some years back I started really thinking about Blooms and how it applied to Latin and came to the realization of why there is often such a disconnect with a student's knowledge of Latin vocab and endings and their ability to read a sentence of Latin. Knowledge level information is easy; application and synthesis is more difficult. Therefore one of the things I am constantly striving to do is to help students make that transition to higher level thinking.
12) How are we Assessing Student Learning? Another one I'm looking forward to going through, because I know that grades just aren't enough, esp grades on only quizzes and tests. And yet, that's the majority of the grades I give. But that's for another discussion. (This one is getting long enough.
13) Student Engagement: This is something I excel in. I must or I wouldn't have 150+ students signed up this year. And frankly, if I couldn't engage the students, I couldn't teach them. If they start getting a glazed look, I know I'm lecturing. that's not active learning.
14) LEarning Environment: This gets back to why it truly IS important to set up your room in a way that truly fosters learning and students wanting to be there.
15) Academic Vocabulary: Not sure about this one; will let you knwo when I know.
16) Marzano's Instrucitonal Strategies: Same with this one.
17) How to Communicate with Parents: probably about learning how to diffuse angry or offensive parents. Or perhaps defensive parents. :)
18) Academic Dishonesty: Something our school takes very seriously, esp with research papers.
19) Failure is not an Option: And what is your first reaction as a Latin teacher? I was at a workshop summer before last when one person was bragging that she had failed something like 20 students, arguing that that demonstrated academic rigor in her course. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to upset her, but it demonstrated to me that she believes there is only one way to learn: "my way or the highway". I'm sure she loves Latin, but does she truly love students, or only the students who were brainiacs like most assuredly she was? I just wonder. The only students who end up failing my class are students who just totally shut down and don't try and sleep through class. A couple a year.
20) Understanding by Design: Not sure, though I've heard of it.
21) Differentiated Instruction: This is about recognizing that some students can handle more challenging versions of the assignment and some need a more watered-down version (because of, for instance, a learning disability). I've seen/heard of really brilliant examples in a colleague's Latin class, but I admit I rarely do this--not because I don't want to, but because it takes planning and I already have 4 preps. But this year I don't have any "new to me" classes so maybe, just maybe....
22) Classroom Management: just when you think you've got it under control you get a new group of students that confound what you used to do.... yeah, one of my weaknesses. Usually just the pace of what we do can drive my classes, but every now and then one or two students will undermine what I had in mind, often not meaning any harm but still causing damage none the less. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to doing this moodle. maybe I'll do it after the R-T-I one.
It is very easy to think that Education courses or even some or much of the above has little to do with what we do in a Latin classroom. But I think this is wrong. I think more than ever we should NOT be using Latin as a weed-out course but teaching it in a way that reaches more students and transports more students through the various levels of Latin to AP in a meaningful way. I don't mean passing them on paper. I truly mean teaching them, but also understanding that not every single AP student needs to be able to conjugate every irregular verb met.
But more on that another time. This is enough for tonight and for getting my head back into the game. Kick-off is soon. Time to return to practice!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-05 04:55 am (UTC)Anyway, I'm reading Henry Fielding's Tom Jones lately.. it is peppered with Latin phrases along with ribald wit. It occurred to me that it might have some sort of funtime potential...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-05 01:34 pm (UTC):)
Tell him I was thinking about him when watching an add for a cooking school!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-06 12:53 am (UTC)Is there a required number you have to complete, or do you have to complete all of them? How long does each one take? Is there some assessment you have to complete at the end?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm just delighted at the concept, and I'd like to know more.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-06 02:31 am (UTC)Anyway, yeah, I wish I could SHOW you the moodles, but I guess they are protected as copyright materials, etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-06 03:25 pm (UTC)From what I've seen of you, and read and heard about your classes, I'm trying to imagine what idiot would give you a bad evaluation, and my brain is leaking out of my ears with the attempt. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.
I'm glad you can trust your administrators with this kind of thing. It's good to have administrators you can work with in that way. I've found that the stuff our administrators have us do because they think it's important, generally is as vital as the administrators think; the stuff they have to do because it's required by law, not so much. But that goes under the "welcome to the teaching profession" category, I suppose. It's worth it, if I get to teach, is what I say.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-06 05:00 pm (UTC)Newspapers never printed a whiff.
The following year I was not allowed back on campus under the threat of arrest for trespassing.
Yeah, I'm glad to be rid of it. My point: if I had TRULY paid close attention to my legal recourses and had had the balls to file a lawsuit, I might have .... might have what? Might be teaching at a middle school still, with fewer preps, more time to myself and my family during the year, etc.
But life goes on and I truly believe all things happen for a reason.