Professional Learning Committee

My first experience with a Professional Learning Committee meeting took place at Oceanside High School. Every Monday at 7:00am the teachers meet up with their departments and discuss the progress of each teacher’s class as well as discuss goals. From time to time, the assistant principal or the principal will visit these meetings and offer assistance if need be. The Professional Learning Committee meetings at Valley High School occur every first Thursday of the month during first period, which lasts for 53 minutes. The students do not come to school until second period. All the teachers meet in the lounge and review a list of students who either deserve or does not deserve the opportunity to stay at Valley High School as a fifth year student. The meeting is facilitated by the principal who calls out each name from a list and each Connections teacher either says “yes” for the student to resume as a student at Valley High School or “no” for the student to continue their education at adult education. The Connections teachers of course have to give reason behind their decision and sometimes there would be debates coming from different teachers who have had the student.  These experiences that I have gained from both high schools gave me insight as to how the professional learning committees are facilitated. I am looking forward to the meetings that I will encounter in the near future as I begin my career as an English teacher.

Clinical Practice II

This semester I am completing my Clinical Practice II at Valley High School, which is located in Escondido. I have had the amazing opportunity of meeting the staff as well as the students. I am teaching two periods of English 9 and one period of English 11. The students at Valley High School come to school with different circumstances. Some are behind in credits while others deal with other issues such as drug abuse, teen pregnancy and such. Some may think that teaching at this high school is quite the challenge considering the student circumstances; however, I feel that the students here at Valley High School have the same rights to education just as any other students would have in any other high school. Just because the students come from different backgrounds and circumstances does not mean that they should be taught a certain way. As time is coming to an end for the school year as well as the program, I realize how important the role of the teacher is in the classroom. The choices teachers make in the classroom are contagious because they can either make or break the learning experience of the students. The time the students are in their seats to the time that they leave the classroom is the most important time that teachers are responsible for. Every minute to every hour and every second to every minute is definitely time for learning, more so, time allotted for teachers to make a change.

Coaching Volleyball at Valley High School

I am really excited to announce that I am currently coaching a high school sport, a sport that I absolutely love and enjoy playing, which is the game of volleyball. I played volleyball ever since I was in the third grade and continued to play throughout my middle and high school career. Being a coach for the sport is quite an experience. I have been coaching for almost a month and the students are progressing really well. Of course, I was extremely nervous the first day of coaching just as I was with teaching my first English class at Oceanside High School. I found it necessary to take what I learned so far in the teaching credential program and apply what I have learned to coaching. After all, coaching is teaching. For the first day, I wanted to observe what my student athletes knew about the game, so I instructed them to play right off the bat with no rules. Based on skill level, I had a number of beginners and a few early intermediate players. From that point, I determined what I wanted students to learn and thought of my game plan in regards to coaching.  Observing what the students knew was my first assessment. From that first assessment, I determined that my student athletes need to not only work on skills of the game of volleyball, but also understand how the game of volleyball is played as is the case with all sports.  Since this is my first time coaching a sport, I have a lot of things to learn about being a coach. The more experience I will gain, the more better I will become as I add to my craft. This goes the same with teaching.

Coaching or Teaching is like riding a bike:

Imagine you want to learn how to ride a bike.

If you are terrified of cycling, you may need a THERAPIST to help you discover all the blocks and traumas from your past that have kept you from riding.
If you lack knowledge of cycling, you may need a CONSULTANT to provide technical information about bicycles, their features, how to use them, and maybe even how to be “ergonomically correct” when you ride a bicycle.
If you don’t know how to ride a bike, a MENTOR will actually climb on the bike right in front of you and show you how to ride it.
But if you are drawn to cycling and ready to ride, a COACH/TEACHER will stand by you as you get on the bicycle, help keep you steady as you discover your balance, cheer you on, give you a little push from behind when you need it, run along beside you with encouragement, and then let go so you can do it on your own!

Movie Review: The Children of Life

           The Children of Life is a documentary about a fourth grade teacher from Tokyo who teaches his students about the importance of life. The students document their true inner feelings through writing a letter, which is then read aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates. Mr. Kanamori states that good teaching should relate to student lives. One of the students wrote about losing her father, which was something she thought she would never be able to do. Writing about her father and reading it aloud gave her a different perspective on life, which allowed her to become more comfortable with expressing her feelings. Taking the feelings that were once bottled up inside and talking about it has made her become more content with her life. The next week or so, the student brought in the last piece of artwork that her father drew before his passing, which was difficult for her family to look at. There was another student whose father had passed away and Mr. Kanamori instructed that the students welcome him and make him as comfortable as possible when he returns to school. When the student returned to school, he was gratefulfor his classmates as they welcomed him. The students also wanted to write to the student's deceased father to explain to him that his son is in good care. Mr. Kanamori definitely made an impact on his students and they cried as the last day of fourth grade came to an end.
            Watching this documentary made me think of think of the impact that I would like to make on my students. I truly believe that students learn more if things are applied to their everyday lives.  I observed a teacher at Valley High School who does a phenomenal job with relating content to student lives. I noticed that the students are always attentive and also engaged during class. Through the program, we were taught to relate content in such a way in which students are relating concepts through text to text, text to self and text to world. For the class that I am currently teaching, I am working on relating concepts to student lives. The more meaningful a concept becomes to a student, the more that they learn.

Visit to El Camino High School

My visit to El Camino High School was a great experience. I had the opportunity to see how technology is being utilized in the Math Department. Upon entering the classroom, one would instantly notice the sea of iPads on the student desks. The students are accustomed to a classroom routine where they log on to their iPads and complete their bell work task, which usually is a Math multiple-choice problem. After the students completed the bell work task, they completed practice questions to help them prepare for the CAHSEE. As I roamed the classroom, the students were engaged and adamant about completing their tasks. I asked some students whether or not they learn best from the iPad and the response that I received was obvious. The students definitely enjoy the hands-on learning experience that the iPad provides. One of the main reasons why the students enjoy the iPad is that they can easily search for information themselves rather than wait for the teacher to help them who may be helping another student. There is also an application on the iPad that allows students to save their notes and work. They can either take a picture of their notes or even type in their notes using this app. The teacher even enjoys using the iPads in the classroom because there is a program that he uses which allows him to monitor student answers to problems. The program gives a breakdown of which students have mastered the content and which students still need help. The teacher can also work through a problem using an iPad, which can be projected on a screen for students to see which I thought was quite unique. I am an alumnus from El Camino High School and just was amazed at how learning has changed with using technology. I remember my Math classroom and wish that I were fortunate enough as much as these students are. As a teacher, it is important to understand how to meet the needs of the 21^st century learner, which is through technology.