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I made it all the way to the semis and was in 4th till i went too hot into the first turn and left the door wide open going into turn 2.
It was amazing the talent that showed, I really didnt think I was going to make it out of motos, but I just tried to stay positive and ride hard.
It was tons of fun.
Upshaw won and took home $555.
There were some fast dudes who didnt even make the main.
Scott Mcmahon didnt even make it past quarters neither did Trey Mabe. We had a B-main which consisted of Kyle Wisenhart, Chris Meaker, Chase Hines, Myself, Justin Posey, Garrett Woods and a couple others.
Main was Upshaw, Jason Sherill, Matt Kelty, Will Murry, Tim Dinger, Mike Ross, Jeremy Thompson and some other dude. _________________ And to think a doctor told me I could be in a wheel chair in as little as 4 years.
Elementary education has a required minor in rambling and you get a B.A. in B.S. when you are done.
I been known to ramble in 25 page papers.
Here is my final paper from last semester.
Not sure if I even understand what I was writing about.
Quote:
Nicholas Rauch
Practicum Teacher Work Sample
Monday, December 04, 2006
My practicum period took place at Kernan Elementary school in the Utica School district. I participated in a fifth grade classroom with Mrs. Terry Laurer as my participating teacher. During my three week period, I was able to deliver lessons on a variety of topics. One of these lessons dealt with latitude and longitude. This document was written to further my understanding of my actions and to allow for my growth as a future teacher.
Standard 2: Contextual Factors
Community:
Kernan Elementary School is set in an urban setting as are the other schools in the Utica School district. The fact that Kernan is an urban school provides for a specific consideration for me personally when preparing my lessons. My background is more rural which is in stark contrast to the students I was instructing. Therefore, it is very important that I give consideration to the topic, the students’ prior understandings of the topic and my understanding of the topic. Due to the contrast of our backgrounds, our understandings of the same topic may be incredibly different. I don’t believe that this played a part with regard to my lesson on latitude and longitude.
Generally speaking, the socioeconomic status of the classroom I participated in was low. All students in the classroom received reduced or free lunch. This obviously provides for a host of restrictions when designing a lesson. Students of a low socioeconomic background will in many cases be unable to provide additional materials for the lesson. With this being considered, I designed the lesson in such a way that students were able to participate without any additional materials.
The students in Mrs. Laurer’s classroom represented a relatively diverse group. Although predominantly white, there were two black students in the classroom. This is not totally representative of the school. In the 2004-2005 school year the school broke down as follows:
Race/Ethnicity: Percentage Enrolled:
American Indian, Alaskan, Asian, or Pacific Islander 2.5%
Black 29.9%
Hispanic 15.2%
White 52.4%
Once again, I do not think this necessarily had a direct effect on the lesson. I think that, based on the pre-test/lesson, the lesson and the activities, each student was given the opportunity to participate at a level in which they were capable of gaining understanding of the topic.
School:
The school adheres to a magnet theme of dance and drama. According to the school’s website the school is committed to “The integration of dance, drama, and music with character education and service learning. Students during the day and after school are engaged in plays that utilize the arts to reflect mastery of academic skills. Monthly assemblies by grade level teach cultural literacy and reflect classroom learning linked to the NYS standards.” The overall atmosphere of the school seems to be positive. Students are engaged in a variety of activities both in school and after school. The school features a high student to teacher ratio with most classes topping twenty students.
Also during the three week period in which I observed at Kernan Elementary School in the Utica City School District, I was able to observe and collect information regarding additional resources available to teachers. These additional services are provided in order to enhance or aid teachers in instruction or enhance student life outside of the normal day.
I would consider technology to be prevalent in the school, as each class is equipped with four computers for student and teacher use. I also observed teachers utilizing laptops and projectors and TV/VCR/DVD sets in order to show movies, present PowerPoint’s or to present other web-based materials. This seems to enhance instruction as it allows students a different mode of gaining material. It also seems to have an affect in gaining student attention in the short run.
Teachers at Kernan Elementary school are also able to work with the librarian to access books for lessons or to suggest topics and materials that will coincide with in class instruction. For example, the fifth grade class I observed was preparing for the NYS Social Studies exam, so the teacher suggested that library time focused on topics such as the Revolutionary War and immigration. This also helps to enhance instruction, allowing for students to receive valuable information from a variety of sources. The librarian can also be of help in locating grade level appropriate books for use in instruction. For example, before delivering my DLTA lesson, I chose to speak to the librarian about finding a book on Paul Revere. She had several suggestions that were appropriate for the topic and the grade level. The librarian was very knowledgeable about the materials available, and as a teacher, having an individual capable of assisting you in locating such materials may be very helpful.
Another service of particular interest during my observation was conflicts mediation. This was used for students who had some sort of issue with another student and gave them the chance to talk to the other student in a set environment and, through discussion, come to some sort of resolution. This would certainly help to promote a more positive atmosphere in the school. I believe services such as these help to promote a healthier, more inviting school environment, which of course would lead to more focused students.
As is the case with most schools today, students who have difficulty with a particular subject or area of instruction are able to pursue a variety of services. For example, the resource rooms at the school helped deal with reading and assistance in other topics. Also, the school has an ESL classroom for its large immigrant population. Students, depending on ability, receive varying amounts of time and instruction in order to allow them to require the necessary skills to participate in a traditional classroom.
There are also after school programs, both academic and nonacademic at Kernan Elementary School. During my time at the school, both boys and girls in my classroom were given the opportunity to participate in after school basketball programs. Other programs included at the school are after-school tutoring programs. Students, depending upon need are tutored in a variety of subjects with parental permission. Some students also take advantage of after school yoga programs that are offered by a particular teacher in her classroom.
I found this information to be particularly relevant because as a future teacher, Kernan Elementary School offers a variety of services to aid in instruction and to enhance student life. As a future teacher, it is my job to seek out these services and utilize them to aid my students.
In the case of the lesson I delivered, the additional resources were not necessary. The instruction was student centered and allowed students to interact with each other and the teacher.
Classroom:
The classroom that I observed in was relatively large, but as with most of the school seems relatively cold and uninviting as elementary schools are generally. There was however plenty of space. Students were allowed plenty of space for various activities in the classroom. The teacher had different areas set up for different activities that took place throughout the day.
The class was comprised of 18 students. Of the 18, 10 of the students were female, leaving the remaining 8 as males.
Within the classroom, there were numerous sources in terms of information and technology. In terms of traditional print materials, there were textbooks, dictionaries, and thesauruses. Equally important was the fact that the class had four computers with internet access. Students were allowed to utilize these computers before morning work for research or educational games.
In terms of additional support personnel within the classroom, on a daily basis numerous resource personnel pushed in to the classroom to help various students with different subjects. The reading teacher came to the class daily to aid two students during the ELA lesson. Other students would leave the classroom to participate in resource activities during small group instruction.
The classroom and the students were considered in this lesson. Obviously if the classroom had been configured differently, it would have been a greater issue setting up the lesson and allowing the students to properly engage in the activity. In terms of the student considerations, there were considerations made in that students had to be grouped based on both ability and compatibility. I spoke with the teacher to gain further insight into the students’ abilities and compatibilities with the other students.
Students:
I would say that approximately half of the class was below grade level with regard to social studies. Most of the students had issues in other areas that hindered their abilities in social studies. Of the remaining 9 students I would identify 5 of them as average ability and the remaining 4 as exceptional, or above average ability level. This large gap in ability makes instructional planning incredibly difficult. The low socioeconomic background made prior knowledge a noticeable issue. Most students had a noticeable lack of prior knowledge that introverted their ability to assimilate the offered information.
Of the students in the classroom, there was also one ELL student. Lilya is originally from the Ukraine and has been in the country for two years. Her spoken English is functional for most purposes, but depending upon the discussion, she has issues with certain vocabulary words. Her parents continue to speak Russian in the home and therefore, Lilya’s language has not excelled as quickly as may have otherwise been possible.
Standard 3: Learning Goals
The lesson featured the following objectives:
Social Studies:
• Given the worksheet, students will demonstrate the ability to locate places in terms of latitude and longitude using a map.
Science:
• Given the activity, students will utilize the classroom setup as a map featuring latitude and longitude to identify the latitude and longitude of identified points.
These students are, as a majority, around the age of 10. This had to be considered when designing this lesson, as the topic of longitude and latitude is a relatively abstract phenomena. Students at this age are on the border of moving from a more concrete mentality to a more abstract mentality. With this topic, students must be able to envision the world being divided into invisible segments that allow people to locate places. The students, whether it is due to their maturity or preparation for this topic, seemed to be able to deal with abstract concept. One way this was ensured was through actually lining the classroom with yarn as opposed to having students imagine that the lines were present.
These objectives were written in order to align instruction with the New York State standards.
Social Studies:
• 3.1.3 Students will locate places within the local community, State and nation; locate the Earth’s continents in relation to each other and to principal parallels and meridians.
Science:
• Standard 6 Students will use different types of models, such as graphs, sketches, diagrams, and maps, to represent various aspects of the real world.
Standard 4: Assessment Plan
In order to meet and assess the students’ understandings of the lesson, the assessment was directly aligned with the objectives. The assessment included questions taken directly from NYS Social Studies exams from years past. This is a skill that is consistently presented on the exam. One of the objectives was assessed behaviorally in my observation of the students during the lesson. The other was assessed directly from the post assessment.
In order to assess and inform students on the next day’s lesson, two worksheets were used as pre-assessment to the primary lesson. During the discussion and completion of the worksheet, I monitored student response to gain an understanding of what student knew and did not know about the topic. By the time students completed the pre-assessment activity I felt that most students had a firm understanding of the basic aspects of the upcoming lesson. During the lesson, the same method was used. I continually questioned students to ensure understanding of the topic and insure that none of the students were falling behind with the topic. Finally, the final assessment informed me about how much students had actually gained from the instruction. With this information I would be able to plan further instruction.
In order to facilitate the assessment of each of the students, I made myself available to give explanations on the wording of each of the questions on the assessment. Students were able to perform well on this task due to the prior instruction.
Standard 5: Design for Instruction
The pre-assessment activity served not only to inform the instruction and confirm that my objectives were appropriate based on the students’ prior knowledge but also to activate the students’ prior knowledge on the topic and give basal instruction on the topic.
The design for instruction primarily involved mixed pairing of students based on ability levels. The higher level students were paired with lower level students in order to insure that all students were prepared or assisted to a point that participation was attainable. There was very little teacher centered instruction as my focus was to engage students and keep them engaged. Students being engaged would make student behavior less of an issue. Students were allowed, based on the pairing to utilize each other or the teacher as a resource during the lesson.
The topic and the activity can be considered to be applicable to real world activities, but I feel that I could have done a better job of making this more evident. The closest I came to making it applicable to them came in having them identify the location of Utica on a map using its latitude and longitude during the post assessment. There are obviously more instances where the activity could have been made more relevant.
In designing the lesson, I tried to consider the entire lesson as an adaptation. I attempted to create a situation where each student would be able to learn and participate without concern of other factors. I feel that I was successful in doing so. Students were able to utilize a variety of resources to help scaffold their understanding of the topic. I felt that with respect to each of the students in the class, their needs were met with the design and implementation of this lesson.
Standard 6: Analysis of Student Learning
Average Post Assessment Score for Boys Average Post Assessment Score for Girls
93.75% 92.5%
Overall Class Average:
93.125%
Student: Score:
Matthew 80%
Hailey 80%
Jahbo 100%
Kira 100%
Anthony 100%
Jordan 100%
Kayleigh 100%
Nick 100%
Tim 100%
Lilya 100%
Vinny 100%
Donecia 100%
Kaitlyn 100%
Renee 100%
Samantha 60%
Drake 80%
Aida Incomplete
Taryn Not Present
In order to provide a better understanding of the pretest/lesson and the experience during the lesson, in the future I intend to utilize a checklist that will allow for a greater understanding of the students’ understanding of the topic. I realized that students had little prior knowledge of the topic, so the pretest took the shape of a mini lesson. We completed worksheets as a group that gave simple definitions of the topic. This served as a tune up for the more advanced students and as a introduction to the less advanced students. I certainly would like to utilize this as a “pretest tool” because no matter the situation, students are able to gain information from the process. I would however find some way to derive a qualitative list of which students had a true understanding of the topic before the discussion versus those that did not. I would also devise a simple checklist to be used during instruction. I believe that this would allow me to more accurately gauge their understanding throughout the lesson. Using the activity as a form assessment would be useful because it gives the teacher a multitude of information. I can assess how well students are working together. I can assess their ability to complete the task. I can assess how well the more advanced students are able to inform their peers on how to approach the topic. This type of assessment would be great for some of the students who were proficient at the task, but were less successful with the posttest. This would allow me to more effectively track their progress from before, after and during the lesson.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the lesson came in the fact that the students who often have trouble with lessons, were engaged and performed quite well on the task. Two of these students, Kira and Jahbo actually managed to earn a perfect score on the post assessment. Kira has an overall below average ability level in most subjects. This lesson seemed to cater to her because she was able to use her peers for assistance. If for example she would have had to read for the information she would have been unsuccessful with the task. Verbal instructions seem to help her succeed. Jahbo is also an issue in the classroom because of his behavioral issues. In this activity, he was engaged throughout the lesson so there was no chance for him to act out against other students. He was actually pleased with the lesson and told me that he enjoyed it. This was a surprise coming from a student who has been suspended numerous times throughout this school year for various reasons.
Standard 7: Reflection and Self Evaluation
I feel that the lesson was successful on many levels. Most importantly, students seemed to gain a clear understanding of the topic and were engaged throughout the activity.
One of the points that I found most satisfying was the fact that students were not only engaged, but they truly enjoyed the activity and were happy to be engaged. Making education interesting and enjoyable for these students is at times difficult, so this was particularly rewarding. I feel that this was mostly due to the fact that as a class they were given the opportunity to engage in some kinesthetic learning.
Another point of interest included the fact that student were given the opportunity to interact in a social and academic manner. Students learned through social interaction, using each other to help solve the problems present in the activity. I feel that this experience was valuable in teaching students to work as a group in a cooperative manner.
In terms of nonsuccesses within the lesson, I would have to point to the fact that there is such a wide range of students it seems that some of the students are constantly being undercut with the instruction. Although all of the students enjoyed the activity, I believe that for some it was simply too easy. One of the steps that kept these students engaged in the activity involved grouping them with the most under prepared students. In doing this, these students had to take their understanding and qualify it for a less advanced student in order to help their understanding.
With this lesson, there was no need for adjustments to be made. Student seemed to grasp the understanding through the instruction and ran away with the concept presented through the activity. I think that this is in most cases this would be an effective method for delivering this lesson.
In writing this paper, I feel that I have learned that in many cases, a teacher can utilize a variety of methods to assess students. I hope to utilize a wider variety of methods to assess students and utilize these assessments to help make better instructional decisions. I feel that as my career progresses I will be better equipped to assess students without rigorous guidelines, but in looking at my post assessments, it is evident that some students could have performed better given a different method of assessment, or a different angle on instruction.
Math and Science teachers are hard to find round here. _________________ And to think a doctor told me I could be in a wheel chair in as little as 4 years.
I am still seriously considering it. I just got my resume completed and I think I will start sending it down south soon. _________________ Nicholas Rauch
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http://www.bmxunderground.com nick@bmxunderground.com
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