edTPA Progress
This week you should be working on Task 2. It sounds like you have done some filming or plan to do it this week. There's much to think about as you write the commentary to your filming.
What have you learned from watching yourself teaching? Will this impact what you do differently?
Please read my post in the last blog that responded to your comments and then in this post add a highlight and a stretch and respond to each other.
posted by Chris @ 10:28 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I have messed around with the videotapes in my room a bunch, so I was excited to start actual filming today. In my lesson, there was lots of interaction and excitement...I think the students really enjoyed it! After some notetaking and discussion, students learned/reviewed academic language by playing "Musical Chairs Vocabulary" (Alaina...I'm sure you remember when a group did it in our T&L classes--who knows, it might have been your group!)The lesson went pretty well, as expected it was a bit chaotic but the students did a good job of reeling things back in when they got too rowdy! :) BUT I'm nervous to review it for a couple of reasons...
Obviously, watching yourself on camera is awkward
I think in my excitement to get the activity going the placement of the student who did not have a video permission slip might be in the film (advice on this?)
After practicing filming a few different times I'm afraid that the battery on the camera died during the lesson...it might be alright with what it did capture but we will have to see how that works. I'm really hoping I can use some of the work that happened today!
I hope everyone is doing well, I definitely have some questions I'd like to review with people as far as the TPA...of course, I can't think of any when I need them and my notes are on my laptop at home.
Anyway, one I know I have off the top of my head is when it asks for commentary on one language function throughout your commentary for Task One...what exactly does that mean? I want to make sure I'm filling things out correctly.
That was a lot of information! But I hope everything made sense, it's been a busy week so I'm a bit scatter-brained. CSI day tomorrow to catch up on things a bit and then Poland for the long weekend...lots of pottery shopping is in store I suppose!Fingers crossed my video segment will work out alright :)
Also, the example TPA documents followede the COE lesson plan template, different than the TPA lesson plan format found online though the resources page. Is one more preferable than the other?
Hey Kelsey,
I want to answer your questions since Chris helped me with them. For the language function, pick one of the tasks that the students are doing in your learning segment. Will they be analyzing something or will they be explaining something? Basically, what are they doing in the learning segment and specifically, what are they doing? I hope that makes sense. So if your students are analyzing how a particular character's dialogue is affecting the plot, then say that the language function is analyze and then how they are using that language function.
For your second question, you'll need to use the TPA lesson plan format that is located on the WSU Student Teaching website. I think I had asked about it a while back on our Block II FB group. Basically the TPA lesson plan format is a lot more stripped down and doesn't include as much information. When you're putting together your lesson plans, remember to leave out explanations and reasoning - it should basically be an outline of what you're doing or a lesson plan that you might leave a sub if you were to be out for the day. Does that make sense? That's what WSU wants you to use! :) Hope I answered your questions!
I have yet to watch the video of myself teaching the large lesson because I knew that my class was very quiet and acting awkward which probably made me look quiet and awkward as well. I just finished editing and submitting my second clip of working in a small group and I think it went really well. I helped students better understand the particular section of the the text that they were struggling with. I wouldn't do anything differently in that second clip although I probably should have found a quieter place to film because making subtitles took a lot of work. :/
Highlight: I just finished my Othello unit and am starting to work on a unit that is completely my own - my own chosen short stories, my own lessons (I based a lot of my activities last unit on my mentor teacher's) and my own assignments to accompany the lessons. I think that the students really enjoyed Othello and were heartbroken when it ended especially with that terrible and tragic ending. I think they're ready for this short story unit and hopefully for Animal Farm which I'll be starting in November and hopefully have time to finish before I give the classroom back to Mr. Coia.
I also gave out and end of the unit survey to my 10th grade students and asked them what they liked and didn't like about the class (among other things) and they all seemed to really enjoy the activities of the class and didn't really have things that they didn't like about the class. I was very excited to learn this because I usually hate reading student feedback because there is always the possibility that it will be very negative... :/
Stretch: A few weeks ago the students turned in an assignment where they had to analyze one of Shakespeare's sonnets and one of the students did not turn his in. He asked if I had it and why it had not been graded. I let him look through all the papers and when he couldn't find it, I told him that he could turn it in the next day if he found it at home or re-did the assignment. The next day came and no assignment came in. Now his mother is emailing my teacher and she is saying that I told him to "Take the zero" which I definitely and never would say. We're hoping it doesn't go to the principal but she is persistent about this 0 on a 15 point homework assignment so it probably will. I'm dreading having to talk to this mother. :(
Other than that, things are going great!
I have been working on a response and Alaina stepped up and did a better job than I had started to answer Kelsey's questions. Thank you Alaina!
For all of you, filming and watching yourself is a very sobering experience--lots to learn about yourself. :)
A student saying they turned in an assignment when they didn't is a very difficult situation. Let us know how that turns out.
Keep at the edTPA--you should be looking at Task 3. Don't forget you need a whole class set of an assessment and then you look at trends and settle on 3 focus students. Let me know if you need to talk through your materials.
Have a great weekend!!
Keep plugging away at the edTPA.
Alaina--very helpful!! I remember now that you asked that on Facebook but I must have forgotten what people's reply was...and it is good to know that we save all of the explanations for the planning commentary section because that is what I have! Good to know those are aligning. The language function thing makes sense too...why do they have to word it in such an annoying way? But your explanation sounds good :)
Yikes about that parent situation...hopefully things work out! Doesn't seem like you were in the wrong so stick to your professional opinion!
I had two students BLATENTLY copy each other's reading reflections (which is crazy, because reflections are your ideas and opinions, it's like, helloooo you can't get these wrong as long as you give me what I'm requestiing!) so I had to have a stern talking with them as well as a re-do of that assignment and a letter on ethics to me. They both did a good job of returning their own work on time and explaining the importance of not plagorising! Still a bummer that it had to happen at all.
Turns out that the filiming I did the other day didn't keep due to the battery issue, which is really stressful. We weren't able to film earlier this week because students were primarily taking a reading quiz and it was a shortened week. Got some footage today that I'm excited to review tonight because I think the lesson went really well! Lots of work to do this weekend--scanning student work and such! Woohoo!
I am still chugging along as attempt to cut my video. the worst happened and i did not get to film the entirety of my first lesson as well as majority of the end of my second. After many tears i have decided to dust myself off and go with what i've got. I am currently trying to wade through what i have and decide what is the most impact. after watching myself on film i realize that i say "right?" far too often instead of using probing questions to further the thinking.
Overall i am stressed and growing quite tired of this TPA business. Note to self don not do the TPA the same week as the week you take full control. No fun at all.
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