Austin Mann
Hello everyone!
Well here we are in April already! I hope everyone is doing well with their
semesters. I just finished my KPTP! It was sixty-nine pages, and let me tell
you it is the longest hardest project I have ever worked on. I made it through
though, and if I can make it through that, I can make it through anything! I
also have taken both the PRAXIS and the PL. Since completing the KPTP, I have
taken up much more responsibility in my classroom. I’m taking on more classes
and am having a big issues with keeping up with my grading and my assignments.
Now when I say assignments, what I mean is assignment sheets for my students. Whenever
I ask for students to turn in an assignment they have trouble rustling through
their papers and always ask me what it looks like or what kind of assignment
was.
To make my
organization in my assignments for my students easier, I had to ask some
veteran teachers at my placement for help on how I can make my assignments
easier to find for students. The number one thing I learned was to put
something in the corner of my assignments so when I call for them to turn it
in, they just have to find the picture I ask for. Originally, I was told to put
little colored stickers on the corners of my assignments so that I could just
say the color, but like Bomer says in his book “Lesson plans should allow all
students to participate despite any disabilities they have.” (Bomer 97) I
realized that several of my students are color blind and that they might not be
able to see the colors. To remedy this, I decided to place well known Disney
characters in the corners. This also saves me time and money on stickers and
placing them in the corners. I just have to copy and paste the pictures to get
them on the corner.
Using this
strategy has helped organization in my class. I have been able to just have to
ask for the character and the students are able to pull it out quickly and turn
it in. Instead of spending ten minutes getting the assignment in, I get the
assignments in about a minute and have more time for my lessons.
Well that’s all
for now! Good luck everyone! Finish strong!
Mr. Mann –
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the Disney character idea! Maybe I could do something similar in my classroom? I can completely relate to being behind. I find myself spending several hours per week outside of the classroom completing grading and other housekeeping tasks above composing my lesson plans and materials. I have heard mixed messages about bringing your work home with you vs. staying late to finish in your room. How do you feel about this practice?
Because I have children, I like the flexibility of bringing my work home with me and having the ability to be in the same room or even outside watching my children play while I take care of a few extra things. I do designate one day (or try to) where I do no grading or school work in order to give myself a break and give my family the full attention that they need.
Even though I am behind on grading at times, I have been able to stay fairly organized. Here are some things I have implemented in my own classroom to stay on track:
1. Each student has a folder that remains in the room and they are responsible for bringing back anything they need to take home. Since most work (excluding longer writing assignments and make-up work) is completed in class, students generally do not take work home other than reading.
2. Students receive pre-stapled packets at the beginning of smaller units that contain all vocabulary and in class written work they will be completing during the following unit. In class assignments (from the packet) are stamped daily and entered as part of their participation grade. This way, nothing has to be turned in and everything stays together. Packets are turned in at the end of the unit for a participation grade.
Students don’t generally get a lot of written feedback for these assignments, but they are reviewed in class as part of the learning activity for that day. The assignments completed in the packet also provide students with a student composed study guide that they can use for writing prompts and assessments throughout the unit.
3. Longer writing assignments are graded in steps and returned to students as they are due. This helps me to stay on track with grading and helps my students by chunking their assignments in a way that makes them bite sized and manageable. It also allows me to give important feedback as they complete individual steps of assessed writing that are worth more points. Some specific written feedback is provided for longer assignments, but I use a Rubric to help score more quickly and objectively as well. This way, students know what areas they need to work on and ask for help with if needed without having to read a long narrative comment from me.
Thank you for your post Mr. Mann!
Megan