MA Seminar Week 1-4

Week 1: January 9-13

Kids spend all day in my room. I make them get out every 45 minutes, for 4 minutes - passing period. Either going to the bathroom, getting a drink, walk the halls a bit, or talk to friends and stretch.

• Got lockers on Friday. Spent most of the day on Thursday practicing combination padlocks. Once mastered, they were given their own locker.
• Now that they have their own locker and can handle the lock, they will get to join a P.E. class and have their own gym locker there. Originally we were going to put them in 4th and 7th period gym classes, my plan periods, but those classes were already full. By the end of the week, I didn’t care if we send one student per period, I just needed them to get out and  moving. Hopefully this will happen next week.

I started the semester off with six newcomers. Two days into the semester, I was told I would be getting five more. I was definitely overwhelmed that day after school. I know that I can handle this, but being unprepared and having never done this before -in eight years, is hard. What has definitely been hard is trying to juggle teaching a class, while having a room full of newcomers. Jen, my para, and I have been managing by each of us jumping back and forth between groups of students so we each are working with everyone.

• My supervisor discussed revamping/changing my schedule so that I am just working with Newcomers all day. I didn’t think that was wise: 1- It would be extra work for my principal to manually change 11 schedule (watching for class sizes, etc.), or fair to the students to be uprooted in the middle of the year from something that isn’t their fault. They all would be going to more difficult classes and without support -most likely. I really could not do that to them.

The high school in our district has a Newcomer Program. It used to be for grades 7-12. However, thi year the teacher had 32 Newcomers in her room - along with two paras. The youngest students just turned 12, and the oldest was almost 21. This has the possibility of being very bad. This teacher has ran the program for a LONG time. She hand selected the curriculum, and does things the way she wants -but she gets results! Because of this change in the middle of the year, and her having everything, I am using her materials for my version of the newcomer program. Additionally, we have Rosetta Stone licenses for each student. I’m trying to make it so that the students know what they need to work on each period of everyday. They have school work and they have homework - while they are similar, the school work is more challenging than the homework. It sort of is cyclical.

• Homework: Level 1
• First period: Alphabet Journal and Verbs  (writing about a topic that begins with ‘A’. The paragraph is  written in both English and the native language. The verbs are all past tense. Students write the word in their native language, the way it sounds, and a sentence using it correctly.
• Second period: Rosetta Stone
• Third period: Level 2 - working with me directly
• Fourth period: Vocabulary
• Fifth period: continued work with level 2 & 3, verbs, and writing - working with me directly
• Sixth period: Rosetta Stone
• Seventh period: Skills practice (this week was practicing/memorizing lunch codes, lockers, important places in the building, etc.)
• Eighth period:  level 3
• Advisement: End of the day reflections

I would like to get some content -besides vocabulary, with these kids, but that may have to happen this fall. I found a curriculum called “Access” that has a Newcomer text, as well as basic Math, English, World History, and American History. My supervisor said he’d look into that and into another curriculum he heard about to see what he prefers before we make a purchase. I think that could be a good jumping off point, at the very least, to get their kids’ feet wet.

The non-newcomers are already struggling. I pulled my para from all of their classes to help with the Newcomers while I’m simultaneously teaching in my room. The non-newcomers have approached her with questions, “When are you coming back to class?” “I don’t understand what we are doing in Science.” “History has a project that is hard, can you help me?” It’s so hard to hear this and not have an answer. Running an individualized program while also being the only certified ELL teacher, and caseload manager in the building, is tough. I hope that we can find some professional development that we can send some classroom teachers to, to help with the transition of ELLs in their room with no para support. Again, this isn’t unreasonable, it’s just a change from what we’ve done for years.

I’m concerned about how much time everything needs, and the lack of it that I have. We have late starts on Wednesdays for PLCs that I will start to use as work time -whatever needs to be done. That is only a half hour.

Week 2: January 16-20

(No school Monday or Tuesday, and I was gone on Wednesday.)

I’m working on moving one of my Newcomers into regular classes - starting Monday. All students, including him, will be joining a PE class as well (fitness and activity). All 9 will be in the same class - however, this isn’t realistic for the future -most likely.

Three of the boys didn’t follow through on their homework. Kids are allowed a week to do it and it doesn’t not come to school; they have separate school work. That was frustrating, as they now have even more work due for next time. The quantity of work is minimal.

Materials are running low. Notebooks, computers, headphones, copies, etc.

Week 3: January 23-27

(I went home sick Tuesday at noon, and returned Friday at 8am.)

Sub plans are now a MAJOR pain to write.

I sent home a note, in Spanish, explaining the work I assign, how much time I give for the kids to do it, materials needed for class, etc.

Week 4: January 30-February 3

Cley*** - fell asleep in class today (Monday). Didn’t seem concerned about it or the fact that I was upset.

Thursday, students finally got to attend gym class. They will get to go daily, first period, for the rest of the semester. Not an ideal time, but I will take it! I'm frustrated that it too so long to get going, but now I know to make it happen right away come Fall.

Seating arrangements are an ongoing thing. We have rearranged the 11 students a couple of times now, but plan to again for next week. We’re trying to find the “sweet spot” for these kids to work collaboratively and still be successful - and on task.

There were two girls (sisters) who joined us last week who are really stirring the pot. They ask another student to translate for them and some of what they say is not okay. The ‘translator’ often will just shake his head side to side and not utter a word. I only found this out because our district interpreter came in on Wednesday to check in on the students and let them know she is available to them any time of day. Language barrier for myself and my para is frustrating. I have been trying to log time on Rosetta Stone to learn (re-learn) Spanish, but it’s a slow process.

I have my room arranged as best as I can get it to accommodate both the Newcomers and the class. It looks like this:  Each ‘x’ represents a student in class. There are 7-8 students in my “class” and 11 Newcomers. The “class” sits at the front of the room, by the board, where I have taken to sitting and instructing - because I feel too close to them and uncomfortable standing at that proximity. These are individual desks, not tables. The seats in the back, which are tables, are where the Newcomers work - with my para. They’re there all day, we have an eight period day. (One period they are going to gym, and two other periods they go to the library for a change of scenery, and it’s during my plan time.) The table on the right is a kidney-shaped table we use for individual or small group work. This is generally when we are having students read aloud to us and check their writing.

My room is long and narrow. I have my desk in there, a couple of filing cabinets, a small reading corner, and some shelves where kids store their school work. This is basically the best way I have figured out how to arrange the room.

I feel like there could be a better arrangement for improved instruction and supervision. I just haven’t figured that out yet.