The Answer

All I can think of this week is channelling Alan Iverson. "Practice?! We're talkin' 'bout practice?!" The things we did in class last week were incredibly helpful. I don't know if it'll show completely on the final, but it's good to get a hands on experience with this stuff. I almost view the final as an extension of this practice. As I'm sure I won't be any good at any of this for quite some time. This is just one of those skills that isn't going to develop immediately. Without doing this over and over again, there's just no way to get good at it. So, I guess here's to the next round of practice, even though this is for the grade, I'm still thinking "Not a game. Not a game. We're talkin' 'bout practice."

5/17

This week I’ve been trying to get my head around the Educational and Supervisory Platform assignment and I’m not getting anywhere. I don’t really understand what areas I’m supposed to be addressing, and without that base level of understanding I can’t really move forward, so I guess that’s something bad, and also a fact. I’m stuck and need a push in the right direction. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that at class this week. I have no basis for this statement other than paranoia, but I had to miss class last week and I’m sure that everything was explained then and if I’d been there this would all be going much smoother. As an observation, I’m amazed that with a 29 page syllabus there’s something that isn’t spelled out enough for me to grasp it immediately. I can’t figure if this is a failing in the syllabus or in my ability to comprehend it.

This Week

So, it looks like I missed my post last week. I didn't even realize until I sat down to do this one. Sorry to all those looking forward to it. I know it must have left a gaping hole in your week.

So, when it comes to the video from last week and all the different methods of classroom observation, I keep coming back to the same thought. Selective Verbatum is by far the most comprehensive method to ge tthe full picture for what is going on in a classroom. You can take that full transcript and when you examine it later you can come up with all the information you can get from all of the other methods combined, at least in large part. The only problem with it is getting everything. The video tape isn't, at least to my mind a viable choice, as it is pretty obvious and it can change behaviors, at least a little bit, but mostly it just can't visually catch everything, and it isn't designed to catch the audio as well as an audio recorder. If you can put tape recorder or an ipod on your desk you can get full audio quality and you can then focus, whilie you are in the room on visually observing what is going on and take notes on that. When you put those two things together afterward you cna create a complete picture and draw from that any information you, or the teacher, are looking for.

Week 4

It's hard for me to image a scenario where I would want to write down word for word what is being said in class by everyone. Having this information is helpful, but I would have to audio record it and transcribe it later. That's pretty much the only way I could come close to getting this info. The other benefit of recording it is that I could do the At-Task method while I was recording, or some other method. I could be more helpful being able to use two methods at once, at least that's my gut reaction.

On another note I was having a conversation last night with my fiance. She was telling me about the leadership style of her boss at work, and how she can see the benefit of it sometimes, but not with her. We then talked about how it's actually not an effective style, because it's all about her and not about the people she was trying to lead. A number of people don't respond well to the way she supervises, but that's her way and she sticks with it. It was interesting to me how quickly I was able to notice and put into context some of the things we have discussed in class.

By the way I'm posting this a full 8 hours earlier than last week. If I keep this pace up I'll be posting on the weekends by the end of this block. Baby steps, I guess.

Week 3

First, here's a link to my first posting.

http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=25390454

Now, my thoughts about last week's class.

I've got to do these closer to when class lets out than to when the next class starts. It makes it tough to remember what happened when you do this a week later. That being said, the thing that strikes me most is how helpful the Pajak book can be. Even if you just took out the charts we used in class last week, you have a very helpful resource.

I used de Bono's thinking hats with two of my classes last week. It was the last time I was going to have them for the year (and with my seniors, the last time, period) I wanted to get their feedback on how they thought the year went in class. I think it's useful tool. I got some good feedback and I got some completely unhelpful comments. For example Under the black hat one of my 10th graders wrote "amount of games". I had no idea whether there were too many games, or not enough. It was short, but it was to no point. Probably could have given them a little more instruction, but kids aren't used to writing in P.E. so much. It was a little like asking them to drive a car with their feet.

I keep coming back to the conversations I need to have with my coaching staff. I'm going to have to sit down with them individually in the next few weeks to discuss next year and what I need from each of them. I think I'm going to have to sit down with some Pajak and really think about what kind of people my coaches are, which is difficult as none of them work in the school and I only see them a few times a week and only for short conversations when I do see them. Just need to figure the best way to get them to do what we need them to do, which in most cases is exactly the same thing. Become a better cheerleader for their teams.