Humanities Homework Help

Reply:

Chasity Robertson

Hello Everyone,

My name is Chasity Robertson. I am an eighth-grade Math teacher and this is my 4th year in my district and 3rd year teaching. All I can say is never say never. I remember the numerous years I spent saying I would never be an educator and now I do not know why I waited so long to pursue education. Though I love what I do, it can sometimes become quite overwhelming, especially at the beginning of the school year. The most challenging thing on the job is getting your feet planted at the beginning of the year. There are so many expectations and things that have to be done before a certain date and it feels as if you will never get caught up in your work. Often throughout the year behavior sometimes seems to be the biggest challenge, but once you get to know your students it becomes easier to handle. I have experienced a part of COVID in all three years of my teaching. I can say that things were so different from my first school year last year because I was limited to what kids could do in the classroom and remain at safe distances. This year has been a little better because we have different strategies that were put in place last year to try and help get back in the swing of a traditional class.

The strategy that stood out most to me is making sure all of my students are involved in some type of way. Participation is not optional. I think in the past I’ve been so hung up on not wasting dead time that I usually jump and move on when the first few students answer questions. Normally, those are the only students that a going to typically answer the questions. So, I need to do a better job of making sure that all students are taking part in the process of learning and not just sitting back relying on other people to answer questions and move the class along.

Diane Forrest

Part I. Introduce yourself to the class and share your teaching area/grade/content area/school.

I am Diane Forrest. I have been in the education field for about 20 years. I currently teach seventh grade English Language Arts (ELA) at Robert L. Merritt Junior High School in Indianola, MS.

Part II. What aspect do you find the most difficult to handle?

Since I have been teaching, I sometimes have a hard time finding activities that are aligned to the state assessment. I always want my students to get plenty of practice so that I can see if they are grasping a skill before I assess them. It is difficult and very tedious to make my own, so sometimes I pull items from different states to help me out.

Part III. How has teaching changed for you since COVID? If this is your first year teaching, how are things different from what you envisioned?

Teaching during COVID made me have more compassion for my students. I saw how some of them struggled while we were in person, but they really struggled with virtual. Some of them had no one to wake them up for class, some of them were virtual still in the bed, some of them could not turn on their cameras because they were ashamed of their living environment, etc. This made me think that we teach our babies daily, but we have no idea what they are going through at home.

Part IV. What strategy from the article Never Say Anything A Kid Can Say will you focus on during this semester? In your response to other classmates, you may want to offer a solution you have found to help in their area of difficulty

I love the questioning strategy. This is a great strategy to check for student understanding. I do this a lot in my classroom already. Another strategy that I love is allowing the students to think to determine if they have the correct answer. I usually tell the students that they have the correct answer. Now, I will let them chat amongst their peers and allow them to think to determine if the answer is correct. I like when the author stated “As soon as I give students the answer, thinking stops” (Reinhart, 2000, p. 482). This strategy will be put to use in my class immediately.

Latoya Williams

Hello fellow educators, my name is Latoya Williams. I am a 8th grade Social Studies at Coleman Middle School located in Greenville, MS. The aspect that I find most difficult to handle is finding balance. There is a perception that teachers only work from 8-3 each day. This is the time they actually spend with their students. Any teacher will tell you that this only represents a portion of what is required of them. Teachers often arrive early and stay late. They must grade and record papers, collaborate with other teachers, plan and prepare for the next day’s activities or lessons, attend faculty or committee meetings, clean and organize their classrooms, and communicate with family members. Many teachers continue to work on these things even after they go home. It can be difficult to find a balance between their personal life and their professional life. Great teachers invest a tremendous amount of time outside of the time spent with their students. They understand that all these things have a significant impact on student learning. However, teachers must commit to stepping away from their teaching responsibilities from time to time so that their personal life does not suffer in some aspect.

Since Covid teaching and education as a whole has changed drastically. Although students everywhere most likely had the option to learn virtually, a lot of students really aren’t taking it as serious as in person learning. Everyday I deal with students not logging in to zoom and not doing their assignments Canvas assignments. Some really have reasons why they can’t such as device issues or no internet access. In the school district where I am employed there are devices and portable hotspots provided for students. So, I ask the question; What’s the problem ? As I stated earlier many students I encounter daily do not take virtual learning as serious as serious as they would in person learning. With the constant rise of Covid , and virtual learning being the new norm, what do we as educators do to improve the situation ? Implementing change over time would likely be my focus during this semester. I chose this strategy because at some point I hope that students will accept virtual learning as the new norm. I hope students will start to take this method of learning as serious as they would if they were in the actual classroom with their peers and being taught in person.