Well, I have made it through the first half of the year. I had a great fall semester. The class I taught went excellently and I already know that I will be teaching it again in the Fall next school year. My classes went well, I learned a lot and wrote a lot. So now I am trying to refine some of what I have done to turn them into some possible publications. I had my first proposal for a chapter in an edited volume be accepted! So I have been working on getting that chapter written. Luckily it needs to be in my authentic teacher voice, so I am being able to “just” write it…though I have done a ton of research for it as well. And over the winter break, I presented for the first time at ASTE conference.
Now for this semester, I am supervising 10 excellent and amazing secondary science student teachers. We all happen to be taking a class together too. At first I thought that might be awkward but so far so good. The real “supervising” has not started quite yet. But in a couple of weeks, I will be in five different schools and doing ten informal evaluations using the new TESS standards. This is so my students will be assessed in the same way they will be assessed in the future if the stay in Arkansas to teach.
Interesting note: The TESS system is based on Charlotte Danielson Framework. And did you know that no one really knows who Charlotte is? Seriously, do a Goggle search on good old Charlotte and some of the first stuff to come up are articles questioning her existence. My professor finds this highly funny and suspicious. Who is she and why should we be evaluating our teachers based on her framework?
For classes, I am “only” taking three. This is due to the fact that supervising 10 student teachers is actually considered as teaching two classes…so really I’m still at five classes. But my schedule does seem to be a little more open, I am guessing this is because of the lack of classes being “taught” though I do meet with my STs every other week. But I meet them after our class together…so no special trip to just teach.
As to the focus that I wanted to seek this year…I have not achieved that yet. I have just as many ideas and a few more that I have added. The chapter I am writing is about ADHD in the classroom and I have found there is a lack of studies in some specific areas of the subject. I have a proposal about Dialectical Teaching in Science…and there are many options to move forward with that. I am now in another theory class (this one is on Piaget) and that will add to the possibilities as I seek out information for a project in that class.
And all these ideas require reading! Man, I thought I read a lot before I started this PhD…I read more now. I am constantly reading something, usually an article or a book for school. But I understand the need for balance so I am also reading A Dog’s Purpose and Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. And surprise of all surprises, my eye sight has not changed so apparently lots of reading of many sizes and fonts did not do harm to my eyes. Did not improve it, but did not change it.
Speaking of reading, I have a few chapters and articles to read so I should probably wrap this up. I will keep seeking more focus. I hope to guide ten student teachers to be ten new first year teachers. And I hope to maintain my current momentum in my classwork. So here’s to a great Spring 2017!
O's Bureau of Scientific Investigations 