Educator, Coach, Mentor
Kellyn Carlson's Thoughts...
Sunday December 12 2023 - It has been a minute since I have taken a moment to reflect on the process of the teaching credential process. I am now two-thirds of my way through student teaching at Millikan High School in Long Beach, CA and learning day-by-day how much teaching has changed since I was in school. At the same time a lot has changed in the world, in technology, and how that has changed students is quite amazing. Every day is a new challenge to keep their attention with dynamic activities that allows them to work together and with multimedia. The days of reading and reporting are long gone and the need to teach the youth how to communicate through the written word will be the challenge of educators for the forceable future.
As I conclude by certification I am excited for the opportunities ahead and the lives I will be a part of guiding them towards their next step. Stay tuned for developments and the next step I will be taking in my teaching and coaching adventure.
February 9th 2022 - Today's insights from the classroom: As we all know technology has taken over our classrooms in the 21st century. No longer is it about text books, written tests, and multiple choice exams by paper; today it is about how we teach and assess via some form of laptop. The ability to deliver content, research, and respond on the same device using the technological skills of the modern student sounds like a fantastic idea in theory, but, what problems can come up.
Today, the problem is connectivity. Each Algebra student today is suppose to be taking an online assessment before their new unit. Seems simple, open up your Chromebook, login to your account and start assessment. As a substitute teacher this seems like a great day. Students doing their assessment and all you have to do is observe, answer some questions, and then at the end of the period make sure the students turn their devices back to the cart an plug them in to charge.
That's the theory, in reality we are confronted at times like we are today with students that can't login to their account on multiple devices, what do we do? As a substitute we do the best we can to help, try different devices, grab devices from other rooms and do our best. But, there will not be 100% response from the class today in participation. How does this in the long run affect those students that are now a day behind and unable to complete the task.
Fist thing to do is communicate with the teacher of the situation and be very clear and concise to exactly what this issue of the day was and make sure they are ready for the results when they return. After that all you can really do is let them keep trying to get in and hope they will, why, if you are not an algebra teacher and have no idea where they are in the class, there isn't much else you can do.
Subsitute teacher promblems > do the best you can