Personal Motivation

Pursuing a College Softball Dream: 

During my four years in high school, I just wanted to do well. I started playing travel softball at the age of 12. I would travel up and down California and even across the country every summer to play in a large National Tournament. As I got older, the idea of college ball became an interesting concept. I decided this was my goal. I wanted to go to a college on a softball scholarship. Therefore, in order to do this, I needed to have the best grades and take the right classes. I needed to look good on paper, prior to applying to the schools of my dreams. The next step, was to create a "skills video" that displayed my softball ability at peak performance. Needless to say, I earned a softball scholarship to the Division I, University of Toledo. I would say that my desire to play college softball motivated me both intrinsically and extrinsically. I listened to my coaches directions and followed close instructions of the "do's and do-not's" of recruiting. After tournaments when I was allowed to talk to college coaches, I was surprised by how many colleges "found out about me", when they were never on my list. (Toledo being one of those schools that just showed up one day). I have had many coaches that inspired me throughout the years and continue to do so, now that I am a coach.

In my current English 1 class we are discussing Romeo and Juliet. We are also focusing on the idea of which plays a bigger role in your lives, Fate/Destiny or Personal Choices. I like to tell my story to the students to help jump start them thinking about the topic. Was it Fate/Destiny that the Toledo Coach just happened to come to my game to watch another player, but fell in love with my talent? (Remind you, I NEVER even knew Toledo existed.) Or was is a personal choice some how? 

Now that I am my fourth year of teaching high school English, I love helping students find their calling. If you look at the idea chart below, the first idea is to share your story with your students. Sometimes, students feel that it is difficult to open up because they are afraid no one is there to listen. However, by starting units or discussions with personal anecdotes, it can help students make their own personal connections to the stories or texts you read. This year I have also promoted the concept of "Positive self talk". This means that if someone makes a negative comment, we try to rewrite it or restate it in a positive manner. I would like to say that I build a lot of trust between my students and I. I like to have a personal connection to a majority of the class, if not everyone. Just by having a brief conversation with someone can make all the difference. 

A Bell's Palsy Nightmare: 

When I was in 8th grade, I developed Bell's Palsy caused by tremendous amounts of stress. (Mainly because of softball and the horrible coach I had at the time). It stayed for about 3 months. However, during those three months, I was DEVASTATED, not even school softball could help me feel better. I was walking around the school with one side of my face completely numb and unable to function. I was constantly drooling and food would fall out of my mouth when I would try to eat. It just got to the point where I wanted to stop coming to school. Most of my teachers were pretty supportive. They never commented about it and just let me do my own thing. However, I was in a class called "extended science". During that time, we were observing material through a microscope. Well, unfortunately for me, I couldn't effectively close my eye to look through it. When I asked my teacher if there was something else I could do, she replied, "Well that's not my problem," and walked away. She just made me hate school even more. I began to copy off of my friends because I couldn't complete the work on my own. When I finally told my mom about my slipping grade and how I felt "stupid" and "useless" in her class, the damage was done. My spirit was crushed. Luckily, she allowed me to complete extra work to make up for my temporary disability. To this day I am self-conscious about pictures. I can tell my "Bell's Palsy side" vs. my normal side and it upsets me all over again, bringing back that trauma I endured by the veteran science teacher. As I type my blog my "Bell's Palsy" eye is twitching. I live in fear that one day I will stress myself out again, causing it to return. 

This is a story I also share with my students to help show them that I am only human. By confronting my flaws and fears, I help them also tackle their issues with body image. I have learned to NOT judge students when they tell me their disability prevents them from performing a task. It helps the student when you do research in regards to their issue to better understand, rather than assume you know what they are going through. If my teacher showed me she was willing to work with me, I might not have felt so unhappy in her class, and grew to like science more that I do now. In my English 2 class we are working on a unit entitled, Blindness and Sight. The idea is to discuss what it really means to "see". In the unit are excerpts from Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. I use this unit to help students step into the shoes of others with visual disabilities. Last year, when I had a student diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, I asked if he would be comfortable sharing a small presentation with the class. The student agreed and was even proud that they were embracing it. He told me that trying to hide his illness was starting to cause more stress and it weighed on him. He thanked me for allowed him to share his story and help the students in the class become aware. 

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/student-engagement/27-ways-promote-intrinsic-motivation-classroom/ 

Providing Feedback as a Critical Tool for Students

     While reading the article, 8 Strategies Robert Marzano and John Hattie Agree On, written by Shaun Killian in June of 2015, I came across two "strategies" that made the most sense to me. The first strategy is obviously to provide feedback to the students on their work. They mention that within the feed back, you have to point out what the students are doing correctly and incorrectly. You have to leave notes on how to fix or improve their work AND provide the time to allow them to do so. This may be difficult depending on the assignment and the time allotted for them to have a rewrite. (32+ students per class, 5 classes, each writing a 5 page paper... YIKES!) So timely feedback might be a drawback, however, if you make it thorough, this should cut back on the amount of rewrites needed. You could also teach the students how to use a rubric or provide basic levels of peer editing that they can do in groups. (MLA formatting requirements, spelling errors, citation issues).

     The second interesting point was allowing students to practice what they have learned. This sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many teachers can just keep on rolling through the pacing guide. They also brought up the concept of rehearsal and review. Rehearsal is when you practice what you have been taught over and over until you "learn it", and review is when you go back over something you have previously been taught or "learned". However, the warning sign that made the most sense to me was 'practice without feedback can be dangerous'. This is when the coach in me clicked.

I teach my players the basic fundamentals of the game; forehands, backhands, tag plays, throw downs, everything. After teaching them, I have to monitor them and provide them feedback as to have they can do it better and more effectively. So, if I were to model it myself and make them do it on their own, they are more than likely NOT doing it correctly. I never thought about this for the classroom until now. (I know, I know. Buzz words like Proximity monitoring....) But I never though of how I could apply it or connect it to my teaching.

About Miss Sanchez

I am an English Teacher at Redwood High School in Visalia, CA. I am currently teaching English 1 and English 2 (Freshmen and Sophomores), but I would love to teach only English 1 and Introductory Health.

I am from Riverdale, CA, a small town that has a higher population of dairy cattle than it does people. Once I graduated from the local high school, I attended the University of Toledo, Ohio on an athletic scholarship for softball. I was a four year starter and when I graduated in 2010 with a degree in Health and Recreational Drama, I remained involved with the team as a volunteer assistant. I also worked for a bilingual newspaper called La Prensa, and mainly covered the Mud Hens (MiLB) and wrote reviews for local businesses.

I returned to Riverdale in 2011 and started my family. I currently have a 5 year old son who will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall of 2017. While I was pregnant, I had applied for my first softball coaching job at Clovis North High School. It was during the season that the head coach encouraged me to think about earning my teaching credential; and so it began. I remained at CNHS for 1 year as the assistant varsity coach and then took over the softball program at Kingsburg High School. I completed my courses and also conducted my student teaching there within 2 years.


Thus, finding myself at Redwood. This is my third year at the high school and I absolutely love it. Currently, I am involved in softball, (Assistant Varsity and Head JV), as well as the "Coach" of the PBIS program. (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support). While my colleague is on maternity leave, I am also helping her out by chaperoning her BSU (Black Student Union) students to a conference earlier this next week.

I am a forever learner and look forward to putting my Masters Degree to good use.

The purpose of this website is to provide multiple resources and examples for fellow teachers. As you can see, I previously completed multiple courses that have allowed me to expand my blog with a variety of strategies for you to enjoy. With my athletic background and involvement in youth programs, I have developed a "games theory", meaning that students learn quickly and more adequately through the use of game-like methods. Therefore, I would like to try and develop methods for my theory through this new course and website.

Kagan Structures, Annotated Bibliography

(Click each title to read the article)

Article 1: Cooperative Learning Structures

Dr. Kagan believes that given the right situations and opportunities within the classroom, students will have more time cooperating together and increasing achievement. This article introduces two situations with the same goal in mind. The first situation is shown without the use of a Kagan structure and the second situation describes how using minimal adjustments and incorporating Kagan structures, the desired behaviors and outcomes will become more apparent. Next the article discusses how traditional hand raising with questions and answers actually increases the achievement gap, as well as “worksheets” when not covered appropriately. For group work, we should be sure to designate specific tasks and objectives for the group to accomplish. This limits the amount of “mind wandering” or “hiding” that students may resort to. At the end of the article, he lists a variety of strategies that you can use to decrease that negative behavior and increase the involvement of students.

Article 2: From Lessons to Structures, A Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education

He discusses the shift from 20th century learning and 21st century learning. Twentieth century curriculum focused on 4 main subjects; Math, English, Science, History. Today, we consider these our “Core” subjects for students. However, in the 20th century, teaching/education consisted of direct instruction, note taking, quiet seat work, whole-class Q/A, and worksheets. There was very limited engagement between other students and almost no type of differentiated instruction. As the 21st century approached, the world brought many changes such as a growing industrial and technological industry, the change in family dynamics, and the rating of America in comparison to other countries. The focus for the 21st century learner now consists of; Cooperative learning, Multiple Intelligence, Learning Styles, Differentiated Instruction, and College/Career Skills. The chart below describes strategies that have curriculum for the 21st century learner embedded within.

Article 3: Kinesthetic Symbols, Harnessing the Power of Gesturing

This article discusses interpreting content through the use of gestures, body movements, and hand symbols. This strategy is exceptionally beneficial for English language learners, as well as using it for increasing vocabulary development in all students. There are a variety of teacher examples for all subjects. One teacher used it for punctuation marks, another for the parts of the cell. I used it while teaching my students vocabulary words for The Tempest. Each time we came across a vocabulary word, students would perform the gesture I, we, or they, created. It is a great way to get students involved by having them create the gestures and perform them from the class. Research is provided to demonstrate that the use of gestures accelerates learning as well as retention and transfer.