REDG 604 Joseph R.

Birkholz
Clinical Experience Double Entry Journal jbirk24@gmail.com

1. Mr. Rucinski behaved in different ways for different classes, and part of this is
informed by the context of the entire school year up to this point. With one
student in his first hour class, sometimes he would be very short with him
and wasnt afraid to call this education help as well. When he spoke, the
student comes off as intelligent and engaged in what he is talking about.
Talking to Mr. Rucinski afterwards, I was told that this student lies a lot to
make themselves look better and contribute. However, when the student
didnt do work or when his quiz disappeared even though he finished it at
the beginning of the class, Mr. Rucinski had patience with the work and the
grading. He gave the student opportunities and showed that he cared, even
if it was in a stern manner. This tells me that sometimes as a teacher, you
have to be flexible with students who are at different levels when it comes to
your grading or late policy, and that you have to have an unending supply of
patience for your students, even if you have to be stern with them. As a
teacher, if I dont hold students accountable for the decisions that they make
(and the consequences) in a classroom, who will? Also, because of this
students notoriety for lying, it gave me the chance to see how
communication with other teachers is really important when it comes to
specific students. Helping other teachers be aware of what is going on with
students and how they are behaving and developing in your class can help
other teachers in their own class.

2. Because Mr. Rucinski only taught one subject 5 times over the course of the
day (U.S. History), I was able to see a wide range of learning and
understanding. I was also able to talk about how the year had been going up
until that point. Surprisingly, the honors class was sometimes the worst
behaved class of the day, even if they were understanding and learning at a
higher level than the rest of his classes. I actually liked seeing this, because
it helped me realize that understanding and behavior do not follow the same
path. For the different levels, Mr. Rucinski engaged in different kinds of
conversation and discussion. Over the year he has learned how far down the
discussion path he can go with certain classes. He needed to do more
reminding and checking with lower level classes. It was good to see the
differences between classes and levels, and it was both surprising and not
surprising at the same time. You can change your instructional methods for
different levels, but you also have to manage them on an individual level for
each student as well. Seeing this in action, through asking questions to
individual students or how they answered questions and what Mr. Rucinski
did with those answers was very revealing.

3. The female student that I observed was smart and driven to get a good
grade in the class, as well as in the math class that I observed her in.
However, she was a bit of a blurter, was really gullible, and was very
chatty (this depended on the activity). She was very social and was not a
classroom disruptor.
 REDG 604 Joseph R. Birkholz
Clinical Experience Double Entry Journal jbirk24@gmail.com

The male student was a lower level learner, and I got to work with him
directly in helping fill out a worksheet. I also got to sit in and help out in a
special education class that he was in. He was a nice kid, though in a smaller
class setting he liked to talk and get off subject, and in the larger class he did
not contribute. He was social with his friends and the other students that
were at his learning level, but not with others. Working with him one-on-one,
he listened to me and was able to follow along with what we were working on
and what he needed to do. He responded well to personal supervision and
instruction.

I think that if a lower level learning student has more personalized instruction
or help, they might become more disciplined in the classroom because they
know that the one person is watching them. However, the more intelligent
students that get more teacher attention may not be as disciplined. There
are so many factors that go into who a student is, and it plays out in so many
different ways. Teachers are not just dealing with a student; they are
dealing with a person. It seems so simple and obvious, but we need to treat
these students as the people that they are, while also guiding them towards
the person that they will become through development. Always being
positive and encouraging, and not negative and shaming, helps win the small
battles of these kids futures.

4. This student was a Somali boy. I believe that he has spent most of, if not all
of his life in the United States. There were times when he was quiet, but he
did not pay attention a lot, and was often turned around or poking other
people with his pencil. He only cared about himself, not about those around
him. I never saw him with friends in the hallway, and he always came and
went by himself. He did not do well on a quiz that he took, and he did not
complete the homework at all.

I wonder what his home life is like. Is he given care and attention? Is he
treated like he matters and is important? I dont know if he really is. Maybe
his parents think he is a problem so that is how he has to behave. He
behaved in class as if consequences of doing things wrong did not matter at
all. Does he only care about himself because nobody else has shown him
care? These are the type of students that are going to try my patience, but
theyre also where you earn your money. This kid obviously needs love and
attention, but also needs to be set straight and taught about the right and
wrong ways of doing things. If family members are not going to do it,
teachers have to.

5. The classroom is laid out in 3 rows of 2 desks next to each other, and one
more row along the far wall. The classroom is really vibrant, with lots of
historical posters and Wisconsin sports posters and signs. The classroom is
 REDG 604 Joseph R. Birkholz
Clinical Experience Double Entry Journal jbirk24@gmail.com

really a reflection on who Mr. Rucinski is as a person. There are turn-in

baskets for assignments for every class period, and the schedule for the
week is on the white board. Students take their planners out on the first day
of the week to write down the schedule. If there are any changes during the
week, Mr. Rucinski makes sure to make an announcement about it. There are
no strict rules, but there are expectations that students need to try their
best, be themselves and learn to think for themselves, and to not be afraid
to ask questions. Mr. Rucinski takes his lessons on history and is really good
at tying them into the world of the students, making history relevant and
alive.

Mr. Rucinskis classroom was a very welcoming place, a place where it was
easy to feel like you could learn. I really liked how he made the classroom a
reflection of who he is. For example, he has a really big beard so he has
pictures of historical figures that had big beards all over his wall. I also really
liked that he had the weeks schedule on the board and made students write
it down. Even if they dont, he gives them the opportunity to take ownership
and responsibility over knowing what the week is going to look like and the
work that goes along with it. I also really like that he didnt create a rigid set
of rules, but rather an encouraging and positive set of guidelines and
expectations. I think with teenagers, especially middle schoolers, you have to
guide their thinking in a very positive manner. Ive started thinking about
how I might make my classroom an extension of myself, and how I can use
my passions, fandoms, etc. as a way of reaching students through my
classroom.

I believe that he also teaches social skills through his lectures and class
discussions. He is not afraid to call out a student when they interrupt him or
talk over him. This is where a lot of the How to be a person lessons come
in, through how students interact with the lesson. This teaches social skills
and addresses misbehaviors at the same time.

6. Everything that Mr. Rucinski does in the classroom is meant to use the
subject matter to teach life to his students. He is accommodating to what
students need, but holds them accountable to decisions that they make. He
never belittles the students, is always encouraging and persistent, and never
gives up on what he is trying to accomplish. If the class is misbehaving and
rowdy, he lets them know. There is an understanding between him and his
students that he is not going to lie to them. You can tell that his subject
matter is very important to him, and this shows in his effort to make it
relevant to his students. He told me that this has been a really hard group of
students to work with this year, but he loves them just the same.

I really like the relationship that he has with his students. Most of them listen
to him, even if theyre not going to do the work. The understanding that he
 REDG 604 Joseph R. Birkholz
Clinical Experience Double Entry Journal jbirk24@gmail.com

has with his students, and how he makes every one of them feel welcome
and like they are a part of his class, is something that I really admire and
want to be able to incorporate into my own classroom.

7. Mr. Rucinski is able to tie what he is teaching into the students lives in a
very effective way. When doing a lesson on the Vietnam draft, all of the kids
were claiming that it was like The Hunger Games, and took that and ran
with it. During a lesson on the 1980s, he was able to make it relevant to the
students while relaying his own personal experiences in the 1980s. His goal
is to teach life skills and empathy through his lessons. When a student
answers a question wrong, he doesnt instantly say that they are wrong but
instead says something like Close or Youre on the right track. He leads
them and encourages them. He tries to include every student and show
them that they belong, even if the student chooses not to be included. I also
never noticed negative interactions between students. During the lesson, or
the work, students were not picking on other students or being mean to each
other. That was really refreshing to see. I believe that the environment that
Mr. Rucinski has fostered contributes to the students being kind to each
other.

8. This is a streamlined version of what Mr. Rucinski talked to me about when I

asked him these questions.
a. The subject matter is the basis for what Im teaching. Through the
subject matter, I teach reading, responsibility, and life skills. I teach the
kids about interactions through social studies, about life through social
studies. Im able to teach kids how to be adults through history, and
theyre able to learn about different viewpoints. For example, through
Vietnam Im teaching them about protests, standing up for rights, and
how to treat other people. In the Great Depression, we learned about
the economy, business, how a bank works, how stocks work, how
interest and home loans work. This is all stuff that they need to know in
life. My passions are what support my lessons. The students see my
passion through this, and what I care about. When we learn about the
Bill of Rights, they learn about their rights and what they need to be
citizens in our society. Thats my job: to get them now and teach them
how to be people. My job is also for them to have fun. Middle School
needs to be fun. Social studies is about empathy. I will make an idiot
out of myself in front of class if it means they can learn something.

b. Exhibiting professional and ethical behavior is the most important thing

in a school setting. If you develop a bad reputation, you cant change
REDG 604 Joseph R. Birkholz
Clinical Experience Double Entry Journal jbirk24@gmail.com

your reputation. You cant lie to your students. If they see me that way,
Ive lost them. They have to believe me and what Im talking about.

In terms of ethics: if I know that youre my A student, I will grade you

differently. If I dont know who you are, I wont be biased towards
grading something. You need to grade stuff based on what it is, not
what it should be. Some students who have learning disabilities, you
give them slack. I level the playing field, because fair and equal are not
the same thing.

My job is not to be their friend. I can be friendly. I care deeply about

every one of these kids, but Im not their friend.

I truly think professionalism is important, and dressing professionally is

part of that. Students take me more seriously because I wear a shirt
and tie. You can have fun and be professional. It shows the kids that
you care. If they dont see me as having fun, they wont know that they
can be have fun.

You need to be professional with coworkers too. Dont always complain,

because other teachers wont want to be around you. Its a hard job,
and you need to be able to get things off your chest to people who
understand, but dont be the guy that always complains.