AboutKen Jensen Expertise I can answer questions related to secondary math and science. I specialize in problem based curriculum and instruction.
Experience I am a 20 year veteran Math and Science teacher. I have taught at both the middle and high school levels, and I am currently a Math Coach in the Aurora Public Schools, Aurora Colorado. As a coach, I train other math teachers in the use of research based best instructional practices. I post regularly to the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) list serve as well as to my district's standards based grading website. I was honored with the Colorado Teacher of the Year award by the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics three years ago and have presented at their conference in past years. I particularly enjoy working with parents who question why math is taught so much differently then when they were students.
Organizations Association Of Supervision and Curriculum and Development
National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics
Publications NCSM list serve
CoMath list serve
National Science Teachers Association: The Science Teacher.
Education/Credentials Master of Arts: K-12 interdisciplinary studies. University of Northern Colorado
Adminstrative certificate: Denver University
Awards and Honors CCTM Colorado Teacher of the Year
Past/Present Clients I currently provide professional development both directly and indirectly to 45 high school math teachers, 12 middle school math teachers, and 8 building level adminstrators.
Question Hello Ken how are you? There is a specific question that I would like to ask you see. I am a native English speaker and I am teaching intermediate and advanced English to non-speakers. Could you please give me some tips and techniques on how to generally improve my effectiveness in and outside of the classroom and how can I effectively control a classroom situation and organize the situation so that I can both protect myself and gain the respect and trust of the students and administration alike? Thanks Paul.
Answer Paul,
Teaching is a cultural activity. The culture of the classroom that you establish needs to be a reflection of the culture you are serving. I recommend you bring a bit of American and/or British culture into your English class while still remaining sensitive to the Latin American culture of your students. To do this you need to know all these cultures well, how they compliment, contrast, and compare with each other- draw from the strengths and weaknesses of all. The reason I suggest you begin here is because you will have a better chance of developing stronger relationships with your students by validating who they are and what they know first before you move them into areas they have yet to learn. Students will not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Most of your question seems to be related to classroom management, and good management ALWAYS begins with relationships. How you relate to your students outside the classroom is an overlooked management strategy. Go to the festivals and events in the area, go with your students to watch a soccer game, get to know them on a personal level. The art in this, of course, is how to still maintain professional distance. Be friendly, but do not be their friend.
In terms of specifically teaching a second language I highly recommend the S.I.O.P. model developed by Jana Eschevarria and Debra Short. http://www.siopinstitute.net
S.I.O.P. was developed to teach English to non-english speakers in the U.S., but I believe that it would work well in your situation too. I work in the the most ethnically diverse school district in Colorado and we are heavily invested in SIOP.
Now, I would like to draw all this together by recommending that you read the book Choice Words by Peter Johnson. Here you will see how to create a learning culture in your classroom that is sensitive to the needs of your students while pressing them into new learning. Johnson's ideas fit well with the SIOP model and together they make a great starting point for improving your effectiveness as a teacher.
