Day Nine

Discussing controversial topics with freshman is a challenge. Who would have guessed, right? They aren't quite to the stage where they can talk about HOW to have a discussion without actually talking about the topic that was used as an example. My goal by the end of this trimester is to get my students to have a large-group discussion that flows smoothly and that doesn't need to be moderated by me (calling on people who have their hands raised).

BEST MOMENT: Today, my fifth hour class actually sat in their seats for more than 30 seconds and listened to me (and each other) for periods lasting longer than 5 seconds. This is progress. It's good. Hopefully this stems from respect for one another and me rather than some other external factor.

ANOTHER BEST MOMENT: I made an attempt to match the students' energy at the beginning of each hour today and they asked me if I was on drugs or crazy... then I pointed out the fact that I was simply as energetic as them. They were shocked that I could do that and shocked that they look like that to me. Very funny.

WORST MOMENT: My worst moment today was when I realized that one of my (usually very upbeat) students was not having a good day and I didn't have time to stop and ask him if he was alright. I feel bad that I didn't have time for that today. I need to learn how to make time to talk to individual students, even when I'm really busy.

Tomorrow: a visit from my supervisor!

Day Eight

As you can probably tell, it's been a busy week for me. No, the students haven't eaten me alive yet, but they've definitely got that look in their eyes by now. For that reason, it was probably a good thing that we had a guest speaker in both of my classes today. The librarian came to our classes to do a presentation on censorship. It was a really great addition to the unit that I had planned. My cooperating teacher told me that the librarian had done this in the past. He was well-rehearsed, and it was nice to see how my students respond to a different kind of teaching. It was also nice to see that they really do have trouble with a whole-class discussion (with anyone leading it) and that it's not just me! Anyway, for a pretty low-key day, it was still eventful... as always!

WORST THING:
Today I asked two boys in my fifth hour class to be more respectful when someone is speaking-- not just today, either. I told them that it has been an ongoing thing. And one of them argued with me! He told me that even though they were talking while someone else was speaking, they were "still paying attention!" I told him it was still distracting for me and for his peers, but he just pointed a finger at someone else. I hadn't encountered this situation yet, so I just gave him the "teacher look" and walked away. This was towards the end of the hour, so I didn't have a chance to see if asking them personally did anything to curb the behavior. We'll have to wait and see.

BEST THING:
I had a chance to bond a little bit with one of my problematic students. He's really making great strides (even though they'd be seen as baby steps compared to most students) in my class already. He was being a little bit disruptive in class today while the librarian was speaking, so I took him aside and asked him to please be respectful. I posed it as a deal: if he did that, then he could have a one-time pass to the vending machines (he's always hungry and I think that's one reason that he can't focus). When he came back from the vending machines (and his locker, I might add...), he sat down next to me. Even though he wasn't paying attention to the guest speaker, we had an opportunity to have an intelligent conversation. I think he respects me, which is a really big win for the "teacher team." It felt good, even though it's a big responsibility to keep up with this relationship and make sure that he still respects me enough to do his work.

Looking forward to tomorrow: essay writing about controversy..... yikes!

Day Three

...Or should I say Day TREE? We're going to be killing a lot of trees in my classes, I think. Today was a practice essay day. I'm going to use their first essays to see what we really need to work on to get these kids ready for their big writing test on April 19th... yikes! Here goes:

BEST MOMENT: The girl who I wrote about in my "worst moment" yesterday volunteered to answer almost every question today. I was really happy that her name was at the top of the alphabet. I'm commenting on approximately five students' writing in each class every day, and luckily, she was on the list. I got to respond to her comment and she seemed to really appreciate it. She showed me that we were "cool" by participating in class. Thank goodness!

Okay, ANOTHER best moment: My behavioral transfer didn't do much work in class today (he didn't disturb anyone either, so no huge deal), so at the end of the hour, I asked him if he was going to turn in an essay tomorrow. With some negotiating, he told me that he would. This was an accomplishment in itself... but there's more! He proceeded to tell me that he doesn't understand "all that period and question mark... and comma sh*t," so I smiled and told him we'd work on that. I said, "Deal?" and held out my hand for him to shake it. He replied, "Deal," and shook my hand in the informal way he would have with his friends. I think I'm starting to form something of a bond with my fifth hour after all.

WORST MOMENT: I'm concerned about a student who has turned everything in so far and who is generally pretty upbeat and friendly. Today, when everyone else was busy writing their practice essay, he was sitting there, staring at his paper. When I asked him if he needed some help getting started, he politely declined. It's not the end of the world, but I really hope he turns in an essay tomorrow. If he doesn't, I think I'll have to figure out a way to give him some individual attention.

Day Two

Today was a little bit of a rollercoaster. My fourth hour went very well, but my fifth hour was a bit of a challenge. We did the "fishbowl" activity in both classes. In 4th hour, the kids really took to it and stayed on task. They completely bought into it and were extremely engaged. Fifth hour wasn't willing to keep on topic or stay within the parameters of the activity. So, with that having been said, here are the best and worst moments of my day:

WORST MOMENT: Because my 5th hour is extremely loud and doesn't like to listen to direction, I made a comment about how I think some of them might need to get their hearing checked. I then gave directions for a freewrite (meaning: when they're done writing on the given prompt, they must continue writing about anything and everything... just keep writing). When I looked through them at the end of the day, I noticed that a girl took offense to the comment I made about checking their hearing. Apparently one of her good friends is hard of hearing and she thought I was making fun of people with a disability. That is not at all what I meant, and it was a bit of a shock to me that she took it so seriously. Lesson learned, though. I need to be more specific and direct about asking them to be quiet. Not making light of their lack of focus might help me in the long-run anyway.

BEST MOMENT: My best moment today was when my fourth hour students were participating in the activity. The students who weren't speaking were listening intently, the students who were speaking were taking turns and addressing one another's points respectfully, they were all smiling and seemed to understand what was going on. Tomorrow, I'm going to have a quick discussion just to make sure they're making the connection between the activity and the general ideas of context, controvery, and audience, but I think they're getting it! If I were to use their participation in this activity as an informal assessment, I'd say they're definitely understanding the concepts! Yea!

I'm alive!

I survived my first day of student teaching. And it went pretty well. I feel like it was just a big whirwind of activity, names, and faces... and SOUNDS! Boy, my classes are Chatty McChattersons! I asked my coop. if it was because of something I did (a me vs. him issue), and he said that it was just the time of day. I teach the last two hours of school, so they're just chomping at the bit a little to get out of there.

I've decided that instead of writing about EVERYTHING that happens to me (because that would take more time than I have), I'm going to write about my best and worst moments of the day (or week... however often I can muster the energy to write). So, here we go!

BEST MOMENT: When my students were leaving class, I overheard a comment made by one student to another. The student who made the comment seems like the kind of kid who causes trouble in class, doesn't really like school, and generally doesn't give school much thought. But despite all of that, he was really excited as he left the classroom and he said, "Man, I'm going to come to this class every day!"

WORST MOMENT: Trying to get a group of girls to listen to directions, I realized it's going to take some effort to gain respect in the classroom. It doesn't just come automatically with the authority I have as a teacher. That's fine; I just have to realize that it takes time and effort. As I said before, my classes are pretty chatty and I can tell that I'm going to have difficulty with that as the trimester goes on if I don't put my foot down and prove that I'm serious about respecting the person who is talking... including me.

All in all, it was a good first day. We have "homemade" classroom expectations that I intend to hold them to-- especially because they came up with them! Tomorrow is another day and another lesson plan. We'll see how the "fishbowl" strategy works with them!

Jitters... of course!

So many people have expressed their confidence in me as a teacher lately. It's been really heartwarming to know that my friends, family, cohort, co-workers, et cetera have faith in me. And I do, too. I know I'll have fun. This is my passion and it's what I've known I want to do with my life since I was very young. And I'm extremely excited for my first day of student teaching... tomorrow!

Despite all of this, I'm also quite nervous. There are so many variables to teaching-- it's different from day to day, even with the same students. But how unpredictable when you don't even know the students yet! Ha! Well, I hope whomever reads this enjoys my anecdotes and adventures that are sure to come very soon.

Here's hoping for some sleep tonight! :)

CI5461: Week 6

Ever since blogs started to become popular, I've imagined using them in my classroom. I knew that using technology in this way would likely motivate students and would give opportunity to be more creative than simply participating in classroom discussion. I imagine blogging as a classroom discussion where everyone brings Powerpoint presentations-- they have visuals and sounds to help them make their points. Yes, this is fantastic.
However, I think that some of the points that Beach makes about using blogs to teach literature and writing also hold true in the classroom. His first example of Kathleen West's classroom brings up the issue of the subject matter that is discussed on blogs. When her students write on their blogs, she allows them to explore any facet of the text that interests them. She says they like this better than classroom discussion because they are not responding to her prompts, but to their own. This makes me wonder why she does not let them do that during discussion. I hope to teach my students early on how to come up with questions on their own (like they would if they were blogging) with which to begin discussion.
Of course, Beach makes some good points about the fact that blogs are motivating because students can access them at any time-- they are not simply limited to class hours (like discussions are). Also, they are helpful because they are a "paper trail" that will help both teachers and students remember and review the discussions. Beach also mentions that blogs are motivating because they give students a broader audience base. This is something I struggle with. I really enjoy the fact that students feel like they are writing not only for the teacher, but for one another and for parents as well, but opening them up to a "larger public audience" worries me just a little bit. Having an online identity puts the student at some risk to be exposed to people online who wish to do harm. I understand that my students are in high school and that they are aware of these dangers already, but as a teacher, I'm not sure I feel comfortable being responsive for that.
I hope to be able to implement blogs in my classroom sometime soon, but I do worry a bit about how to make it a safe learning environment when it is opened up to the public. Any thoughts?

Also, Beach mentions this site in his article. It's great for students-- very fun... but it's also great for teachers. See what students do with Shakespeare... stuff like that. I like finding things on this site that open up a lesson.