Thursday, March 3, 2011
Week 3
Use this space to mention classroom strengths/weakness; successes/failures; expected behaviors/shocking behaviors; etc. Also, if you have noticed a repetitive "something" existent in your teaching beharvior...i.e. saying "like" excessively; wild hand movements...mention it here. What you are doing to fix these behavior "ticks" and/or how do the students react to them(did they notice it or did you?)?
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This week I have really enjoyed getting to know the sophomore students. I have been using many different writing assignments so that I can learn more about them through their writing. I have also been responding back to them, which I think helps them to know that I am reading what they write and also caring about what they write. I have learned that one of my students has a daughter, one student is an artist, and that one student aspires to be a writer. When I read their writing and respond back to them, I feel like I have had a conversation with that student. Many of their responses also make me laugh out loud while I read them. One student always ends his writing with "thank you for your time," and when I asked students to write about how instruction could be improved another student wrote that he was "content at the present time."
ReplyDeleteThe main problem I am running in to so far is organization. I am normally a very organized person, but keeping track of late work, students who were absent, and papers with no names is mind-boggling sometimes. I haven't discovered a great system yet.
Besides organization, I am also having trouble dealing with the fact that students cannot take books out of the classroom. It has been hard trying to give slow readers time to read, while also giving fast readers something else to do. I'm still trying to figure out how to assign activities that fast readers can do in class and that slow readers can do out of class without a book.
I would like to start off by saying I’m very thankful this blog exists as a place for reflection and outright venting after the day I just had in my classroom. It was my first day that I largely regard as unsuccessful, and quite frankly I’ve spent the last 12 or so hours feeling completely burnt-out. Obviously, this had a great effect on my interactions with my students and my willpower in general for the day. The problems of the day started in my first-hour co-taught class, which is given about 25 minutes of silent reading to start off the day. My teacher has been allowing to be more independent in the classroom, so she was not present for 1st hour except for a couple of times when she was checking in. About a third of the students were rather loud, which is the norm to start off the day. However, any attempts to quiet them were not only unsuccessful, but in many cases not even met with acknowledgement. At this point I wasn’t even trying to make them pretend to read, I just wanted them to be quiet for the ones who were reading. Not only did I feel like I had zero authority over my class, I felt like I may as well have been a ghost in my own classroom. Here’s where I ran into another dilemma: I didn’t have a solid, escalating plan of discipline to handle this. Verbal reprimanding and isolating students by making them sit somewhere else in the room had no effect. The only alternative as far as more formal discipline was a conduct report, which essentially amounts to them being sent to speak to the vice-principal (who apparently is notorious for not doing anything to discipline them).
ReplyDeleteThis continued the rest of first hour where they are working on career research projects. These projects have four parts to them, including a paint-by-numbers research assignment and cardboard trifold. Though there were time constraints, the majority of students managed to finish every step. However, there are several students who have just not worked at all this week and are going to have spend several hours staying after school next week to finish them. On Friday when I was stressed out, I noticed my attitude towards these students changed. I had spent the whole week helping students in the computer lab with their research and works cited, something that physically exhausted me but that I did because I wanted the students to get these done. On Friday, I stopped caring if they got them done to the point that at the end of the day I mentioned how I was open to not allowing them to work after school on them next week and just grading them on what less than half of them accomplished. To round out the day, the 5th hour class was every bit as insufferable for the exact same reasons.
This leaves me wondering how I am going to fix the classroom hour in these two disruptive classes and how that will affect the potential for learning in the disruptive students. At the moment I am still in the fed-up mood I was in during the school day, so I’m having problems contemplating any way to deal with these situations that not only fix the disciplinary problem, but that also do not discourage classroom participation. I’m also recognizing my own failure to establish an identity of being an authority figure. This is very hard for me, as I am a very non-confrontational person. At this point, I have spoken with with both my cooperating teacher and a few other teachers in the school that I have met and have received some tips and ideas for intermediate disciplinary systems that I am going to consider implementing.
I apologize for that long rant (I exceeded the character limit so I’m having to cut it into two posts), I just needed to talk about this situation. There were successes in my day, however. In my 3rd hour class, there is a girl with a major attitude problem who was attempting to play power games with me when I first took over the class. I felt that I handled interacting with her very well, as she now no longer sees me as a potential enemy, which I guess is a good start. Also, I am very ecstatic about the projects I have my 4th hour working on. I developed a week-long unit that has them creating projects based on dystopian novels that they read. This is a high ability course, and they have been very enthusiastic and creative with these projects. I’m feeling very confident about my lesson plans when I am able to use them with a roster that I am better able to control.
ReplyDeleteLike Brooke, I also had students write me letters introducing themselves and telling me about their thoughts on English class. I found this to be very helpful in my ability to make personal connections with students, something that I felt was a weakness of mine coming into the year. Through this and another writing assignment, I’m starting to realize how much students appreciate written feedback. A little compliment goes a long way in making students feel noticed and that their work was actually read.
Finally, I want to express my appreciation for my co-teachers that I am working with. I was nervous at the beginning of the semester to work with them because of the high expectations they would have in wanting to develop quality lessons. However, their help has been monumental and has cut my overwhelming workload in half. They also have been able to help me with problem students, as they have worked with them before and are able to tell me what will and will not work with them. The sense of support that I get from them just makes the day so much easier to get through.
This week I realized that one of my main difficulties is discipline. Like Matt, I have had problems getting the students to be quiet. I am having a hard time being mean with the students. I have spoken with many people and they have all said that I will need to be mean the first few weeks in order for the rest of my experience to be better. I find this extremely difficult, because I am not a mean person. I have a few students that are constantly disrupting the class and after talking with my teacher I will need to start handing out detentions. The students are trying to see how far they can go, and I need to set boundaries. I felt like I had a couple of terrible days this week, and it was mostly due to the student’s behavior in the classroom. I also am finding it difficult to find my “teacher” identity in the classroom. I don’t feel like I am myself quite yet and am hoping this will come with time. Something else I am having difficulties with is the students and their jokes. The students are funny! I often worry if I should laugh at their jokes because I don’t want them to feel like I’m encouraging them. Sometimes the students say something so outlandish that I can’t help but laugh at it. I have noticed a few things that I am doing in terms of my teaching behavior. Often it seems like I talk too fast, and I also tend to say “so” a lot to fill in pauses in my speech. The students did not mention any of this to me, but I began to notice I was saying so a lot. In order to fix these things I am trying to slow down and explain things better and realize I do not need to necessarily fill my pauses with anything. I really appreciate the blog we have and we also have a Facebook page for all of the Student Teachers. These have proved to be extremely beneficial for me because I can see how others are feeling during the week. It is nice to know that you’re not alone. For example, today I learned that I’m not the only one that is getting headaches every day. Also, like Brooke and Matt I have realized how important it is to actually get to know your students. They are currently working on a memoir and in order to jump start ideas they wrote two speed writes involving events in their life. I took the time to comment on most of the student’s speed writes and realized how willing they are to share aspects of their life. I realize a lot of this sounds negative, but I did have a few successes this week. The students are responding to my lessons. They ask questions and seem to be excited to be writing about their lives. I also feel as though I am more comfortable around the students and my teacher. I think I will continue to become comfortable in the classroom and am hoping this will help me figure out my true identity in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI too have found discipline to be an underlying issue in my classroom. My teacher and I have very different views as to what is acceptable behavior and how we deal with that behavior that we deem unacceptable. Per the school handbook, we are now allowed to send students into the hallway and if we want to issue a detention to a student WE, the teacher, have to stay after school hours to essentially babysit that student. I think that at this point – the students know that there will most likely not be any repercussions for their actions so they act out. They also know what they can get away with when dealing with my cooperating teacher so many times I see my students testing her – and she continues to go on with her lesson. I on the other hand will have a very hard time doing that. I expect that my students will be quiet when I am talking or explaining something and I do not know how I could be flexible in that belief. Unfortunately, the kids are so used to the way the way things are they really struggle with my rules. I have turned off the lights, taught from right next to a student, and even verbally asked a specific student to be quiet but none of these options seem to be giving me long term results. My teacher doesn’t have too much advice since she generally is able to ignore it and/or teach over the students.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my teacher LOVES the idea of team teaching and that is essentially what we are still doing at this point. I struggle with this because of the above situations. We deal with things so differently that sometimes it is hard to teach with her – in the same manner as her.
I have discovered that my students are finally beginning to trust me. Their journal entries are opening up and they are sharing large parts of their personalities and lives with me. My confidence has also gone up a lot this week. Students are generally concerned with my opinions of their work. I also noticed at the beginning that students preferred to ask my teacher questions instead of me, in fear that I might give them the wrong answer. Now I see that students feel comfortable asking me just about anything and in some cases even ask me before my teacher which makes me feel great.
It is good to hear that there is so much discussion in discipline since it is something I thought a lot about this week as well. I think the reason it came up was becase this week I was asked to solo teach when my cooperating teacher had a training session away from school. Luckily, the substitute was the very well-known/popular youth minister, so he helped a lot. Unfortunately though I am still getting used to school and teaching/knowing everybody's name (I am so bad at names), so solo teaaching was a little intimidating.
ReplyDeleteOverall, each of my freshman classes are great in their own right. I think they are still at the age where they care a lot about school/being respectful so I can usually get them quiet or listening by giving a look and not necessarily having to say anything. The seniors on the other hand are a different story. I have a morning session and afternoon, and my morning session is definitely my hardest class. There are three students who really don't care and seem to drag a lot of others students with them. Also, two kids in that class were arrested last week at school, so that caused a general uproar, and with spring break two weeks away senioritis is definitely evident.
Something I noticed is that each class really is different. I know we said it in our classes, but I was able to gain respect from one group of seniors just by being myself, while the other group is completely different and unresponsive to that tactic. It was also interesting to me how the seniors acted completely different when my cooperating teacher was not at school. I knew it would happen, but I think seeing it in person was certainly different and noteworthy.
On a positive note though, I do really enjoy my cooperating teacher/experience. The overall experience has been welcoming and much more layed-back then I was expecting. My afternoon classes are all great as well (I know we aren't supposed to have favorites). Those classes though seemed to want to get to know me, and are interested to try some new things and let me make a mistake. I think getting to know the students and show I am not just here for a few weeks certainly has given some overall credibility.
While teaching is more exciting and terrifying than a roller-coaster ride, on the whole I am finding it to be an enjoyable experience. This week I was able to assert myself more into the classroom by introducing the lesson on vocabulary. I was also able to do a spiel on multiculturalism and how when we are studying “other” cultures we are really studying our own humanity. I am very glad to be apart of what Ms. Brettnacher is doing at Delphi High School. I am also learning a lot about my own roots and what life might have been like for me if I had not grown up in such a nomadic lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteThis Tuesday was a perfect example of the roller-coaster. My second block is a class of 30 students only 4 of which are female. Lets just say that the students have a sever case of senioritis. There is no cure but I will do my best in the treatment of such a disease.
I realized I found myself becoming frustrated at their apathy. They would not pay attention, to what in my opinion was thoroughly riveting. In contrast, the following class was actually listening to what I was saying. This surprised me and I found myself becoming nervous under the scrutiny. I noticed that I started using the words “um” and “and” too frequently. However, now that I am aware of it I can eradicate this bad habit. My students noticed I was nervous as well and so they started to give me tips on public speaking. How cute, no? I feel like they have adopted me and they defiantly are my adult-children.
Humm... week three. I enjoyed reading everyone's comments. It is nice to know we are all going through this together, even though we are in different schools.
ReplyDeleteI have been teaching my Language Lab class solo since day one and it has been awesome. My cooperating teacher leaves for the entire period and I really treasure this time of solo teaching. There are about 9 boys in this class and it has been so much fun getting to know them better. We are reading The Hunger Games and it is so interesting and fun to hear/discuss their responses to the novel. The main goal of the class is to improve reading comprehension and writing strategies so I can play around with the course material and try new things. The Language Lab has definitely been my favorite class so far.
I began solo teaching my World Literature classes last Tuesday. My cooperating teaching was absent so it was just me and a sub. I had them create a short simple project so I could get to know them better. The project was fun and the kids enjoyed it but I realized I gave them too much time to work on it. I just kept asking in they needed more time and they kept responding, "Yes, Yes," so I gave them more time. The next day (Wednesday) was my first real 'lesson'. I was introducing the class to Naturalism because we were about to begin "To Build a Fire" by Jack London and watch the movie Into the Wild. The lesson was a huge flop. And the funny part was that it was the perfect lesson on paper (my cooperating teacher even said that) but the execution was bad. This pretty much scared me a ton, and too be honest I'm still pretty nervous about the next few weeks. It is really difficult to fail at something and wake up the next day and go back into the school and try again.
Highs and Lows:
Low: Feeling discouraged, by surrounding teachers, by school environment, by my own standards--to put it simply, not measuring up. Wondering if I have what it takes to be a good teacher.
High: My favorite part of teaching so far is learning about the students. Talking about life, and why literature matters, and discussing how the students can relate to the stories. It has been fun.
I have had a difficult time finding myself in the classroom. I didn't think it would be that difficult but I find because there is another teacher there with me I was afraid to really be myself. This affected my teaching because I was unable to be relaxed enough to be affective. Today I had a bit of a break through. I was teaching Beowulf and I personally think he's a moronic idiot. So I was unable to teach it like I "should". My supervising teacher told me how great she thought my lesson was. I put the lesson into words the kids related to and they really got into it. I found out that just because my style is different doesn't make it bad. So instead of standing in front of the kids fiddling because I am uncomfortable, I was able to really get myself and my students into it.
ReplyDeleteAs the weeks start to go by, I'm beginning to see some regression out of a few of my students who were otherwise doing very well. because of how well two of my classes have behaved, I have not had to administer any form of discipline aside from the occasional verbal plea to stay on task.I'm realizing how much students want to push their limits to see what boundaries of acceptable behavior can and cannot be crossed. This leads me to another problem in managing of classroom behavior that I am recognizing. I'm too willing to put off addressing a problem until it has really become a major problem. If students want to know their boundaries, then I need to make it clear what those boundaries are before they try to cross them. This will save them from being reprimanded, and will save me a few headaches from having to deal with disrupting behavior.
ReplyDeleteSomething else I've been realizing recently is how well struggling students are able to hide their academic problems from me. Even though I feel I do a good job of monitoring the classroom and helping out students when they are working on assignments, I am having students turn in work that shows that they are clueless about what they are doing. I need to find a way of addressing this problem better. I'm not even sure of all of the cont4ributing factors to it. I'm guessing that some students simply do not want to put in the effort to try to find out what they are doing. Others may not have developed the skill of asking for help when they need it. Being a new teacher to these students, I think there is definitely a reluctant feeling about communication in some students that may also be a contributing factor to students not asking for help or clarification. Finally, I'm looking at my own instructions as a source of students not understanding. Looking back, I can recount a couple of times where I gave nothing but quick verbal directions on how to do something, or explained a concept without having the students practice the concept or have some sort of notes to refer to.