Mr. Ayers finally put into words what I’ve been waiting to read for several years concerning the “biases” of standardized tests. I was wrapped up in his examples of the “porch” and “projects” as I finally understood a real life example of what kids of different backgrounds see. Unfortunately it means that I myself will have to watch out for this as I am from ONE background with many stereotypes that I might fully understand…or not. We’ve read enough this quarter about tests and bias and the negative effects of both on the students that I feel much more comfortable in discussions about the subject of standardized testing. The 2 pages he spent talking about the test he (Ayers) had to take to become a teacher himself hit home because I am about to take the West E soon and I feel the same way about my upcoming “test”. It will work my mind to search for random facts and mindless simple math that truly anyone with an education should be able to solve. But does this prove they can be a good teacher? Heck no. It proves they know the answers to the questions asked on the test. One of his examples was to name the capital of a specific state. I person might know this if they have memorized all fifty states….OR if they grew up in that state. That question itself becomes inherently biased. Ayers is correct in that it leaves out several valuable qualities a teacher might posses (initiative, creativity, etc). He also likened it to the bar exam in the world of law. As I said earlier, anyone with an education can pass this test, but not anyone with an education can pass the bar. Meaning by even having the test it pushes the stereotype that teachers have no unique skill. A real shame. On top of that it will cost me $220 to take these tests, an amount that could take a class of 30 to the Ice Caves to learn about glaciers and erosion.
Proud moments!! I wrote about two issues the previous week occurring on my track team. The first being about a boy who lost all sense of being when he gaffed on his race and lost a medal because of it. This past weekend he had a chance to redeem himself and boy did he. He was so focused on the finish line that by the time he reached it he was 10 meters (.01 hectometers) in front of his nearest competitor. He needed that to get over his feelings from the previous week and he was back on track. Then I saw the two girls that were at the heart of the “medal mix-up” laughing and playing together as if nothing ever happened. I asked the girls who rightfully got 2nd place how she was feeling and she told me that it would have been nice to get the medal but she knows what she did and she is proud she accomplished the feat. Splendid!! To top it all off the entire team ended up winning the overall championship. Together they ran onto the track, unprovoked mind you, picked up the trophy and as a team, ran a victory lap. Every single on this team ran around the track…faster than I have ever seen them run ironically enough. It melted my heart and actually brought a small tear to my eye. The same way the movies “Rudy”, “Miracle”, and “Seabiscut” did. My kids understood what a team was. I had been talking about it all year and this victory lap provided me with a HUGE aha moment that these kids got what I was talking about. Splendid!! TO use the title of the other reading for the week, this moment created an environment for learning. They were engaged, they were in the moment, and they were doing their own thing. That lap will be something they will never forget. The feelings they were having were real, authentic, and true. The effect was a smile on each person’s face. This effect is what I hope to build on in the classroom. If you can achieve this moment with any one person or group, you have created the ideal environment for learning. These kids will do whatever they can to feel that way again, and I will show them how to do it next year…whether they win or not.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
A New Hope
Quick follow up to my attempt at taking two hours a day to focus on School work…a work in progress. When a person has multiple things they are responsible for going on in their lives and the people around them are used to them filling their every need…it takes time to establish “me time”, but I was able to catch up on all of the readings for my classes as well as finish two papers that are due this upcoming week. So in the end the stress on my shoulders still feels like a 200 kg bag of sand, but I’ve learned how to manage it. Hopefully this week I can see where I can tear some holes in the bag and start letting the sand leak out. Hopefully.
On with my blog!! I am proud to announce that I have one reader that seems to keep coming back week after week, who leaves thought provoking questions for me that make me question my sanity, intelligence, and wardrobe. I feel like if I saw this person on the street and I was wearing a Holiday light themed tie, that they would stare at it for about three seconds and them not be able to come up with the words to describe what they saw….:)
Anyhoo…I finished the book “…Can’t Play…” and wanted to write my thoughts about taking this successful implementation of the rule into the future. Paley mentions it in the book that even she was curious how the proceeding class would deal with the rule as it will be just that…THE RULE. The class discussion and research will have already have been done, so much of the education, or even reasoning, behind the rule will be expressed to the kids. They will be expected to follow it based on the success of 30 or so individuals in the class before them. A lot of the result was from specific kids that had certain issues playing with others. If the kids didn’t ask the questions the way they did or change their play the way they did, would the happy result still materialize? What if the kids in the next kindergarten class were entirely different and the rule didn’t work at all? Well, to help answer the later I think it is brilliant that this rule is one of discussion, not one of punishment. If it wasn’t working the teacher should facilitate a discussion as to why it wasn’t working and what could be done to get it back on track. I will admit that is one of the things that weighs on me as I move forward into this career (class discussions). The way Paley controlled the conversations when they happened with profound questions to some of the kids claims. She was fantastic at stepping back and helping the kids understand the main point of the discussion. She would reword what the child said to help them understand what they were saying, heck, what they were feeling. To me that was the real reason this rule worked. The “popular” kids began to feel what rejection felt like and the other kids began to feel what being included feels like.
For me, this is one of the reasons I want to become a teacher. I want to help kids avoid the same pit falls I ran into as well as help kids take advantage of opportunities I wasn’t aware of at that age. I’m concerned that when a moment of learning comes up I will not be ready to say the right thing to help shape the discussion for the class (or student). Two examples I just ran into this week with kids on the track team I coach. One kid was winning his 100 meter dash championship race when he stopped running at the 90 meter mark believing it was the finish line. Three people passed him at the last second and his mistake cost him a medal in the race he’d been preparing for two months. He came back to the stands and had the most horrified, dejected look I have ever seen. I had to say something and a bunch of jumbled, unstructured words came out of my mouth. I wanted to say “keep your head up kid. You just experienced the one event you will talk about the rest of your life. It will motivate you, provide you with inspiration, and in the end give you so many friends who will relate to this story as you grow up”. But I didn’t say it, I said “I’ve always wanted to make it a 10 hectometer race, that way no one would know where the finish line is”. He totally missed the sarcasm, and I totally missed my chance to make a difference. The other is a tough example where the volunteer running a field event mistakenly told a girl who came in 5th that she received the 2nd place silver medal. The girl who knew she had earned 2nd place was too shy to let the volunteer know that they had made a mistake. The mother of the shy girls comes to me, explains the situation and asks if I could talk to the 5th place girl and get the medal back. NO I say in my mind!! The girl who came in 5th doesn’t know she came in 5th, she thinks she came in 2nd. I’m not going to be the one to smash that dream…because I know how it will make her feel. But is that right? What is the right thing to do here? To me the girl who came in 5th just got the endorphin shot of a lifetime, and all of a sudden believes she can who what she thought was impossible. Sure it wasn’t real, but it is powerful enough that the next time she does that field event she just might be able to do it for real.
Bottom line, I know these situations will be daily in my classroom and I will have to mediate what is fair and what is the “right” thing to do. I’m not comfortable with this yet as I am struggling to make this work in my own personal life. I trust that my kids will understand what I mean, but I’m not so sure about the parents. Knowing the parents involvement with the kids education is paramount to success in the classroom, I do not under any circumstance want to make a bad move in the decision making process. I’ll be more than happy to admit when I made a mistake, but I can’t imagine losing the trust of the parents because I did something I thought was right, and it ended up hurting another student (and their family).
If my one reader comes back this week, I hope they might have some insight as to how to think about this subject. After all, I’m pretty sure my reader is a professor somewhere. The way she writes I think it is someplace warm, with turquoise water and palm trees…and it seems like she is constantly sipping a cup of orange juice.
Cheerio.
On with my blog!! I am proud to announce that I have one reader that seems to keep coming back week after week, who leaves thought provoking questions for me that make me question my sanity, intelligence, and wardrobe. I feel like if I saw this person on the street and I was wearing a Holiday light themed tie, that they would stare at it for about three seconds and them not be able to come up with the words to describe what they saw….:)
Anyhoo…I finished the book “…Can’t Play…” and wanted to write my thoughts about taking this successful implementation of the rule into the future. Paley mentions it in the book that even she was curious how the proceeding class would deal with the rule as it will be just that…THE RULE. The class discussion and research will have already have been done, so much of the education, or even reasoning, behind the rule will be expressed to the kids. They will be expected to follow it based on the success of 30 or so individuals in the class before them. A lot of the result was from specific kids that had certain issues playing with others. If the kids didn’t ask the questions the way they did or change their play the way they did, would the happy result still materialize? What if the kids in the next kindergarten class were entirely different and the rule didn’t work at all? Well, to help answer the later I think it is brilliant that this rule is one of discussion, not one of punishment. If it wasn’t working the teacher should facilitate a discussion as to why it wasn’t working and what could be done to get it back on track. I will admit that is one of the things that weighs on me as I move forward into this career (class discussions). The way Paley controlled the conversations when they happened with profound questions to some of the kids claims. She was fantastic at stepping back and helping the kids understand the main point of the discussion. She would reword what the child said to help them understand what they were saying, heck, what they were feeling. To me that was the real reason this rule worked. The “popular” kids began to feel what rejection felt like and the other kids began to feel what being included feels like.
For me, this is one of the reasons I want to become a teacher. I want to help kids avoid the same pit falls I ran into as well as help kids take advantage of opportunities I wasn’t aware of at that age. I’m concerned that when a moment of learning comes up I will not be ready to say the right thing to help shape the discussion for the class (or student). Two examples I just ran into this week with kids on the track team I coach. One kid was winning his 100 meter dash championship race when he stopped running at the 90 meter mark believing it was the finish line. Three people passed him at the last second and his mistake cost him a medal in the race he’d been preparing for two months. He came back to the stands and had the most horrified, dejected look I have ever seen. I had to say something and a bunch of jumbled, unstructured words came out of my mouth. I wanted to say “keep your head up kid. You just experienced the one event you will talk about the rest of your life. It will motivate you, provide you with inspiration, and in the end give you so many friends who will relate to this story as you grow up”. But I didn’t say it, I said “I’ve always wanted to make it a 10 hectometer race, that way no one would know where the finish line is”. He totally missed the sarcasm, and I totally missed my chance to make a difference. The other is a tough example where the volunteer running a field event mistakenly told a girl who came in 5th that she received the 2nd place silver medal. The girl who knew she had earned 2nd place was too shy to let the volunteer know that they had made a mistake. The mother of the shy girls comes to me, explains the situation and asks if I could talk to the 5th place girl and get the medal back. NO I say in my mind!! The girl who came in 5th doesn’t know she came in 5th, she thinks she came in 2nd. I’m not going to be the one to smash that dream…because I know how it will make her feel. But is that right? What is the right thing to do here? To me the girl who came in 5th just got the endorphin shot of a lifetime, and all of a sudden believes she can who what she thought was impossible. Sure it wasn’t real, but it is powerful enough that the next time she does that field event she just might be able to do it for real.
Bottom line, I know these situations will be daily in my classroom and I will have to mediate what is fair and what is the “right” thing to do. I’m not comfortable with this yet as I am struggling to make this work in my own personal life. I trust that my kids will understand what I mean, but I’m not so sure about the parents. Knowing the parents involvement with the kids education is paramount to success in the classroom, I do not under any circumstance want to make a bad move in the decision making process. I’ll be more than happy to admit when I made a mistake, but I can’t imagine losing the trust of the parents because I did something I thought was right, and it ended up hurting another student (and their family).
If my one reader comes back this week, I hope they might have some insight as to how to think about this subject. After all, I’m pretty sure my reader is a professor somewhere. The way she writes I think it is someplace warm, with turquoise water and palm trees…and it seems like she is constantly sipping a cup of orange juice.
Cheerio.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Beyond the point on no return
This was the first week where my personal life and my “new career” began to butt heads. I am choosing to write this in my blog because it is something I will have to grapple with many times over the next couple years as I am focusing on getting started in teaching. The issue is priorities! Reorganizing them, restructuring them, and rewriting them. I made the decision to become a teacher by myself and I am beginning to run into the problems that come with going back to school and what that does to a family unit. I think about how I will function in my classroom with the weight and stress of personal issues pulling from all angles…all calling for action now!! My entire life a huge priority was to make sure the people in my life were happy, even if making others happy put me in a position of not being happy. Now as I charge into the journey of following a dream of mine, it is putting people in my life in a non happy situation, and I am really feeling the pressure of this. I’ll be curious how it plays out over the next four weeks as the end of quarter projects add to the pile that is already growing on my shoulders. My plan…take two hours a day to devote entirely to school work. That to me is MY time and I need to make sure it is a priority. Check back with me next week and we’ll see where my shoulders stand.
On with my blog!! Oh Magpie!! I read this (Can’t Play) book at the beginning of the quarter and absolutely love the idea of simply making it a classroom no-no to tell someone they can’t play with you. Paley makes it clear that kids learn through playing and if the kids who feel they can control who plays the games get their way, in effect they are controlling who gets to learn. When I think about the situation in my classroom, I would love to become the reporter and ask the five basic questions of the “target” that was rejected: What game do you want to play? Why do you want to play it? How does it make you feel to be told you cannot play it? Who was it that informed you that you cannot play? Where are they playing the game?
Assuming I had the time to ask these question of the child, I would attempt to start a little game myself of “classroom reporter” and make it educational for them, as well as get to the heart of the emotions they are feeling. I would also want to ask the rejecter why they didn’t want so and so to play. As adults we know there is a lot more to the story and I would want it to come out for the kids to hear “well Jesse doesn’t know what he’s doing”, or “Jake smells”. This is information that could be used to come up with a compromise, or a correction of the truth. Actually, as I am writing this I am beginning to see how elementary my thoughts are on these subjects. There is so much more psychology to these interactions than I am aware…so let’s gets back to the book.
The teacher researched feedback on this idea for many months, even taking the rule to older students to get their feedback. She had seen the rejection going on for so long that she knew there had to be some way to curb the negative emotions. The older kids made it clear that the emotions got worse as they got older and the divide between those with social power vs. those who feel threatened in social situations only gets wider after it starts. So why not keep it from starting?
Social interaction is critical for people in this society. Learning in kindergarten how to say yes, no, thank you, no thank you, and how to stand up for yourself are all key experiences to have. If they start off negative, the child will quickly develop coping mechanisms to mask the hurt they are feeling, and they avoid similar situations in the future. I know I don’t want my kids seeing something they know they would love to do, but feel that it isn’t worth the pain of asking if they can do it. I would want to teach my classroom students how to express what it is they want. How, I don’t have the foggiest idea!!
Would I do feel comfortable with is the idea that I would have established themes about classroom community at the beginning of the school year, and that keeping someone from being involved in anything is not in line with that theme…therefore is not welcome in my classroom. Showing kids how to get across the feelings associated with the reaction is a start in the right direction. “Jesse, we would love to have you join us but we are concerned that you are unfamiliar with the game and we are close to finishing this round. How about if you watch us wrap it up and we can… (Come to a resolution)?” I know it sounds cheesy but it is expressing feelings in a positive way. If as a teacher I am able to do this effectively with my students, I would expect them to work at it as well.
Finally I want to mention this poem project that I have been working on for the past two days. I am so curious how the rest of the class is going to open up to the group. I want to share some funny things about my life as well as mention a couple items from my past that I think others can relate, but I know people might want to open up a LOT more and I wonder if the class is ready for that. If someone mentions they were at the end of their rope and wanted to end it all but then they were accepted to the UW Bothell teaching program…are we ready to support that person the way they need it? I have been through that before and it turned out great, but it changed the way people interacted with the person. Anyway, I’m hoping the class likes my little ditty, I know my 4 year old did (even though I didn’t even mention her).
Cheerio.
On with my blog!! Oh Magpie!! I read this (Can’t Play) book at the beginning of the quarter and absolutely love the idea of simply making it a classroom no-no to tell someone they can’t play with you. Paley makes it clear that kids learn through playing and if the kids who feel they can control who plays the games get their way, in effect they are controlling who gets to learn. When I think about the situation in my classroom, I would love to become the reporter and ask the five basic questions of the “target” that was rejected: What game do you want to play? Why do you want to play it? How does it make you feel to be told you cannot play it? Who was it that informed you that you cannot play? Where are they playing the game?
Assuming I had the time to ask these question of the child, I would attempt to start a little game myself of “classroom reporter” and make it educational for them, as well as get to the heart of the emotions they are feeling. I would also want to ask the rejecter why they didn’t want so and so to play. As adults we know there is a lot more to the story and I would want it to come out for the kids to hear “well Jesse doesn’t know what he’s doing”, or “Jake smells”. This is information that could be used to come up with a compromise, or a correction of the truth. Actually, as I am writing this I am beginning to see how elementary my thoughts are on these subjects. There is so much more psychology to these interactions than I am aware…so let’s gets back to the book.
The teacher researched feedback on this idea for many months, even taking the rule to older students to get their feedback. She had seen the rejection going on for so long that she knew there had to be some way to curb the negative emotions. The older kids made it clear that the emotions got worse as they got older and the divide between those with social power vs. those who feel threatened in social situations only gets wider after it starts. So why not keep it from starting?
Social interaction is critical for people in this society. Learning in kindergarten how to say yes, no, thank you, no thank you, and how to stand up for yourself are all key experiences to have. If they start off negative, the child will quickly develop coping mechanisms to mask the hurt they are feeling, and they avoid similar situations in the future. I know I don’t want my kids seeing something they know they would love to do, but feel that it isn’t worth the pain of asking if they can do it. I would want to teach my classroom students how to express what it is they want. How, I don’t have the foggiest idea!!
Would I do feel comfortable with is the idea that I would have established themes about classroom community at the beginning of the school year, and that keeping someone from being involved in anything is not in line with that theme…therefore is not welcome in my classroom. Showing kids how to get across the feelings associated with the reaction is a start in the right direction. “Jesse, we would love to have you join us but we are concerned that you are unfamiliar with the game and we are close to finishing this round. How about if you watch us wrap it up and we can… (Come to a resolution)?” I know it sounds cheesy but it is expressing feelings in a positive way. If as a teacher I am able to do this effectively with my students, I would expect them to work at it as well.
Finally I want to mention this poem project that I have been working on for the past two days. I am so curious how the rest of the class is going to open up to the group. I want to share some funny things about my life as well as mention a couple items from my past that I think others can relate, but I know people might want to open up a LOT more and I wonder if the class is ready for that. If someone mentions they were at the end of their rope and wanted to end it all but then they were accepted to the UW Bothell teaching program…are we ready to support that person the way they need it? I have been through that before and it turned out great, but it changed the way people interacted with the person. Anyway, I’m hoping the class likes my little ditty, I know my 4 year old did (even though I didn’t even mention her).
Cheerio.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
My community
How to create a community in the classroom. How to get the most out of the classes imagination? Well, heck if I know. The reading for my reflections class this week dealt with building communities in the class and adding something new each day to a student’s school life..all in the hopes they can be the girl in the Community article that runs home at the age of 12 and proclaims to her mom that she learned how to tell time, even though she knew how to read digital watches for years. There were many examples of how to enrich the learning experience of kids in the elementary classroom. All made sense and have made me think about how I will attempt to create a “community” for my first class of kids. And what a better place to throw out these thoughts then on my blog that is read by the instructor of my reflections class!!
Once I sit in front of this lucky group of kids (my first class), I will use icebreakers that help me get to know everyone’s names, as well as start to get an idea of their personalities, which ones are talkers and which ones tend to be more shy. I will have each one stand up at their desks and introduce themselves with something fun and safe from their lives, hopefully getting them excited about sharing a happy memory with the class. If I see some kids are fully withdrawing, I will step in and share a story of mine that might connect with the shyer kids and see if I can draw them out of their shell. We’ll do this each morning for the first couple weeks to get the kids to get used to public speaking as well as get to know their classmates beyond the school boundaries. My experience in every job I have had, as well as my schooling, tells me that a kid who is comfortable speaking to a group is in a safe learning environment, a fun learning environment, and has established the foundation for building a community. One article spoke of the importance of using the first two weeks of school to focus on building the community in the class….as LEAST two weeks. I’m hoping to use the first 30 minutes of each day to let the kids tell us anything they wanted about their lives (using themes from the class to guide what is said).
At some point when it looks like the kids are comfortable with the group, I can start delving into themes such as helping those in need, feelings towards others, and even life goals (what do you want to be when you grow up). I would leave the theme open ended for changes in thoughts. If the kids feel comfortable changing what they want to be when they grow up on a daily basis..then I think we have a safe community.
I will also rely on class goals to help build community. I am currently pondering how big I want to go with this. Meaning do I want the kids to come up with something like “By the end of the year we will have the Jonas Brothers play at our class assembly”, where we spend time seeing how we could make that a reality. The kids would take the plan and divvy up responsibilities, break the goal into smaller steps and work on a real life example of goal setting. I could also go with something small, such as getting a traffic light placed in front of the school (one I heard from a really cool teacher once). No matter the scale, it will help bring out more strengths and weaknesses in my classroom community.
I was also intrigued this past week by an event in my life and the 2nd grader I am working with twice a week. We were celebrated at the LWSD luncheon for exceptional student-mentor relationship, where I got to meet his parents as well as see him outside of our normal school environment. During the conversation at the table he learned my daughter was having a birthday party and he asked if he could be a part of it. His parents lit up with joy at the prospects their son wanted to be a part of his mentor’s life outside of school. I wasn’t sure how appropriate it was but I felt compelled at the moment state I would check with the others throwing the party and let them know. He ended up coming to the party, having a great time and was able to see the community that I have created in my life. I mentioned to his teacher the next day how nice it was to see him helping me out with the 4 year olds at the party and she made it clear it was inappropriate for him to take part in my personal life outside of school, even though it was truly positive for all involved. I have yet to talk to him about the situation but I wonder how a sense of community can be built when restrictions around exploring new experiences are placed, and then reprimanded when crossed. More specifically, boundaries that neither party knew existed and now must endure an uncomfortable interaction because of it.
Overall, this experience helps me understand that creating the boundaries for the community, making clear what each one of them means, and be consistent in their enforcement will be crucial in establishing the trust required for kids to feel safe in my classroom community.
Once I sit in front of this lucky group of kids (my first class), I will use icebreakers that help me get to know everyone’s names, as well as start to get an idea of their personalities, which ones are talkers and which ones tend to be more shy. I will have each one stand up at their desks and introduce themselves with something fun and safe from their lives, hopefully getting them excited about sharing a happy memory with the class. If I see some kids are fully withdrawing, I will step in and share a story of mine that might connect with the shyer kids and see if I can draw them out of their shell. We’ll do this each morning for the first couple weeks to get the kids to get used to public speaking as well as get to know their classmates beyond the school boundaries. My experience in every job I have had, as well as my schooling, tells me that a kid who is comfortable speaking to a group is in a safe learning environment, a fun learning environment, and has established the foundation for building a community. One article spoke of the importance of using the first two weeks of school to focus on building the community in the class….as LEAST two weeks. I’m hoping to use the first 30 minutes of each day to let the kids tell us anything they wanted about their lives (using themes from the class to guide what is said).
At some point when it looks like the kids are comfortable with the group, I can start delving into themes such as helping those in need, feelings towards others, and even life goals (what do you want to be when you grow up). I would leave the theme open ended for changes in thoughts. If the kids feel comfortable changing what they want to be when they grow up on a daily basis..then I think we have a safe community.
I will also rely on class goals to help build community. I am currently pondering how big I want to go with this. Meaning do I want the kids to come up with something like “By the end of the year we will have the Jonas Brothers play at our class assembly”, where we spend time seeing how we could make that a reality. The kids would take the plan and divvy up responsibilities, break the goal into smaller steps and work on a real life example of goal setting. I could also go with something small, such as getting a traffic light placed in front of the school (one I heard from a really cool teacher once). No matter the scale, it will help bring out more strengths and weaknesses in my classroom community.
I was also intrigued this past week by an event in my life and the 2nd grader I am working with twice a week. We were celebrated at the LWSD luncheon for exceptional student-mentor relationship, where I got to meet his parents as well as see him outside of our normal school environment. During the conversation at the table he learned my daughter was having a birthday party and he asked if he could be a part of it. His parents lit up with joy at the prospects their son wanted to be a part of his mentor’s life outside of school. I wasn’t sure how appropriate it was but I felt compelled at the moment state I would check with the others throwing the party and let them know. He ended up coming to the party, having a great time and was able to see the community that I have created in my life. I mentioned to his teacher the next day how nice it was to see him helping me out with the 4 year olds at the party and she made it clear it was inappropriate for him to take part in my personal life outside of school, even though it was truly positive for all involved. I have yet to talk to him about the situation but I wonder how a sense of community can be built when restrictions around exploring new experiences are placed, and then reprimanded when crossed. More specifically, boundaries that neither party knew existed and now must endure an uncomfortable interaction because of it.
Overall, this experience helps me understand that creating the boundaries for the community, making clear what each one of them means, and be consistent in their enforcement will be crucial in establishing the trust required for kids to feel safe in my classroom community.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Independant of Time and Space
Upon a review of my previous blogs, I realize how much I seem to be questioning my decision to do this whole teaching thing. The good news is that I seem to come to terms with my decision by the end of each blog…the bad news is that it keeps coming up. So for this week I will try and simply write about what I am learning. Although I find it ironic that the first quarter of classes is heavy reading comprehension...which is by FAR my weakest strength. I notice I am going back after classes to reread the assignments after we discussed their meanings and main ideas. Kind of like reading a book AFTER you see the movie. It is so much easier for me to read when I already know what I am supposed to learn.
The reading this week that caught my attention was about the occupation of a teacher is a “role”. I am reminded of the term role model, which for me was popularized about 15 years ago when sports stars were getting attention for NOT wanting to be role models, but were looked at as such by their many young fans. As a teacher, it would be great if your students wanted to model their daily lives after mine, but that would be very unique for their own adventure through life. The “roles” talked about in the article go much deeper. It discusses the role teachers play in educating students. You are expected to teach a subject democratically while keeping personal opinions out of the lesson. The article even discussed workplace isolation as a teacher comes to grips with the morality of their education curriculum. I have read through this one twice and still don’t have a grasp on what I’m supposed to take from it, more than the generic “it takes time”.
In fact, I think that is the rest of what I will write about this week. I seem to be having trouble digesting all this information about democratic education, lesson planning, middle school learning, the history of education, the money, the administrations, and of course the reality of what is out there. But why? The simple answer is because I have envisioned myself in the classroom for well over 10 years now and none of these topics were ones I would say I put too much time into thinking about. This is normal in a way, as when people think about something enjoyable to them, they usually think about the pleasurable action vs. all the work that goes into it. For example, when I go water skiing, I think of traversing the wake and waving to all my admirers watching from the shore. Then when I get ready to actually go, I notice that I have to hitch up the boat, fill up with gas, wait in line to launch the boat, pay for launching the boat, walking the one mile back from where I parked the trailer, getting the motor started, untangling the skiing line, finding life jackets and that little orange flag, and finally jumping in the cold water and waiting for the driver to get the boat ready…all for about 30 seconds of traversing the wake before my back is too tired to continue.
HAHA, I just read my own example and realize how true it is. I, hopefully like most people in this cohort, have yet to take a really deep look (and appreciation) into the teaching profession. I have always valued what teachers do, but seeing the portfolio of things good teachers deal with and the depth to which they take them I know that it is going to be much harder than I imagined it being. The good news to that is that it will only motivate me more to read these articles a 3rd or 4th time so I can at the very least explain to my own family what I am learning (or maybe my teachers as well).
Ayers discussed building bridges connecting you with your students. Showing them that they “can learn everything from anything” and that I in return will learn a lot about myself each year as I progress into being the best teacher this state has ever seen.
Maybe this week I can get a grip on all this information floating around. Getting organized is priority #1 as I have started to quote articles in class that relate to another class. I want to use the word fun or exciting during one of my blogs. Being ahead of the game will help me move towards that goal. Yes, that sounds FUN and EXCITING.
The reading this week that caught my attention was about the occupation of a teacher is a “role”. I am reminded of the term role model, which for me was popularized about 15 years ago when sports stars were getting attention for NOT wanting to be role models, but were looked at as such by their many young fans. As a teacher, it would be great if your students wanted to model their daily lives after mine, but that would be very unique for their own adventure through life. The “roles” talked about in the article go much deeper. It discusses the role teachers play in educating students. You are expected to teach a subject democratically while keeping personal opinions out of the lesson. The article even discussed workplace isolation as a teacher comes to grips with the morality of their education curriculum. I have read through this one twice and still don’t have a grasp on what I’m supposed to take from it, more than the generic “it takes time”.
In fact, I think that is the rest of what I will write about this week. I seem to be having trouble digesting all this information about democratic education, lesson planning, middle school learning, the history of education, the money, the administrations, and of course the reality of what is out there. But why? The simple answer is because I have envisioned myself in the classroom for well over 10 years now and none of these topics were ones I would say I put too much time into thinking about. This is normal in a way, as when people think about something enjoyable to them, they usually think about the pleasurable action vs. all the work that goes into it. For example, when I go water skiing, I think of traversing the wake and waving to all my admirers watching from the shore. Then when I get ready to actually go, I notice that I have to hitch up the boat, fill up with gas, wait in line to launch the boat, pay for launching the boat, walking the one mile back from where I parked the trailer, getting the motor started, untangling the skiing line, finding life jackets and that little orange flag, and finally jumping in the cold water and waiting for the driver to get the boat ready…all for about 30 seconds of traversing the wake before my back is too tired to continue.
HAHA, I just read my own example and realize how true it is. I, hopefully like most people in this cohort, have yet to take a really deep look (and appreciation) into the teaching profession. I have always valued what teachers do, but seeing the portfolio of things good teachers deal with and the depth to which they take them I know that it is going to be much harder than I imagined it being. The good news to that is that it will only motivate me more to read these articles a 3rd or 4th time so I can at the very least explain to my own family what I am learning (or maybe my teachers as well).
Ayers discussed building bridges connecting you with your students. Showing them that they “can learn everything from anything” and that I in return will learn a lot about myself each year as I progress into being the best teacher this state has ever seen.
Maybe this week I can get a grip on all this information floating around. Getting organized is priority #1 as I have started to quote articles in class that relate to another class. I want to use the word fun or exciting during one of my blogs. Being ahead of the game will help me move towards that goal. Yes, that sounds FUN and EXCITING.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
My New Career?
After spending a week getting used to my already busy life being filled with three graduate level education courses, I then read an article debating whether teaching is even a career. Well, am I making a career change or just a hobby switch? The article makes the point that a career has upward mobility based on hours and merit. Teaching has no upward movement unless you head into administration…which is not teaching. Also the article made a pretty convincing case that teaching is considered by society as “women’s work”, and therefore disrespected and taken for granted. There were stories of people not wanting to share their occupation due to the humiliation they might receive when around more “professional” people. Points for why teaching is harder than it looks was that you would have to hold it if you had to go to the bathroom, whereas other professions you could just get up and go. I’m not so sure I would have used the same argument.
One story I heard many years back was how to handle a situation if someone says “Teachers are no more than babysitters. So they should be paid the same as babysitters!” Well, I’m alright with that assuming you pay a babysitter something as small as $5/hour…multiplied by 30 kids…for 6 hours a day…times five days a week…for 35 weeks per year and you get…$157,500/year. Sure let’s put that in front of the state legislator and get the ball rolling. I don’t know yet how to handle the situations where people make comments about how anyone could teach…because I do feel anyone can teach. It just takes one heck of a lot of will power, self restraint, and quick on your feet thinking to be an effective teacher. Most people don’t want to work that hard knowing they will not be rewarded for it with money, bonuses, or a better lifestyle. I ask myself this question everyday. Why am I doing this knowing I will not get to live the freedom money provides? Well, lets see if I can put this into words.
Positives:
1) Emotionally I will walk away from each school day knowing I have make an impact on somebody. This will offer me a sense of belonging and allow for the rest of my life to be content, not stressful.
2) Time freedom. Traveling and movie making is a hobby of mine that I do plan to turn into a revenue source as time moves along. Having weeks at a time throughout the year to take trips and put movies together greatly interests me. Plus, I know I will be able to use this skill in the classroom as well as it will allow the kids to use their imagination to come up with short movies of their own.
3) I am a male. This allows me to push the agenda that teaching is not just women’s work. I might not be as nurturing, but I will provide support, attention, and energy for the kids to pull from.
4) My background in customer service (I believe) will help immensely when it comes to dealing with parents, and administrators. “In can understand how you feel this way about our school. Here are a couple options we have to move forward from this and you can tell me what you feel most comfortable with. Is that OK?” I know some parents will act like their own kids sometimes, as this is where the kids pick up their antics from anyway.
Negatives:
1) MONEY. I say I am content with the choice to earn an emotional paycheck. But time will tell. I have yet to face the prospects of looking for a job that will pay less than half of what I walked away from two years ago. I have yet to face the prospect of not getting a job out of the gates and having to pay for loans, children, and normal daily expenses. It will be hard and I know it. I will state that I haven’t the faintest idea how we will make it if worst case happens…but I have hope it will all work out.
2) I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth a couple seconds too late. My biggest fear is that I am going to do or say something that someone will find offensive and I won’t have a clue what I said. I will get fired for it, my name will show up in all the newspapers and I will go back to the career I left with my head down in shame…but still not sure what I did. I think everyone has this fear when they start teaching…at least I hope they do.
3) The thought I might not be respected for the occupation I have chosen. Actually this is more of a positive as maturity tells you that attitude is not one you want to surround yourself with. A lesson that is very much teachable to kids who are beginning adolescence.
4) The thought that I might not want to teach after a couple years in the “system”. I am a strong person but if after three years in the classroom my financial life is a mess, I might ponder if it is all worth it. Luckily I have control over this. I just have to keep it as one of my priorities.
I’m sure there is more but at this point I still feel content with my decision. It seems the teacher gains respect individually by the work they do and find a way to either live within the financial constraint afforded by the district, or find a method of revenue that allows for experience beyond the classroom…individual growth.
I do have a beef with the women’s work idea. Looking back on it, some of the best teachers I had were men. This could just be because I was a boy, but I think it is good to have more men in the classroom to offer the boys more of a chance to relate…by simply having a male as a teacher.
One story I heard many years back was how to handle a situation if someone says “Teachers are no more than babysitters. So they should be paid the same as babysitters!” Well, I’m alright with that assuming you pay a babysitter something as small as $5/hour…multiplied by 30 kids…for 6 hours a day…times five days a week…for 35 weeks per year and you get…$157,500/year. Sure let’s put that in front of the state legislator and get the ball rolling. I don’t know yet how to handle the situations where people make comments about how anyone could teach…because I do feel anyone can teach. It just takes one heck of a lot of will power, self restraint, and quick on your feet thinking to be an effective teacher. Most people don’t want to work that hard knowing they will not be rewarded for it with money, bonuses, or a better lifestyle. I ask myself this question everyday. Why am I doing this knowing I will not get to live the freedom money provides? Well, lets see if I can put this into words.
Positives:
1) Emotionally I will walk away from each school day knowing I have make an impact on somebody. This will offer me a sense of belonging and allow for the rest of my life to be content, not stressful.
2) Time freedom. Traveling and movie making is a hobby of mine that I do plan to turn into a revenue source as time moves along. Having weeks at a time throughout the year to take trips and put movies together greatly interests me. Plus, I know I will be able to use this skill in the classroom as well as it will allow the kids to use their imagination to come up with short movies of their own.
3) I am a male. This allows me to push the agenda that teaching is not just women’s work. I might not be as nurturing, but I will provide support, attention, and energy for the kids to pull from.
4) My background in customer service (I believe) will help immensely when it comes to dealing with parents, and administrators. “In can understand how you feel this way about our school. Here are a couple options we have to move forward from this and you can tell me what you feel most comfortable with. Is that OK?” I know some parents will act like their own kids sometimes, as this is where the kids pick up their antics from anyway.
Negatives:
1) MONEY. I say I am content with the choice to earn an emotional paycheck. But time will tell. I have yet to face the prospects of looking for a job that will pay less than half of what I walked away from two years ago. I have yet to face the prospect of not getting a job out of the gates and having to pay for loans, children, and normal daily expenses. It will be hard and I know it. I will state that I haven’t the faintest idea how we will make it if worst case happens…but I have hope it will all work out.
2) I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth a couple seconds too late. My biggest fear is that I am going to do or say something that someone will find offensive and I won’t have a clue what I said. I will get fired for it, my name will show up in all the newspapers and I will go back to the career I left with my head down in shame…but still not sure what I did. I think everyone has this fear when they start teaching…at least I hope they do.
3) The thought I might not be respected for the occupation I have chosen. Actually this is more of a positive as maturity tells you that attitude is not one you want to surround yourself with. A lesson that is very much teachable to kids who are beginning adolescence.
4) The thought that I might not want to teach after a couple years in the “system”. I am a strong person but if after three years in the classroom my financial life is a mess, I might ponder if it is all worth it. Luckily I have control over this. I just have to keep it as one of my priorities.
I’m sure there is more but at this point I still feel content with my decision. It seems the teacher gains respect individually by the work they do and find a way to either live within the financial constraint afforded by the district, or find a method of revenue that allows for experience beyond the classroom…individual growth.
I do have a beef with the women’s work idea. Looking back on it, some of the best teachers I had were men. This could just be because I was a boy, but I think it is good to have more men in the classroom to offer the boys more of a chance to relate…by simply having a male as a teacher.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Finger Vomit
A title meant simply to mean, my fingers will be dumping lots of thoughts onto this blog. Some will make sense and some will simply be thoughts that have no meaning...all in a soup that if it were an animate object would resemble, well, what the title says.
Thought #1: Making an impact while learning how to make an impact. I volunteer twice a week with a student who is WAY behind his second grade class in reading. It was clear from the beginning of the year that this kid simply didn’t want to read. Turns out it was psychological, he really didn’t want anyone to know he couldn’t so he was putting all his energy into masking this shortcoming. It took about four months to get through this with him but we make the stride and for 120 minutes a week we would sit in the common area of their classroom and he would struggle, but most importantly, try to read. About early March the principle stopped by to see how it was going and quickly pointed out some mistakes he had made while reading aloud. It was like you could take the calendar and move it back to September. He freaked out, truly believing the principal was going to tell his teacher, who was going to tell the students, who were going to tell their friends, etc. To me it was a principal who knew the test dates were coming up and wanted to gain an idea of the boy was progressing…and when simple mistakes were made she wanted them correctly immediately. It has turned into my first example of teaching vs. district bureaucracy. I understand both sides, but it is tough to deal with. My connection with this student is more a “someone you can trust relationship” than reading teacher. He knows how to read but doesn’t feel comfortable with how people will react if he gets stuck not knowing a work or punctuation mark. It seems to clear how he is going to move forward and catch up to the other kids, and Ayers hit it right on the nose with the idea that “kids learn at their own pace”. Give him a chance and he will learn it.
Thought #2: In one of my classes, we have been asked to put a small slide show together with images that parley our feelings about teaching without words. I found this enjoyable as it was the first time I really tried to put my emotional draw to this profession into 5 words. I scribbled down a bunch of words but the first five stuck as the ones I was going to use. Teamwork, sportsmanship, positive energy, something I can’t remember right now, and goals goals goals. I already know that using multimedia is going to be one of my teaching methods in the classroom. In particular making little mini movies, but also slide shows of events the students either experience themselves personally or see on the news each day. It will be a way of creating a memory and “thinking” about what that memory means to you. In other words, I want my students to learn from your daily life experience. Coupled to this assignment was to ask us to put down an autobiography of our life from an educational perspective. These assignments are helping me, at least, hone in on the precise reasons we are embarking on this journey. We feel it is right, but now we are tapping these emotions as to why. For me, I’ve been surprised that a big pull in my life is to relive my childhood. There are so many things I would do differently (stand up for myself, ask more questions, not profess my love for a 3rd grade girl, and most importantly, relax more). I want to impart the knowledge I’ve gained in 33 years of live to people that could use some guidance. The biggest push I have is for students to see the world, either through the lens of someone else’s camera, through the reading of a book, or with their own eyes. But understand what it out there, why it is out there, and enjoy it.
Thought #3: (From another class, but something I want to journal about). We studied social groups in my class this evening (Nerds, trendies, punks, etc). I was amazed at how much this topic affected lots of people in the class. It seems every thought dealt with a personal trauma experienced by one of my classmates. It is clear this issue of social hierarchy has been around for awhile and is still very much a part of schooling. More than that, it is a part of schooling that seems to get in the way of the core reason students are there to begin with. Everyone gets embarrassed, but we all react differently to it. We all feel emotions when people get teased, but we respond differently to it. This subject will be big for me specifically if I teach in a 5th or 6th grade classroom because seeing the reactions of my fully adult classmates tonight, the effects of this type of treatment (bullying if you will) can carry will into adulthood. I want to know how to keep it at a minimum and cultivate a school where people have an outlet to shed the negative feelings to someone they can trust.
Thought #4: I am amazed how much reading I have busted through in 3 weeks, easily over 1000 pages of education theory and ideas. I have to assume I remember about 30 of these pages but we’ll see as the quarter progresses how I use some of this knowledge. The first one that comes to mind is when the principal of the school comes to me during my first year and says “Don’t expect too much from these students”, I’m ready to say “Don’t worry Ms. Principal, these kids will want to come back next year. In fact, they’ll insist on it.”
Thought #1: Making an impact while learning how to make an impact. I volunteer twice a week with a student who is WAY behind his second grade class in reading. It was clear from the beginning of the year that this kid simply didn’t want to read. Turns out it was psychological, he really didn’t want anyone to know he couldn’t so he was putting all his energy into masking this shortcoming. It took about four months to get through this with him but we make the stride and for 120 minutes a week we would sit in the common area of their classroom and he would struggle, but most importantly, try to read. About early March the principle stopped by to see how it was going and quickly pointed out some mistakes he had made while reading aloud. It was like you could take the calendar and move it back to September. He freaked out, truly believing the principal was going to tell his teacher, who was going to tell the students, who were going to tell their friends, etc. To me it was a principal who knew the test dates were coming up and wanted to gain an idea of the boy was progressing…and when simple mistakes were made she wanted them correctly immediately. It has turned into my first example of teaching vs. district bureaucracy. I understand both sides, but it is tough to deal with. My connection with this student is more a “someone you can trust relationship” than reading teacher. He knows how to read but doesn’t feel comfortable with how people will react if he gets stuck not knowing a work or punctuation mark. It seems to clear how he is going to move forward and catch up to the other kids, and Ayers hit it right on the nose with the idea that “kids learn at their own pace”. Give him a chance and he will learn it.
Thought #2: In one of my classes, we have been asked to put a small slide show together with images that parley our feelings about teaching without words. I found this enjoyable as it was the first time I really tried to put my emotional draw to this profession into 5 words. I scribbled down a bunch of words but the first five stuck as the ones I was going to use. Teamwork, sportsmanship, positive energy, something I can’t remember right now, and goals goals goals. I already know that using multimedia is going to be one of my teaching methods in the classroom. In particular making little mini movies, but also slide shows of events the students either experience themselves personally or see on the news each day. It will be a way of creating a memory and “thinking” about what that memory means to you. In other words, I want my students to learn from your daily life experience. Coupled to this assignment was to ask us to put down an autobiography of our life from an educational perspective. These assignments are helping me, at least, hone in on the precise reasons we are embarking on this journey. We feel it is right, but now we are tapping these emotions as to why. For me, I’ve been surprised that a big pull in my life is to relive my childhood. There are so many things I would do differently (stand up for myself, ask more questions, not profess my love for a 3rd grade girl, and most importantly, relax more). I want to impart the knowledge I’ve gained in 33 years of live to people that could use some guidance. The biggest push I have is for students to see the world, either through the lens of someone else’s camera, through the reading of a book, or with their own eyes. But understand what it out there, why it is out there, and enjoy it.
Thought #3: (From another class, but something I want to journal about). We studied social groups in my class this evening (Nerds, trendies, punks, etc). I was amazed at how much this topic affected lots of people in the class. It seems every thought dealt with a personal trauma experienced by one of my classmates. It is clear this issue of social hierarchy has been around for awhile and is still very much a part of schooling. More than that, it is a part of schooling that seems to get in the way of the core reason students are there to begin with. Everyone gets embarrassed, but we all react differently to it. We all feel emotions when people get teased, but we respond differently to it. This subject will be big for me specifically if I teach in a 5th or 6th grade classroom because seeing the reactions of my fully adult classmates tonight, the effects of this type of treatment (bullying if you will) can carry will into adulthood. I want to know how to keep it at a minimum and cultivate a school where people have an outlet to shed the negative feelings to someone they can trust.
Thought #4: I am amazed how much reading I have busted through in 3 weeks, easily over 1000 pages of education theory and ideas. I have to assume I remember about 30 of these pages but we’ll see as the quarter progresses how I use some of this knowledge. The first one that comes to mind is when the principal of the school comes to me during my first year and says “Don’t expect too much from these students”, I’m ready to say “Don’t worry Ms. Principal, these kids will want to come back next year. In fact, they’ll insist on it.”
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