Friday, January 29th

“Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.”

Let's see, what did I learn on Friday? I spent Friday allowing the students work time: they worked on their outlines, speeches, and the journal assignments which I'd made due at the end of the school day on Friday. The "mini essays" assignment required the kids to each fill three pieces of paper, front and back, with responses to the 20-some prompts which I'd provided for them. I created the assignment as a means of learning more about the students' personalities and their writing levels. When I first assigned the project on Tuesday, I received a wave of moans and groans. But I was surprised by the number of finished writings that I received on Friday- the majority of the kids actually completed the assignment, despite how flabbergasted they initially were by the amount of writing I was looking for. Just goes to show that, when pushed, I can get these guys to really step up their game.

Thursday, January 28

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

Thursday I spent the day working with the students on their demonstration speeches, a unit which I introduced on Wednesday. On Wednesday I demonstrated to the students how I wanted their speeches to look, and what information they should contain. We spent most of Wednesday brainstorming ideas and talking about what sort of format a demonstration speech usually follows. So, come Thursday, I explained to the classes how to make an outline. I've asked that they hand in an outline the day before they present their speeches so as to accomplish three things: 1) I want to know that they've prepared themselves for their speeches, and have thought through all of the information which they must mention 2) The outlines are serving as an assurance of practice for the students. By writing out the outlines, I know that the students must think through the supplies which they need to mention and the detailed procedures which they need to describe. & 3) The knowledge of being able to create a solid and detailed outline is a skill which these kids will need in high school. So, we spent a good deal of Thursday working on outlines.

I also had the students sign up for presentation times and topics on Thursday. This took some creativity on my part, as far too many of the students were unable to create their own ideas. "Do you know how to braid hair?" "No" "Do you know how to play Crazy 8's?" "No" "Do you know how to make a paper airplane?" "No" "Do you know how to tie your shoes?" "Nope" Needless to say, after finding topics for 100 students, I was feeling as though all of my patience and creativity had been sucked dry... for one day. I was surprised by some students' ingenuity, however. With topics like "Rigging a Tri-Pod" or "Counting to 10 in Korean," some of the students certainly surprised me with their ideas and skills. I look forward to seeing the speeches next week.

Thursday evening the student teachers were required to attend a Career Day informational meeting. While I'm excited to help out with the activity, as it sounds like a positive opportunity for the students, I'm not especially excited about the concept of having to miss an entire day of teaching in order to tally the ballots of this Career Day. I feel as though I've been working hard for four years in order to reach this time of student teaching, and in all honesty I'm not being allowed a huge amount of time to actually teach. Three months is not a lot of time, especially when you factor in at least a couple weeks of observing, and while I'm happy to volunteer in school activities, I'd rather be spending time directly working with the students.

Wednesday, January 27th

“Teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say.”

Mr. Coe met with me on Wednesday and discussed his thoughts about Tuesday's observations. His comments were primarily positive, and I found all of his suggestions helpful as they genuinely addressed issues which I've been personally concerned about: things like calming the students down when they get overly rambunctious or noisy, and addressing those students who refuse to work on their assignments. He had some helpful hints, and during our discussion Ms. Luby jumped in on the conversation and offered her advice too. She mentioned that her strategy for getting the students to focus in class is that she continually re-states what her expectations are of them for that class hour. For instance, "I expect you guys to be working quietly on your journals until the end of the hour." I went ahead and gave Luby's tactic a try, starting Wednesday and continuing on throughout the rest of the week, and I was able to find some relative success. Thanks Luby for your advice!

Day 11- Tuesday, January 26

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove . . . . but the world maybe different because I was important in the life of a child." - Kathy Davis

Today was another day of blunders. This morning I got off to a rough start as I spent nearly half an hour attempting to open my car doors. Finally giving up, I let the morning ice & frozen locks win as I began calling for favors. Thankfully, one of my friends answered their phone and I managed to get a ride from Miss Katie. Thanks so much to her!

After arriving at school about a half hour later than I usually do (I stepped in at 8:05am), I was worried that the school's principal Mr. Hildenbrand may be disappointed in my tardiness. But I had contacted Luby early on in the morning to let her know that I would be late, and I took comfort in knowing that she would stand in my corner.

Today that the kids and I began working on a "journaling" assignment. I introduced the assignment to the students during class, brainstormed about 20 ideas with them, and allowed them the rest of the hour to work on the project. Overall, the students responded to the assignment relatively well. The majority of the kids openly hate writing, and so when I told them that I would like to see 6 pages of journal entries from them at the end of the week I did not encounter a lot of smiles. But eventually I got most everyone engaged. Perhaps my happiest accomplishment of today was motivating a student named Andrayes to actually put the pen to paper and write! Andrayes openly hates English class- and especially writing. I know that he's a smart kid, I've seen the proof of it in my discussions with him and some of the few assignments he's handed in during my time student teaching. But to get Andrayes to write, even Luby says, is not an easy task. I did it today!! I mean, he didn't write much, but he managed about half a page by the end of class & it's something.

I had my first evaluation from Mr. Coe, my Univeristy Ambassador today. Tomorrow he will return to discuss his observations. I'm hoping that I didn't fair too poorly... we'll just have to wait and see...

Day 10- Monday, January 25

Monday marked my first staff in-service experience. I had very few expectations in mind coming into the experience, as I wasn't entirely sure what the agenda had in store for me. When I woke up in the morning, I was welcomed by a blizzard. Luckily, I woke up early enough to leave with some extra time and with just a little caution and some extra patience I made it to the high school with plenty of time to spare. Go me!

The first part of the morning was spent with a teacher from Texas who works with the College Board. The facilitator discussed with us what vertical alignment is and how it can serve as a valuable resource to the school district's curriculum plans. What I was most surprised by was how the facilitator focused a good deal on AP classes. While I recognize the value of AP classes, and I feel that they are a beneficial option for students, I had wished that the facilitator would have invested more time discussing the concerns of the majority of our students- those who are considered "average" or even "below average." However, I had to remind myself throughout the workshop that this facilitator worked for the College Board; it only made sense that she would push AP classes.

After a two-and-half hour lunch (really? Not exactly necessary, if you asked me), the afternoon was spent with our departments. This was kind of exciting for me, as it allowed me the opportunity to meet the high school English teachers for the first time. However, after the discussion began, I soon found myself totally and completely lost. Not being entirely familiar with the district's Language Arts curriculum from 6th through 12th grade, I had to work hard to keep up. I used the experience as a chance to sit back, listen to the concerns and suggestions of all the educators around me, and soak it all in.

Days 8 & 9- Another Two-fer

“No man can be a good teacher unless he has feelings of warm affection toward his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he believes to be of value.” -Bertrand Russell

On Thursday I got to play teacher. Ms. Luby has been fantastic throughout this entire experience, I'm infinitely grateful for having been assigned to her, and on this day she agreed to hand over the reins to me. I allotted Thursday's lessons for introducing myself to the students. I have this theory about learning and how in order for a student to reach their greatest potential, they must first develop a relationship of trust with their teacher. Learning new concepts is a challenge, and often a scary challenge. I look at learning new ideas as walking a tightrope; the journey toward achievement can be tricky and frightening. But with practice, motivation, and guidance, a person can learn to safely cross that tightrope and reach the finish point of accomplishment.

So with this theory in mind, I believe that every student must first trust their teacher and feel secure in knowing that they will provide steadfast guidance. In order to establish this trust with my students, I wanted to spend some time Thursday introducing myself to them. I created a powerpoint presentation which highlighted my interests, accomplishments, education, etc. I included information about my time in Europe, and why that trip helped to shape my attitudes toward life. I explained with the presentation my reasons for going into teaching, and specifically teaching English. I concluded the powerpoint with my one and only rule for the classroom: Respect.

Explaining to the students how respect effects every element of the classroom, I showed the class a clip from the movie Freedom Writers. The clip showcased a scene where the movie's students discovered the many things which they had in common, inevitably leading to a greater level of respect in the classroom. After showing the clip, I had the students do an activity called "Sticks and Stones" which illustrated how even the smallest of jokes, jabs, or gestures can hurt a person's feelings. I explained to the students during this activity how a person may never know when a classmate is having a bad day, or is sensitive to a certain subject; therefore we must all watch what we say and do, in order to show a certain level of respect.

It felt great to have "control" of the classroom on Thursday. Like I said, I owe Luby a good deal for allowing me the chance to learn by doing. I felt good after Thursday- like I'd accomplished something... like I got my lessons across. I still struggle to get the students' attention and gain control (read "quiet") in the classroom. Luby has explained how when she is present in the classroom, the students tend to head toward her with questions and permission, so by stepping out of the room she's been helping me to establish a level of authority with the kids. I'll say it again- I'm so happy to be working with this lady.

Thursday night I worked with the Speech students for the second time. Unlike how in the classroom I sometimes feel unsure about myself, while at Speech practice I feel as though I'm an expert. I know what I'm doing, and I know how to help these kids. I'm good at it, I feel like I actually make a difference as I watch the kids apply new techniques to their speeches. I've especially enjoyed working with a student named Hannah who is the team's only Extemp. Reader. She's such a bright young lady, definitely wise beyond her years. The nostalgia of Speech is almost intoxicating to me. I adore helping out with the team on Thursday nights.


Friday I picked up where I left on Thursday. Each hour started off doing what are apparently called "RPQ's"- Reading Practice Quizzes, or something like that- and I guess that the students do the tests every Friday morning in order to prepare for their Basic Standards Tests in April.

After finishing up with their reading exercises, I had the students make some Name Tag/Table Tents to seal the holes on any of my memorization of names. Next, I broke up the students into groups of four and asked them to answer certain questions in order to learn more about one another. In the end, I had the groups share their findings, so that I could learn about their interests and personalities too.

The activities went well with all but one of the classes. The last class of the day refused to listen to their classmates, were loud, ran around the room like 3rd graders in a gym class, and completely ignored any of my directions. In return, they lost the chance to complete the activity and were forced to spend the last 20 minutes of the hour sitting silently in their assigned seats, reading. I found it interesting how, after taking away the opportunity to complete a "fun" activity, the class finally found the ability to be quiet. After saying, "Alright, you've made your decision. Go back to your assigned seats, hand your papers forward, and be quiet. I don't want to hear one word. Anyone who speaks will be sent to the office." every student shut up and followed my instructions. I felt bad after calling it quits on the activity, I felt like I cheated the students who were behaving quietly in the background, and I was disappointed to not have the chance to hear the students share their findings. But I felt as though the students were questioning my authority at the start of class, and by the end they knew that I was not a floor mat. I don't know, did I do the right thing? The jury's still out on this case. Help!

I also got an unfortunate lesson today in humility and naivety. During lunch the teachers were speaking about a student who'd recently been moved into a shelter after her father beat her. The girl spoke with the school's social worker about wanting to stay with her grandparents, but her father wouldn't have it. Without any available foster homes at the moment, the student was sent to spend at least 2 weeks in the local shelter for runaways and homeless teens.... sounds like a great alternative, right? :I

I mentioned during the discussion how I couldn't comprehend the logic of the girl's father. I stated how I didn't understand why her father would rather see his daughter stay in a homeless shelter than have her stay with her grandparents and one of the pod's teachers responded by saying, "Welcome to teaching Little One."

I was slightly set aback by the comment. I know that I'm learning, and I know that I'm unexperienced. I know that I'm probably too idealistic, and at times I'm sure that I'm even naive. But is it so bad for me to question the system of how these children are treated? Is it wrong of me to care for these kids and genuinely want for them to find happiness and success? I can't help that I care this much, and I'm willing to take the risks which may accompany caring this much. In the meantime, I need to determine how to help my cooperating teacher and her colleagues to recognize my strength and understand my reasoning.

Here's to the end of week two. MANY lessons learned. Many more to come.

- Oh! I forgot to mention, I got my first "gift" from a student today. At the end of my first hour, after being away from it for some time, I walked to my desk to find a note & a paper crane from one of the girl students in the class. A very quiet and shy girl, I was struck by her gesture.... definitely a moment that made me smile. Thank you Miss Danika!

Days 6 & 7

Yesterday I was totally and completely exhausted, hence the absent post. So here's a catch up:

Sunday brought a moment of temporary terror as my laptop, to which I have all of my lessons plans & student teaching resources saved, contracted a virus and attempted suicide. Thankfully I have a fabulous boyfriend who is well acquainted with technology, and things are back to normal now.

Monday was a quiet day at school. The students have finished their last novel of 2nd quarter- The Pearl by Steinbeck- and began the movie this week. I spent most of today quietly reading and working on lessons. It seems that I've been having a lot of this quiet work days lately, but I know that I should be treasuring the slow pace as in a short while things will be changing.

Today we continued the movie. All four of the classes are nearly completed with the movie, and so after finishing the last 20 minutes of the movie tomorrow I will be taking over with my very own lessons!!!!! Whoo hoo!!! Stay tuned tomorrow for more details pertaining to my world domination....

Day Five- A Big OOOPSY

The school day went well today. The students finished their final exams for the Steinbeck novel Pearl. Luby had me correct the subjective portions of the test and then she corrected the objective portions of the test, since I haven't read the novel.

The students were relatively peaceful today. I was expecting them to be rather rambunctious today, with it being a Friday and there being a dance tonight. But perhaps the kids were just as exhausted as me from our busy week, as they were pretty good in class.

I learned a horrible secret today. During our lunch break, one of the teachers found a note that some students had presumably been passed around. To my horror, they read the note to one another! One of my greatest fears in high school was realized today; the teachers really do read students' lost notes. I don't think that I'll ever be adopting this practice. It reminds me of the instances where nosy parents break into their daughters' diaries in hopes of scrounging up some incriminating evidence. I think that it's a violation of student privacy. But with the same token, I know that each of the teachers involved in today's incident are all extremely caring and committed teachers who would never take advantage of accessing student information through a note, they were merely curious. I don't blame any one involved; I respect the group of teachers I've been allowed to work with this week immensely.

Now for my HUGE mistake. I was supposed to chaperone the dance tonight. My plan was to come home, relax for a bit, grab some food, and then head back to the school at six. I even set an alarm on my phone just in case I fell asleep while watching TV. I've been so very exhausted this entire week, and I know that the deprivation's been effecting my body. But at any rate, I work up tonight at 8:00pm---- 2 hours well past the time I needed to be back at the school ---- to a persistent alarm. My roommate told me that she'd been hearing the alarm for 2 hours, but that it wasn't very loud, and she assumed that I needed the rest.

I feel like an utter and complete idiot right now for missing the dance. I have been striving so hard to impress the teachers and faculty at the Middle School, all in hopes of getting my name out there & coming away from this experience with some strong resources and references. Moves like this one will not help me achieve my goal. I've emailed Luby asking her for advice and contact information for the gentleman who was organizing tonight's event. I hope to have the opportunity to apologize profusely to him in the near future. I feel like I've let myself and many people down today, but I guess it's just another- difficult- lesson learned.

Day Four- Speech Coach In Training

No teaching quote to prelude things today, I'm beat.

Today was a long day. I wasn't able to get much sleep last night thanks to ridiculously loud neighbors and an incompetent landlord, so I was a little low energy during the day. I suppose it was good experience, seeing as once I'll have a family I'll need to find a way to bring energy to the classroom despite my current level of sleep.

Luby allowed me again to maintain the class today and work on grading papers. Students spent today working on a novel test, and the test will probably take up most of tomorrow as well. So outside of giving some shot instructions at the start of class, I didn't get to interact much with the kids.

I met my University Advisor today, Professor Rick Coe. He turned out to be fantastically kind and, better yet, he shares my thoughts about the excessive paper that student teaching entails. It was nice to encounter a faculty member who understands what I'm going through... it made me miss Mark. But I guess you have to jump through the hoops in order to reach your goals, right? It'll be worth it in the end.

Two more important things about today-
I encountered my first two significant classroom management instances today. The first involving two female students "jokingly" slapping one another, and the other a young man sexually harrassing a female classmate. The first incident I probably should have handled differently. I chose to speak with the girls, and in the end they both apologized to one another. The second resulted in a behavioral citation. I learned, after speaking with Luby, that I probably should have written up students in both cases, but I now know how to best handle such situations. Another lesson learned.

After school today I helped out with the speech team. I'm low on energy right now, and so while I could write loads about how fantastically nostalgic this experience was, I'll merely say that I look forward to continuing this activity.

Over and out rubber ducky.

Day Three- I've Found My Plan B.... It's the Carnie's Life For Me!

“Successful teachers are effective in spite of the psychological theories they suffer under”

Another busy day, and subsequently I'm exhausted, so today's post may be a bit short.

Ms. Luby gave me the greatest of compliments today- she said that she trusted me to take over her classroom. She said that I was the first student teacher she'd worked with to arrive on their first day with lessons prepared, and that she was confident in my abilities. She allowed me to manage the last five classes of the day; the task wasn't too complicated as the student primarily worked on silently reading a novel today, but I relished in the responsibility none the less. The students have started to look to me as an authority figure; they asked me for permission to go to the library and checked with me to see if assignments had been handed in. I felt like a grown up!!

I corrected a ton of chapter quizzes today and Ms. Luby had me enter the scores into her grade book--- a real, live grade book! Oh how nerdy I am, getting excited about entering grades into a book. But again, today helped me to feel like a legitimate teacher.

I've been working hard to get my name and face out there with the teachers and staff, so that I can come away from this experience with some good connections. I spoke this morning with the Middle School Speech coach. She and I have arranged for me to help coach on Thursday evenings. This means I'll have some busy evenings during the week. Work after school on Mondays, Knowledge Bowl on Tuesdays, Work again on Wednesdays, Speech on Thursdays, and thankfully Friday evenings "free" (for now). I'm SUPER excited about helping out with the speech team. I miss speech so so much and it's been a dream of mine to coach the activity as a teacher. I've been debating calling up my old high school coaches and chatting with them about the prospect.... let's see if I work up the nerve.

After school today I agreed to aide in the sixth and seventh grade "Mega Party." This was a two hour long party for students who had excelled in grades and fundraising this past quarter. They had food, music, and inflatables for the students to use. I was assigned to man an inflatable that was set up like a carnival game. The little structure looked like a castle & inside had 6 tubes that shot air straight up, they had these balloons contained in canvas bags & the air balanced the balloons in the air. The students could throw balls at the balloons to win candy. And from operating this inflatable game, I learned tonight that I could make one hell of a carnie. So there it is- my Plan B!

That's all folks. I'm attempting to get to bed early tonight. Tomorrow I meet with my University Advisor, wish me luck!

Day Two- A 'Spelltacular' Experience!

"The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth'."
~Dan Rather

Day two began with me arriving at school even before Ms. Luby- a lovely accomplishment for this last minute gal. I organized my desk this morning and unpacked the lesson materials I've created so far. I relished in this small gesture, as I almost felt as though I "belonged" in that desk, as though I was a "real" teacher. Pretty cool stuff. On a surprising note however, I've already filled the tiny desk drawers. SO, after "work", I headed over to good ole Office Max and invested in a document case container. That should hold me over for a little while.

Luby's been very accepting of all my lesson plans so far, and this makes me feel as though I'm on the right track. She's mentioned "stealing" some ideas and commented yesterday on how detailed my lesson plans are. Hopefully keeping up this attention to detail (a habit that's typically irritated me in the past) will help me to impress some folks during my pending job hunt. Wish me luck folks!

I got to play teacher for a little while today. The students are required each year to participate in a "Spelltacular" spelling test which serves as a qualifying quiz for the district's annual spelling bee. Ms. Luby allowed me to administer the test and correct the tests afterward. This, as I expected, was a pretty simple task. The hardest part of administering the test was simply getting the kids to calm down and settle in at the start of each new hour. But, utilizing my charm and humor, I think I did alright in getting the kid's attention. Even though there were moments of antsy pants and chatter boxes, I think that I did a good job of keeping the kids under control.... hopefully Luby would say that same.

I also spent a good portion of today learning the kids' names. Handing out papers, as Ms. Luby insisted, was a great way of memorizing faces and names. I'm sure that come tomorrow I won't remember everyone's names again, but I'm much further along today then I was yesterday.

After school today I attended Ms. Luby's Knowledge Bowl meeting. She's the group's advisor and asked me to help out with practices and meets. This, along with helping the school's Speech Team coach, will surely keep my Tuesday & Thursday nights busy. :) But I'm excited to get involved in the extracurriculars, especially speech. The opportunity to coach and advise is one reason that I was attracted to teaching. I'm hoping that these experiences during student teaching will help me to get my foot in the door later.

Another good day troops. I'm doing my part to make sure tomorrow's just as fun. This is me signing off.

Day One of Student Teaching

"Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach." - Aristotle

Today was the day; the first day of the rest of my life. I arrived at the Middle School at 7:30 for an early meeting with the other student teachers and one of the school principals, Mr. Hildenbrand. The meeting was relatively painless, just a quick greeting and overview of what we can expect in the weeks to come. From here, I headed on over to the Theta Pod and began my dad in Ms. Luby's 8th grade English class- hazzah!!

I adore my cooperating teacher. She tells it like it is; she's totally and completely upfront and honest, but patient and optimistic at the same time. I could really tell that she genuinely cares for her students. She jokes with the students, she knows about her students' lives, and she carefully plots her each move so as to take into consideration how it may effect the her students. We seem to agree on a number of subjects- including a certain spirited businessman- and she welcomed my lesson ideas with open arms. I think I've found an excellent fit with Ms. Luby, and I hope that the rest of these 12 weeks will continue to fill me with the sort of optimism that I left with today.

I didn't do a whole lot in regard to working with the students today, which was my only regret. However, as Luby put it, Monday's are a typical "work day" for the students. Throughout most of their classes today, the students read to themselves and worked on reading quizzes. I had the opportunity to interact with a couple of the kids as they questioned who was the stranger chilling at the new desk at the front of the classroom. One student, Isaac, was rather entertaining. When Ms. Luby introduced me to the class during Isaac's class period, his arm shot up in the air with a question. Chuckles arose from all of the students, as they knew exactly what was about to occur, and Luby warned Isaac to play nice. When I asked Isaac what his question was, he asked me:

"If you were mountain biking and you took a sweet jump, um, what's your favorite bird?"

Moments later, he followed up with the question:

"If you were in the desert, and you were thirsty and your car wouldn't start, and you couldn't find water or oil, and you could watch one movie, what's your favorite movie?"

Immature, yes, but I relished in answering Isaac's questions. His obnoxious humor reminded me of my own and I look forward to working with Isaac. I welcome his antics and found his humor comforting. Day one was a success!

Tomorrow's Goal: Get to know students by their first names.