speaker for my observation class

Today in my class we had a speaker come in for 15 minutes or so. This speaker had been there before but came again today. This time, he only gave a "motivational speech". Motivation was his key word today. He started by figuring out what motivates people. He gave a few things but then he said money. I found this interesting to hear. He went on to say that even though people will tell you that money doesn't matter in a job, it actually does. I found this shocking to hear in a motivational speech. I guess part of this is coming from a teacher's perspective. I mean, teachers can make decent money in the right district but it definitly isn't a job to make the big bucks in. I don't feel it was appropriate to simply say that money should motivate you and should drive you when thinking about a career. I truly believe that you should do something that you love. I mean, the idea of money should be in the back of your mind but it shouldn't be the deciding factor, unless that is the only thing you are looking for in a career. Then he continued to talk about the fact that international college students are starting to work in our job market and so they have to do well in school to beat them. I found this very offensive to international students. I know there were a couple in this middle school class and then of course the ones in college and I think it was a very risky comment to make because of the diversity of the class. There shouldn't be a difference in competetion between the international students and the American students. The job should go to the most qualified and that should be all. I didn't find this speaker to be very good, even though I'm sure most of the students didn't realize quite the same things as I did. It is definitly different looking at things from a professional viewpoint instead of a student viewpoint. Things seem to look so different. I like the point where I am now because I am still able to see things from each side which is good to get an overall view of a concept.

on my own

So today I was on my own with the students for a little bit. I took 13 students to the library to work on an assignment while the other students got yelled at for doing poorly on their take home test. It was weird to be the 'teacher" with the students. They really didn't need my help, I was only there to keep an eye on them. Still, they showed me the respect like they should and asked me questions about the worksheet. I felt important, I felt like a teacher. There was one girl that was relucent to do her work. I tried talking to her onw hy she should do it. I even found her a gruop to work with but she didn't want to do it. She said she didn't care because she never gets an A in social studies, so why should this year be different? I was left trying to help motivate her but not force her to do it because it was her choice. The assignment wasn't actually going to be counted for a grade, it was supposed to be something fun to do. The funny thing was the fact that students were upset that they didn't get through it all, even though my Co-op teacher and myself told them that they didn't have to get it all done. It was ok if they only got through a couple questions. It was really funny to see them freak out when they didn't finish. I enjoyed being on my own, even though it was a little nerve-racking. I am becoming much more comfortable as a teacher instead of just someone there to occasionally help out. It feels good to know that my teacher trusts me enough to have me be with them on my own. I have definitly made improvement throughout the semester.

Special Ed classrooms

I was interested to hear about the BD/LD classroom today in class. I really have never had to be with students with disabilites throughout my previous school, or have I observed them in a classroom. I understand that it would extremely difficult to be in a classroom with several students and to try and get them all to be on task throughout the day. I could not even imagine having hte whole class disruptive and having to change my way of teaching several times during the day. To have to change your pedagogy almost every year or even maybe several times during a year would be mentally straining. Knowing my personality, I would be frustrated too quickly and it would take a lot of self-control to stay calm and collected in a classroom like that. To have students falling out of their chairs or laying on desks is so hard to even imagine, I don't know what I would do. I guess the only possible way to continue with class is trial and error. I would have to start with one idea and one behavioral chart and see how that works out. If it works out, great. I'll keep doing it. If it doesn't work, then it is back to square one and it would be time to develop another plan. In a way, my pedagogy for a special education classroom would be pragmatism. "At first if you don't succeed, try and try again." I would imagine that is the only way to keep somewhat of an order in the classroom, especially the order of your mind. It takes a very strong person to teach in a special education classroom and I envy them very much.

frustration

Yesterday in my observation class I noticed my focal student was really upset about something. The hard thing was, she wouldn't tell me. I felt bad because I couldn't do anything to help. I think she was really frustrated because she was working on a take-home quest (mix of test and quiz) for social studies. She eventually asked me for help and she began to loosen up but that was the most frustrated or angry I've seen her. Usually she is really upbeat and smiling and so yesterday caught me off guard.

It was funny because other students came up and were asking questions about their quests as well. They were generally all the same questions too. They had several questions about the True/False section. They reminded me of myself because they read into the questions way too much, just like I do when I take true/false tests. They all knew the right answer, they just wanted that approval that it was right. I found it difficult to help them but not give them the answer since they were only one sentence long questions. I did find a way to guide them towards the answer without giving the answer away. The students really appreciate it. You could see the expression change on their face when they got it right. They are all so cute!

the hallway

I found it interesting that many students see the hallway as a bad thing, as a punishment. I can see w hy they feel this way because in my classroom that I observe in, the hallway is generally used for that purpose, however, my teacher tries not to put them out there if she can. What is interesting is when I was in high school, the hallway was the "cool" place to be. Whenever we had to work on a group projext, we always wanted to work out in the hallway. I was probably because we weren't being stared at by the teacher and it was quiet enough for us to actually be able to work. It was always a competition to see which group was going to work out in the hallway today. It was just somethng I noticed in class that is different from the experiences of students in middle school today.

I definitly can see why the hallway is an easy place to send a "trouble" student, however, it is almost as if we are encouraging them to behave poorly. Many students, i feel, look at the hallway as somewhere where they actually have independence. Plus, if they are out in the hallway how can they possibly be learning anything? Those students are generally the student that need a little more help in the classroom, however, teachers get tired of dealing with them so they just send them out into the hall so that they don't have to deal with them. By sending them into the hallway, you are also segretating the students. Yes, it is a punishment, but as the teacher, you are enforcing the fact that they are "bad" and can't be with the other students. It is almost as if you are telling them that they aren't good enough to be with the other students. I know this may sound a little harsh and a little extreme but I think some students could see it this way. There are so many other ways to repremand a student other than sending them into the hallway and as teachers, we should strive to use those other methods. Other methods can include detention slips, losing other privledges in the classroom, assigning more homework (students really hate that one), and so many more. These other methods still allow the students to continue learning even though they were punished, as where the hallway can just be a place to get out of learning.

one-on-one time with students

I got to work with a completely different student today. This student is a student who doesn't really like to pay attention in class. She is one of those "distruptive students", the trouble-makers. Today, she was sent out in the hallt ow ork on an outline for the chapter. She actually came into today and asked me if I would help her. So, we worked on the outline. She remained really focused throughout the time we were working. We actually finished it all. I was shocked to see how hard she worked when she wasn't distracted. We worked really well together. We shared the reading and she was able to find the answers to the outline all by herself. I surprisingly really enjoyed it.

I also got to work with my focal student today. She asked me if I could help her study for her spelling/vocab test tomorrow. I asked her if she likes using flashcards because they really help me and might help her for this test. She said she likes them and so we made them up. Turns out, by the end of making them, she knew almost all 18 definitions! I felt really good helping her. I felt like I might be making a difference with her. It feels so nice to be making an improvement in their school life.

tenure

We talked about tenure a little bit in class today. It was weird for me to hear tenure only being a real security measure in higher education instead of in all education. I didn't relize that many teachers are still being fired even though they have tenure in K-12 classrooms. I gues this really caught me off guard because my experiences tell me otherwise. There was this one teacher in my high school who was tenure. He was a spanish teacher and so him and a few other teachers took a trip to Spain as a trip for which ever spanish students wanted to go. While they were in Spain, the teacher actually ended up getting a student pregnant. The student was 18, and I don't remember what time of year this happened, either in the Spring or right after school got out. Anyway, because this teacher was tenure and the studen was 18, the teacehr was allowed to stay and teach. I don't necessarily agree with this decision. It is one thing to get someon pregnant but it is something completely different when it is one of your students. I see that as unacceptable. Because of this experience that I saw/hear about, I see, well saw, tenure as something that protects you a lot from being fired. Since ther are several teachers that do still manage to get fired with tenure, I think tenure is better than I initially thought. I orginially didn't like the idea that once you got to tenure that you basically couldn't be fired. I can see how it is a good thing and something similar to a security blanket, but I also think you should earn your way to stay, even if it is increasingly nerve-racking. I might feel differently about it once I am actually an educator and being employed by the school district, but I do not know.

Legal Rights and Respomsibilites of Public School Teachers

One of the points that caught my eye was the part dealing with curriculum. The article talked about how it is easier to have a student not participate in something than it is to completely change the curriculum. We actually had something like this happen to me in high school. In my freshman year English class, we read a book called Rats Saw God. This book had a very graphic depiction of a sex scene in the book for about 2 pages. Now, at first all the students were a little shocked to be reading this but I guess most of us didn't pay attention to it. There were a few students who found it very offensive and let thier parents know. By freshman year, most of the parents knew each other because we had been in the same class for at least 3 years. Anyway, well one parent found out and was upset and called another parent. That parent called another one, and so on and so on. There were numerous parents that were upset with what we had been reading and so they filled a formal complaint about it because they believed that we were too young to be reading something as depictive as this book. Not to mention, they didn't understand why we read that instead of reading something that was a little more of a classic. So, it turned out that that book was removed from the curriculum. The next book we were about ot read was called White Horse which is a slang for a type of drug. Well, parent didn't like this either and so the teacher decided to pull itbefore having it was taken to the board. I understand that it is easier to change one person than it is to change an entire curriculum, however, I guess if there are enough parents/ people looking and wanting a change, the curriculm might just be able to change.

behavior in a classroom

So I got to witness some of the hard things today in my observation class. When we talk in our class about spending only a small portion of time on teaching but most on discipline, I agreed with it but never actually believed it. Today, I changed my view. We had the "trouble makers" in my class today because the class was divided and half went next door and half of the kids next door came into our room. Well, the class was extremely disruptive and got nothing done. My co-op teacher spent more time yelling at them to sit, or to be quiet instead of shouting, or to keep their hands to themselves. We could barely have a conversation without someone telling on someone else or getting in trouble. I've never seen my teacher so upset. There was one student who threw his chair and so she told him to come and sit on the other side of the room. He said no, and started to pout. She told probably at least 3 or 4 times and he refused. Ive never seen a student disrespect a teacher so much. She eventually said fine, stay there but sit down. He pouted some more and eventually sat. That took at least 5 minutes though. And it is so dispruptive. There were a few students who were actually trying to do their work but they couldnt becaus they were dealing with this int he background. It is so shocking how much time one kid can take when there is a class of 20 other students just waiting. Discipline is a hard thing to do. When do u just deal with it and when do you try to straighten things out? Is it fair to the other students who have to deal with it? There is that fine line there where you want to keep order in the room but u want to keep the class moving as well. I truely believe that discipline takes more time than teaching actually does.

bringing yourself into the classroom

So at the very end of class, someone brought up a question about discussing politics in the classroom and whether teachers should share their political views or not. I had a different experience than the other person. My best history teacher was one that openly shared his political view to the class. He did it in such a way that was still acceptable. He never fully stated what side he supported but we were able to guess it by the end just because of his comments and views on certain topics. However, he made sure to discuss both sides and to give the big picture instead of limiting it to only his side of view. We were able to discuss and debate specific issues (the class was Current Issues) and the majority, if not everyone, felt they could share. It actually turned out that our teacher was in the minority of political veiw compared to the rest of the class. By making sure that he stated and shared each side we were sure to get a more general overview of the topics. I actually had him in both AP US history as well as Current Issues. Both classes, he supported both sides. In US history, his view didn't come up as much because we talked about things in an historical context. However, in Current Issues, it came up much more because we were dealing with issues of today. He never fully came out to state his view though. We asked a couple times and he replied that we could guess his thought on ____ (whatever the topic was) and that he is not going to state it. I think if you discuss politics as well as other views in a context like the one my history teacher did, I think you can bring in your political views. If you do bring in your views, you need to make sure to keep an open mind and to express other views as well instead of limiting your audience to only one side of an argument.

Another issue we talked about today in class was the idea of bring culture and personality into a classroom, espeically if it is a math or science room. I think there is a higher chance to have everyone start at the same level in a room like this because everyone needs to learn the same facts in the same order. Each concept builds on the one previous to it so an educator is able to assume that everyone is at the same level, even if they aren't. It can't hurt to reteach other topics if only some students have learned them and the majority haven't. It just helps to re-inforce them. By starting things at the same level, it presents a chance for people to start with a clean slate. Everyone is now equal, which is a great thing! I hope these ideas that I have actually work out in my classroom when I become an educator.

Novice Teacers as Change Agents

This was a really interesting article. I mean, we go through education classes and are taught what we should do and what we are to think and yet, it seems that once we get into a classroom things suddenly just slip away. We are left to fend for ourselves and to learn to think on our feet. What happens if an argument happens? What happens if one or two people don't want to work in groups but everyone else does? What happens if a student just keeps asking the question"why"? We need to think on our feet and learn how to develop our own method of teaching. By being in the field we get experience with this. And in return, it is no wonder we, as a new generation of educators, get new and different ideas. It is interesting to think that we study under teachers with (generally) several years of experience and yet we are supposed to come up with our own ideas. I would imagine that it would be very difficult to have new ideas and to want to try them out in the classroom but to go against your co-op teacher's views and practices. It is hard enough to have a different view when you are among your peers but to go against someone who has years of experience and knowledge is something different. I understand that it must be done in order to change the system. If anything is to change, we must see novice teachers as change agents. As difficult as it may be, we need some people to want to make that change and to set out and actually change it. I can only hope that I will have the courage and ablity to notice something that needs to be changed and to actually change it.