Morning Poem:

In the morning I turn on the light
At an ungodly hour that hurts my eyes.
I brew coffee.
Toast bread.
Cook oatmeal.
Well, I don't;
A dead dinosaur does.
But that's beside the point.

Reflection Work Sample Thing

I've been working, with the help of my lovely wife, on something called a teacher work sample and it has not been fun.

I'd thought I'd share with you what I've written so far in my reflection which is the somewhat fun part:

I have been very pleased with my students and will always be grateful to them and my supervising teachers for letting me learn so much on any given day. I know that the work we’ve done doesn’t translate well into this format without names or faces, but this was the student teaching experience I wanted. I’m not a scientist, I’m an English major, and, granted, I believe the two should work more often together, but I wanted to teach something I knew, and something that mattered. The opportunity came up when I saw A Connecticut… was on the curriculum. I knew the thing would be a bear. I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into. And I also knew I would learn a lot more if I was fighting for my life over something that mattered, than I would if I played it safe and followed the Unit book. I wanted to tell them a story worth telling, and it wasn’t an easy story to tell.

I was also fully supported by my supervising instructors, Sharon Crossen and Ian MacDonald. I believe that they both understood it would be a difficult experience for me, but that my intentions were good, and I had the interest of the students at heart. So let me talk about them.

Overall they are a remarkable group of kids, and there isn’t one I wouldn’t like to know better if only to solve the mystery. Many are challenging and talk too much and don’t really listen half the time; they don’t “get” the book. But sometimes they’ll shock me in a good way. I wish I had more time.

A few are brilliant in a variety of ways and I ache for them because I fear they’ll feel stifled and give up on their education. But they’ve surprised me too with their generosity toward their peers. In an instant, I can think of four that have helped their friends who are struggling with the material without even thinking about it, without asking for extra credit. One in particular realized early that I was setting a high bar and couldn’t wait to leap for it. I don’t think he’d had to leap in a long time.

I’ve also found a handful of students that have not been so gifted academically, and I’m relieved to find that we are not at war over this book, or my expectations. I have been careful to not allow anyone to fail in a public way unless it was due to complete disregard for instruction or something of that nature. Nor will I let a student fail who is willing to try. When I sent a student home with her failed test to show and work through with her Mom, I’m glad she understood that it was out of concern and hope without judgment.

The group/individual projects I also count as a success with the main failure being on my part. I recorded the presentations and enjoyed the majority of them with only a few disappointments, but I have yet to really grade them and give the students their direct feedback. I plan to make a DVD, but it is certainly a case where time and others projects have interfered with my doing what I know I ought to do. The projects were worth it for the sake of one student who blew his classmates away, not only with the outstanding professionalism of his presentation, but also a style and charisma that no one (including me) had ever expected.

Day 17: So much to do, so little time.

So this is the life of a teacher. You've missed a lot haven't you? Thanks for checking back in. I guess to catch you up I'll start with today and work my way backwards. Today was a good day, a work day, but a good day. I have something called the Teacher Work Sample due on Friday, and it is a confusing bear and a half. To meet some of its requirements, I had to do things a little differently today. The oddest thing was administering a pre-evaluation which is supposed to be replicated in post-evaluation. I may simply not understand it, but it seems silly–especially when working things like reading comprehension: Read this paragraph and tell me what it means. Wrong! Read it again. I'm a great teacher! I don't get it, or I'm just too miffed to care.

Today I also met with a lady that has dragged me into some sort of dissertation of hers. I can't tell if it's dissertation or a research and marketing project, though. She's had me train on an online classroom simulator that is supposed to help teachers recognize and effectively manage students with different abilities and characteristics. It demands a lot more time than I thought and I wanted out of the program entirely, but I think she's trying to keep me on because of how effectively I can articulate what a waste of time the damn thing is. I'd do it here, but I really don't have time.

Last thing about today: I had student (really sweet and quiet kid) come in after school about a test he needed to finish and some missing work. I really felt like a teacher and encouraged him to take it home and do is best. I spend so much time in a day putting up with knuckle heads. Overall, God really gave me a number of breaks today. I needed them.

Yesterday (Day 16) was a nightmare. I spent an absurd amount of time over the weekend grading a paper I had designed for Friday. I put the test together to as both a review of the main points from the book so far, but mostly it was designed as a reading comprehension and critical thinking assessment. The thing that I'm proud of, is that I think the test worked. "Good" students didn't necessary breeze right through it and "bad" students with good reading skills were able to demonstrate their ability when the chips are down. It really revealed to me just how diverse my classroom is was enlightening and frustrating. The hardest thing about it was that for a few students, it revealed how significantly below grade level they actually function.

But all that is just back story. Yesterday was the day I gave them their tests back, and had hoped that those who didn't finish would take advantage of the time to do so, and those who did would be interested in who got what right and what the answers were. No such luck, and I was sad about this because there were a number of outstanding performers that I wanted to recognize and I didn't know how, and, even worse, I didn't really have a place for the students who were done to go. It felt like a homeroom. I think I would have come up with a plan had I the time. It isn't that I completely failed to anticipate the problem, so I guess I feel alright about that. I still had to live with it, though.

The Friday they took the test doesn't actually count as one of my days because I had to go to a seminar. I stayed up late getting the test ready and dropped it off during homeroom and explained the test to the first class so my supervising teacher could explain it to the following class. In some ways it was nice because I expect the students took the test more seriously knowing that their "real" teacher was administering it. I spent the day and Seminar wondering how in the world I'm going to have everything ready for them next week.

Day 15 was a Thursday. It was a modification from the day before which I'll get to later. I decided that I needed to take a larger role in guiding the review and modeling what it means to skim a chapter. First I had the kids read a play that covered the material we read so far and then I distributed a sheet with chapter titles and page numbers on them, directing them to write the main ideas or actions from each chapter. To do this I modeled skimming by "thinking out-loud," searching for main ideas and recalling events from the chapter. I tried to alternate with the students chapter to chapter with varying degrees of success. All in all, it took a lot longer than I thought it would and we didn't get a change to watch the clip from the Charlie Chaplin movie which is just as well.

Day 14 is when I dropped the bomb on them in the middle of class that we would be having a test. I did this after having read a chapter and without really warning them. My plan was to have them write, as a class, one set of notes that they could all use for the test, and that it was all they would be able to use. I also kept track of class participation. I don't think the idea was bad, but (same old story) time wouldn't allow it.

Take a break from this! Are you still reading? Seriously, there is much more internet out there!

Day 12: Observed=Unnerved.

Actually the observation went well, but in some ways it felt like the scene in the movie where someone is drowning in a pool waving for help and the people on shore save back "hello." I'm glad that the external perception is that things are on track, but I'm not exactly loaded with confidence at this point. Teaching is a powerful learning experience, and I guess part of learning demands a level of self doubt. If one thinks they know it all they can't learn, but to build up to higher levels of learning, one needs to be sure in their footing and take risks on what they "know."

Day 11: Monday after Spring Break

Today was the day back for students from spring break. I didn’t want to give them a whole lot to do, because I felt they needed a day to settle. There was some house cleaning to do, but for the most part, I read to them and had some vocabulary prepared on PowerPoint and stopped to explain important points like the French Revolution and the Peasants Revolt of 1931.

I can’t really say it went great, but I’m not sure what would have made it better. I think about a fourth of the students were well engaged, some looked like they were sleeping but surprised themselves by occasionally answering questions. Part of me is just getting over the fact that I won’t have 100 percent of the students with me all the time and just need to plow ahead. Especially if I want to ever finish this book.

I also did a Micky Mouse impersonation. It got their attention. Probably shouldn't try it every day though.

Out of Nashville and into Atlanta.

Left fairly early in the morning and drove over to Atlanta. The rain got pretty intense which made the view of the mountains more dramatic before ruining it entirely. Driving in low visibility for a long distance makes me feel like I'm dreaming.



Oddly enough, this wasn't a dream.

Vacation Daze

Just a quick little update. Having a lovely time in Nashville. Today we're going to do a little shopping, check out the Grand ole Opry (still don't really understand what it is), and visit Tom and Jo. Maybe this will be the week I start posting pictures to this blog. Maybe...

Day 8-10: Recovering enough to rest.

Somebody mentioned in regards to my intended strategy that "the best laid plans often go awry." How true it is. Monday was so bad that I can't even remember what happened. It's been roped off in my brain as too depressing to revisit. Maybe it's just Mondays, because Tuesday and today were both a bit better. We got through about half of the presentations today which actually puts us on the schedule I'd intended. Grading presentations is harder than I thought it would be. I'm glad I taped it. I also figured out today that I needed a rubric which would have been helpful from the outset. Again, this reinforces that effective teaching is all about upfront planning and rapid improvisation. If the planning isn't thorough, the improve will break down. End of story.

In class I'm continuing to see the need to be upfront and direct. I had to confront a group of girls who had been "working" on an assignment for a day and a half (that's over two hours on the block schedule) and hadn't even read the chapter–the looks they gave me (shudder). I know I can't afford to be afraid of students, but again it points to planning. It's surprising what they'll throw back at you in a confrontation.

I'm typing this now because I can't sleep. I don't think I'll be able to tie up all the loose ends I wanted to before spring break, but I'm glad that I've at least made progress in that direction. I'm coming to the frustrating realization that I don't have enough time to ensure each student makes some progress. There are those who are determined to not learn and instead roam round the periphery of my attention. It's a game they can play all day long. What a waste.

I think these group projects are as ambitious as I can afford to get during this experience. After spring break, I really have only two weeks of teaching left, and there's this Teacher Work Sample to be addressed. It's a requirement from my University and, as far as I can tell, has no other use or purpose. It's just heavy handed documentation that I can set, teach, test, and adapt objectives. If I'm smart, I'll cheat the system and actually use it in a way that's helpful to my teaching. On paper it's just a tree killer.

I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad that these are just the beginning of my thoughts...

JB: Rare is that funny kid in high school who was great to hang out with and had great plans and a scholarship but then made a few missteps, was parsed and absorbed into a monolithic system. However, Perfect Dark (64 era) has been re-polished and released on the 360.

The taping idea is an interesting one and would at least be useful for students who missed class and may indeed be the instructional method of the future. However, I just happened to look at my older sister's high school yearbook which was published a scant six years before I went there. It was remarkable to see how much younger the teachers looked than they did when I would know them. This observation tells me that it would be weird and depressing to watch myself present information from a few years back, and ideally the teacher needs to gauge student comprehension on the fly anyway and would need to vary information based on their own learning over time.