Livin' La Vida Loca

This past week has definitely been a test on whether or not I am cut out to be a teacher. We all knew this day would come...

I have begun teaching my freshmen classes and it has been a challenge. Each student is so different that I have to accommodate each individual in order for my lessons to be effective. Talk about differentiated instruction... this has shown me how important it truly is, and also how challenging it can be.

Finding what each student wants and needs is not easy, it is almost a trial and error process... and the error part is never fun. Teaching is one of the hardest professions in my opinion, and I am sure many of you would agree... constantly, we are forced to look at what we can do better, or differently. I tried to put myself in the positions of the student and think of what I would like in a classroom, and when i tried this it failed drastically. I had to look inside myself and say, "Okay, these students are not going to like what I like, and they are not going to want to do what I want to do... what can I do for them?" I thought, and cried a little =), and thought some more. Then, I thought of a person who had a hard time in school, who gets off track easily, and needs explicit directions, just like my students... my fiance. 

He is a person who was bullied throughout school and was in trouble all of the time. I needed to look at things from his eyes to see what he would be interested in... and he decided to help me plan my next lesson. 

I did an agree /disagree activity and instead of having students move around the classroom, he suggested a hand signal. Then, I started saying the statements I wanted them to form an opinion over such as: If you were in a situation where someone was being harassed, it would be considered bullying. (This is how I think through things, I put myself in a situation)... and he said, "Oh, no, honey, you had me lost at situation." I laughed and said, "Then what should I say." "KEEP IT SIMPLE." What!?? Simple??? This seems too easy! Thinking simple is something I just do not do... I think things through so thoroughly (alliteration) that it drives me crazy! So, these words were exactly what I needed. 

I changed my statements to things like "Harassment is bullying" and "People act differently when they wear different clothes." The kids loved it, they followed directions, and it was very conducive. I cannot wait to see what this next week brings! 

Today I decided to look at teacher jokes. Here are some that I can relate to, I am sure you will find one =)

This is where I find myself with asking so many questions... Do I know the answer?

Students' minds are never where we want them to be...

I am afraid I will do this...

This is what we will all do one day... We've heard it a thousand times...

Students might actually do their work if...

Our daily reminder...

Ready... Set... Here We Go

I am into the second month of my student teaching, about to begin my unit, and am super excited, nervous, and ready.  

Tomorrow I will be teaching in front of two freshmen classes. I know this will be one of the more difficult classes that I have had: they are bigger than many classes that I have experience with (30+), and they can be kind of rowdy, as any 14 year old. 

I want them to learn and I have been wracking my brain (and the web) for the most effective lessons to teach. These students cannot always focus, so group work is not always the most productive. I really need them to connect to the text in order for my teaching to be effective. 

As teachers we need to remember that we are here for them, so we do need to differentiate our instruction, even though it is more difficult to plan. I know this is the only way that I will truly be able to reach my students and teach them how to become successful. 

I found this unique way for students to connect to the text and I am super excited to share. This is from Critical Reading Strategies from Salisbury University's website. I provided a link if you are interested. 

4.  Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses.

The reading that you do for this class might challenge your attitudes, your unconsciously held beliefs, or your positions on current issues. As you read a text for the first time, mark an X in the margin at each point where you feel a personal challenge to your attitudes, beliefs, or status. Make a brief note in the margin about what you feel or about what in the text created the challenge. Now look again at the places you marked in the text where you felt personally challenged. What patterns do you see?  

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. 
Confucius 

Life is Easy

Bad things are going to happen-
Your shoes will get wet and
Your armpits will stink.
Someone will steal
Your Snickers bar
off of your desk, or you will
leave gum in your new pants when
You put them in the dryer.
Your dog will run away and never
come back- and your nephew will
Hit you in the face. You'll forget
Your keys, after you lock the door-
And no one's home to let you back in.
Your grandma will pass away, and
No one will help pay for the funeral.
No matter how much You organize-
You'll forget
to get toilet paper
to pay Your bills, or
to brush Your teeth.
Whoever said life was easy...
You buy another Snickers bar, and
Sit down on the couch to relax.
The T.V's broken, the lights are off.
It's just You, alone, in this room.
Silent, serenity.

Genre Reflection #2 The Game

The Game

The sound of a quarter on a table,

It is distinct.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You ask me for a quarter

But I don’t have one.

Yet somehow, you always get one:

This is how our day starts

The bell has rung, and class is beginning

And they are arguing about who is winning.

Spinning, stopping, and sliding with no remorse

But before I step, in nature takes its course:

The spinning stops, the quarter falls to the floor

Playing this game shall be no more.

You ask me for a pencil

I tell you mine is on the desk.

This is how our day starts.

The game is won, nonetheless.

Positive Perspective

As teachers, how can we teach to multiple perspectives within our lessons?

“We must continually remind students in the classroom that expression of different opinions and dissenting ideas affirms the intellectual process. We should forcefully explain that our role is not to teach them to think as we do but rather to teach them, by example, the importance of taking a stance that is rooted in rigorous engagement with the full range of ideas about a topic.”
                 -Gloria Jean Watkins (author, educator, human rights activist)

Perspective: an outlook of weighing importance of the subject to the individual.

Having multiple perspectives is having the ability to look at the subject on a larger scale and weighing out how it might be important to another person.This is something that I have found to be difficult to teach students.

Throughout my lessons that I have been teaching I have posed many questions to my students. Most answers are similar, but that one student that gives a different view, they find something interesting that I did not notice or consider at first. I am then able to teach the students how another persons point impacts ideas and interpretation.

One brain can think of things that the other brain has not connected with yet. We teachers need to help build more connections by letting students add input into their daily discussions. Teachers should quit lecturing for hours and start asking questions to find out what their students think about what they are learning.

We must note that students do NOT have the same value system as we. We know that our excitement over a subject does not always extend to them. So, it is our job to at least relay our importance and try to get them to see it from our point of view. Students need to learn how to view life and its situations from multiple perspectives in order to become the most successful.

Students need to be guided throughout learning, they need to be guided in how to learn about themselves. We need to guide them and teach them how to reflect on what they know and build on their knowledge.

Today in class we talked about LGBT students and how they suffer from harassment everyday. Here is a subject that requires having multiple perspectives in order to be able to understand and even care about what is being said. We need to teach acceptance of others, at least in their perspectives. It should be the outline of every lesson.

Randy Bomer talks about how teachers need to take multiple perspectives on how they teach so that it is significant to them: “We have to help students become involved and invested in literate tasks that are significant to them not because they were born to love reading and writing but because of the ways literate activity connects to other things in life that matter to them.” Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms

We have to connect our ideas to their perspectives... to their backgrounds. 

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ---Jalad Rumi (Persian Poet)

KATE Reflection

This is the only the second conference that I have ever attended, so I did not really know what to expect... 

After I had arrived at the right hotel, previously stopping at the wrong Marriot, I walked in and found another woman who had been running behind. We introduced ourselves and walked into the ballroom together. The keynote speaker at this time was Brent Crawford: I see my professor, her smile calms my nerves of running late, and I sit down in the back of the room. I then knew it would be a great conference...

Keynote Speakers

Hearing the keynote speakers was by far my favorite part of the conference. I have never heard stories of how writers began there career, so this was very interesting. Brent Crawford was absolutely hilarious and I feel bad for laughing at all of his true stories, but it was so true I think you just have to laugh: you can picture yourself in that situation. He filled the entire room with smiles and good energy to start the conference off and his story was truly simple and real, and that is what students need in literature, something that they can relate to. 

The other keynote speaker, Rachel Hawkins, had a great story as well. I thought that her story was intriguing because not only did her husband believe in her, but she believed in herself enough to trust that her writing would do what she needed it to do for her and for others. 

Both stories would be great for students to hear so that they understand the power of writing and what it can do for the individual person: not only the writer, but the reader even more so. The power of writing and literature is what many English teachers want to pass on to students. This would be a great way to connect that idea to their everyday life by having actual authors tell students their stories of writing through life. Students need to understand that they can write for many reasons other than to fulfill a teachers wants and get a grade in class, it should occur outside of the classroom and should satisfy a students needs as a person. Writing is a great tool for SOOOO many things I couldn't even begin to list them. 

Breakout Sessions

I attended Co-teaching: The Power of Two, with Kathy Whepley and Kelly Frederick. I love the idea of being able to use two professionals in a classroom. I know how beneficial it would be for students if every class had at least two 'teachers,' there is much more flexibility with students needs, with the lesson, and so much more. If I could have another teacher, tutor, para, or student teacher in the room to help I would be ecstatic. Possibilities are unlimited within the classroom, and with two it is easier to make it happen. 

Literature Circles, with Maeve Bolin is the other that I attended. This was a very cool lesson plan that can be implemented into many classrooms. It is has many parts for open ended learning. The lesson occurs over a period of time and students are given jobs to fulfill while reading texts, analyzing different parts with each job. This lesson allows students to discover the power of reading by discussing texts and meanings in ways that are relevant to them. The discussions are students led. I like the idea behind letting go of control within the class and putting students in charge of what they learn in a text. It is interesting to see what can come from self discovery. I will definitely be incorporating this into my class and also into my semester plan (YAY!). 

 Networking

Networking within any career is extremely important, but even more so with teaching. I talked to so many people and even got to speak to Brent Crawford briefly after lunch. It was awesome and inspiring on so many levels to be able to talk with people with such great ideas and real life experiences. As a teacher it is important to keep growing and learning with your students. People can show you so many cool things that you never thought of, its all about looking at life from multiple perspectives.

Anything Else?

This conference gave me so much to use for teaching and as well as make me wish I had a class to use them in. I think conferences get you more excited about what you do and it also shows you the reason why it is important for you and others to be a teacher. I was inspired throughout the whole thing and am excited to implement these new ideas into my class.