Week 6... again. (Maybe I should label this blog "Adventures in Classroom Management..."

Oh goodness, where to begin. On Monday, my 11th graders were taking their PSSAs, so I didn't have class with them. On Tuesday, they finished watching the Fahrenheit movie (and we know how well that started last week) and after lunch the students wrote essays that compared/contrasted the film and the novel. My students have a tendency to talk after they finish their tests, so I was focused on keeping a few of them hushed while also directing my attention to the boys who sit at desks that face each other in the center of the room, because I have received very similar tests and quizzes from these guys. Apparently, when I was focusing on the students in the classroom, students from the class next door were being noisy in the hallway. I didn't hear anything, either because I was too focused on my own students or because nothing was actually happening. Anyway, one of my "entitled" boys (who feels like it's OK to walk into class and immediately turn on his iPod) got up in the middle of this test to throw something away. He then opened the door and had the door half-open and was leaning through the door telling some girl to be quiet because they were finishing up a test. I called his name a few times to get him to come back in, but he didn't come back. He started to once, but then went back and kept talking to her. I could see his face and he was smiling and the girl was laughing. I finally yelled his name loudly and sternly and said "Sit down NOW and finish your test!" since he was 2 essays behind the rest of the class and needed more time. He got pissed off, handed me his test, grabbed his stuff, and stormed out of class with almost 10 minutes left. I told my co-op about it when I saw her at the end of the day, and we were just about to write up a report when the asst. principal came in. He told me the student had come down to his office after he left the class and said he was worried he would lose points on the test. The a.p. listened to his side of the story, then relayed that to me. It's not what I remember happening (the student said the students in the halls were really loud and he couldn't focus, but I don't remember any noise from the hallway), but the a.p. listened to my side of the story and said he was able to put together a plausible story.

Though I was tempted to give this student a zero on all the sections he hadn't completed (hey, if he didn't want to use class rime, he shouldn't get any time to finish the test), I figured his scores on the sections that were finished were so low he could use some help. He has to come in for an after-school detention sometime before Friday to finish his essays, and I will grade what he finishes in that time. He still won't get above a 60% on the test, but this way he has a chance to get some points and he still serves a detention.

I did have a talk with the student the next day. I told him that one thing I could have done differently was to walk over to him and talk to him quietly instead of shouting his name across the room. Then I asked what he could have done differently. He said he could have asked me to handle the situation in the hall and then apologized to me for being so disrespectful. I then told the whole class that I was not there to "play school." Any cursing would result in detention. If I had to tell them more than twice to be quiet, detention. If I told them to do something and they didn't do it, detention. Needless to say, class that day was the smoothest we've had. SILENT SSR--it was beautiful! (I also got an apology note from the 10th grader that tried to bully me the week before.)

Finally, I wanted to say I picked up a full schedule this week, and I've assigned projects/writing assignments to each class. It's been tough to plan everything and put heart into it since I know a lot of the students don't care. Anyway, I'm excited to see what they can do in their projects! I know some will turn in great work and others won't even complete the whole thing. I only teach 6 more block classes this week, and then I'll do three days of observation. I'm excited to move on and start interviewing!

Observation #1 and Week #5.2

Well, I think most of you already heard about my observation this week. Dr. Mortimore came and observed my 10-12 grade Creative Writing class, and it was the first day the class was "mine." You heard about my classroom management issue, so there's not a whole lot left to say about it. I wasn't able to use my own material because my co-op wanted her activity to be completed for our storyteller, but I was still able to show my "teacher" style. Some of the things that Dr. Mortimore commented on were my modeling and my presence. When my students were journaling at the beginning of the class (which they do every day), I sat down and journaled with them. I look up every once in a while to make sure the students are actually on task, and I had to remind some students to get back on task a few times.
Also, the students did a "bump-reading" activity in class, and I roamed the room during that activity to make sure everyone stayed on task.

On Thursday, my 11th graders took their Fahrenheit test, and I graded the scan-tron section already. I had kids score anywhere from 50%-98%. I looked at the questions that the low scorers got wrong, and saw that they were all knowledge questions straight from the book, so it was clear they hadn't read. I would have considered giving extra points or curving the test if I had felt those questions were abstract topics we had never discussed, but I wouldn't change the points if it was a matter of them being lazy, not paying attention, or not doing the work.

On Friday, I am pleased to say I managed another classroom management issue. We have a new student in our class (he just came in on Wednesday). He got kicked out of two schools and now he's with us. (yay.) He's had an attitude all week, and while I commend him on having such a big personality and no shame, he is a pain in the you-know-what. He's been giving my co-op attitude as she's been helping him get acquainted to the school. She logged him into a laptop under her name, and he was looking at pictures of girls in bikinis. On Friday, we were watching the Fahrenheit movie in class. My co-op left the room at the start of second period and said she'd be back during Flex to get the VCR stuff set up before third period. She never came back, and it took 15 minutes for me and 2 students to try to get the VCR to work. The rest of the class was criticizing and talking, but not helping. Finally I got really stern and really loud and said "Listen. You are not helping. You need to stop talking and take out your novels and read. NOW." Then as I was walking from the center of the room to the TV, the new kid says "Miss- Miss--- Get me that book would you?" So without even turning and looking at him, I said, "Excuse me, I have a name and you have legs. Learn how to use them!" The class got SILENT and one girl said "Daaaaayumn." Then, after lunch, the kid goes "We are NOT watching any more of that movie." I stared at him, tapped my foot, crossed my arms, and said, "Actually we are. Sit down." Letting him know I'm not taking his crap is really empowering for me and he is starting to get a little better! I wish the school would support teachers when they punish students, but instead the only real punishment we can give students is after school detention... and that is detention WITH US, the teachers. So if we want to punish students, we have to punish ourselves, too. It makes us not want to give any kind of punishments.

I am looking forward to wrapping up this placement in the next 2.5 weeks and looking forward to my own job and my own classroom! Cross your fingers!

Here I go again, on my own... Week four, the second time around

This was an interesting week. I continued with my 11th grade class and started discussing the upcoming week when I'll have all three classes to teach. The 11th graders are a handful. It's hard for me forget about my experience with the 8th graders, which makes working with the 11th graders more difficult. My middle-schoolers seemed to care much more than the high-schoolers. Also, the quality of work from 14-year-olds has been far superior to that of my 17-year-olds. They were also held to a higher standard than the high schoolers. It's so weird how a slight change in geographic changes everything.

The biggest struggle I face is classroom management. The room is set up in a way that keeps me from really seeing everyone at the same time. I also think my kids are used to a more casual sort of classroom, and it's been difficult for me because I am used to kids chatting while my co-op teaches, but then my co-op says I "absolutely cannot allow talking when I'm talking," so she's telling me things that are opposite from what she's doing.

It's tricky to go in and work with kids who flat-out tell me "I don't care." I gave an in-class assignment worth 50 points, and part of it was to write about a time when they had experienced "literary magic," through a book, movie, etc. I explained to them numerous times what I meant by this, but when one student turned in his paper I noticed he hadn't completed that part of it. I asked if he wanted one more night to think about it, since he started the assignment a day after everyone else. He looked at me and said "I don't know what I'm supposed to do," so I started explaining it again. He responded, "Well, I really don't care, so you can just take it." I said, "Are you sure? It's worth 10 points on a 50 point assignment." He shrugged and said again, "Nah, it's ok. I don't read. I've never experienced it. I don't care."

I think it's really sad that this is happening, but I don't know how to fix it. I have adopted a new slogan: "You have to do it anyway." I tell the students, "You have to be in school anyway, so you might as well try to enjoy it. You have to do the assignment anyway, so you might as well do it well." It seems like that worked pretty well with them, and now I leave it on the board all the time for them to look at.

Also, I've found that the most effective way to keep my class engaged is to give them "artsy" activities. I had them choose a scene from Fahrenheit, and they had to either write a script in class or draw a picture of it, then present it to the class. This is the second in-class drawing/writing assignment we've done, and they get really into doing this stuff. They're all focused and working hard. We also had a great class discussion the other day, where they all had to stand and couldn't sit down until they answered or asked a question. They could get extra credit for extra participation. It was a pretty good day, except one girl yelled out "GOD! Why are people asking such stupid questions!!!" I couldn't believe it. The next day, everyone had the chance to write their response to a prompt about respect and their generation. It was interesting to see their responses and realize that they all come from different places and different situations. Learning about circumstances that have changed them and made them who they are today has helped me understand why they say and do certain things.

Generally, I think I'm doing pretty well with this placement. I don't enjoy it the way I enjoyed my first placement, but I think that is a combination of the students, the school, and some of the other teachers. I don't feel as connected to the rest of the staff or the students as I did in the first placement, and the school is much more strict and less encouraging of its student teachers. I'm ready to teach the electives the next two weeks, then start phasing out the instruction of my 11th graders until May 7... Hopefully there will be some job interviews in there too!

A Short Week 3

What a week! I'll jump right in: Monday and Tuesday were "normal" days. Start with AP, move on to Creative Writing, add in some 11th graders and Fahrenheit 451, and end with a planning period. Our Storyteller, Andrew, was back, and this week he had us DANCING! It was nuts, and some kids didn't want to participate. In fact, I felt odd participating because I am trying to establish myself as a respectable, professional authority in the classroom, but my co-op and other teachers who were in to check out Andrew were totally into the dancing, so I danced in a civilized and "professional" manner. I'm trying to immerse myself in this experience.

That being said, I am definitely seeing that I am meant for middle school, though again, that may be clouded by the differences in the two placements, not just the age group. Coming home the first 8 weeks, I could say to myself every day "This is what I'm meant to do" and mean it. Now, I am so excited to just get through each day. Maybe it's the setting. Maybe it's the block scheduling. Maybe it's the material I'm teaching. Maybe I have senioritis. I'm not sure: I just know that the first 8 weeks was better for me than the second set of the first three weeks have been so far.

On Wednesday we had an early dismissal, and we had a Pep Rally. Classes went from 80 minutes to 36 minutes, so I gave the 11th grade class the first part of their quiz. Everyone has at least an 80% so far. They'll finish the quiz on Tuesday, but the second part will be more difficult. I've been providing an average of 1 handout per day, and they are complaining about all the papers I've been giving them. They end up throwing the papers away. One of the handouts I've given has been a vocab handout, and only about 3 students have actually completed this handout. They'll be SHOCKED when I tell them to take out the vocab handout on Tuesday to use as a guide on their quiz. Some will get mad, but all will realize that they need to keep track of the papers I give to them.

Other than this, I don't know if there's much else. My co-op and I have decided there must be some reason I am at this placement right now, with the Storyteller and PSSAs coming up. She said it's a weird experience for me, but she thinks it will be important in my professional development.

Right now I'm excited to rest and get myself together for Tuesday. We didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, and we don't have school Monday, so I'm looking forward to giving myself a nice mental break and preparing emotionally and mentally for Tuesday.