Ah, late August, a time to show up on a 100+ degree day in a jacket and tie and pretend you're not sweating profusely as you stand closely by your CT and smile while making encouraging eye contact with the 25 students in the English III class you've decided to observe. You take in the wall decorations, the inspirational quotes gleaned from Shakespeare, the Breakfast Club and Office Space movie posters, the little useful signs proclaiming magical tools for the activation of student learning.
"FANBOYS," "THE DEAD VERB LIST," "PASSIVE VOICE."
By now, you've been through a lot of classes; each one supposedly instrumental in preparing you for these moments when you are going to be floating through the room, passing out or picking up assignments, chatting with students, answering questions about the difference between "idiom" and "analogy." Frankly, you're still nervous; and let's face it, you're still not that sure you’re going to be any good at this teaching stuff. Sure, you know all the books, you love the language, and you’ve even sat through some pretty sick and twisted classes to get to this point (STATISTICS? REALLY? WHY?!).
You've learned all the rules of writing well enough that you've gotten used to breaking them elegantly.
The CT, Ms. T., introduces you and tells the students how lucky they are to have you as a resource in the classroom. You smirk at the word. You're still not sure if you're a very reliable resource. Confidence is a big issue for you. Knowing what you're talking about doesn't yet mean in your mind that you can get other people to know what you're talking about.
Now, you look at your CT's daily objective board and you smirk your way through Monday with the kids all shyly raising hands when you pass by, not sure about you, but still in that mode of exploratory curiosity that will carry them through the first few weeks of school.
But of course, I'm writing in the second person when I should be writing in the first.
This was my first Monday. I'd spent the summer in summer classes, hurrying to meet requirements, trying not to let any of my grades dip below a B so that I could continue on, unimpeded, towards the ultimate goal of my own classroom with my own batch of 170 High School Students with attentions spans running the gambit from minimal to that of the Zen-Buddhist-super-student.
The school is large, old, wooden floors, separate libraries for fiction and non-fiction, wings separated so that social sciences, language arts, math, and physical sciences don't crowd each other out. It's not a block schedule, which is new to me as a teacher, and frankly a lot less complicated. I think I prefer it, after a week. The kids know where they're going already. It's one less thing for them to worry about. That is a good thing.
Routines and Procedures are already being run through by this highly effective teacher; a protocol for handing in assignments, the establishment of daily bell work or "D.O.L." to use a "T.L.A." Students have assigned seats with numbers and the teacher has a little cup of popsicle sticks with numbers matching the numbers on the chairs. She calls them "magic sticks" and they work the lottery system for getting volunteers from the audience.
"Number 15." A boy rises. "Ah, Jeremy, come on up! Can you diagram this sentence for us?"
One by one they come up. Answers are usually right, or-- if slightly off-- corrected cordially by another volunteer. It's amazing how fast the hour goes. A Daily Oral Language assignment, a class activity, assigned desk work in groups or pairs, and then the bell.
That was Monday.
Tuesday is the same, only instead of diagraming its sentence revision. Examples are taken from "real papers from past classes." The CT goes over common errors: "it's and its," "your and you're," "there, their, and they're," "doin instead of doing." And on the back she shows them the second half of the assignment, dealing with passive voice.
Each day the assignments are completed. They are pre-punched with three holes so the students can file them away in binders along with the class syllabus and tentative schedule. On Wednesday they have a binder check. On Fridays they'll hand in D.O.L. and any homework they had to take home to complete.
Wednesday is the same as Monday, only the air conditioner has gone out and it's 89 and climbing in the classroom. The teacher has moved the class to the computer lab, leaving a note on her door. Today they get a two page packet: Thesis Statements.
Do you know the Formula for Thesis Statements? Well, I didn't, but I'm glad I do now.
Topic + Opinion = Thesis Statement.
After a review D.O.L. on sentence revision they start in on the packet. It's cool in the computer lab and I'm beginning to notice the kids are getting more comfortable raising their hands and asking me questions. Showing up early, I had a chance to meet some other CTs and faculty. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm a student teacher and I keep telling them, "next semester. For now, I still need the training wheels."
At the end of Thursday (AC still not fixed, we met in the fiction library), I've begun pilfering the assignments, taking them each home, photocopying them, and filing them away. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm planning to steal a lot of my CTs stuff to cannibalize for my own classes later on. We've begun talking about upcoming units on the Moderns (1914 and onward). She mentions poetry, and Of Mice and Men. I perk up having just completed a course in contemporary poetry.
"I've still got all the books and print outs in my car."
Tomorrow, I'm taking a few poems into class with me. I'm thinking I might have a few D.O.L. prompts to get the students thinking about common themes and imagery of the Modern period in American poetry and prose. I'm looking forward to Friday. The kids are actually a pretty nice bunch. I'm slowly beginning to learn names. Some of them are talkative, others are quiet, but I think most of them seem to enjoy this English Class. There's a smooth flow to the structure and by the end of week two, the CT has yet to truly enforce her discipline plan.
There will be more next week. Until then, I will leave you with my "inspirational pedagogical quote of the week" gleaned from my Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." – Goethe.
NOTE: "T.L.A." stands for Three-Letter Acronym.
NOTE: "T.L.A." stands for Three-Letter Acronym.
I actually liked the second person opening. I was there with you, remembering first days and classrooms galore. It also reminded me that I could have and should have been studying the classroom and not just the students while that Devry rep was presenting. I remember I liked the feeling and layout of the classroom but I cannot recall any specifics. I cannot wait until Monday to actually look around and take notes. Also to see my CT in action.
ReplyDeleteI love that your CT calls them “magic stick.” It makes them seem less like torture hardware and more...miraculous. I have been with several teachers who are proponents of pre-punching assignments. It really makes sense and it is much easier than a 20 student queue at the hole punch at bell time. I was with one teacher who had the students hold onto homework they got done early until it was due. She said she was preparing them for college and protecting their work from getting mixed up with unrelated paperwork. Binders are such a huge part of education now and the students need to use them appropriately.
My current CT though says she does not give out homework as a norm. I can certainly understand her point as high school students have so much going on outside the classroom. I do not plan on handing homework out willy-nilly myself once I am a teacher. However I will do it throughout the school year on occasion because they need to prepare for college, which is also busy outside the classroom. That said students cannot always get the in-class work done in class. I get the feeling that is what you were talking about. That gives us another chance to learn. If we see an assignment that is supposed to be completed in class but the majority of students cannot than we can take note and adjust our own expectations. If the majority get the work done we should also take note at what was perfect about that type of assignment and its contents. I don't want the difficulty or duration to be too far beyond my CT's and put the student off.
I had never specifically seen the formula for thesis statements. I really liked that.
I am curious about the discipline plan you mention towards the end. Although I hope it isn't implemented, I hope to hear more about it. I am always curious about how teacher approach discipline. I could not believe how many students where in the offices with 3 or more detentions already while I was waiting to be seen. I wonder what so many young adults could have done in their first 2 weeks to glean half a dozen detentions. I wonder how many were deserved and how many were not.