Learning to Teach: Day by Day

The Weekend

flank6a — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:22:26 +0000

After a terrible week, I have had a day or so to recoup and reevaluate some things in my class. First of all, the templates for my routines were off. I was using the same policies and procedures that another teacher had used before me. Turns out that this was crazy. Her rules make no sense, and the other teachers at my school mentioned how ridiculously burdened this teacher was last year.

I have been fortunate enough to have an incredibly supportive administrative team, as well as a great colleague base. We have been chatting and reorganizing the syllabus. At last I feel that I have SOME semblance of a plan. During our inservice, the faculty created a set of norms for conducting business between professionals. These include things like always having a goal for a meeting, and coming up with next steps. In our meetings, the department “chair” and I have been using our “norms” in order to conduct business. This makes me feel way more accomplished and clear-headed.

I am considering last week a scratch. It sucked- but now I have to make it work. First thing will be to tell my students that I have thought about the week and need to change some things around. Hopefully it is early enough for this to work. I also have fans in the class, but this hasn’t really helped too much. The kids are still sweating, and as for me, I have lost about 10lbs since the middle of August – so the heat is definitely screwing with me.

Tomorrow I have to plan the first unit. The Global Studies team is meeting to work out some things. The other

First Week Blues

flank6a — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:05:29 +0000

I have had three days of school, and already want to quit. I keep trying to tell myself that things will get better, but I can’t seem to see through the fog of not knowing what the hell I am doing. For some reason, I felt that UTeach prepared me for school- but really, that’s nowhere near the truth. There so many things I have never thought about that make teaching almost unbearable. I don’t know how to get organized, I don’t know how to plan a full curriculum, and I don’t feel confident enough to deal with all of the fucked up things that 9th graders have to say to each other. I feel like Rick Smith’s proverbial “Mr. Meanswell.”

Let me summarize some of the crazy shit that went on this week. First of all, the schedule at my school is absolute nightmare. It’s almost like college, only entirely crazy. MWF classes are 45 minutes. TTH classes are 70. I teach 3 courses of Global Studies. I see some of my courses on some days, and some on others. I only see ALL of my classes on TTH, and then not in the same order. On Tues for example, I see Class 3 then 2, then 1. On Thurs I see class 1, then 2, then 3. I see class 1 on MTWTh, class 2 on TWThF, and Class 3 on MTThF. Really, this makes me completely off schedule. I have no clue how to teach in this format. I have sought help, but don’t know how to really put everything together.

Second, we STILL don’t have a proper schedule. I woke up yesterday and learned that I had to teach a recovery class. Today, that changed. I also apparently have 2 study halls I’m supposed to monitor as well as an Advisory class.

Third, I have no airconditioning in my class. This means that my kids are hot, irritable, and sweaty. I am also exceedingly sweaty because I have been in my crazy hot classroom all day. I seriously believe that I sweat out at least 5lbs a day. This is no good, considering I haven’t really figured out how to eat properly. Hot kids + hot teacher = bad news bears.

Fourth, procedures just don’t make sense. Don’t know how to do them. Don’t know how to implement them. Don’t know how to teach them.

I’m falling apart…

starts and stops

flank6a — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:57:29 +0000

Ok, so I’ve decided to take a different track. I may as well write about some personal things as well teaching, considering I am a person, and do tend try to have a life.

I moved to New York on July 31 from Dallas. Prior to that I had been in Austin where I was desperately trying to sell all of my furniture in order to move up here. Craigslist proved to be a godsend in that front. Just as I was getting scared of having to dump a couch, desk, and several chairs, a nice couple from up in Round Rock came to collect everything from me. They came prepared: trailer, hitch, boots – the whole shebang.

Gab and I packed up all of my stuff, having thrown away most everything I owned. I managed to pack my entire life into 2 suitcases – pretty impressive I thought. Once I got on the plane from Dallas to New York, I had a strange unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. It didn’t seem right to be moving. And, once I moved into my new place in Harlem, that feeling only grew stronger. From the moment I stepped into my apartment I felt out of sorts. The place was fine; in fact, it was clean, new, pretty – all things one could ask for in a place. I just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, and to top it off, I probably sweated away 5lbs due to the humidity while I shlepped my bags up and down two different fourth floor walkups.

After several days of going crazy, I decided to move out of the place. I went on craiglist, quickly found a new apartment (double the rent mind you), and moved out. The landlady was pissed- but I really could care less. After 2 weeks I found someone to take over the lease – and that’s that.

Now school is about to start (on my birthday) and I couldn’t be more nervous. I haven’t been able to pull myself together until now. Planning an entire year seems a daunting task to say the least. I’ve got about 4000 years of history to cover, and 180 to do it in. It amazes me that Texas only gives ONE YEAR to cover this stuff. We have 2 here in New York, and it still seems crazy.

Introductions: New Teacher Staff Development

flank6a — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:51:04 +0000

Clearly it has been several months since the last time I sat down to write anything. Since March, many things have happened. First of all, I graduated. And secondly, I got a job teaching at SoBro, a small 6-12 grade in Mott Haven, New York.

Mott Haven is a notoriously difficult area in which to teach. The population which we serve is one of the poorest in the nation, heavily populated by immigrants, and comes along with all of the baggage associated with poverty: low academic ability, limited English proficiency, broken and/or dysfunctional homes etc. Our school has made a concerted effort to provide the children of this neighborhood with as rigorous and as challenging an education possible, with the stated goal of ensuring that our students enter and succeed in college.

The building in which our school is located used to belong to a particularly frightening high school, until this school was fazed out and replaced by two smaller schools. SoBro is the result of several years’ work in partnership with a national non-profit agency that tries to grow opportunities for college entrance. We have a small staff, and a small population of students which will allow us to provide much more focused attention to our students.

Today was the first day of new teacher staff development. The majority of the new teachers are young, between the ages of 22 and 28. However, there are a smattering of older teachers. While this has the potential to be a fairly frightening situation, the atmosphere provided by all the older teachers and the administrators has proven (so far) to be one of cooperation and kindness. From the moment we stepped into school, I felt comfortable.

In our staff development session, we focused on several key issues. The key idea which I learned today was the importance of protocol. This provides a framework in which we as teachers and as colleagues can create dialog and discussion without getting caught up in the swirling and twirling of circular jargon and BS.

Overall, today was a successful and enlightening experience. Hopefully tomorrow will prove similar

Theme for the week: disappointing

flank6a — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:44:45 +0000

The past few weeks have been rather disappointing. A series of events have made me feel like I’m in a slump, trying desperately to claw my way back up to normality. First of all, that girl who came into my class after being called terrible names by her previous teacher has been sent to the alternative school. The CT and I have tried hard to make at least OUR classroom a welcoming place for her, and when she is present she makes the effort, seeming genuinely interested in learning. However, in one incident she betrayed the trust that we have in class by using my, and the CT’s name while skipping in the cafeteria. She said, “Well they let me be here!” to the AP who interrogated her. It’s just disappointing.

Also, this blog project is not going so well. The students who participate have done a great job, and I’ve spent a great deal of time working out all the kinks and problems in order to make this an interesting and engaging project. However, the majority of people in each class do not do the assignments, and I really don’t know how to get them to work. I remind the students each week of the upcoming assignments every day. I give them extra time to complete the assignments. I’ve even had a “you’re better than this” speech with the kids. I had hoped that this would work out much better than it has. Again, disappointing.

Finally, I was walking down the hallway when I ran into one of my students sitting. She is in ROTC, and was wearing her fatigues. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hey A…, how are you today?
A: Oh, not so good Mr. Cane
Me: What’s wrong?
A: Well I got passed up for promotion in ROTC again this week. I just don’t understand it. I’ve been trying really hard this year, and I still didn’t get promoted.
Me: Hmmm. Well have you spoken with the [person in charge]?
A: Well yeah, I spoke with Col., and he didn’t really say much. I’m so mad. I know the Major doesn’t like me. I think I just want to quit.
Me: Okay A. I understand why you are upset. I understand that you are mad. I know how much this hurts, and feel for you. But don’t make the decision to quit while you are in this state. Remember, you make bad decisions when you are angry. So take the weekend to think about a few things, and then come back to school on Monday ready to face the challenge.
A: Thanks Mr. Cane. That makes a lot of sense.

I walked away from this conversation happy that I had this interaction with the girl. We had a connection, and I really felt like I helped her. I recounted this story to the CT, and he was also impressed by the way I handled this situation. Nevertheless, he told me that the Major [guy in charge of the whole ROTC] does not tend to promote girls. I was struck still by just how unfair this whole situation is. This poor girl works very hard in my class, and so I believe her when she says she worked hard for ROTC. Yet, despite this she wont’ get promoted. Once more, disappointing.

AirSet part duex

flank6a — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:40:42 +0000

Oh man… today was crazy. Somehow this project snowballed from a small class experiment and into a district survey of my ability to conduct online information. YIKES! The chair of the social studies department, as well as the principal of the school came in today to see how exactly what we were doing. I even had the district technology coordinator contact me and ask me to join the AirSet group. Luckily, everyone seems reall excited about the possibilities of using the program. I just hope that I can live up to their expectations. This basically means that assignments need to be nothing short of kickass!

I have to remember to tell the students that their work is being scrutinized by district officials. I wander how they will take it! Oy vey, I feel like I’ve bitten off a bit more than I can chew.

AirSet Project

flank6a — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:22:37 +0000

Since the beginning of the semester, I thought about conducting an assignment in which the students wrote and contributed to an online blog forum. I spent a lot of time on the Internet searching for different programs, applications, websites, wikis etc., in order to find one suitable enough to use for the class. In order to maintain some semblance of order, the CT and I had to consult with the district tech guy. Fortunately for me, an English teacher down the hall stopped by one day and spoke about a project using AirSet.com to conduct student discussions. So after jumping through some administrative hoops with the tech guy, I decided to use this site.

The idea behind this project was to ask students to use a technology that is relatively safe, easy, and reliable to use. I would like my students to practice writing historical argumentation, as well as be able to discuss class issues with one another.

I had the laptops in class today for the first time. The CT and I had to spend a lot of time this morning going through each step in the process to ensure it was working. From the get go, several things went wrong:

There were only 15 laptops
One of the laptops was not charged
The main laptop had trouble booting up
Not really related to MY class, but the CT had TWO overhead projector bulbs blow out

We felt like there was a technology-sucking vortex that just would not allow us to fully utilize the tools we had available. Nevertheless, once class time started the students were quite agreeable. This was how the lesson looked:

Introduced the topic by explaining what I wanted from the class.
Handed the Internet Pledge which outlined my expectations for the way the class conducts online discussions.
Then, went over the actual project by handing out the paperwork. We went through the first two pages, but did not get to the rubric. Tomorrow I will actually go through the rubric.
Asked students to come up row by row to get the computers (they had to be in pairs.)
I asked one student if she wanted to be a guinea pig and take us through step by step in signing up for AirSet. She complied (this particular student needs some accommodations and really enjoys helping with handing out worksheets, grades etc.)
I set the students loose and asked them to contribute by using the first blog assignment as an example: “What happened Today in History.” I also provided a link to the History Channel. This modeling showed them how to upload comments, as well as have practice inserting hyperlinks and searching the web. Some students used other sites on the web and provided links.
Once I had the students signed up (and had showed students without email addresses how to get free ones) I pointed them towards a webquest assignment that was due. Here is where I lost them.
- First, the directions on the webquest were not clear. I needed to spend more time explaining step-by-step directions.
- Second, it was not clear how I wanted them to answer (blog? paper? upload to site?)
- Therefore, I will need to readdress this particular portion tonight

Overall, the first legs of this project seem to be going off quite well. The bumps that I had to go through today helped to consider where I need to adjust the lesson tomorrow. The key ingredient in this particular assignment is patience. I need to remember that some students aren’t as tech savvy as I am (and there are others who waaay surpass me) and so need to provide time to hash out the details. I am very excited about the possibilities that this project holds. Hopefully the students do too. They expressed some misgivings today because the Internet was slow, and things broke down… but I think they will see the utility of the project as the six weeks progresses. However, if they don’t, that’s ok. This is a learning experience after all!

Stops and starts

flank6a — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:45:31 +0000

I am finding it exceedingly difficult to maintain a sense of continuity with my classes. The reason I say this is because every week we have had something that disrupts my presence in the classroom. First, we have our weekly seminar down at UT from 1-4pm every Monday. This is all fine and dandy, because despite what some of my colleagues think of it, I actually learn something every time (except for last week when I spent the entire 3 hour period working on AirSet for my students). Leaving for UT in the middle of the day causes problems for me because I don’t get to see some of my students almost all week. Because the school is on a block schedule, every other Monday is a “B Day.” On B days I teach 3 out of the four classes I’ve taken over. Now, leaving in the middle of the day means that I completely miss out on teaching the second two periods. This translates into putting more pressure than necessary on the CT; less involvement on my part; and a sense of transiency between teachers on the part of the students. To the students, every day is a crapshoot, with them thinking “who is gonna be teaching today?” I think this opens up an atmosphere that has the potential to detract from learning.

________________________________________________________

The best moment of this week was on Tuesday (if I recall correctly). We got a new student towards the end of January who had been having trouble with her previous history teacher. He had called her some names in front of the class, prompting her quick removal and replacement into our class. As I had already taken over when she came into the class, I think she identifies me as her primary teacher (which is pretty cool!) Anyways, recognizing her previous negative experience with teachers, I have tried to make her feel as welcome as possible in the class, and have noticed that she consistently cooperates and participates.

One key moment last Tuesday cemented the fact that she enjoyed class. Generally, when I check homework I walk around the class with a stamp so I can talk to the students and correct their work. This takes a bit of time, but I know that students can’t pay attention for a full 90 minutes – and this gives me a way to interact one-on-one with the students. Well, a couple of weeks ago I ran out of ink for the stamps I use. On Tuesday, after going to TAKS camp for the day, this young lady came by the classroom and presented me with a brand new two-sided stamp. I really appreciated the gesture, and made sure to tell her so. Unfortunately, because of the multiple times I had to miss class week, I have been unable to use the stamp in her class to actually show that I cared.

Content v. Bells and Whistles

flank6a — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:27:40 +0000

I had an epiphany the other day, and it’s really quite a shame that it’s taken me so long for this to really hit home. Every day is a constant battle between how to present a whole bunch of information that, to be honest, I don’t have a total grasp on myself. For example, today I taught three different classes the same lesson about Enlightened Absolutism. It’s been a real long time since I looked at this material, and so had to brush up a whole bunch. While I do know a little bit about this topic, it was quite difficult for me to get a proper hold on the details that I wanted to get across (most of my personal background being in African History). So while worrying about the fact that I didn’t exactly know what I was teaching, I was also worried about how I was teaching. For the most part, I lectured to the class, trying to incorporate some of the big ideas from previous classes.

Now, going through my head all day were a few main thoughts:

“Holy crap! I don’t know what I’m talking about!”
“Oh man, right as I am saying these words, the kids are totally bored. All I’m doing is talking, and getting like three kids interested. UTeach would be MAAAD.”
“How can I assign them to work in groups if I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I know I’m not supposed to lecture, but I’m all out of ‘constructivist’ ideas.”
“Is there another way for these kids to get this info?”
“Seriously, why do the only ideas I have somehow incorporate giant sticky notes and markers?… wait… I know why.”

On top of all this, I am setting up a student blog site on airset.com , and have become totally engrossed in the minutiae. Yesterday I spent three hours trying to work out all the details, and as a result I wasn’t really able to study up on the aforementioned material of Enlightened Absolutism. So I’m discovering now that being creative and coming up with new ideas really needs to follow having a strong grasp of content. Revolutionary right? Not really. It just never seemed so real until now.

Moving on…

I worry about a couple of my students who consistently don’t show up to class. These kids basically have a 50% attendance rate, if that. One girl seems like all she cares about is dropping out, and today she told me that is going to A-Plus, the credit recovery center because, “I just don’t do any work in here.” Obviously she knows what she’s doing, and the CT says that she really is just biding her time before she drops out completely.

Alright… enough for now. Fortunately tomorrow we are talking about the American Revolution: something I know quite a bit about

New format I suppose…

flank6a — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:06:18 +0000

This is just a post to try and make the organization of this site a bit better. Instead of posting the the weekly “Classroom Responses” on the main page, they will be added in the “Classroom Responses” tab.

Super.