Today we began discussing the eight stages of genocide, something I didn't even know existed until I stumbled upon it when I was browsing information on the web. The document itself is written at a ridiculously high level, so I copied and pasted it and deleted information that I knew would frustrate my kids. We went over text structure and then individually they sorted through each stage and created their own definition and examples of how the stage operates. It was pretty powerful stuff. We were having meaningful conversations and making some great T-W connections. The three they seemed to own the most were classification, symbolization, and dehumanization (I thought they would get this one given the amount of time we spent on it during Sold. Listening and unpacking these stages was so insightful for me, and it reminded me why I love teaching. The lights were going off, and I was able to witness it.
We also did a pretest on different types of sentence, as well as fragments and run on sentences. OH MY. I have a lot of work to do in this area, but at least I have some direction on what we need to work on in small groups. Thankfully, some of them won't need a mini lesson at all, which is great because it means I can spend my time efficiently.
I'm excited about this unit and can't wait to watch it unfold!
P.S I picked a book..If I Should Die before Wake
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Breathing Room
The end of the second trimester came to an end last Thursday, and to say I was eager for third trimester to start is an understatement. You see, somehow, powerschool recognized that my sanity relied heavily on a little change of scenery and a little less kids. Powerschool makes a lot of mistakes, but it did something right when it divided my sections into manageable class sizes and separated some personalities that should never, ever, get back together. (Sorry, T-Swift). Anyway, I have 23 kids in my 3rd hour compared to 32, and I can walk, and we can move, and it isn't ridiculously loud, and everyone has a seat, and they're normal 9th graders, rather than off the chain 9th graders. I will most definitely say some extra prayers tonight.
So, let's reflect on the first day. My department head and neighbor at school has devised a pretty awesome bell ringer system. He was kind enough to forward these to me so that I could begin to create my own. Today was our first go, and it was purposeful, and eye opening, and made it easier to talk about fragments, run on sentences, and the treasured sentence. They change from day to day, and I've tweaked them to be my own, but these are the first bell ringers I've ever found effective and worth my time.
I decided to start the trimester with a general overview of the 8 genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century before focusing on the Holocaust. I was taken aback today by the lack of background knowledge my students actually had about the Holocaust. A few had read Anne Frank or touched briefly on it in history class, but very few were able to make any T-T or T-W connections. Usually when I begin a unit I try to front load a lot, but I didn't think that was necessary for this unit. Lesson number one...don't assume. Thankfully, I have the first couple of weeks devoted to researching the different genocides, including the Holocaust, so they will definitely be equipped with ample background knowledge before we begin reading the selected text (I have yet to decide which text). I would love to do The Book Thief but we only have enough copies for my honors class to read it.
Stupid budget cuts.
So, let's reflect on the first day. My department head and neighbor at school has devised a pretty awesome bell ringer system. He was kind enough to forward these to me so that I could begin to create my own. Today was our first go, and it was purposeful, and eye opening, and made it easier to talk about fragments, run on sentences, and the treasured sentence. They change from day to day, and I've tweaked them to be my own, but these are the first bell ringers I've ever found effective and worth my time.
I decided to start the trimester with a general overview of the 8 genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century before focusing on the Holocaust. I was taken aback today by the lack of background knowledge my students actually had about the Holocaust. A few had read Anne Frank or touched briefly on it in history class, but very few were able to make any T-T or T-W connections. Usually when I begin a unit I try to front load a lot, but I didn't think that was necessary for this unit. Lesson number one...don't assume. Thankfully, I have the first couple of weeks devoted to researching the different genocides, including the Holocaust, so they will definitely be equipped with ample background knowledge before we begin reading the selected text (I have yet to decide which text). I would love to do The Book Thief but we only have enough copies for my honors class to read it.
Stupid budget cuts.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Confessions
One of the most important pieces of reflective practice is, well, reflecting. Unfortunately, sometimes reflection can point out some glaring deficiencies. In January, my student teacher took over my first hour, I assist 4th and 5th, and I am solely responsible for 3rd hour.
I emphasize solely, because at the end of the day, no matter how much we know that students have to be held accountable, we don't have a system in place to do that for kids who are not afraid of failure. My third hour has been a struggle since the beginning of the school year, and while there have been moments of growth, I fear we've remained stagnant. Many of them are still stuck on how to turn a question into a statement without writing a run on sentence, and I'm fully aware that they should have owned the art of writing paragraphs long ago.
Yesterday, I tried splitting them into groups of three so I could work with a small group (of TEN) on their writing and it was a disaster. We always hear that we need to reteach it in a new way, but what happens when we run out of new ways to teach it? Or don't have the energy to redirect the same misbehavior for the 20th time so we CAN teach it? Because I'm there. I don't know what else to do. It's painful at times because I look at their faces and I can tell that some of them simply do not understand what I mean when I say to support their writing with examples. Some of them just don't care about reading, writing, or school in general. Others are getting it, but they're tired of dealing with the ridiculousness and have resigned to just being present. This isn't quality teaching, and it isn't quality learning. Yet, we're teaching in a broken system and too many people just don't give a damn. The powers that be are too busy passing laws so more students can attend private schools, resulting in higher class sizes, burned out teachers, and less resources for those of us who commit ourselves to public education.
I don't want the students in my third hour to drop out. I don't want the students in my third hour to get the short end of quality instruction. I don't want them to become a statistic, or to live up to every single stereotype that already exists for them. I don't want to be mad and frustrated every day, yet that's where I'm at. It isn't where I have to stay, though, so I'll do some more reflecting and pray that the new trimester will bring a little relief.
I emphasize solely, because at the end of the day, no matter how much we know that students have to be held accountable, we don't have a system in place to do that for kids who are not afraid of failure. My third hour has been a struggle since the beginning of the school year, and while there have been moments of growth, I fear we've remained stagnant. Many of them are still stuck on how to turn a question into a statement without writing a run on sentence, and I'm fully aware that they should have owned the art of writing paragraphs long ago.
Yesterday, I tried splitting them into groups of three so I could work with a small group (of TEN) on their writing and it was a disaster. We always hear that we need to reteach it in a new way, but what happens when we run out of new ways to teach it? Or don't have the energy to redirect the same misbehavior for the 20th time so we CAN teach it? Because I'm there. I don't know what else to do. It's painful at times because I look at their faces and I can tell that some of them simply do not understand what I mean when I say to support their writing with examples. Some of them just don't care about reading, writing, or school in general. Others are getting it, but they're tired of dealing with the ridiculousness and have resigned to just being present. This isn't quality teaching, and it isn't quality learning. Yet, we're teaching in a broken system and too many people just don't give a damn. The powers that be are too busy passing laws so more students can attend private schools, resulting in higher class sizes, burned out teachers, and less resources for those of us who commit ourselves to public education.
I don't want the students in my third hour to drop out. I don't want the students in my third hour to get the short end of quality instruction. I don't want them to become a statistic, or to live up to every single stereotype that already exists for them. I don't want to be mad and frustrated every day, yet that's where I'm at. It isn't where I have to stay, though, so I'll do some more reflecting and pray that the new trimester will bring a little relief.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Those Who CAN
Last Friday I turned in my teacher of the year portfolio. While I wasn't looking forward to putting together the portfolio, it was pretty powerful. I was able to take the time to reflect on my growth as a teacher. I had almost forgotten about my first year teaching on a cart (maybe I just tried to repress the awful memory) and the million and one first-year teacher mistakes I made. Bless Pat Lorenc for being my mentor teacher, because I'm pretty sure she helped me maintain my sanity. Thankfully, I had a classroom the next year, but it came with a partial contract (hello, debt) that was less than ideal. I could continue to chronicle the years leading up to today, but that's not what this post is about.
This post is about everything that is impossible to teach in education courses.
1. A student who is angry and crying because it is the anniversary of her mother's death
2. How to handle the student who thinks it's grand to speak in a British/Australian/ accent at any point in the day...and then do cartwheels down the hall.
3. Providing consequences to students that actually matter (in case you wondered, ISS and OSS don't)
4. How to deal with a classroom of raging hormones
5. What to say when a new student arrives at your door who tells you he's been in jail for a year (nice to meet you??)
6. Remembering to take attendance
7. How to address 10 different questions at one time
8. What to say to a scared 14 year old who just found out she's pregnant
9. A student's death
10. How not to strangle a parent who is abusing his child
11. How to write recommendation letters :) I have this one down now!
12. How to work a copy machine (thankfully, I do not jam ours)
13. Finding a balance between your life as a teacher and your life outside of the classroom
14. How to say NO
15. Um, he brought a picture of WHAT? He showed it to WHO? OK. Um...let's go to the office
In case you're curious, all fifteen of those occurred over the past two weeks. 10 of those in one day. I could write a list longer than this, but I think you get the gist. Teaching is about more than teaching...it's about making meaning of the experience we call life. And that is no easy task.
This post is about everything that is impossible to teach in education courses.
1. A student who is angry and crying because it is the anniversary of her mother's death
2. How to handle the student who thinks it's grand to speak in a British/Australian/ accent at any point in the day...and then do cartwheels down the hall.
3. Providing consequences to students that actually matter (in case you wondered, ISS and OSS don't)
4. How to deal with a classroom of raging hormones
5. What to say when a new student arrives at your door who tells you he's been in jail for a year (nice to meet you??)
6. Remembering to take attendance
7. How to address 10 different questions at one time
8. What to say to a scared 14 year old who just found out she's pregnant
9. A student's death
10. How not to strangle a parent who is abusing his child
11. How to write recommendation letters :) I have this one down now!
12. How to work a copy machine (thankfully, I do not jam ours)
13. Finding a balance between your life as a teacher and your life outside of the classroom
14. How to say NO
15. Um, he brought a picture of WHAT? He showed it to WHO? OK. Um...let's go to the office
In case you're curious, all fifteen of those occurred over the past two weeks. 10 of those in one day. I could write a list longer than this, but I think you get the gist. Teaching is about more than teaching...it's about making meaning of the experience we call life. And that is no easy task.
Monday, January 21, 2013
An Escape
I'm a book geek and proud of it. I'm also a huge fan of YA literature, which is not always embraced by educators as being quality literature. I'm convinced that these people simply have not picked up recent YA literature and base their opinions solely on Twilight (I like Twilight, it just doesn't need to be taught!). I like to classify reading in my classroom into three categories: entertainment, life, and cultural literacy.
I do believe there are some books that students should be exposed to, yet, I do not agree that the books "we" have chosen as being culturally relevant are always on target. Last time I checked, white males are not the only people in our society. I do not mind teaching Shakespeare, Homer the blind poet, and all that good jazz. However, we owe it to students to expose them to non-white male authors who provide a cultural literacy about the current world, too.
Too many students have a profound hatred for books, and I can understand why. We over teach novels, we tell them what to think about the novels, and when they ask why they have to read it, we answer because we have to. That's not good enough.
We need to carefully examine the literature we teach and take some risks. I recently read The Fault in Our Stars which made me ache with a desire to live, to love, to take risks, and to embrace the sorrow that is an inevitable piece of the human experience. It is a book that deserves to be taught. It should be taught.
So, as a literacy specialist (yes, I have a master's in reading!), here are my suggestions for current YA reading that is about the human experience:
Sold
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Divergent
Bound
Never Fall Down
Split
Twisted
Boy 21
Between Shades of Gray
Jellicoe Road
Speak
The Piper's Son
Shatter Me
Copper Sun
Ophelia
A list for entertainment!
The Immortal Instruments (series)
Beautiful Creatures (series)
Under the Never Sky
Froi of the Exiles (could go above too!)
The Infernal Devices (series)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Legend
Jane
Matched (series)
Delirium (series)
Now, I need to get back to reading Cinder :)
I do believe there are some books that students should be exposed to, yet, I do not agree that the books "we" have chosen as being culturally relevant are always on target. Last time I checked, white males are not the only people in our society. I do not mind teaching Shakespeare, Homer the blind poet, and all that good jazz. However, we owe it to students to expose them to non-white male authors who provide a cultural literacy about the current world, too.
Too many students have a profound hatred for books, and I can understand why. We over teach novels, we tell them what to think about the novels, and when they ask why they have to read it, we answer because we have to. That's not good enough.
We need to carefully examine the literature we teach and take some risks. I recently read The Fault in Our Stars which made me ache with a desire to live, to love, to take risks, and to embrace the sorrow that is an inevitable piece of the human experience. It is a book that deserves to be taught. It should be taught.
So, as a literacy specialist (yes, I have a master's in reading!), here are my suggestions for current YA reading that is about the human experience:
Sold
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Divergent
Bound
Never Fall Down
Split
Twisted
Boy 21
Between Shades of Gray
Jellicoe Road
Speak
The Piper's Son
Shatter Me
Copper Sun
Ophelia
A list for entertainment!
The Immortal Instruments (series)
Beautiful Creatures (series)
Under the Never Sky
Froi of the Exiles (could go above too!)
The Infernal Devices (series)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Legend
Jane
Matched (series)
Delirium (series)
Now, I need to get back to reading Cinder :)
Friday, January 4, 2013
A Tad Emotional
I meant to write this post weeks ago, but my mind needed some time to just be. Now, I'm three days away from beginning the second half of the school year, and it seems timely to begin writing again.
The course I'm currently taking is time consuming, but it is also extremely applicable, which is something I am always thankful for. One of the topics we have been learning about is the role that emotion plays in the classroom. While inherently I think most teachers know that emotion is linked to our ability to learn, I'm not sure we always recognize the role it plays in our classroom.
Emotions are everywhere. I teach 9th grade, so these emotions are also tied to hormones. Lord, help us all. One of my requests is that when you are in my classroom, you are THERE. Not in la-la land, not in your math book because you forgot to do your homework, and not on twitter, or Facebook, or tumblr, or...you get the picture. However, I'm also realizing how much emotions can play in determining whether a student is truly present in my classroom.
Simply put, if a student is angry, sad, or irritated, it is difficult for him or her to put on a happy face and be excited about being in a classroom. Their mind and heart are in totally different places than their body. Yet, we often expect our students to act like an adult and flip the switch (let's be honest, sometimes we do not do it well either!). One of my students reminded me that it is not that simple. This student was upset about something that to me was kind of silly. However, she was genuinely upset, and it was clear she had become disengaged with what we were doing. I took her outside and we talked for a bit, and she said "you can't expect me to be happy just because you tell me to". Ahh, touche. I realized she was right. She needed time to decompress, to calm herself down, and come back when she was ready. So I gave it to her.
How often do we fail to give our kids time to just be? How often do we give our kids the time they need to handle their emotions, whatever they might be? I know some people, including some teachers, will say that students need to just deal with it. Yet, if we do not allow our students that time, then they won't be emotionally ready to learn in our class. We will lose a precious day, and maybe even more if we fail to recognize their emotional needs.
I wish we had a better way (how about A WAY) to give our kids the time to deal with emotions when they begin to hinder their ability to learn. However, I think being cognizant of it is a good start, and I'm going to strive to provide more opportunities for students to handle their emotions. No strings attached.
The course I'm currently taking is time consuming, but it is also extremely applicable, which is something I am always thankful for. One of the topics we have been learning about is the role that emotion plays in the classroom. While inherently I think most teachers know that emotion is linked to our ability to learn, I'm not sure we always recognize the role it plays in our classroom.
Emotions are everywhere. I teach 9th grade, so these emotions are also tied to hormones. Lord, help us all. One of my requests is that when you are in my classroom, you are THERE. Not in la-la land, not in your math book because you forgot to do your homework, and not on twitter, or Facebook, or tumblr, or...you get the picture. However, I'm also realizing how much emotions can play in determining whether a student is truly present in my classroom.
Simply put, if a student is angry, sad, or irritated, it is difficult for him or her to put on a happy face and be excited about being in a classroom. Their mind and heart are in totally different places than their body. Yet, we often expect our students to act like an adult and flip the switch (let's be honest, sometimes we do not do it well either!). One of my students reminded me that it is not that simple. This student was upset about something that to me was kind of silly. However, she was genuinely upset, and it was clear she had become disengaged with what we were doing. I took her outside and we talked for a bit, and she said "you can't expect me to be happy just because you tell me to". Ahh, touche. I realized she was right. She needed time to decompress, to calm herself down, and come back when she was ready. So I gave it to her.
How often do we fail to give our kids time to just be? How often do we give our kids the time they need to handle their emotions, whatever they might be? I know some people, including some teachers, will say that students need to just deal with it. Yet, if we do not allow our students that time, then they won't be emotionally ready to learn in our class. We will lose a precious day, and maybe even more if we fail to recognize their emotional needs.
I wish we had a better way (how about A WAY) to give our kids the time to deal with emotions when they begin to hinder their ability to learn. However, I think being cognizant of it is a good start, and I'm going to strive to provide more opportunities for students to handle their emotions. No strings attached.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Who Sings?
"The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom."
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom."
Today, I had the opportunity to view the classroom in a completely different way. I was the observer in my classroom, as my student teacher took her first stab at teaching a lesson from start to finish. We are currently working on a poetry unit, and she chose to teach two poems by Walt Whitman. I'm not a huge Whitman fan (I know, shame on me!) but anyone who has the guts to try to teach it to 9th graders deserves some props.
As I listened to some of my students' responses in regards to America, identity, and who sings, I could not help but laugh, cringe, sigh, and smile. All at the same time. I thought about Angelou's poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and how so many of my students are caged.
They are caged by:
their anger...at the world, their life, and everything that doesn't make sense
their ignorance...the civil war happened in the 1900's? There was a WW III? Only presidents can be assassinated?
their fear..."they want to send me back!" death, different races, big words, the end of the world.
their stereotypes...and the stereotypes others have of them
their innocence
their hardships and burdens
their apathy
their hatred for school and a system they think is working against them
their struggle to figure out who they are as 14 and 15 year olds
Just making that list makes my head hurt, because it makes me realize what we're up against. Educators have a difficult job, perhaps more difficult than ever before. Yet, there are those of us who are willing to listen to our students' stories, their songs, their anger, their ridiculousness (which will be followed by a consequence, because choices DO have consequences), their hopes, their fears, and uncertainty about life and their place in it.
I don't always have the answer, hell, maybe I never do; but I keep showing up every day. I don't give up, even when I want to. Even when I question if what I'm doing is worth it. Even when sometimes I feel like I care more than some of them do. I do it because I know deep down they want to be free and maybe, just maybe, the Lord will give me the tools they need to break free.
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