A startling recent revelation: I have a disturbing tendency to focus on the negative. For example: I have 37 students in my Acting I class. The other day, during independent rehearsal time, I spotted approximately 10 of them sitting and talking with friends, rather than rehearsing. My immediate reaction was to loudly remind students that they should be rehearsing their scenes with their partners, and that those who failed to do so would lose their participation points. My internal thought process also led me to consider stopping rehearsal time and making students get on stage and perform their scenes immediately as a way of "encouraging" those who weren't rehearsing to make better use of their time in the future.
What a horrible decision that would have been. Why punish the 30 students who are actually on-task and doing what they're supposed to be in order to teach the ten who (consistently) choose to not participate a lesson? Why do I zero in on those students so often? Why can't I just be happy that 3/4 of my class is doing what they're supposed to be and celebrate that success? I guess my classroom management philosophy relies upon consistency and I think that by letting that small group of students "get away" with not working I'll lose control of the class or that others will begin to see that I'm perhaps open to that type of behavior, but what good is that attitude really doing me?
Also, I've always said I'll never use acting or writing as a punishment, yet that was exactly what I was contemplating.
I need to relax a bit, clearly. I find myself stressed out going into my acting class because the "vibe" or "energy" in the room has been less than positive. Partially this is because of four students in particular who have been identified by their peers as the origin of some negative comments and feelings, but I've spoken to those students and their behavior has improved. I'm really starting to think that my own behavior and attitude is responsible for the lack of cohesiveness in that class. I'm constantly on the lookout for "bad" behavior, but in doing so I've increasingly gotten away from giving daily positive feedback and celebrating my actors for their individual successes. I'm so obsessed with catching them not working that I don't notice those who are. This is an incredibly-bad way to approach education. Now that I realize I'm doing it, I'm definitely going to take steps to accentuate the positive. There will be times when discipline is necessary and I'm prepared to provide it, but I shouldn't spend my day searching for opportunities to do so, especially when my philosophy is supposed to be based on engaging lessons. I am not a prison warden, I'm a guide, and I need to act accordingly, even with those students who choose to follow other paths than the one I set out.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
On Strictness, and Other Revelations
As a response to some questions raised by Neil, I asked my students to rate my "strictness" on a scale of 1-5. Most of the answers were in the 2.5-3 range. I also asked them to indicate what percentage of the time they're engaged or interested in what is going on in the class, and the mean average there was around 70%.
I wrote earlier about how surprised I was to be a fairly strict teacher. I see now that this was perhaps just my interpretation of my own actions, compared to the super laid-back individual I like to think I am. According to my students, I'm pretty much in the middle of the road, which I think is a pretty good place to be in this category. I'm not so strict that they feel like I'm breathing down their necks and waiting for a reason to yell at them, but I'm also not so lenient that they feel they can just do whatever they like for the duration of my class. One student put it pretty well, rating me a "3" and saying "we have fairly controlled fun." "Controlled fun" is pretty much the phrase I would use to describe my ideal classroom management strategy. Hopefully I can keep my strictness right in the middle of the scale, which is a place I'm discovering that I'm pretty comfortable.
The engagement data was honestly a bit surprising to me. We've been going through Romeo and Juliet, and while I do my best to include interesting activities on a daily basis, there really is no substitute for actually reading the play, which is the part the students like the least. I only say this because I'm sure it had some effect on the results of my impromptu survey. 70% engagement is certainly not horrible, but it's not exactly what I expected, either. I think perhaps my initial expectation was a bit inflated, however. It's not realistic to expect all students to be engaged 100% of the time, and no matter how interesting I try to make the daily activities, there's always going to be someone who doesn't like what we do. I'm rapidly learning this because of the journals I'm having them write in each day. Despite the fact that I've repeatedly told them they're free to write about whatever they like, I get several journals each week with entries complaining about my topics and how they're boring. The lesson here is that I'll never be able to entertain or engage all of my students. Some will just choose not to be interested and some will simply not be into what I've planned, and that's okay. While I may have initially thought that I would be able to achieve a 90%+ engagement rating, I'm starting to think that 70% is pretty darn good. Students are never going to love writing daily or reading Shakespeare, no matter how interesting I attempt to make them.
I received some overwhelmingly positive feedback for the Facebook project Scott and I came up with for our 9th grade classes. Students made "Facebook pages" for the characters in the play out of butcher paper, and we've been having them write status updates and comments as a means of summarizing what we read. We eat lunch with most of the English department, and many of the other teachers were raving about how cool the assignment was and how much they wanted to use it in their classes. I took this as a huge compliment. The students for the most part seem to enjoy it as well, they come in to class in the morning and immediately go to the wall to check out what people have written.
At least with this assignment, my goal of engaging as many students as possible seems to be achievable.
I wrote earlier about how surprised I was to be a fairly strict teacher. I see now that this was perhaps just my interpretation of my own actions, compared to the super laid-back individual I like to think I am. According to my students, I'm pretty much in the middle of the road, which I think is a pretty good place to be in this category. I'm not so strict that they feel like I'm breathing down their necks and waiting for a reason to yell at them, but I'm also not so lenient that they feel they can just do whatever they like for the duration of my class. One student put it pretty well, rating me a "3" and saying "we have fairly controlled fun." "Controlled fun" is pretty much the phrase I would use to describe my ideal classroom management strategy. Hopefully I can keep my strictness right in the middle of the scale, which is a place I'm discovering that I'm pretty comfortable.
The engagement data was honestly a bit surprising to me. We've been going through Romeo and Juliet, and while I do my best to include interesting activities on a daily basis, there really is no substitute for actually reading the play, which is the part the students like the least. I only say this because I'm sure it had some effect on the results of my impromptu survey. 70% engagement is certainly not horrible, but it's not exactly what I expected, either. I think perhaps my initial expectation was a bit inflated, however. It's not realistic to expect all students to be engaged 100% of the time, and no matter how interesting I try to make the daily activities, there's always going to be someone who doesn't like what we do. I'm rapidly learning this because of the journals I'm having them write in each day. Despite the fact that I've repeatedly told them they're free to write about whatever they like, I get several journals each week with entries complaining about my topics and how they're boring. The lesson here is that I'll never be able to entertain or engage all of my students. Some will just choose not to be interested and some will simply not be into what I've planned, and that's okay. While I may have initially thought that I would be able to achieve a 90%+ engagement rating, I'm starting to think that 70% is pretty darn good. Students are never going to love writing daily or reading Shakespeare, no matter how interesting I attempt to make them.
I received some overwhelmingly positive feedback for the Facebook project Scott and I came up with for our 9th grade classes. Students made "Facebook pages" for the characters in the play out of butcher paper, and we've been having them write status updates and comments as a means of summarizing what we read. We eat lunch with most of the English department, and many of the other teachers were raving about how cool the assignment was and how much they wanted to use it in their classes. I took this as a huge compliment. The students for the most part seem to enjoy it as well, they come in to class in the morning and immediately go to the wall to check out what people have written.
At least with this assignment, my goal of engaging as many students as possible seems to be achievable.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Written Words Will Work Wonders
So for the last few weeks I have been struggling to balance school, teaching and life and am finding that I am coming up short. As of yet, I haven't begun my new survey with my new set of students, but have been daily implementing a journal project where students write and share their thoughts, feelings, concerns and experiences. My goal in the journals is two-fold. First, it is to allow students to experience writing without judgment, correction or expectations. I want students to write without worrying about someone else reading them, and to be able to become comfortable sharing their thoughts and organizing them into words, sentences and understandable paragraphs. Second, I am implementing daily journaling in order to get to know my students better. It is a manner of formative assessment that provides me insight into the lives of my students so that I can better gear lessons to meet their needs. By reading and responding to their journals, they are also becoming acquainted with me as a teacher, finding similarities between us, and learning that I really do care about them and that I am not there merely to torture them with work.
Over these last two weeks, I have had a couple of big problems in my classroom. Since both of my ELD classes are new after Spring break, I have the 'new teacher' struggle all over again as students feel-out the playing field to see what they can get away with. In my 8th grade class I have a student who has a bitter relationship with his female writing teacher, and has seemed to associate the two of us with synonymous bitterness, being that we both teach writing skills. Therefore, since the beginning of class he has refused to do work, been creative in his excuses for being tardy to class, and has avoided any interaction with me as if his life depended upon it. Talking to him in person, his mentor teacher and using the journal as a means of communication from me to him has slowly encouraged him to participate and contribute to class again. Likewise, a 6th grade student who has been causing school-wide problems in school with refusal has blossomed through his journal writing and has given me a chance to get to know him outside of his poor reputation and attitude towards other required school work. Also, These journals have also been an opportunity for students to suggest improvement in the program, my teaching, the school, class scheduling, homework, etc.
Although I already knew this in theory, I have learned through the journaling process that students LOVE feedback. I collect the journals daily and respond to each journal entry weekly. This Monday students excitedly opened their journals and began reading over my notes. Some of them even responded to questions I wrote in reflection to their writing. They respond because they know I care about what they have to say because I take the time to really interact with them. I wish I could always do this, but I realize that as life gets busier in the future, I wont be able to respond each and every time so in depth. But, perhaps I will make this a prerogative at the beginning of every new teaching year in order to connect and delve into the lives of my students.
Most interestingly is that I have been very observant of students responses to journaling and have found that the students who appreciate the feedback write the most. Perhaps this is because I have fed their need for encouragement through the feedback? Perhaps they just are better with words and therefor appreciate them more?
Lastly, I have learned that students really care about what their teachers think of them. Sure, they play 'cool' and say that they don't care, but what and how we speak/comment on students' work is noticed and meaningful. In my math class I have taken the time to give feedback on student work to help direct them, probe them about their thinking, or applaud neat or thoughtful work. A student came up to me this week and thanked me for my comment. I almost said: "That's my job." But, instead I smiled in response, realizing that teaching is much more than a job, it's an opportunity to impact others.
Written words DO work wonders!
Next time I should have more hardcore data...the surveys begin again :)
-Amy
Over these last two weeks, I have had a couple of big problems in my classroom. Since both of my ELD classes are new after Spring break, I have the 'new teacher' struggle all over again as students feel-out the playing field to see what they can get away with. In my 8th grade class I have a student who has a bitter relationship with his female writing teacher, and has seemed to associate the two of us with synonymous bitterness, being that we both teach writing skills. Therefore, since the beginning of class he has refused to do work, been creative in his excuses for being tardy to class, and has avoided any interaction with me as if his life depended upon it. Talking to him in person, his mentor teacher and using the journal as a means of communication from me to him has slowly encouraged him to participate and contribute to class again. Likewise, a 6th grade student who has been causing school-wide problems in school with refusal has blossomed through his journal writing and has given me a chance to get to know him outside of his poor reputation and attitude towards other required school work. Also, These journals have also been an opportunity for students to suggest improvement in the program, my teaching, the school, class scheduling, homework, etc.
Although I already knew this in theory, I have learned through the journaling process that students LOVE feedback. I collect the journals daily and respond to each journal entry weekly. This Monday students excitedly opened their journals and began reading over my notes. Some of them even responded to questions I wrote in reflection to their writing. They respond because they know I care about what they have to say because I take the time to really interact with them. I wish I could always do this, but I realize that as life gets busier in the future, I wont be able to respond each and every time so in depth. But, perhaps I will make this a prerogative at the beginning of every new teaching year in order to connect and delve into the lives of my students.
Most interestingly is that I have been very observant of students responses to journaling and have found that the students who appreciate the feedback write the most. Perhaps this is because I have fed their need for encouragement through the feedback? Perhaps they just are better with words and therefor appreciate them more?
Lastly, I have learned that students really care about what their teachers think of them. Sure, they play 'cool' and say that they don't care, but what and how we speak/comment on students' work is noticed and meaningful. In my math class I have taken the time to give feedback on student work to help direct them, probe them about their thinking, or applaud neat or thoughtful work. A student came up to me this week and thanked me for my comment. I almost said: "That's my job." But, instead I smiled in response, realizing that teaching is much more than a job, it's an opportunity to impact others.
Written words DO work wonders!
Next time I should have more hardcore data...the surveys begin again :)
-Amy
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Several New Developments
Hello, all.
Since I have begun full-time teaching, I've had a wealth of reflection-worthy experiences. I'd like to focus on a pair of them for this entry, though, as they've thus far had the largest influence on my teaching style and led to some of my most significant revelations to date.
First, my Acting I class. Establishing an environment where all students can feel free to act and try new things is an absolute necessity in a class like this, especially when I've got 40 students. This has been a major goal of the first few weeks. I was a bit worried midway through week 1 when a group of young men were continually being disruptive and disrespectful to their fellow students. My response to this was to give a very pointed presentation on audience etiquette to the class and mention that we had the option of making the class completely textbook-based if for some reason everyone didn't want to get on board and be respectful to their peers. That same day, several of the former troublemakers were engaging in an exercise that they truly enjoyed. It was almost as if a light had gone on in their heads, and now they're among my most staunch enforcers of audience etiquette in the class. Simply realizing that they enjoyed acting played a part in a complete turn around for them. This is extremely significant to me, as my personal pedagogical philosophy is based on creating engaging lessons. I believe that engaging lessons lead to more engaged, better behaved students, and I think I had a chance here to see that in action. Special thanks to both of my mentor teachers for their advice and feedback through the process. Now my class runs much more smoothly and I'm really enjoying myself in the theater.
My Freshman English classes, however, have not been as smooth. I've had some trouble getting them to get their journals out and start writing on the assigned topic at the beginning of class each day. I've also had one specific student who has been a lot of trouble, to the point where I've had to pull him out of class on two separate occasions and was forced to write him a referral when he blatantly defied my request to speak with him after class. I'm currently working with my mentor teacher to brainstorm ways to reach this particular student. I don't want to be the teacher who just sends the troublesome individual out of the classroom instead of finding ways to engage him, and this particular students is proving an interesting challenge to my personal philosophy. I'll keep trying things until I find something that works, and hopefully I'll find something relatively soon. It takes a lot of energy to deal with him, and that is energy I could be spending on educating the other 29 students in the room.
I've had every intention of getting my exit cards going, but I keep running out of time on Fridays. Maybe Monday would be a better time to do them or maybe I should do them multiple times a week, so I'm covered in case something comes up.
Since I have begun full-time teaching, I've had a wealth of reflection-worthy experiences. I'd like to focus on a pair of them for this entry, though, as they've thus far had the largest influence on my teaching style and led to some of my most significant revelations to date.
First, my Acting I class. Establishing an environment where all students can feel free to act and try new things is an absolute necessity in a class like this, especially when I've got 40 students. This has been a major goal of the first few weeks. I was a bit worried midway through week 1 when a group of young men were continually being disruptive and disrespectful to their fellow students. My response to this was to give a very pointed presentation on audience etiquette to the class and mention that we had the option of making the class completely textbook-based if for some reason everyone didn't want to get on board and be respectful to their peers. That same day, several of the former troublemakers were engaging in an exercise that they truly enjoyed. It was almost as if a light had gone on in their heads, and now they're among my most staunch enforcers of audience etiquette in the class. Simply realizing that they enjoyed acting played a part in a complete turn around for them. This is extremely significant to me, as my personal pedagogical philosophy is based on creating engaging lessons. I believe that engaging lessons lead to more engaged, better behaved students, and I think I had a chance here to see that in action. Special thanks to both of my mentor teachers for their advice and feedback through the process. Now my class runs much more smoothly and I'm really enjoying myself in the theater.
My Freshman English classes, however, have not been as smooth. I've had some trouble getting them to get their journals out and start writing on the assigned topic at the beginning of class each day. I've also had one specific student who has been a lot of trouble, to the point where I've had to pull him out of class on two separate occasions and was forced to write him a referral when he blatantly defied my request to speak with him after class. I'm currently working with my mentor teacher to brainstorm ways to reach this particular student. I don't want to be the teacher who just sends the troublesome individual out of the classroom instead of finding ways to engage him, and this particular students is proving an interesting challenge to my personal philosophy. I'll keep trying things until I find something that works, and hopefully I'll find something relatively soon. It takes a lot of energy to deal with him, and that is energy I could be spending on educating the other 29 students in the room.
I've had every intention of getting my exit cards going, but I keep running out of time on Fridays. Maybe Monday would be a better time to do them or maybe I should do them multiple times a week, so I'm covered in case something comes up.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Update
So, my classes have all flip-flopped. The teacher I am working with wanted to work with one of my previous classes because he wanted to prepare them for his teaching style for next year (since most of them will be back in his class, just one level in higher in the ELD program). Since we switched that class, we also switched our other classes, so that he was able to work with all the same level.
Consequently, my data has to reboot from the beginning. I am now trying to formulate how I would like to collect my data. The original data collection tools seem to be not as applicable because the new 8th grade class is completely different. However, I think I might try it out and see what happens. Adjustments may be added.
(perhaps I will add a question about breakfast? - Meg inspired me)
-Amy m
Consequently, my data has to reboot from the beginning. I am now trying to formulate how I would like to collect my data. The original data collection tools seem to be not as applicable because the new 8th grade class is completely different. However, I think I might try it out and see what happens. Adjustments may be added.
(perhaps I will add a question about breakfast? - Meg inspired me)
-Amy m
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