This is not my classroom.
I have to keep telling myself that. I have to remember that I am only here for five weeks, that there have been about a dozen others visiting this classroom just this year, and that I have not been here since September and will not bere here during the antsy days of June. This is not my classroom, these are not my students, and it is therefore not my curriculum.
I have many discrepencies about how my co-op's curriculum is designed, taught, and assessed. It would be an unfair overstatement, however, to say that he is not a good teacher because of these things; in fact, it seems that he possesses some of the same insights into education as we have discussed and has a small arsenal of more creative, engaging teaching materials. This arsenal is just dusty, as it was pushed to the dark corner of the closet in the wake of new programs and curriculum requirements that have been imposed throughout the past few years. Most recently, the school has introduced the Hybrid program. Students enrolled have blocked subjects (English and Social Studies for sure, possibly Science) and are provided with iPads, which sounds like a dream to 21st century teachers looking to implement technology in the classroom. During class, students rotate through three stations including direct instruction, group work, and independent work, which also follows suit with modern educational pedigogy that endorses multiple learning styles, group work, and constant changes in activity to enhance interest and engagement.
But looks can be deceiving. It didn't take more than a few periods for me to recognize that this program was nothing more than a clever disguise, a flimsy plastic mask of strategically (and loosely) incorporated bits of modern, educator-supported teaching pedagogy hiding a face we are all too familiar with in the American classroom. Compass (one of the websites used) is simply a talking online textbook and is just as painful as the published dinosaurs sitting on the shelves of traditional classrooms, but - quite inconveniently - cannot be bookmarked or accessed from student iPads, making something that should be more accessible less so. Group work is nothing new, but is rather a technological take on worksheets; little authentic, engaging discussion is brought about in these groups, but is rather filled with either distracted chatter or the all-too-familiar plowing through of work: heads down and personal connections/applications disregarded. Online quizzes are nothing short of a joke and students are given three tries for each quiz because some of the questions are grossly misleading or incorrect, but my cooperating teacher says he doesn't know how else to make sure students are absorbing the information from Compass. I doubt that he lacks the ability to think of something better than these ridiculous surface-level objective quizzes to assess comprehension, but that he instead feels restricted either professionally or internally/creatively by the confines of the program.
I had been seething every day as I watch this revamped crap be promoted not only to students, but to teachers and administrators under the name of technologically innovative practice. No one seemed to be rallying against it, subversion seemed to be nowhere in sight. Everyone was falling for it, everyone was buying this transparent disguise. Last week, a teaching veteran who was going back to school and observing my co-op's classroom for an assignment voiced the same concerns I had been keeping silent the whole time. Her face scrunched when I told her the narrow selections of poetry the students were introduced to and the excrutiating nature of the drama lessons as she whispered, "You have to wonder if the people who created these things have any love or appreciation for literature." I wanted to hug her, to exclaim, "Thank you, thank you!" at her acknowledgement of what I knew had to be true. I spent as many spare moments with her as possible, whispering out of earshot of my cooperating teacher, swapping discouraged remarks and propositions for better instruction, glad to finally feel as if I had an ally in my inner rally against Hybrid, even if she was an extremely temporary fixture in the classroom.
Fortunately (and also unfortunately), assessment is hit or miss. Besides those horrible quizzes, final summative assessments - or at least the ones I've witnessed - have not been completely off base. During the poetry unit, students were paired up and told to create a lyric poem about anything they wish and put it into a Powerpoint presentation that reflected the meaning(s) of the poem. This was not a bad assessment, especially since it included more than one creative medium. However, students were not as well-equipped as they should have been for this project, as they were introduced to a paltry amount of poetry and were given no choice as to what kind of poetry they wanted to write, nor any avenues for inspiration. In terms of their final persuasive writing assignment, little guidance was provided in helping students choose topics to write about. It was great that my co-op wanted students to have complete control over their choice of topics, but I sensed that most would have difficulty and possibly a lack of focus in choosing without a selection of topics to get them thinking. I quickly put together a broad list of 50 topics, making sure to give thought to what 10th graders may find relevent, and was estatic to see some intense engagement come of it. However, the research process found most students unfamiliar with how to distinguish reliable sources, what ideas to research, or how to recognize spin and/or biased information and studies. I assumed (foolishly, it seems) that research techniques had been taught to these students already and that they had experienced sufficient practice in the department. I wish I would have been aware of this educational oversight, because I would have proposed the idea to my co-op of letting me present a short modeling lesson in research techniques and literacy. I was also frustrated that my co-op, an experienced teacher, hadn't thought to even provide students with a short set of notes on the subject for them to reference. Again, the visiting teacher agreed with my observation, saying, "You're right, it should be taught. It's a whole different kind of literacy." So why was this ignored? Was my cooperating teacher not teaching it because it wasn't part of the Hybrid curriculum? Had he become too dependent on the outline of this program? And what sort of penalties will these students face upon completion of their papers; will he deduct points or will they suffer most in the long term due to still not attaining research literacy? Either way, it is the students who will once again suffer at the hands of an insufficient system.
On a different but no less frustrating note, my teacher is resistent to let me teach and appears to feel inconvenienced by my presence. Again, this is not his fault. Due to the restraints of Hybrid, there is limited wiggle room for outside instruction and activities, placing him in a compromising position at the prospect of allowing a student teacher to add in something new that would not only increase students' workload, but also potentially throw off the flow/schedule of his classes. The opportunities that he is willing to offer me in the realm of teaching are limited to simply taking over his own direct instruction Power Point already created for the unit, teaching the material exactly as he would. I have tried to give input whenever possible or contribute things (such as the list of persuasive essay topics and a character map for Julius Ceasar), but no original teaching has taken place and I am uncertain of whether or not it will during my placement. My co-op also explained to me that when the school informs him (not asks, mind you) that he is receiving a student teacher/observer, he doesn't even pay attention to who they are or when they are coming. He has had about a dozen or more student teachers "trapse through" his class just this year and he has given up on trying to keep track of them or care if and when they show up. I don't want to paint him as resentful of me; actually, he told me at the end of the two weeks that he would miss having me in the room. However, I think he feels as if the administration is not keeping in mind how having a student teacher or observer in the classroom affects him and his students. On top of this, observers from the Hybrid company occassionally stop in to see how the program is being utilized, teachers within the school periodically sit in on each other's classes to keep up on fellow teaching styles, and teacher assistants are present during classes with high concentrations of students with IEP's. It's no wonder that he feels like his classroom is constantly intruded upon with so much constant traffic going on with no regard to his (or his students') feelings on these visitations. I think I would be tired of seeing others ushered in and out of my room too.
Overall, I don't think my co-op is a poor teacher by any means. I think that he is merely a victim of the educational system that always feels the need to micro-manage teachers. We are educated and trained to teach - so why are we being squeezed out of practicing our craft by standards, textbooks, and scripted programs? My co-op used to design his own lessons, his own activities, and his own assessments, but was "asked" to replace all of this with a $20,000 program that makes him supplementary in his own classroom. There are some evident frustrations with the implementation of this program, but there is also a decrease in the pressure to design an entire curriculum, a decrease in the hours spent pouring over a word processor creating test questions, lesson plans, and meeting state standards since all of this is included. Teachers have said for years how much time they have to spend doing all of these things just so they can perform their jobs, so is it so surprising that despite qualms and a choking of creativity, teachers may embrace this break a bit? I can't deny that it certainly seems easier this way. But at this point I would welcome the challenge of a fresh, teacher-designed unit that fostered engagement and authentic learning.
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