Creativity vs. Comas

Something hit me this week while the students were reading and attempting to analyze Julius Caesar.  As a class, students have been chugging through this classic piece of drama, and completing various typical tasks along the way: vocabulary, graphic organizers, quizzes. My co-op taught a myriad of short lessons about literary devices and skills that are familiar to the average English classroom, like rising and falling action, cause and effect, figurative language, and characterization. Sounds pretty solid, right? Sounds like the English classes we grew up in, where every piece of literature served to place check marks next to state standards and cover specific aspects of curriculum. The kids should, then, be learning a lot and taking much away from this play. But they're not. Most of them couldn't remember from class to class what we had read and in terms of doing any deep, analytic thought about the thematic nuances or the deeper meanings of the play, most were both disinterested and not fluent. What's more, these things didn't matter to them and, even worse, didn't have much bearing at all on the corresponding work they were completing. 

I was trying to figure out why these students were not getting it, why this unit was falling flat for them. After about a week, it became apparent: it was boring, painful even. The entire unit was lifeless, focused strictly on coverage, and did not possess even one creative aspect to engage students. Students walked in each day, sat down, trudged through as much reading as possible, filled out charts, answered objective questions, passively took notes, and worked on a long list of vocabulary. This was the scene for four weeks (they started a week before I got there) and would probably be the scene for at least one more week. To be honest, even I was bored, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in their shoes. I was desperate to add some kind of creative aspect to the class, but was reluctant to give them even more work. So, for the non-hybrid English class, I asked them to create an epitaph for Caesar after he had been stabbed and the funeral speeches had been given. I wasn't expecting magic or anything overtly clever, but I was hopeful to at least provide a small break in the rigid routine and create some engagement. But they were completely stumped; it was as if I had turned their world upside down. They didn't know what to do and, even more telling, didn't know what I expected them to say. These students have been subjected to the same objective, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, charts-and-tables, worksheet routine (in all of their classes, not just English) that they have a hard time being creative or thinking deeply about transferable concepts and meaning. This realization made me angry and frustrated, and made me feel sorry for these kids who are missing so much from their education.

This has proven to me how important having an engaged and creative classroom is. It creates relevance and gives the material life and purpose. Creativity gets students' juices flowing, facilitating deep thought and more memorable learning. (Ironically, I think students remember more from the creative, concept-centered classroom versus the objective, memorization-driven class.) I hope to never create a classroom that threatens to put both the teacher and the students into a boredom coma.

My final week in the field went well. I taught a lesson every day from my memoir unit, which was a great learning experience and has helped me develop my unit even further. Sadly, my students didn’t have enough time to finish their memoirs before I left; we were still conferencing/ peer reviewing their rough drafts on Friday. Thankfully, Mrs. B said she would send me some of their finished drafts when they are turned in next week so I will be able to see how they turn out!

I got to teach several gifted seminar classes this week. In one, I showed a TED talk by Daniel Pink about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which led to a very interesting discussion about whether or not my students thought that extrinsic motivators (like grades) crush creativity. I also taught my usual short film classes, which went pretty well. My favorite was the day I showed “French Roast”, a 2008 Oscar-nominated film short. I recommend watching it, if you haven’t seen it already. It would make for an awesome mentor text; in my class, it led to a great discussion about morals and the power of forgiveness.

I hope everyone else's experiences went well!

Last Week In The Field

This week was filled with some more testing. On Monday the students took the diagnostic test that predicts how well the students will do on the Keystones. Then Tuesday and Wednesday were 8^th grade science PSSAs. So my students did not take the test but the schedule was cut short because of the two hours in the morning that were taken out for testing. During the two hours in the morning we just showed movies until the two hours were up. On Tuesday during class time we introduced the students to a new assignment. They will be completing a book review to end their persuasive unit. They have to convince their classmates to read a certain book. So on Tuesday we took them to the library. By the end of the period they had to have a book chosen and one reason why they think they could persuade another student to read the book. On Wednesday, the students watched videos of the mock trial presentations. They watched a class different than their own class and judged who should get the free heart transplant. They had to fill out a paper during the video and write out why they felt a certain group was more persuasive than the other groups. Then on Thursday we finally got back to a normal schedule. The students did some work with making simple sentences into complex and compound sentences. Then they worked on filling out a graphic organizer for their books. The graphic organizer will help them to remember the plot, characters, setting, etc so that they can better brainstorm for their book review papers. On Friday, I had the students write a free write based on the prompts turned in by fellow students. Then to review the lesson they learned on Thursday on making simple sentences into complex/compound sentences, I had them pick out simple sentences in their own writing to change into a complex/compound sentence as a formative assessment. To end, they just worked on their book review assignment. 

I also got to sit in on an IEP meeting for a student named Zeke. This week I finally got Zeke excited about reading by introducing him to a graphic novel. I read the graphic novel with him and so he got excited to come to class and tell me what page he was on to see if he was “beating” me. I was so happy to see a kid who hated reading actually start reading every free minute he had during class. The sad part is that I have to leave just as I was starting to make a difference for Zeke. Anyway, the IEP meeting was interesting. The meeting was basically just to update his IEP and make sure his parents were satisfied with everything the teachers were doing. Zeke is getting Cs and Bs in school right now and his parents seemed to be okay with that. Personally, I think there is more the teachers could be doing to make their lessons more engaging. Zeke is a kid who hates school and probably because learning is hard for him. If they did more to make him more invested in learning I think Zeke could do better. It is also hard because Zeke is absent a lot. He is gone almost every Friday because he goes to Hershey medical for some sort of tests for his vision. The teachers stressed that Zeke has to become more responsible for making sure he makes up the work that he misses.

 The last day at the middle school was so bittersweet. While it will be nice to have a break from getting up at 5:30 every morning I am really going to miss the kids. They made cards for me and some even gave me hugs. I might even go in next Friday because they were begging me to come back. I am truly lucky to have had such a great experience!

Trials in Substituting

The beginning of this three week stint provided me with an interesting experience that I was not quite expecting: I got to play substitute. It was on a Wednesday and the students had an early dismissal at 1pm, which I thought would make my day significantly easier since that meant my co-op's last class wouldn't meet. (His last class is a traditional class, but more than half of the students have IEP's and, many days, a lack of motivation.) However, this day was one where I couldn't wait to bust out the doors and drive away and maybe call in sick the next.
They had an actual substitute with me, who was actually a recent Millersville graduate, but my co-op told her I would run the show. This was easier said than done. Each class began with "Yes, a sub!" as students filed into the room and followed with attempts to bargain their way out of the small amount of in-class reading that needed to be done. After completing guided reading, students avoided doing work like the plague. Many resorted to playing games on their iPads (one of the biggest downfalls of devices in the classroom) and ignoring multiple requests to get to work. This was all expected and taken with a grain of salt. It was not until Literacy (a remedial class for mostly ESL students who have not reached reading fluency), which is usually my favorite class due to their high energy, that things went south.
These students, who are masters of time wasting but will usually comply when told to get on task, almost completely refused to do anything for me. They talked over me, were incredibly loud, were walking around, and refused to do work. One student, just as everyone was turning to the page in which we were to start, got out of his seat and sat down at a computer to check basketball scores. I told him to get off the computer and come to his seat, to which he replied, "Just a minute, Miss, I want to see who won." I sternly told him once more to get off the computer and he ignored me. I had to make the entire class wait while I walked over and closed the computer on him (which another student was now surrounding). He and the other student said that my doing so was "disrespectful", to which I retorted, "No, you guys are being disrespectful. Get in your seats." I was tense, frustrated, and defeated the rest of the period, and I think the students sensed it. Some of them took advantage of my demeanor and some of them seemed to feel the way they would if their parents were disappointed in them. After my negative report on the class to my co-op, he reprimanded a few of the students the next day, and the atmosphere in class was again tense.
I feel bad that things went the way they did and I constantly question if I handled things correctly that day. It also makes me question how I carried myself prior to being put in the position of a substitute; why was I not able to gain enough of the students' respect to have them listen? Would they have listened better to the hired substitute if it had been just her? Or would it have been worse? I'm really not sure. The sub said she thought things would have been worse if I wouldn't have been there, but I wonder if part of the problem is that the students already knew that I wasn't really a teacher. Also, I was disappointed that my co-op never prepped his students for his absence. He was absent for a meeting, so he knew that he wouldn't be there and could have told the students of his expectations for their behavior and work ethic and warned them of repercussions for misbehavior. I know my teachers in school used to tell us stuff like this all the time when they had a substitute coming in and I'm wondering why he didn't find this to be necessary.
Regardless, this was definitely a learning experience that I will not soon forget. I know that I will probably end up substitute teaching after graduation, so I am thankful for the glimpse into the reality of it, even if it was a fairly negative experience. Also, I'm going to have another shot at substituting this Wednesday and I'm hoping that things will go better this time. I don't want my last day there to be a bad one.

Testing, Testing 1-2, 1-2.

This week I graded until I thought my hand was going to fall off. I've known for awhile that I really don''t want to give traditional paper and pencil tests and this week confirmed it! My goodness, if you could have seen the amount of grading I did you would weep for me. I can't imagine giving paper and pencil tests on a regular basis. But then again..."the Keystones are coming up!" So, you know, it's kind of a given. 

Overall, this week was good. The Boston Marathon Bombings were a hot topic; I must admit, I feel quite bad for these students. They, even more than my own generation, have grown up in a terrifying climate. I hope things get better for our nation. I can't imagine guiding a discussion on such horrific topics. The whole situation really shows the importance of staying up with current events. The weeks before the bombings, students were constantly asking questions about North Korea. 

Sadly, I haven't had much of a chance to teach. Occasionally I'll step in, but not quite as much as I'd like. But all in all, it's been a good experience. I'm happy to have the experience come to end soon though. I feel like I've learned quite a bit in these last few weeks, but between school and rehearsal, I'm at the end of my rope. 

Hope everyone else is doing swell. =)

Syncopated

Starting last Friday, I taught this week, two normal periods and three truncated ones. Testing wreaks havoc on the schedule and an early dismissal Friday added it's own version of a short schedule. It didn't seem a bad thing at first- short periods should be easier, right? Nope, the short days were the hardest, throwing off my rhythm and just generally kind of weird. I'm not sure what to make of it. Friday and Monday went swimmingly, they were up and moving and interested, but the other days didn't seem to come out right regardless of how I set the day up to get done what needed to. I felt like I was off my own rhythm, tripping over words and ending up with a stilted, awkward seeming flow to the class, so different from other days I've taught.  Not completely sure whether it was something to do with my planning or the shortness and rearrangement of the periods- definitely going to think about this.

Keeping it together

This week I’ve been more grateful than ever for everything that I learned in “Teaching Writing” last semester. I got to teach the first five lessons from my memoir unit to Mrs. B’s class at the junior high, and I used so many tools and techniques from last semester that I kept wondering where I would be had that class not existed. The students are now in the midst of drafting their own personal memoirs, and they’ve also created six-word memoirs as well as “Where I’m from” poems. If we have enough time next week, we will publish it all on a class tumblr and include relevant photos, videos, etc. There is something so satisfactory about seeing students respond to writing assignments with enthusiasm and creativity. At the high school, I used Keirstie Martin’s mentor from last semester (I bet a bunch of you remember it… it was the “love letter” from a toothbrush to a bicycle tire) as a freewriting prompt for another teacher’s class. Some of the letters that the students wrote were hilarious! My favorite was “cutting board to the knife” by an eleventh-grade boy.

Ok, enough gushing. There is something else I want to talk about, and it isn’t nearly as happy.

 I almost cried yesterday when I read the beginnings of a certain eight grade boy’s memoir (we’ll call him “Jake”). He was the first student to walk up and ask that I read what he wrote. It was completely voluntary—I hadn’t even suggested that the students share their drafts yet. So this boy came up and quietly asked that I read what he wrote, and as soon as I took his paper he sat down stared hard at the wall.

“Sometimes I wanted to beat the crap out of my brother,” began the paper. I groaned internally and prepared myself for a paper of shameless brother-bashing. Instead, I was shocked by what came next. The paper continued to explain that the little brother was autistic, and that while Jake used to get frustrated by his younger brother’s disability, he had learned over time to love his brother for who he was and to look out for him at all times.

 This happy surprise was followed by a nasty one: Jake’s paper continued on to describe a scene in which he was left at home alone with his brother, and, while under his care, his little brother had a seizure. It was when I got to the words “it slowly dawned on me that my brother was dying” that I struggled to keep it together. The story was unfinished, so I handed the paper back to Jake, thanked him for sharing and told him that I looked forward to reading the rest. At the time, I couldn’t think of how else to respond. This boy is only in eighth grade and he has been through events that are more traumatic than anything I have ever experienced. I’m impressed that he was willing to share his story and I wonder how often he’s shared it before. I’m also wondering if I responded to it the right way. With the whole class there, I didn’t want to make a fuss or draw any attention to Jake, but I still feel like I should have said something more than I did. How would you respond if a student shared a story like that?

Week 2 Observations

This week included more PSSA's and presentations. The students were presenting their mock trials where they were fighting for their clients to recieve a heart transplant. The presentations were interesting, but the week included a lot of observing. Monday was the only day I got to teach. I did a group freewrite with the students and it actually was really awesome! The difference in the stories the small groups came up with from one picture was amazing! The students really enjoyed it too. They have actually started making their own prompts and bringing them in! I love this because they are getting excited about writing. Today, my co-op decided we were just going to have a reading day in the library and one of the students was disappointed I wasn't doing a freewrite prompt. I promised her that we will get a chance next week.

Engaged Learning Reflection

     As I was reading Engaged Learning today, I came across something that caught my eye in the "Modeling Engaged Learning" chapter. In talking about writing, VanDeWeghe quotes Katie Wood Ray, "Either we can be walking, breathing, talking examples of all we advocate for our students, or we can have them sitting around wondering why we are trying to get them into something that we are obviously not into ourselves."
     I already talked to some of you about my co-op's sixth period class. It's a remedial class designed to improve their knowledge/skills of English in order to improve their testing scores on the Keystone exams/PSSA's. There are only four students in the class. On a good day, two of them are actually doing their work. They are argumentative and don't like to do anything except for stare at a book or an article until the class is over. My co-op makes them complete "double-entry journals" where they have to write down a section or quote from the book/article they're currently reading, and then write a response or reflection on their selection.
     In a conversation I had with my co-op last week in the library when the students were conducting research, he told me that he actually HATES to read books; however, he does like to read The Onion (satire), and news articles/current events. However, when these students who feel forced to read are instructed to read for the class period, my co-op sits on a stool at his podium and checks his email. This is not modeling ANYTHING about reading. His sixth period students are left wondering, 'why are we sitting around forced to do something that Mr. Coleman isn't into himself?' He could at least sit and read the newspaper while these students are supposed to be reading themselves.
     It was just interesting that VanDeWeghe clearly stated something that we as teachers don't really do ourselves. While we think about modeling our writing/thinking processes with students, we also need to think about what we're telling our students to do, and what we're actually modeling.

Testing My Patience

Sorry for not posting early, folks.

I had to take time to filter my feelings and process my thoughts before posting.

Last week, when we were still in classes, the principal from my field placement came into to talk to the students in our special education course. After presenting on the topic of Keystones and flipping through dozens of Powerpoint slides, he concluded his presentation by saying: "Do I want my teachers to teach to the test? Of course I do."

This upset me greatly.

I told my cooperating teacher about the talk and she relayed the story to the Department Chair at the school where I'm doing my observations. The chair of the department then leaned over the table, looked me in the eyes and said, "Welcome to the real world. My number one priority as a teacher is to get these kids to pass the test. Would it be nice if they learned something? Sure, it would, but that's secondary."

Overall, the whole testing culture is testing my patience. I can't even really formulate any sort of eloquent response to these statements; I'm frustrated. Getting students to learn will always be my number one priority, regardless of how much pressure is placed upon me due to some silly test. If that makes me a poor candidate for a job opening, then so be it.

First Week Back

Hi everyone! This week passed pretty uneventfully. I was supposed to begin teaching my memoir unit, but the class was behind on their previous unit and spent the whole week doing presentations so I won't begin the lessons until Monday. I did get a chance to teach lessons on thesis statements, outlining research papers and a short film called "The Lost Thing" (a 2010 Oscar winner) which was a good learning experience for me (and hopefully for the students, too!). The student book presentations in Mrs. B's class at the junior high were really fun to watch because Mrs. B gave everyone choice in what their presentations would be. The students had made videos of mock interviews, book trailers, picture books, artwork, power points, websites and traditional essays to showcase their knowledge of their novel. Because they were allowed so much freedom, they were really creative with their presentations. It was so cool to see that kind of enthusiasm fill an entire class!

Making the best of PSSA week

This week was a drag because the PSSA's took two hours of our day every day. So for part of class we did freewrites or brain challenges to give the students a break. The students are really enjoying doing the freewrites and I actually gave them an assignment to do a freewrite photo prompt. It is due Monday, but some of them excitedly turned them into me today! For the rest of class the students are just working on their mock trials. They are doing an assignment where their client is in need of a heart transplant and they have to persuade the judges to give their client the heart. They have opposing clients that they are going up against so they have to consider the other groups counterarguments. The groups seem really engaged with the project and I am excited to see the trials next Thursday!

Missed Opportunity (Week 3)

In my 3rd week at LCHS I've observed another situation where I really wish I had my own class. In my co-op's freshman English classes and in her Creative Writing class she is teaching about transcendentalism nature writing/throeau etc. This week, as you may have noticed, has been warm, finally. In LCHS there is no air conditioning; it gets really hot in the third floor classrooms. We spent all of Tuesday writing in our seats and listening to lecture. The kids were distracted and kept looking out the window. My co-op kept mentioning the heat and how she was sorry that it was unavoidable. In creative writing class she had them sit and write about being outside (they were to describe a natural scene, or write a poem about nature they observed) while sitting at their desks in a hot room. 

Why not go outside? 

There is a large field, vacant during the school-day hours, for baseball and football. We could have went over there and wrote outside and actually been in a natural setting. 

It almost seemed ironic, or hypocritical. Something didn't seem right. 

So we sat and wrote. The heat put some kids to sleep. 

So if that isn't disheartening enough, here is a poem I wrote after school on wednesday about Lucia, an ESL student in my co-op's freshman English class.

___

Lucia chews gum every day,

and always has to be told to spit it out--

Must be scolded before she sits,

when she walks in to doorway

to English.

Whether she does her reading or not

(If she did she’s a liar and is she didn’t she lies)

She is never called on,

so she sits back,

applies lip balm,

looks  around,

looks at me, scribbling,

in the back of the room,

chews more gum,

is never called on…

except for to spit it out immediately.

Sometimes in class they popcorn read.

And when it comes to her she says each small word,

Flower, call, pig, four, hands.

but the teacher says the bigger ones before she has a chance.

On her locker is a peeling Spanish-flag laminate

barely hanging to the metal door

by dried up Scotch tape donuts.

And each morning she finds it on the linoleum floor,

picks it up,

sticks it back on,

each time pressing harder, for a few seconds longer.

Then walks to class,

sticks a stick of gum between her lips.

In class they study grammar and she puts her head down on her purse like she’s listening to it.

Sometimes before the end of the day, even as early as 1, 130,

when the air is dirty dry and hotly sticky,

the flag comes unstuck already--

It is already on the ground.

When the teacher reads aloud

but comes to a Spanish noun,

like banjo (which she says banjo)

Or ha-hac-haci--

Lucia offers “Hacienda”

She is told not to interrupt.

And scolded for her gum. 

Research Unit

Hey Guys! I hope you're all having a good start in the field for these three weeks! I just wanted to quickly share with you all something that my co-op stated this morning. The students are currently working on a research unit... this paper that they have to turn in must show the effects of one thing on another i.e. the effects of the invention of the rifle on American society (an actual topic one student chose). I asked my co-op if there were any instances where a student would surprise him, meaning, a student who normally doesn't do well hands in an 'A' paper. He said at this point in the year, he knows the good writers from the bad writers, and they pretty much don't stray from what they were (basically labeled as) at the beginning of the year. I thought to myself.... WOAH! DID HE JUST SAY THAT? If his students aren't improving in writing throughout the year, what are they doing?!? He said that he would like to turn the research paper into a presentation, but there just isn't enough time in the curriculum. While I can understand that there is a time crunch during this time of the year, I wonder why he can't squeeze in daily, or even weekly, writing activities in a writer's notebook to help students improve their writing from the beginning of the year. The only support/modeling the students have of the research paper is what he has posted on the class wiki. The example is my co-op's chosen topic of how money affects baseball (he is a baseball coach). While this topic is relevant to high school students who like sports/baseball, I think he could choose a topic that is more relevant to model, like the positive/negative effects of starting high school later than elementary school. Do any of you find your co-op's using writer's notebooks effectively in the classroom? If so, how does your co-op make time for this?

Grammar again:P

Back into the classroom only to find that I missed even the last days of their poetry unit and we're doing verbals. This pleases me not. On the other hand Friday I start my mini unit on "Flowers for Algernon" amidst the infuriating pointlessness of PSSAs. If it bad that I feel like this will be much more fun and possibly more educational when I'm taking the lead?