Finding My Educational Philosophy:Genre Reflection #2

Finding My Educational Philosophy

I am on a quest to create a better society

Teaching is a lifestyle

Allow trust and care to build a mutually respectful environment

Do more than memorize

Do not hold rigidly to preconceptions

It can be inelegant

Academic perspectives vary widely

But education should focus on the whole child

Common core meets student’s interests

Be active, not passive

Students want shelter

Multilingual students need a vehicle for social change

Encourage exploration and a student-centered classroom

Address social questions and test ideas

Minimize inequality

Teach ideas that are everlasting

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (Online Reflection #3)

        At the start of the semester, I'll admit that I strolled on in to my first meeting with my cooperating teacher angling for a chance to work with his honor's classes as soon as possible. I have always felt that my strengths lied with educating gifted students and while teaching the bright, supposedly-more-invested kids around our lovely town  remains a great interest of mine, I now have a more realistic appreciation of said group, as well as a more practical outlook as to how to properly challenge an honors class.

     My mentor teacher (and a felicitous schedule) gave me the chance to work with 2 classes everyday. 6th hour is your typical English 9, while 7th hour is devoted to Honors English 9.  At first, I was overly eager for 7th hour. They were going to be ready for the most philosophical of debates! They would want to do the reading! They would be ready to smoothly transition to AP eventually without too much extra assistance! Okay, perhaps I was not quite that gung-ho but believe me, that is probably not too much of a hyperbole. 

     About a week in, I realized that 7th hour would be a very complicated class overall. 6th hour was fun-loving, with a great mix of personalities and few behavioral issues. They are a class  that just naturally seems to face and complete most tasks at about the same pace. The Honors kids were also energetic and lovable, but there were more classroom management concerns and a huge difference in the rate at which individual students completed tasks. One kid would complete a sparkling essay meeting the bare minimum requirement in half the allocated time, one kid would dive into too much detail and do a wide array of extra, unassigned research that left them far from starting their conclusion the day the paper was due. This reality certainly required a certain readjustment of my formal stereotypes concerning Honors kid. They were not quite what I had imagined and that has made my semester all the more valuable, interesting, and at times overwhelming.

 The biggest shock was a girl named Maria*. Maria is likable as a person, but she likes to test that label as a student at times. She is curious, smart, brash, wild, and can not seem to detach herself from her cell phone for too long. Maria will distract me with questions to get me off on a tangent but it is hard to blame her; she seems genuinely interested and I did allow it, after all! Maria makes me laugh. She will spout off inappropriate remarks, talk at the wrong times, dart over to her friends groups, and question everything. She has a history of not being truthful and on time. As my proctor put it she 'doesn't know how to play the school game yet'. It is my job to ensure she does get there, however. It has been difficult and I am sure it will continue to be. 

 However, I do owe her a thank you in at least one regard: she has made me a better teacher by helping me become more open-minded.  I am no longer quick to label one class 'easier' or 'harder' to handle based on labels in the class name alone. I have followed the advice of Heather Wolport Gawron, who states that "there are great things about every class and every student. And just as we shouldn't generalize the negative, so shouldn't we generalize the positive," (2010, 14). I hope to carry this attitude for the rest of the semester and for the rest of my career. There will be problems in every class I encounter, let's just hope I can deal with each effectively while remembering to look on the bright side.  

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2010). The Challenges of Teaching Honors Students. Retrieved November 5, 2015.

* Name changed.

An Argument for Attending the KAKE Conference

Perhaps the most overwhelmingly influential break-out session at I attended at this years KAKE Conference was entitled "Honing Literacy Skills Through Argument". As of right now, I am in the homestretch of leading my students through the monumental task of writing their first serious high school essay. My CT warned me weeks before the unit began that it would be an arduous task that would involve plenty of hand-holding, and that while the finished product would be lovely that end would at times be difficult to hold on to. I was understandably concerned.

 To add to my overall nervousness concerning the Conference, while we attending this session, my students were in the thick of it. I was a little jumpy, knowing that my students would have to face that days hurdle without an extra mentor to guide them. I sat in my chair, sipping water and envisioning my cooperating teacher, dashing from table to table, answering the same manner of questions that had popped up seemingly every few seconds the day before, with three or four students desiring our complete attention and focus on their written words at once. Now, they had less adults whose attention the could utilize. Would Austin, a student who had missed class the day before and generally needed a generous helping of extra instruction when it comes to composition, catch up that day? Would Morgan develop a stronger confidence in her writing or keep changing her opening quote, not ready to move on to the meat of the essay yet? Who should I take outside to a desk in the hallway the next day for some one-on-one time outside the noisy room that was now bursting with twenty-nine kids? How could I best manage my time the following week?  Luckily, every single one of these necessary but anxiety-inducing questions were quieted once the presenters stepped up after handing out rather hefty packets to us.

  Mary Liebl and Ranay Alcorn quickly set about providing their lucky listeners with a plethora of helpful tips to help students write arguments, an area that my honors students were struggling with in particular.They were given the extra responsibility of adding a paragraph or two providing a solution to the problems presented in their essays. They were just now breaking the five-paragraph essay mold and it intimidated and surprised them. Using the advice given to me by Thursday's presenters, I was able to better lead my students the very next day,after breaking out before Friday's lunch to check up on my freshmen. In addition, I vastly appreciated Liebl's and Alcorn's inclusion of Common Core's new standards for argument not only for my grade, but every grade including kindergarten. Being able to follow the path of my students projected progress by just glancing at one packet in undeniably helpful and it serves as a reminder of what I must help prepare my students for now so they are better-equipped to handle their sophomore, junior and senior years.  In addition, I truly adore and plan on using their rubric idea: they present their students with the requirements to get an A or a '4' in all section, showing that they expect that of each student and not giving students the chance to look at the paper and decide that they would only do the steps required to get a '2'.

Overall, the KATE Conference was vastly enjoyable and just plain intriguing once I got over the not inconsiderable barrier of simply missing being in the classroom. The pure amount of high-quality resources I received at the event and the comfortable sense of comradery at the sessions made it extremely worthwhile. I would love to attend next year (how amazing is it to have the Conference in Wichita?!) though perhaps only for the first day, enough to rejuvenate my passion for teaching English and soak up the advice of my more experienced peers.  I hope to see you all there next year, with as all now able to joke about being on the other side as 'real' teachers!

*All student names herein have been changed.

Genre Reflection #1

YOU WON’T BELIEVE THE INSANELY GOOD TRICKS THIS TEACHER CAME UP WITH: 10 TIPS TO CREATE AN AWESOME CLASSROOM

An Article By Jake Johnson: Buzzfeed Editor

 Having braved the harsh environment of a Midwestern high school classroom for nigh on six weeks now, Ms. Pritchett, a pre-student teacher hailing from one of the bigger cities in one of those still somewhat forgettable flyover states has grown a good deal. Having overcome difficulties and experienced enough inspiring moments to make at least one or two Hollywood writers start typing away on a script for a Freedom Writer’s sequel, Ms Pritchett is ready to share some of her shocking secrets with you, our lovely readers. The college student has penned a list of advice for any other strong souls considering making educating our kids their highest calling.

Ms. Pritchett urges her peers to:

1. Work hard to withhold judgements that can be construed as negative. These teenagers are still discovering their own identities; who are we to assume we know what they are and will always be based on the first week or two of experiences? Quiet kids may start speaking up more and disruptive students may produce exemplary texts and provide a plethora of support to their peers, even if they do not always utilize the best sense of timing. Let’s be honest, some never seem to use the best sense of timing. Be patient anyways. Let them learn to be better students as you learn to evolve into a more productive teacher.
2. Do not become disheartened when it takes the class longer than perhaps anticipated to get your name down. Your last name may not be overly common (like say, Pritchett), nor is it present on the schedules handed down to your  group of students. They will, by and by, get it down and in the meantime it is actually pretty enduring to have the respect of being called ma’am.
3. Be confident and polite enough to ask student’s how to pronounce their names if it is not clear on the attendance sheet. Be open to any nickname they prefer.
4. When educating a student that loves to interact with everyone and craves attention, build special moments for them into  your lesson plan that allows them to use up some energy in a meaningful way without detracting from other’s learning
5. Do not become unnecessarily stressed out over introducing your own ideas into lessons. Be willing to do so on the fly. They may not always be incorporated immediately but presenting them as options creates a certain dynamic and asserts your place as an educator in the classroom.
6. Grade and return work as quickly as you can. Keep well-organized folders for each hour. Praise students as you hand back their projects; they will want to talk about them!
7. Make it a goal to pull aside one student every week to thank them for their effort. Keep written evidence to back up your compliments. Definitely focus in on students who you know are not doing so well in other classes.
8. Choose a day every month or two to discuss academic progress and concerns with your 7. students. Remind them point-blankly what they can do to be successful.
9. Spend a few quiet moments reflection on your own ‘participation’ at the end of the day.
10. Focus on one new teaching method a day; give it your all, don’t bite off more than you can chew.

By following these ten simple words of wisdom, you two can become almost as awesome as Ms. Pritchett!

Embracing English Language Learners (Online Reflection #2)

Whilst look through the Syngergy information available for my students on my first day in my placement I noted that the icon stipulating a boy or girl as an English Language Learner popped up often.  Feeling both excited about the chance to gain a good deal of experience with diverse students and slightly concerned about not having the resources to be helpful enough, I made a mental note to ensure that learning more about educating ELL students is a priority for the coming year.  A month in, I feel as though I am starting to make significant progress in this area.

    My CT informed me recently that earning his ESL endorsement was one of the most difficult tasks that he has taken on as an educator. It was completely worthwhile for him and I would one day like to do the same but I know that achieving this goal may be quite a ways off.   The reality is that I have already begun to have pretty substantial influence over ELL students and my responsibility will only continue to grow. Thus, I have to start to develop methods of teaching ELL students effectively now and focus on cultivating these skills as time passes.

      Perhaps the most essential technique I have started to utilize in this area is the idea of using more visual tools for ELL students.  Providing models is of paramount importance. Including visual instructions is just one part of the answer however; allowing students to create visual products of their own fairly frequently is also critical. One of my ELL students struggling with writing the required amount of sentences for the class fairly routine exit slips. He is active in class discussions but does not always seem to want to write his thoughts down. It is an area where he is having noticeable trouble but improving; he has shown more interest and days of near mastery as the semester has gone on but there are stillh some hours where he is not motivated. However, when given the chance to complete a project that focused almost exclusively on drawing he excelled. This helped both my CT and I gain a better understanding of him as an individual and, I believe, helped boost his confidence.

    Upon doing further research, I found that my opinion on the use of Spanish, or any other native language, in the classroom was shared.  It should be allowed and encouraged in certain contexts, to be used alongside English. After all, if a student gains literacy skills in their native language, they can transfer the same basic concepts to English. Complete assimilation is not the end goal here. In his article Do's & Don'ts For Teaching English-Language Learners, Larry Ferlazzo states that banning the use of native languages in the classroom altogether “does not promote a positive learning environment where students feel safe to take risks and make mistakes,” (Ferlazzo, 2012). This is clearly not conducive to a quality education. In addition, asking students to teach me a few words in their native language gives them a sense of efficacy and supports the idea of a classroom environment where the teacher is growing as well and benefits greatly from student input.

   I know that I have a great amount of learning and research still to do in terms of creating a toolbox of techniques to use with ELL students. The foundation has been laid however and I feel confident throwing my basic thoughts out into the world as a way of holding myself accountable to my goals. I am going to create a classroom environment that makes ELL comfortable and ready to challenge themselves.

Works Cited

 Larry, F. (2012, March 12). Do's & Don'ts For Teaching English-Language Learners. Retrieved September 21, 2015. 

Questioning My Ability to Question Students: Online Reflection # 1

In the view of our society at large, a teacher must exhibit certain attributes in order to be deemed ‘good’.   There is not exactly an official list of necessary characteristics written in stone, but most of the population seems to adhere to a decent amount of unspoken but agreed upon ideals. Educators must be in full control without turning into a wickedly stern presence in the classroom, we must be meaningfully creative and just plain interesting without allowing chaos to take over, and we should certainly be cultured but not to the point of possible pretentiousness. We must find the perfect line to walk along, it seems. This ideal has proved to be intimidating to me to different degrees at different times.

 Over the course of my own experience with the teacher education program, I have grappled with the issue of finding balance. I have reached the conclusion that it is not an end goal. I am not going to achieve balance one day and then just be able to coast along happily without any real faults for the rest of my career.  I am going to have to adjust for every hour and there will undoubtedly be long stretches of time where I do well, but there will also absolutely be weeks where I will be too relaxed, perhaps only to then become too harsh afterwards to overcompensate. I will have to wear many proverbial hats as an educator: for one kid I might have to be tough to produce the right results, for another I may have to be sweet and more lenient to generate success. My teaching styles will constantly need to evolve in order for my work to be effective, and while I am never going to find the flawless balance that will endure forever, I can consistently improve.

One of the most prevalent areas of concerns for me in regards to balance has to deal with helpfulness; I believe most citizens would say that a teacher should be helpful but not limiting. I struggle in this area; my CT last year noted that I was knowledgeable but could be much too quick to give away answers or step in to redirect a group discussion too early.  Letting the learning process unfold without hindering it with too much intervention is one aspect of teaching that I have a sizeable amount of anxiety over.

I felt like I had reached my victory moment when, at the end of last year, my university supervisor for Core II pointed out that I did well at encouraging students to search for answers themselves, asking them further questions so they could discover facts for themselves rather than just sharing information with them. I felt great and figured I was over one major hurdle.

  I encountered the same issue again, however, working with an English Language Learner. I was given the chance to work with him one-on-one this week for two days. During our first session, he was extremely respectful and attentive after having been quite loud and disruptive in the classroom. I was a little giddy; I had taken a student outside the main classroom for some individual attention and he was responding favorably; clearly all was well. We finished half his project right then and there. However, upon reflection, I realized that I had limited him in a very real way; I had directed his choices too much and he had gotten the work done but I was in no way sure that it was truly meaningful with him. His personality was not shining through in his finished product.  Thus, when given the opportunity to work with him again the next day, I was eager but less gung-ho about exactly how I thought he should complete each task.  I followed the advice of Jessica Fries-Gaither (2008), given in her article “Questioning Techniques: Research-Based Strategies for Teachers”, where she encouraged teachers to probe for further information via questioning when a partial answer is given, rather than elaborate themselves. Fries-Gaither states that “Research… shows that redirection and probing are effective when they are explicitly focused on student responses. Vague or critical feedback (such as “That’s not right, try again”) has been shown to be unrelated to achievement,” (2). Reading this was a wake-up call for me. I needed to cease and desist with the simple answers and insubstantial feedback. Instead, I gave him directions but allowed some long silences. I did not directly answer all his questions but told him to do what he felt would be best, prompting him with further questions to get him to dig deeper into his own ideas rather than molding him into following along with mine. The results, though only from one day so far, were quite amazing. His finished map and passage analysis were far superior to the parts of the assignment we’d worked on earlier and he simply seemed happier at the end of the day. This positive experience has fueled my desire to keep learning good questioning strategies and developing a better method of helping students without putting a damper on their natural abilities by substituting them with my own.

    Moving forward, I would like to research and implement more questioning strategies. It is an area of infinitely possibilities. There may not be one universal, everlasting balance between asking questions and providing facts but I can and will make progress in this area. I will keep you all updated!

References:

 Fries-Gaither, J. (2008.) Questioning Techniques: Research-Based Strategies for Teachers. Retrieved August 31, 2015.

JUST KEEP SWIMMING

    I am limiting myself to two main goals to really focus in on at the moment. I find that when I set too many I get bogged down in the sheer number and lose my motivation too quickly; hopefully this is a more effective, manageable but  life-changing load. This semester I want to improve by  learning to jump right in and by finding the balance between being a teacher and being a student.

Jump Right In

  I'm just going to go right ahead and acknowledge two irrefutable facts right now: I am a little scared about this semester and I am a terrible procrastinator. This is the semester that I have to actively work on both issues. They are connected in a way: I believe I tend to put certain jobs off because I believe I will be better equipped to handle them at a later time. I'm nervous in the moment so I wait, hoping I will be less nervous or simply forced to act later. I'm down to the wire now though; change has to occur.

With each day I return to my placement, I am building confidence and trying to take on new tasks. Last year I waited until I was comfortable to take on more responsibility; this year I am going to jump right in and scare myself on purpose in order to better develop my skill set. I am going to do as much as I can so I can gain the most experience possible. I am not going to wait around because I am worried about failure; I will accept that not everything can and will be perfect and I will not put off tasks I could handle in the moment. I am going to just keep swimming.

Learn from my MT while developing my own unique teaching style

 This goal ties in with the most striking advice I remember from the kick-off meeting: one of the cooperating teachers said that you should respect your mentor this year without bending your style to duplicate anyone else's. I have been accused of having a wild independent streak but I have, in truth, always felt that I tend to pattern my own plans based on the examples of others more than might be wise.  My mentor teacher this semester is excellent: he's in the Kansas Teacher Hall of Fame and has earned his respected position while retaining his robust sense of humor and a fairly relaxed and marvelously engaging classroom environment. A joke or two he makes each class will fall flat but most are greatly appreciated by the young adults in the room and I was certainly encouraged to see that comedy does have a place in the modern and effective classroom. I want to have a similar classroom, if I am honest: however, essentially what I need is to be able to have similar results with different, unique and personal methods.

I have already found myself pondering how I could use some of his very specific assignments in my future classroom a time or two this week and while I would not say that it has reached the point of being completely negative yet it is an aspect of my practicum experience that I plan on reflecting on often. I do not want to try to emulate anyone to the point of restricting my own personality and ideas! 

Thus I am making it a priority to make a Google document: I  want to make note of interesting ideas and work on discovering and creating unique teaching methods. Essentially, I plan on having three major sections; one for ideas that I formulate entirely on my own, one from lessons I've seen that I would like to take foundations from and tweak, and one for ideas and classroom procedures that I would basically use as they were imagined by another person. The original ideas section will be the largest and I will try to build into my schedule weekly time during which I can add to it. I plan on being quite strict with myself when it comes to the ideas I take from another source.  I am not going to let myself be a poor imitation of a great educator; I am working to be a great educator in my own right. It will likely take many years to get there; I am ready to tackles the obstacles though! Bring on the year!

TEST!