Growing as a Teacher

Regie Routman in her book Reading Essentials comments that teachers work too hard. They are always tired and don’t have enough time to do it all. When I read that I thought, “I am there right now, as a student teacher!” but that is only one of the ways I have grown as a teacher. Fortunately, I am beginning to notice some positive things as well.

I am in the transition stage of teaching now, where I am teaching two lessons each day that I am with my students. With each week I am gaining confidence and learning how to manage class behavior, which I consider to be my biggest challenge. I was thrilled when my master teacher today came up to me and said, “That was much better.” What she meant was that most of my sweet second graders were actually listening to me today rather than talking to their neighbor. It’s amazing how much more they retain when they are paying attention to the lesson, but it took some tough love on my part.

I love engaging my students in fun activities, but I have learned that the activities have to make the lesson stronger, or they need to be dropped. There just isn’t enough time to teach all the things I want to teach them, so I am learning how to prioritize. Time management is becoming as important to me as class management. I have learned how to put together a lesson plan and to have a purpose for my teaching, and part of my teaching is to tell the students what I expect them to learn. I establish specific learning objectives with both formative and summative assessments and then use the results to help me plan future lessons.

I believe that a good teacher continues to learn and grow, and I am doing this daily. I have had the opportunity to attend weekly teacher workshops at my school and have been pleasantly surprised to see that experienced teachers are learning similar things that we are being taught in our university classes. These teachers are continuing to go to workshops and classes and then are expected to share what they have learned with the others in their school. They are being good stewards of the knowledge they have been given.

I see my purpose as a teacher to take two steps forward and one step back, a step I believe to be necessary in order to review and reflect on the lessons. Learning, reviewing, reflecting, and then teaching others what I have learned is how I have been growing and how I hope to continue to grow.

Their Work vs. My Work

“Always start by celebrating their work!” I love that bit of advice that my math teacher gave us and hope to remember to focus on their work when I am a full-time teacher. I am learning how important it is to let it be their work instead of mine. I need to let my students give me their strategies to do a problem, rather than only offering them an “official” solution. We learn by doing, and that applies to thinking as well. If I do not give them a chance to figure things out for themselves, they won’t learn how to think critically. My job is to teach children to think for themselves, not mimic me.

One of the fun things we have been doing in my math class is to see how many different ways a math problem can be done. For instance, we were given the problem 12 x 15. Because we had been practicing mental math, simplifying calculations so we could do the problems in our heads, I approached this problem using this same concept. I remembered that when you multiply a number by 10, you just need to add a 0 to that number to come up with the answer. Thus, 12 x 10 = 120. That left 12 x 5 to be solved. I knew that 5 is half of 10, so I just divided the 120 in half and added the 60 to the 120 and got 180. It was that simple!

Others in my class did it differently but used similar mental math methods. Some multiplied 15 x 10 to get 150. Then they multiplied 15 x 2 to get 30 and added it to the 150 to get 180. Another started out the same way with 15 x 10, but then added 2 x 10 and 2 x 5 to get 30. Again, it ended up the same, but the process was longer. Even longer was the FOIL method, but it worked as well: (10 x 10 + 10 x 5 = 150) plus (2 x 10 + 2 x 5 = 30). One in our class even did the traditional place value multiplication method and multiplied 12 x 15 in her head. She began multiplying 2 x 5 to get 10 and then carried the ten and did mentally what most write on paper.

We even made arrays in a lattice model, also called a four-square model. We multiplied the numbers similar to a FOIL method, but in a four square place value format.

To make a long story short, I know this sounds complex, but it was actually quite enlightening to see how many different ways a small class can solve the same problem. The key is to let the students think about it first, and then have them share their different solutions. Students learn from students, and again we celebrate their work!

Launching a Problem

Word problems strike fear in many a child, not to mention some adults – like me, for instance. Whenever I hear a problem about one train leaving a train station at say - 4 pm, and another train leaving a different station at say - 5 pm, I cringe because I know I’m going to have to find out what time they will meet, and I can never remember how to figure that out. What would happen if I saw these kinds of problems differently? That’s the rationale behind launching a problem.

Interestingly enough, the goal of launching a problem is to inspire those creative juices – rather than finding a solution. Fortunately, I’m not teaching those train problems, but I did observe a group teaching third graders how to divide a “bunch” of lollipops. First lesson I learned is that third graders need to learn what a “bunch” means. If they don’t speak the language, it won’t work. After learning, or perhaps seeing what a bunch is, “a group,” we may begin. Note - when launching a problem, make sure they understand the terms being used.

Next, how do you keep the students attention? I think showing them bunches of lollipops would be a great way to begin personally. Then ask them how many bunches of five, in this problem anyway, they have to purchase in order for 27 students to each get one. It was amazing to see how complicated this was for the third graders. Knowing that five bunches would only feed 25, they understood. But they had 27! They knew six bunches would be too many, so they were confused. Can you blame them? What about those other three lollipops? They knew you don’t throw away lollipops, and it would be unfair for one to keep the extras. They have learned their lessons on ethics well.

I wonder, though, if the class had pretended to be at a store and given play money and told to actually buy enough real lollipops for 27 people if this would have been easier. I personally think it might have been, but it wasn’t the way we tried it that day to launch this word problem. If that doesn’t work, my other suggestion is to give them an example of a similar problem, perhaps an easier one like how many buses does it take to transport 40 students when one bus can only hold 30? I think modeling how one would do a similar problem is always a great beginning. I know I’m going to need another model before I get another train problem.

Choral counting

In music, a group singing in unison is called a chorus. In mathematics, one can be part of a similar group but it is choral counting, and instead of singing it is counting together. I had the opportunity to participate in choral counting recently in my mathematics class. My professor began the class by explaining that choral counting is like “skip counting” or saying a multiplication table. The difference, however, is that we were to say them together as an entire group - and were to do the 19s. I was not the only one who gasped audibly at first, never having practiced the 19s. I was pleasantly surprised, however, how it went.

She gave us a few minutes to prepare silently on how we would say our 19s, and we collectively began to search our minds for patterns, having been preconditioned to the existence of patterns by our previous lessons. Fortunately, it was not that difficult to find one after due consideration. When we began the count, our class was able to make a decent showing, having discovered that 19 is very close to 20. One could mentally add 20 and quickly subtract one to equal 19.

As we orally counted, my professor wrote the numbers down on her flip chart for us to see. The surprise came when she stopped us after we had only counted five 19s and asked us to look for patterns. We quickly stared at two obvious patterns. She had written 19, 38, 57, 76, and 95. The ones read: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and the tens read 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. We were anxious to see how this pattern would continue. She did ask us to continue, and each time we went a little further in our count, though we always started at our beginning number 19 in order to keep the rhythm.

Besides the patterns we first noticed, we saw others emerge to join them. The ones counted backwards from 9 to 0 and then started all over again with the same numbers. Likewise, in the tens the next five numbers repeated the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, but then it changed. The next two sets of five were 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and again repeated the same 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. Later, at home I continued with this pattern and noticed there was an extra transition number 9 and then it went back to 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 for the next two sets of five numbers. I became so excited in my exploration; I looked further and found still another pattern.

Now I saw there were five different numbers in the tens, five different numbers in the one hundreds, five different numbers in the two hundreds, and then there were six different numbers in the three hundreds. Interested in how this would play out, I continued and found three more groups of five numbers and then another group of six numbers. I learned that different multiplication tables provide different patterns. I also had the opportunity to later facilitate a couple other choral counts for both second and third graders and saw that they too became very quick at noticing patterns, but that is another story…

Constructive Feedback

I think the best definition I found to “constructive feedback” was when I googled the term and found this definition under DirectHit.com: "Feedback or advice that can be used in a positive way to make good changes and improvements as opposed to simply criticisms." I have been reading and listening to different views on how to provide feedback to my students over this past year, but when one is on the receiving end, it puts things in a clearer context.

Going into my first lesson that would be “officially observed” made me much more nervous than I anticipated, and I wondered if it would affect the lesson. Fortunately, once I started teaching, the nerves began to dissipatate and I found myself enjoying the interaction between myself and the students. The nerves went away – at least until after I was done teaching.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared to take my medicine, knowing I would be receiving “constructive feedback,” for better or for worse. I felt very vulnerable and anxious but knew I had given it my all. Fortunately, both my field observer and master teacher were intent on encouraging my growth instead of stunting it.

They both started with positive statements to put me at ease, mentioning that I had engaged the students with both the artifacts I had brought in, as well as the different levels of questions I had used to provoke their critical thinking. They liked the shared reading I had the students participate in, with its focus on learning new vocabulary words, and the turn and talk went well preceding the group discussion. The role playing and the song my students concluded with also went over well, but (here it comes) I could have used a stronger type of closure to reinforce what they had learned throughout the lesson.

Hmmm, that wasn’t so bad after all. I didn’t feel humiliated or that I had failed. In fact, when reflecting on my lesson, I could see that they were right. Yes, my students had enjoyed my lesson but, other than their comments during our discussion time, I had no official documentation of what they had learned. Perhaps I could have included an exit slip or had them write a brief paragraph, mentioning something they learned that day and a question they still had. It could have even helped me in planning my next lesson with them. Apparently I still have several things to learn, but I am on my way, having received some great “constructive feedback.”

Teaching Styles

As a student teacher, I have been given the opportunity to observe different styles of teaching. One thing I admire about K, the teacher that I have been placed with, is the relaxed attitude she has with her class. She is a seasoned veteran of teaching, which makes me wonder if K is that way as a result of her many years of teaching or if it is her natural style. I suspect it is just her personality. She doesn’t seem to let the minor things stress her, whereas some of the other teachers do just that. She starts the day relaxed and ends the day the same way, rather than stressing about what she might have done differently and burning out after only a few years of teaching.

K does stay alert to the status of her students, however. One strategy she recently implemented was to create a “most-improved” certificate on her computer. She called two of her students to come in front of the class to receive it and announced that though both had started the school year with questionable behavior, they had improved more than any of the other students in the class and were receiving a certificate in honor of their improvement. Receiving this caused much pride in these students and turned out to be a brilliant strategy in more ways than one. It showed the students that the teacher was now seeing them as a success, and the rest of the class was also aware of the new status they had been given. They received a brand new start five months into the year, also showing the class that change was possible in her class.

Another thing I continue to be amazed at is K’s class management. She told me that she will sometimes allow her class to be a little nosier than other classes at times, but what amazes me is that she can quiet them down in an instant. The other teachers that I have observed either need to keep a tighter rein on their students at all times so they won’t get too noisy, or they spend a lot of time quieting them when they do get too noisy. K’s strategy is to dim the lights when she needs to get their attention, and they immediately focus their eyes on her and go quiet.

She also holds her students accountable for their own actions, teaching them to be responsible. I recently watched a different teacher pick up her students’ things after class was over and put them back in their desk. K would never have done that. She makes them pick up their own stuff, and if they don’t do it and it gets lost, they lose it. She has a similar way with the other areas with her class, such as their daily snacks. They are responsible for bringing their own snacks, and if they forget to bring them, they do without. Likewise, this extends to their homework. They are held accountable in the same way for turning in their homework. She doesn’t call their parents. She holds them responsible for doing their own work. After I was gone for two months, doing my middle-school dyad training, I came back to find that they have adapted fairly well to this strategy and more are following through in these areas.

My Introduction to Smart Boards

Today I had the opportunity to attend an introductory workshop on smart boards and their place in a school classroom. Apparently, there are several brands of these interactive boards ranging from Promethean active boards to Dell interactive whiteboards to boards that are actually called SMART boards. They appear to be an interactive computer on a large screen in the front of the classroom. Some require a stylus pen that is calibrated to work on the board while newer ones only require one’s fingers. The board we used needed the pen, though much of our work was done via computers and laptops provided and simulated what we could do on a smart board.

I was grateful for the explanation about the mechanics of the smart boards, such as what to do when (not if) one gets lost, in addition to learning about some of the tools available. We looked at the main menu, main toolbox, formatting toolbar, tools, and browsers, among other things. An interesting tool was something called handwriting recognition. One would use the pen to write something on the screen and after being selected, it would turn what was written into typed text. This might be good for someone having poor handwriting, but I know children love to see their work published, and I wonder if this might diminish the importance of their contribution.

Because I have not worked with smart boards before, I was overwhelmed by all the knowledge I was presented with. The instructors were excellent, though, balancing their teaching so as to not move too fast for novices such as me, while at the same time trying not to bore those who have had prior experience. One example was when the class was shown how to use the tickertape function which allows text to roll across the screen as slow or as fast as one might want. This was something that drew the attention of all, but was really more for fun than as a teaching tool, and I didn't feel that it was imperative that I learn that function.

After the instructors presented us with the basics, they gave us some time to play around with them, including playing with some of the many images we could choose from. I found things from geometric shapes to musical notes to animals. I had fun duplicating and rotating some penguins and discovered the images also come with audio. Those in the room were hearing everything from lions roaring to babies crying, and I even heard a sick cough simulating a negative side effect of smoking. I appreciated the advice the instructors gave, however, to be careful not to get carried away by using too many tools. A teacher should use tools that help support the learning objectives, not the other way around.

One demonstration that made the class see the advantage of using an interactive board was an activity the instructors had us do. At the beginning of the class, they showed us a clip on the screen consisting of a list of words shown one at a time. A few words were read to us, others showed only pictures and some had text, audio and a picture. We were asked to pay attention to them, but after we were shown them, they told us that we would get back to them later and went on to teach us about the white boards.

Toward the end of the class they came back to the word list and asked us to write down all that we could remember. None of us remembered very many, but I felt the most important part of the exercise was when they showed us the statistics of past results. The majority of the words that people remember are the ones that have audio, written text, and an image. Research showed that about 10% remembered information they had heard; 35% remembered information they had seen, but 65% remembered what they had both seen and heard. Learning how important it is to combine oral and visual with text was a good motivator for us to learn all we could about smart boards.

Children’s Math Strategies

When I was in elementary school, I learned that there was only one way to do math problems, and that was the way the teacher taught us. In my current math class, I am learning the opposite. There are many ways to approach math problems, and often the way they’re done is more important than their answers. I would never have believed this a few years ago, but today I am learning to see math in a very different way.

I had the opportunity to do two different one-on-one assessments with two different third graders, in two different classes, and at two very different levels. I was told that I could not help the children and only evaluate their strategies for finding basic mathematical facts. We were given half an hour to do four questions, but they were all challenging ones.

My first child, Mr. J, was very friendly and worked very hard trying to please me, but he had a very difficult time understanding the basic directions and needed a lot of coaching to keep him on task. He exhibited a low attention span, but I loved his attitude. Though he was unsuccessful at solving any of the problems, he did his best when he was asked to divide 10 large cookies between 6 children. He would give each child one cookie and the other four to his “brother, sister, dad and mom.” It made a lot of sense to me, and I hated to tell him that he couldn’t give the other cookies to his family and could only divide the 10 cookies among the six children. From there, though, it went downhill. He then tried to divide the cookies all in half but couldn’t figure out what to do with them when he ended up with 20 half-cookies.

My recommendation for Mr. J was to work on early math facts using direct modeling. Because the story problems were too abstract for him, he wasn’t able to find a formula for them, and I recommended direct modeling using counters or manipulatives to help him to see the concepts.

My other child, Mr. C, was very different. His single-minded focus was to finish the work, and his focus was intense. On his first problem, he read it and immediately wrote a mathematical equation out and solved the problem. In fact when I asked him why he did the problem that way, his response was “Because that’s what you’re supposed to do.” That sounded like something I would have said and done when I was his age. Ironically, he was able to solve all the problems except the cookie problem. Like Mr. J, he too wanted to start by giving each child one cookie, but after that he differed. He worked very hard to divide the rest of the cookies between the children and finally resorted to drawing it out. Interestingly enough, he was able to draw the division accurately but did not know how to convert it into numerical measurement. I believe he is moving into the counting strategy. He further demonstrated this on another problem when he successfully divided 246 pieces of candy putting 10 in each box. He solved this by continuing to subtract 10 numerically from the total separately each time until he no longer had 10 to subtract.

Earlier Mr. C had told he did not like math. I could see why as I watched him struggle and work so hard to complete his work. I wondered how it could be easier for both Mr. J and Mr. C and think about my earlier blog on subitizing and how seeing patterns can make math easier. A different child in Mr. C’s class knew that there were 10 tens in 100. That meant there were 20 tens in 200 and 24 in 240. Knowing that would have saved Mr. C a lot of time and perhaps made math a whole lot more fun for him. I’m looking forward to teaching children how to see more of these patterns and helping them to see that math can be fun.

Subitizing

What are some of the different ways students can add up groups of dots? Finding that out is the intent of the exercise called Quick Images. Two of us worked with a small group of third graders assessing their abilities to subitize, find the total number without giving them enough time to count each one individually. These dots were on flash cards and each flash card showed a different grouping. There were groups of twos, threes, fours, and fives. We flashed them an image for only a few seconds and then asked them to visualize the dots in their heads. We then gave them a chance to check their answers by flashing the dots in front of them once more for another three seconds. After this we asked for their totals.

The students did have one advantage. This exercise had been demonstrated to them, and they were now alert for patterns, and they found them. I was amazed, however, at how many different patterns they could find. They circled the ways they had grouped them, so the rest of us could see how they were able to come to their answers. Because they were asked to explain their methods to the rest of us, such as dividing the dots into groups of threes or sixes, it became evident to the students while explaining themselves if they were correct or not, and we all learned from each other.

One interesting development I noticed was that the students who were struggling with other mathematical concepts were excelling in this exercise. These students saw this exercise as more of a game than an assessment, and they were having fun. This was evident in their joyful faces and the excited way that they participated. Gone were the anxious faces. They were in their element, and it was like the playing field had been made even for them at that moment.

One way to collect ideas

I was babysitting last night for a couple cute preschool girls when I happened to glance up at their fireplace mantle. There they were looking down on me – a couple of handmade paper turkeys.

As I was commenting on how cute they were to the girls, it occurred to me. I could use those turkeys! Not those exact turkeys, mind you, but the idea that they presented to me. Here were two different crafts I had never seen before that represented different skill levels. I could use them in different grades or as different choices in one grade. Looking at them, I could determine what needed to be done to remake them, but how would I remember all of the details without taking them home? I could write a detailed description of them – or I could take a picture. I only have a basic cell phone. It’s not a smart phone and doesn’t have many megapixels, but it does take pictures! I now have in my craft file two new crafts that I can pull out for my future elementary school class.

Writing Purposes

I feel as if I am learning two somewhat opposing ways to teach writing. One is to teach writing for a specific purpose in a specific way. The other is to teach writing for the reward of writing itself, a somewhat cathartic experience. Our class is reading two very different books about these views. One is by Regie Routman called Writing Essentials. The other, by Anne Lamott, is Bird by Bird. Now, I think one can tell by the titles themselves which one is conventional and which one is not. I admit, I tend to be a conservative and go more with the conventional text, such as teaching the actual skills of writing, but I have bitten my tongue and resolved to find some gems of worth in the other, and I think I have found some.

Lamott is admittedly a bit crude for my taste, but I do agree with her that good writing should be “about telling the truth” (p. 3). Sometimes I think she could use a bit more reserve in her descriptive powers, but I have to admit agreeing with her about her characters. Sometimes it is best to not save them but let them suffer the consequences. Her story about a “frazzled, defeated wife of an alcoholic man who kept passing out on the front lawn in the middle of one night,” was one such example. The wife kept dragging him in each morning before dawn to avoid the neighbor’s view until finally an old black woman from the South advised her saying, “Honey? Leave him lay where Jesus flang him” (p. 46). That was inspirational.

Voting Day

Tuesday is voting day. I was one of 11,000 King County residents informed that my ballot was inadvertently not mailed on October 19th. As I was reading the assigned chapter in Walter C. Parker’s, Social Studies in Elementary Education this week, entitled “Democratic Citizenship Education,” my missing ballot came to mind. I began to see the connection. Children must be taught about civic responsibility, or they won’t know what they are missing. This includes teaching students about deliberation, what it means to vote responsibly, but another factor that Parker introduced was getting students to care.

I liked the way one teacher took care of this. Tarry Lindquist started her school year off by having her students brainstorm all the ways they could make their classroom a “terrible place, a place where no one would want to come, a place where we could guarantee no learning would occur,” (p. 85). Following their description, she then asked them how they would feel having to be in that kind of classroom all year. Her students couldn’t wait to reverse their list to create the opposite of that classroom.

Parker addressed voting, stating that elementary teachers should take every opportunity to involve their students in the voting process, including deliberation (p. 95). It continues to boggle my mind when I think that women, like myself, only received the right to vote less than one hundred years ago. I remember as an 18-year-old being so excited that I was part of the first group of 18-year-olds that were eligible to vote for the U.S. presidency. It made me feel so grown-up and excited to be given the privilege to vote.

Unfortunately, today I often see more apathy than enthusiasm, regarding the right to vote, than I did back in 1972 when I first voted. Parker brings out that a crisis often is the catalyst that diffuses apathy. In 1972, it was the Vietnam War. This last week my mini-crisis was realizing that if I did not receive my ballot, I was not sure if I would be able to vote. Needless to say, my family received our ballots a few days ago, but what if the error hadn’t been found, or what if it was intentional and never corrected? We teachers have the great opportunity to encourage democracy when we continue to make civic responsibility one subject we will always include.

Making Research Happen

There were six of us, and we signed up to research and present how teachers would use a resource guide to teach a third grade Social Studies lesson. Each group chose a different ethnic group to research. My group chose Hispanic Americans, but where would we start? Isn’t that often the hardest task, just beginning? One of our group members suggested opening up a Google Plus Circle so we could communicate with each other during the week, so we did. We did something! Now we could bounce our ideas off of each other in an open forum from anywhere at any time. We next checked out the third grade standards and found that in third grade, students learn that a community is made up of people from different cultures. That would be our focus – Hispanic American culture.

Our next task was to understand what a resource guide was. As we began, we realized that this was harder than we first thought. Does calling a resource guide make it one? What about sites that resemble a resource guide but are not called resource guides? We decided that calling a site a resource guide does not make it one. Our professor suggested a definition that made the most sense to me. It is a one-stop shop. A resource guide might contain primary documents that have been scanned, as well as secondary documents trying to explain those primary documents. There would definitely be links to other websites, and you might also find pdfs, pictures, graphs, maps, speeches, lesson plans, films, music, or even virtual field trips. The Internet has once again made an impact as it offers almost instant information at the touch of one's fingertips.

When we chose group roles, I volunteered to focus on finding appropriate EALRS and ideas for lesson plans. It turned out finding enough information was not a problem. Resource guides are filled with them. The problem seemed to be to limit the information and filter out the wealth of information one finds. I chose to focus on Jose Alamillo’s resource guide. Alamillo was born in Mexico but is currently the Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Chicano/a Studies Program at California State University Channel Islands. He’s also an author and researcher of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans.

With Halloween approaching, I thought a focus on holidays might be appropriate and looked for two in particular, Cinco de Mayo and El Día de los Muertos. I was not disappointed. Not only did I find examples of celebrations, I also found commentaries on the commercialization of the holidays and an interdisciplinary lesson plan about El Día de los Muertos, including studying the bones of the human skeleton to go along with the art of skull etchings made famous by Jose Guadalupe Posada.

My research helped me to see more clearly how one culture can influence other cultures. Civics EALR 1.1.1 informs us that students need to learn how communities benefit when including people from diverse cultures. How do they learn? It might begin with talk. When teachers talk about what we value, students notice. As students see teachers valuing students’ different skills and strengths, students begin to appreciate them as well. Our little group demonstrated this as we chose different roles to do our research. One person explained who Hispanic Americans were and where they came from. Another explained different things that resource guides offer. Another showed examples of different kinds of resource guides, and yet another talked about the pros and cons. Our group worked together using our different strengths and skills, and it became a better presentation.

Utilizing each others’ strengths not only lightens the load, but the whole group benefits. The Bible compares this arrangement to being members of a body and asks us to consider what would happen if we all wanted to do the same thing. What if everyone wanted to be an ear or an eye, for example? We wouldn’t accomplish much; would we? We need all the parts working together to be a whole body (I Corinthians 12:14-20). Communities work the same way. We are a stronger community if we accept what we have to offer each other and work together. That became the focus of our presentation on Hispanic American culture.

Beginning to teach

I did it! I taught my first lesson in a junior high school. I admit I was quite nervous planning it, but ironically I kept hearing the song “Courageous” on the radio leading up to the experience, and the lyrics were becoming a mantra of sorts for me. Pastor John Hall and Matthew West wrote, “We were made to be courageous. We were made to lead the way. We could be the generation that finally breaks the chains.” Music has always been the modem that inspires me, and it was working.

My assignment was to choose an appropriate book to read as an interactive read-aloud to the eighth grade English class that I am currently working in as an intern. After talking with the teacher, I learned that they were going to be entering a unit on ethics, and he suggested I pick a short story that would be about a contemporary issue involving an ethical choice teens sometimes have to make. It wasn’t easy to find a short story like that, I found out. I checked the libraries and the Internet, but it began to look as if I would not be able to find an appropriate short story in time. I finally found it, though, and the way I found it seemed as providential to me as the song “Courageous” was.

I was driving home and saw a sign advertising a garage sale that was giving all of its profits toward pancreatic cancer research. Having lost my mother to pancreatic cancer, I couldn’t resist stopping. Sure enough, while there I found a large collection of books, one of which was Taste Berries for Teens. Somehow, I knew that this was the book I was looking for and bought it. Inside I found the story “Party On!” by 15-year-old Susan Hinkle, and it was just what I had been looking for.

Meanwhile, I knew that this was the last week my local movie theater was showing the movie the song “Courageous” was based on, so I decided to further prepare myself and went to see the movie. Sure enough, I found it even more inspiring than the song alone and knew I was ready. I wrote my lesson plan, organized some questions, and waited.

The class seemed to listen and respond well to both the story and my discussion questions, but I still had some doubts until I saw their papers. I had decided to give them a post-writing exercise as an informal assessment, asking them to respond to the question if they would be able to be like Susan, the main character in the story, and stand up to their friends if their friends were trying to get them to do something that they knew was wrong. To more accurately gauge them as a class, I asked them to not put their names on their papers, telling them it would not be graded. I just wanted to know what their responses were. I am a firm believer that it helps a person’s resolve to follow through with an action if they take the time to determine what that action will be ahead of time, like the “stop, drop, and roll” fire-safety technique. I hoped this would lead to similar positive results.

I knew I had accomplished my purpose when I read their papers. They showed that not only did they seem to grasp what it means to be an ethical person, but their comments made me feel like I had made a difference in their lives as well. The majority read something like these two: “Yes, because friends are people that stand up for you and that means you have to stand up for them and help them if they make the wrong choices,” and “I would be able to. My friends would listen to my ideas, and they wouldn’t be my friends if they didn’t.” Yes, there were a couple who said they would still go to the party, even when knowing their parents would not approve, but by far the majority felt they would make the ethical choice to do the right thing. Regardless of their choice, I knew the class had listened to my lesson about ethics, and I believe that is all a teacher can do, to be courageous, to lead the way.

Is Blogging Life Changing?

Google wanted to know. Can learning how to blog change 12-year-old Makeal’s life, or anyone’s life for that matter? I wonder the same question for myself. Why do I blog? Will blogging have lasting ramifications for me or those who read my blogs?

Makeal, a 12-year-old boy living in E. Oakland, was part of a study to determine if learning how to blog can have an impact on low-income kids. He and his class were given the opportunity to be bussed weekly to the Google office in San Francisco to be taught how to blog. Did it make a difference in his life? Makeal says it did. For one, he got to pick his own topics, which excited him from the start. He chose his favorite past-time, skateboarding, but it was just one of the subjects he actually blogged about. It turned out blogging made Makeal realize he had thoughts about other things he’d like to share as well. Gaining confidence as he went, he began to share those other thoughts too.

Blogging did seem to have lasting ramifications for Makeal. He comes to school more regularly now and is recognizing he is learning useful skills, like the blogging, to open up new possibilities for his future. Currently, he can see himself as an architect, a skateboarder, video-game designer, or a firefighter. I love the way he doesn’t limit himself. He knows he could be any of those, because Google has already begun to teach him about succeeding in life.

Blogging may not be the cure-all, but it can open our lives to new possibilities, as Makeal is demonstrating. I will continue my blogging but can’t help but wonder, after seeing what Google did for Makeal, can Google help me too?

The Learning Gap

Autumn quarter has arrived and with it more opportunities for me to blog. In my tech class, we were asked to respond to a couple of videos showing the effect of technology on learning. The first one, The Machine is Us/ing Us showed a recent evolution of written communication. Beginning with stationary written text, it went on to become digital text with the invention of the computer, text able to be moved around within a document. The Internet then brought more changes, such as additional opportunities for movement with the invention of hyperlinks, interactive web sites, and blogs such as this one.

This progression reminds me of how excited I was years ago when I first noticed a shift in technology that affected me. I went from having a manual typewriter where I had to physically push the arm back to the left side when I reached the right margin of the page, to being able to push a button and see it done automatically. It was a huge advancement at the time. When the computer came, and all I had to do was continue typing for it to begin the next line, it was revolutionary. Technology has advanced quite a bit since then, and I feel that one advantage to becoming a teacher is the opportunity to continue to learn about new technology and move on with the times. I liked the video’s conclusion that technology now links people, not just information, but what about the people who are not computer savvy?

The second video, Sugatamitra: The Child Driven Education was fascinating to see in that it brought the focus back from the machine to the people, when it showed the power of children’s minds to learn how to operate a computer without having a teacher to teach them. This seemed to me to be an example of critical thinking in action. The children took creative risks and were able to master how to do things I have never even attempted to do. It made me realize a disadvantage I continue to live under. I wait for people to teach me technology. Why do I do that? I remember a teacher telling me in one of my first computer classes not to be afraid of the computer, that I wouldn’t break it. That is the way many of us digital immigrants (those who have not grown up using computers from childhood) have acted, and some of us continue to do so. I am working to overcome that fear, but it remains a struggle.

William Ayers brings up a related problem in his book, To Teach: the journey of a teacher. He calls it “working the gap” and describes it as a more difficult but necessary way. I have begun working as an intern in a public school and I am beginning to see the gap he describes. There are “too many kids, not enough time, too few resources,” etc. (pp. 137-138). But, we teachers can’t give up and take the easy path. If the children in the Sugatamitra video had ignored the computers that were left with them, and never put forth the energy and initiative required to learn about them, they would have remained ignorant and missed out on the joy of learning new things. I want to be the kind of teacher who doesn’t settle for passivity. I want to challenge my kids as Sugata Mitra did when he enticed the children by placing a computer in their midst. Whether there are English language learners, children having special needs, or even just those wanting to learn, I want to create an environment in my class that will nurture all their needs. Can it be done? Just as the written text has evolved, I hope my teaching will do the same.

Food journal reflection

In our health and fitness class, we kept a food journal for two weeks and wrote down everything we ate, as well as our physical activity. Because I have been part of Weight Watchers since August, I already had experience doing this and knew its value. I knew that writing down what is eaten also makes one more aware of the quantity eaten, especially regarding snacking. A taste here or handful there adds up. Because I had reached my weight goal before this activity, I continued maintaining my weight loss and succeeded. My written goal was to exercise for three to four times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. The irony of this is that I have been a regular jogger for the last thirty years, but the schoolwork this quarter has kept me busier than normal and reduced my jogging time. Because of this, I have tried new methods to keep active, believing that any action is better than no action. One way I changed was to do some of my required readings while walking my dog. I found securing them to a clipboard helps, especially when windy. I glance up frequently to avoid accidents and have found that this also helps my comprehension, as I am less likely to get sleepy while reading when walking. I usually read for about an hour at home, head out to walk and read for the next hour, and then read the rest when I return or save it for a later time. It has helped me to stay active and achieve my goal.

I can see myself in the future assigning my students to keep a similar food/fitness journal and encouraging them to think about what they are able to do and do it. If I do not have dedicated time to teach health, I could use this as an interdisciplinary activity. For science, I would suggest they take hikes or walks with their parents so they can draw pictures of wildlife and nature and write about their observations or learn the names of local flowers and trees. For creative writing, they could write imaginary stories of the wildlife they observe, such as a day in the life of a squirrel or bird. Even math can include a neighborhood walk to find different geometric shapes, such as people’s houses and yards, or estimate the percentage of a house in relation to its yard. If journals are kept for a month or longer, one can concentrate on long-term goals and their progress. For instance, if one could do five push-ups, that child might work up to doing twenty after a month. The teacher should help the child determine reasonable goals and approve them before the child begins. These should also be pre-approved by the parents. Whether they walk their dogs, ride bikes, play sports, or take walks with their family or friends, I’d teach them what I have observed, that physical activity increases cognitive performance.

Presenting a group micro-teaching

This was the last day of my health class, and I was part of a group that led a micro-teaching on the short-term effects of alcohol geared toward an eighth grade class. Four of us presented the lesson. We all had strong opinions of what should be taught, which became challenging at times, but it managed to come together as a presentation representative of each of our teaching styles. I think this made for a good variety of information, and the class seemed to enjoy it. My responsibility was to lead a discussion to pre-assess the class and help them to think about what it means to be drunk. I asked them to think about someone they may have observed in person, on TV, or in a movie and describe what they noticed about that person. They came up with descriptive words like “silly,” “vomiting,” “erratic behavior,” and “loud.” We mentioned that being drunk often looks different in real life than it does on TV and defined drunk as being affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control over one’s body and behavior. Our group followed this up by having everyone wear special goggles that simulated being drunk. All had difficulty walking a straight line, and some were noticeably wobbling as well. This helped them to see what being out of control was like and helped the issue to be more real to them.

I enjoyed leading the discussion and felt very comfortable in that role but wondered how much freedom I should allow the students in their discussion. When one student began sharing that she had observed her dad being drunk, I felt that that shouldn’t have been shared with the class but didn’t want to embarrass the student by admonishing her. I felt instead that that was my fault for not having warned the class to not share personal details. Later, when the class gave their feedback on my presentation to this make-believe eighth grade class, one of my classmates brought that up and clarified for me that I should have told them at the beginning to not share personal details with the class. This was very helpful to me, and I will try to remember to do that in the future when we will be discussing issues where students might be tempted to share personal stories. I might also add that if they do want to share a private story that they would need to use pseudonyms when discussing events that others might prefer to keep private.

Teaching Sex Education

In class today we started our class with an unusual ice breaker. A few volunteers were asked to pick a card from the professor’s bag, read it and say the word loudly. Words picked were “semen,” “cervix,” “erection,” and “ovaries.” If the students did not speak loud enough, our professor would say, “What? I can’t hear you.” It seemed absurd at the time, but the professor’s explanation of using this in a classroom helped. It was to get some of the giggles out and help the students listen more effectively. From there we were asked if we considered ourselves prepared to teach about different aspects of sex education. What we thought we were confident about became less so when we later chose some questions about sex education to discuss in pairs and then micro-teach to the rest of the class.

As adults, most of us felt fairly confident about our sex education, especially since many of us in the class are already parents, but this class exercise showed us that teaching others requires a different set of knowledge. We needed to think about our vocabulary choice to make sure our choice of words was not only accurate but would not make someone feel that they or their family were abnormal. We were cautioned to think what a parent’s reaction might be if their child shared what they had learned in school that day, especially regarding cultural or controversial issues. The example given was abortion. We were encouraged to be honest in our teaching but to accompany it with sensitivity, recognizing that the strong feelings many have on this issue is the basis for what is called the abortion debate.

Mindsets

Our class discussed some excerpts today from Mindset by Carol Dweck. There are two different mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset focuses on there being only one solution and has a fear of failure, whereas the growth mindset learns from failure, and even replaces that word with words like redirection or new opportunities. I believe that I have a growth mindset, as one of the reasons I am becoming a teacher is because I love learning so much, but I always try to do my best and feel badly if others feel that what I do is not good enough for them. I like the strategies used in Mindset to not praise others for their natural talents and abilities but for the work that they have put in. On the other hand, I am not sure I agree with the author when she apologizes to her students when they found the work too easy and then promises to give them something they “can really learn from!” (p. 179). I think sometimes it is good to have some easier assignments instead of only having challenging ones. Perhaps I am feeling that way because of the strenuous work load in my classes right now, but I can’t help but feel the need for a balance in life. I think sometimes it is good to have less challenging assignments that may be more enjoyable than challenging.