Building a Better Teacher

New York Times awesome article: Building a Better Teacher

Good to see positive publicity!

How not to manage your classroom

Very beginning of class.

Me: Sally, what's wrong?
Sally: I don't feel good, can I call my mom?
Me: During class? No. I can send you to the nurse and you can call from there.
Sally: I don't want to go to the nurse. I just want her to come pick me up. Please?
Me: No, just go to the nurse. That's proper procedure. I can't let you use your phone during class.
Sally: But miss! I don't want to walk all the way to the nurse just to come back here when I could call my mom from here.
Ellie: [Budding in] Just let her miss.
Sally: Please? [Makes sick face like she might vomit at any time]
Me: Fine. Go, do it now, outside. Hurry back in.
Sally: Ellie, let me borrow your phone.

20 minutes later
Intercom: Please send Sally to the front office, her mother is here to pick her up.
Me: You got it.
Intercom: What?
Me: Yes ma'am. Go on Sally.

Lesson:
I need to stick to my guns. Even though this worked out (kind of), I cannot let the students push me around like this. When I say no, I have to stick with it. I just need to learn which battles are worth fighting. And I did not want vomit in my classroom.

I rock!

Yesterday I totally rocked 5th period! The class was about twenty minutes behind my other classes, beacuse a. they're a skinny period, b. they meet right after lunch, and c. those kids are talkers! I had everything prepared to launch right into our work when the bell rang. Then I kept them on track with constant reminders and stern teacher looks (which I have been practicing.) It took a lot of effort, but they are caught up now! Win!

IDK

Another issue close to my heart was raised at our meeting today: grading writing. I have not been grading my students’ writing for spelling and grammar. This (apparently) is a horrible atrocity for an English teacher. I have been trying to get my students to write ANYTHING down. I have been exposed to the idea that marking kids’ papers up excessively only reinforces the idea that they are failures and encourages them to not turn anything in and ditch class. I want to support my budding writers. I think that understanding concepts is much more important than being able to spell them. (Although it is amusing when I get "IDK" for "I don't know," "cus" for "because," and "usto" for "used to.") This may be because my father is a wonderful engineer and cannot spell to save his life. He has been successful in his life because of his critical thinking skills, not his grammatical skills. But as an English teacher, I feel like I am failing my students by not teaching them basic English. Teachers in other fields shared how they mark down for poor writing, and wondered why I was not doing the same. Another reason is that I want my students to write more than I have time to correct. I want them to write everyday and I do not have time to pick apart their writing. Hopefully, I can figure this one out soon…

Homewhat?

Today in our Departmental Development meeting (10th grade Academy) we discussed homework. Do we want to have a 10th grade homework policy across the board? Why assign homework? Is it to reinforce skills taught in class? Is it to give students base knowledge about upcoming topics? Is it to teach kids organization and responsibility?
We could not agree.
We did agree that all students should have homework every night in math, reading, and writing. This posed a problem since I have three English classes that do not have homework at all. Period. I wish I could assign the students homework, but they have not been taught the skills to complete it. Homework is giving them another avenue for failure, not success.
I think reading is the best homework that can be given in an English class. Teachers should give book talks and let students choose their own books, which they will write about and share with small discussion groups. SSR time should be provided in class to get students enticed. Then they will be motivated to read at home. Ah, if only things were as easily done as said!

Talk to me!

One of my professional development goals is to engage the students in discussion more often. Too many days the kids are sitting in class like bumps on a log. The first strategey I am employing is to use "name cards" to get kids to anser questions. These are a class set of notecards with each students name on a sepertae card. Whenever I ask a question, I can pull the top card and ask that student specifically. Then I give the student a plus for answering correctly, a check for attempting to answer, and a minus if they did not attempt to answer at all. This takes the pressure off me to choose students to speak in class and takes pressure off students because they know they all have to participate equally.
I introduced this to my students at the end of last week. There was a unanimous groan. But it made my job as a teacher much easier, since I could focus on teaching more than stressing about who will answer the next question. I am only using these cards as scaffolding and hopefully my students will internalize the purpose of the cards and begin to speak more freely in my classes.

Advice from a master educator

A few days ago, I had the privilege of a discussion with Assistant Principal Holly. She did an excellent job of putting my uneasiness to rest by explaining her educational philosophy. I was worried about the difference between the things we're learning at UNM and the things I'm seeing during my field service.

Here are some things we talked about:

• Every student should graduate (or get a GED). Not every student that attends, or every student that speaks English, or every student that turns in their work. Every student. Period.
• Use technology! Meet the kids halfway with what they are interested in.
• So many kids don’t ever come to class because we lose them in the first few days.
• Remember that engaging lesson plans are the best cure for truancy.
• More important than the lesson is classroom management. If kids are not paying attention, they are not learning!
• Testing is secondary –teaching the kids comes first.