TPE 10: Instructional Time
Fifty minutes may not seem like a long time, but heading into a classroom period without a good plan in mind regarding what one, as a teacher, plans on accomplishing would be an exercise in frustration. To that end, I make it a priority to maximize student achievement by teaching lessons that are interesting, creative, and adhere to the state standards.
One way in which I accomplish this goal is by having a classroom schedule. The students in my class last year (my first year of teaching) quickly learned that every day there would be a quote on the board and that, upon the ringing of the tardy bell, they were to begin writing a response to the quote in their journal. I used this time - the first five to seven minutes of class - to take attendance and deal with any ultra-pressing issues that students had for me. It did not take long for this to become a procedure in my classroom; the majority of the students began to write without my telling them to do so.
Another procedure that I established quickly involved the passing in of homework. The students learned that I expected them to do this after the journaling had wrapped up. Papers were to be passed forward and to the right, until all assignments were together on the desk of a student nearest my desk. This procedure not only helped me collect homework in an expeditious manner, but it prevented students from working on their homework during my lesson.
These became routines, as did the final minute or so of class, when students initially tended to congregate around the doorway, waiting for the dismissal bell to ring. I enforced a procedure, however, wherein nobody was allowed to leave the classroom until every individual was in his or her correct seat. This prevented students from wandering aimlessly as the bell drew ever nearer and helped keep everyone on task for as much as possible.
As for the state standards, I hung posters on the wall listing the writing and reading requirements. This is an area in which I need to improve, however: sometimes I'd make little posters with more detailed standards on 12x17 pieces of colored construction paper and hang them on the whiteboard in front of the class, but sometimes I'd forget to do this. Next year, I'm moving into a new classroom with a more reliable/dependable large screen TV/computer connection, so I'll be able to put the lesson's appropriate standards up on the TV screen like the lion's share of the rest of the teachers do.
All of these standards are great and all, but they don't really help with when the students ask "why are we doing this?" I try to give answers beyond "because state standard W1.2 says that blah blah blah," attempting instead to find real-world reasons for the lessons. This is easy for activities like writing a business letter, which will obviously be of great help in the future, but a little more abstract and difficult when it comes to questions like "why are we reading these slave narratives?" When questions like that are posed, I answer something along the lines of that we must know where we've been to know who we are and where we're going, or that everyone can benefit from reading about the lives of others. If they don't buy this, I just tell them that state standard W1.2 says blah blah blah.
While students are working on assignments in class, say completing a worksheet after I've discussed the instructions and objectives, I wander through the class, checking progress, offering help, etc. This enables me to individualize instruction for those who need it while allowing those who can fly to go about it at their own faster pace. In this way, I adjust my time usage in order to optimize learning opportunities for all students. Next year I'm thinking of requiring that students have a free reading book with them every day that they can read if they finish their assignment early.
In conclusion, I feel that I did a fairly competent job of regulating and maximizing my instructional time in my first year on the job. There are changes that can be made and procedures that can be tweaked, but I am confident that very few of my students would say that my classes were poorly-run or a waste of time.
Monday, July 9, 2007
TPE 12: Professional, Legal, and Ethical Obligations
As a teacher, I am responsible for more than just making sure that my students know what iambic pentameter is or can explain the significance of an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." I am responsible for treating them fairly and honestly, in a manner appropriate and proper not only to stimulate their educational growth, but also to inhibit their social growth.
Some of the classes that I took at Cal Baptist have helped me in these aspects by making me more aware of things that I might have done, subconciously, had I not been instructed to keep aware of doing those things. For instance, I make it a point to call on each and every student in the class, not just the ones who raise their hands. In this way, I do not favor those who are smarter or more outgoing. Regardless of race or gender, this is a good policy in that it gets and keeps everyone involved.
As for biases, I'd like to think that mine are few (I can't say they are none because, after all, I am human and prone to mistakes). I try not to let any pre-conceived notions of gender, skill, ability, interest, social group, sexual orientation, or ethnicity come into play in my classroom. To that end, I am very strict with certain aspects of my students' language. I will not tolerate them, for instance, using the slur "fag" or "gay" in a casual manner. Many was the time when a student would respond to something negative in my class by stating "That's so gay." Every time this happened, I stopped the class and explained how I did not appreciate them equating gayness with negativity, and had them re-state their previous sentence in a different way. I don't know if this earned me any respect from any gay students in my classes, but it earned me an untrue reputation, amongst some of the students as a homosexual. I then dealt with those students by asking what would it matter to them if I was?
Ethically, I suppose that part of what I sought in my first year of teaching was to be a role model. When I saw students fighting or arguing in class, I would counsel them afterwards, if asked, and try to help (without involving myself). I preached the value of letting things slide sometimes, and of turning the other cheek, and of not always being confrontational. I attempted to make my classroom as warm and welcoming, and as non-hostile, as possible.
Legally, I followed the regulations every time asked. I filled out all of the proper paperwork for students for whom English was not their first language, and for students who unfortunately had found themselves in the midst of the juvenile correctional system and who needed me to sign that they were in class every day. I received and signed for paperwork from the front office for the (surprisingly and alarmingly large) number of students who had been convicted of misdemeanors or felonies for things like breaking and entering or bringing hacksaws, brass knuckles, or large knives to school. Apparently, I was legally entitled to be informed by the office that these students were in my class.
In addition, I kept my eyes and ears open for cases of sexual abuse and harassment, neglect, or child abuse. Fortunately, I had nothing to report during the year. I broached the subject to students whom I suspected might have something to tell a few times during the year, but did not have to follow through on anything.
Our school is very big on cracking down on gangs: all signs, slogans, clothing, paraphenelia, etc., are not allowed. I followed legal protocol when a little gangbanger tagged all over one of my desks by taking photos of his tagging, then confronting him with it (he denied he'd done it), then showing him a standardized test on which he'd signed his name and then tagged all the same designs instead of filling in proper answers. Faced with that evidence and his history of doing the same thing in many other classrooms, the young man was expelled from the school.
One way in which I protected the privacy of students was by posting grades in the back of the class not with their names, but with their student ID numbers. This saved potential embarassment for students who had lamentably low grades, although a few of my larger-egoed students went out of their way to announce their ID numbers so everyone could see that they had A's in the class.
Basically, I spent a lot of time making sure that I was a good a role model as possible for my students. I don't know if they believed me that I (truly) do not drink, smoke, or take drugs, but I assured them that one can lead a rich, fulfilling, and exciting life without doing any of those activities. I explained, in context of lessons, times when I'd done good and done poorly in my life, particularly back in my own teenage years. I think (and hope) that the students drew something from these stories -- actually, I know some of them struck home, because the students told me that they did.
I am not flawless. I am not a perfect role model. I did my best, however, to uphold all necessary professional, legal, and ethical obligations during my first year of teaching, because those obligations are necessary when it comes to instructing our children, who will be the leaders of tomorrow.
As a teacher, I am responsible for more than just making sure that my students know what iambic pentameter is or can explain the significance of an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." I am responsible for treating them fairly and honestly, in a manner appropriate and proper not only to stimulate their educational growth, but also to inhibit their social growth.
Some of the classes that I took at Cal Baptist have helped me in these aspects by making me more aware of things that I might have done, subconciously, had I not been instructed to keep aware of doing those things. For instance, I make it a point to call on each and every student in the class, not just the ones who raise their hands. In this way, I do not favor those who are smarter or more outgoing. Regardless of race or gender, this is a good policy in that it gets and keeps everyone involved.
As for biases, I'd like to think that mine are few (I can't say they are none because, after all, I am human and prone to mistakes). I try not to let any pre-conceived notions of gender, skill, ability, interest, social group, sexual orientation, or ethnicity come into play in my classroom. To that end, I am very strict with certain aspects of my students' language. I will not tolerate them, for instance, using the slur "fag" or "gay" in a casual manner. Many was the time when a student would respond to something negative in my class by stating "That's so gay." Every time this happened, I stopped the class and explained how I did not appreciate them equating gayness with negativity, and had them re-state their previous sentence in a different way. I don't know if this earned me any respect from any gay students in my classes, but it earned me an untrue reputation, amongst some of the students as a homosexual. I then dealt with those students by asking what would it matter to them if I was?
Ethically, I suppose that part of what I sought in my first year of teaching was to be a role model. When I saw students fighting or arguing in class, I would counsel them afterwards, if asked, and try to help (without involving myself). I preached the value of letting things slide sometimes, and of turning the other cheek, and of not always being confrontational. I attempted to make my classroom as warm and welcoming, and as non-hostile, as possible.
Legally, I followed the regulations every time asked. I filled out all of the proper paperwork for students for whom English was not their first language, and for students who unfortunately had found themselves in the midst of the juvenile correctional system and who needed me to sign that they were in class every day. I received and signed for paperwork from the front office for the (surprisingly and alarmingly large) number of students who had been convicted of misdemeanors or felonies for things like breaking and entering or bringing hacksaws, brass knuckles, or large knives to school. Apparently, I was legally entitled to be informed by the office that these students were in my class.
In addition, I kept my eyes and ears open for cases of sexual abuse and harassment, neglect, or child abuse. Fortunately, I had nothing to report during the year. I broached the subject to students whom I suspected might have something to tell a few times during the year, but did not have to follow through on anything.
Our school is very big on cracking down on gangs: all signs, slogans, clothing, paraphenelia, etc., are not allowed. I followed legal protocol when a little gangbanger tagged all over one of my desks by taking photos of his tagging, then confronting him with it (he denied he'd done it), then showing him a standardized test on which he'd signed his name and then tagged all the same designs instead of filling in proper answers. Faced with that evidence and his history of doing the same thing in many other classrooms, the young man was expelled from the school.
One way in which I protected the privacy of students was by posting grades in the back of the class not with their names, but with their student ID numbers. This saved potential embarassment for students who had lamentably low grades, although a few of my larger-egoed students went out of their way to announce their ID numbers so everyone could see that they had A's in the class.
Basically, I spent a lot of time making sure that I was a good a role model as possible for my students. I don't know if they believed me that I (truly) do not drink, smoke, or take drugs, but I assured them that one can lead a rich, fulfilling, and exciting life without doing any of those activities. I explained, in context of lessons, times when I'd done good and done poorly in my life, particularly back in my own teenage years. I think (and hope) that the students drew something from these stories -- actually, I know some of them struck home, because the students told me that they did.
I am not flawless. I am not a perfect role model. I did my best, however, to uphold all necessary professional, legal, and ethical obligations during my first year of teaching, because those obligations are necessary when it comes to instructing our children, who will be the leaders of tomorrow.
TPE 11: Social Environment
Creating order and accomplishing goals in a classroom filled with hormonally crazed teenagers can be quite a task. Maintaining that order takes determination, good planning, and a comfortable social environment. In my classroom, I maintain clear expectations for academic and social behavior through a plethora of methods, and do my best to make the learning environment positive and fruitful for each and every student.
On the spectrum of traditionalists to casualists (two terms I've just coined right now), I definitely fall towards the "casual" end. My classroom, while informal and somewhat relaxed, is well-run and seldom deviates into chaos. One of the first steps I took in order to create order in my classroom was to draw up a set of classroom rules very early in the year. I discussed with the students how we were all relatively mature, and how we'd all be spending alot of time together between mid-August and mid-June, and how having rules by which we could all abide would be beneficial to all. Through the raising of hands and the offering of suggestions, we were able to come up with a list of appropriate classroom rules, such as "don't talk out of turn," "stay in your seat," "respect each other," and various others. I called these my "common sense rules," in an attempt to get the students to buy into them and to appeal to their growing senses of community and pride in getting to be part of the planning process.
I followed the school's rules for discipline when said rules and regulations were ignored or disregarded: talking to the student, talking to the student after class, contacting the parent, changing the student's seat if that would be helpful, and finally writing a referral if the behavior continued. Egregious breakages of the classroom rules and regulations often resulted in an immediate skipping to the last step of the process. I enforced this rules equally amongst all students and did not "play favorites" or selectively enforce the regulations.
As for establishing rapport with students and their families, I pride myself on being an affable and approachable fellow, and the students seemed to pick up on that quite quickly. I had no problem bonding with many students, and they'd often hang out before or after class, before or after school, or during lunch, just chatting about music, movies, school, life, or whatever.
At the same time, I'm conscious of when students are having a particularly bad or just drama-filled day and need to not be joked with or maybe not even talked to. I remember those days well, and am careful to respond appropriately during sensitive times when my usual jovial attitude may not be welcomed or appreciated.
I also made myself available in person, via e-mail, and on the phone to parents. Between these three ways, I communicated with many students' parents over the course of the last school year. I answered e-mails promptly, talked on the phone during my prep period, and was never reluctant to meet face-to-face with parents after school or during my prep period.
Physically, my classroom is conducive to creating comfort. I have a large poster in the back that I created showing many of my interests: TV shows, films, music, movie, travel, reading, sports, etc. Next to that was a large portion of the wall on which I encouraged students to bring in representations of what they enjoyed. Before long, the collage that the students had created overflowed the boundaries I had set up with that puffy border creation rolled up paper stuff, and expanded in every direction. Not that that was a problem; I liked having the insight into the students' interests, and they liked looking at all the stuff on the wall.
I devoted large portions of two walls of my classroom to student work. One had a big section called "the WRITE stuff," on which I placed examples of superb student writing; the other section was filled with larger projects that students created throughout the year: masks, drawings, maps, dioramas, advertisements, etc. In this way, the students were able to see and be proud of their own work as it was on display.
The most popular decorations in the classroom, however, were the dozens of photographs I stapled up all over the back wall, showcasing my travels and other experiences over the years. I had pictures of me in various countries in front of various cool stuff, pictures of foods from other places, photos of my family and friends, all sorts of stuff from my past decade and a half on the road. I think the students' two favorite photos were of some bugs being cooked up in a big stir-fry pan in Cambodia and a yearbook photo of me from when I was a 16-year-old sophomore with a thick, rich, luxuriant head of hair.
Elsewhere, scattered here and there on the walls, are posters: Elvis, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, an upside-down map of the world that I tell the students was printed that way in order to get them to change the way they look at the world. The most popular poster, however, shows like 200 characters from The Simpsons. The students love to look at that one and try to find various characters.
These classroom decorations and my relatively laid-back attitude help me create a good rapport with the student, something that was noted by administrators repeatedly as they observed my class throughout the year. They said I got along really well with the kids, and related to them really well without talking down to them or anything. I'd venture that this is because I remember those days -- and the accompanying thoughts and feelings -- so well, even though they were half a lifetime ago for me.
Creating order and accomplishing goals in a classroom filled with hormonally crazed teenagers can be quite a task. Maintaining that order takes determination, good planning, and a comfortable social environment. In my classroom, I maintain clear expectations for academic and social behavior through a plethora of methods, and do my best to make the learning environment positive and fruitful for each and every student.
On the spectrum of traditionalists to casualists (two terms I've just coined right now), I definitely fall towards the "casual" end. My classroom, while informal and somewhat relaxed, is well-run and seldom deviates into chaos. One of the first steps I took in order to create order in my classroom was to draw up a set of classroom rules very early in the year. I discussed with the students how we were all relatively mature, and how we'd all be spending alot of time together between mid-August and mid-June, and how having rules by which we could all abide would be beneficial to all. Through the raising of hands and the offering of suggestions, we were able to come up with a list of appropriate classroom rules, such as "don't talk out of turn," "stay in your seat," "respect each other," and various others. I called these my "common sense rules," in an attempt to get the students to buy into them and to appeal to their growing senses of community and pride in getting to be part of the planning process.
I followed the school's rules for discipline when said rules and regulations were ignored or disregarded: talking to the student, talking to the student after class, contacting the parent, changing the student's seat if that would be helpful, and finally writing a referral if the behavior continued. Egregious breakages of the classroom rules and regulations often resulted in an immediate skipping to the last step of the process. I enforced this rules equally amongst all students and did not "play favorites" or selectively enforce the regulations.
As for establishing rapport with students and their families, I pride myself on being an affable and approachable fellow, and the students seemed to pick up on that quite quickly. I had no problem bonding with many students, and they'd often hang out before or after class, before or after school, or during lunch, just chatting about music, movies, school, life, or whatever.
At the same time, I'm conscious of when students are having a particularly bad or just drama-filled day and need to not be joked with or maybe not even talked to. I remember those days well, and am careful to respond appropriately during sensitive times when my usual jovial attitude may not be welcomed or appreciated.
I also made myself available in person, via e-mail, and on the phone to parents. Between these three ways, I communicated with many students' parents over the course of the last school year. I answered e-mails promptly, talked on the phone during my prep period, and was never reluctant to meet face-to-face with parents after school or during my prep period.
Physically, my classroom is conducive to creating comfort. I have a large poster in the back that I created showing many of my interests: TV shows, films, music, movie, travel, reading, sports, etc. Next to that was a large portion of the wall on which I encouraged students to bring in representations of what they enjoyed. Before long, the collage that the students had created overflowed the boundaries I had set up with that puffy border creation rolled up paper stuff, and expanded in every direction. Not that that was a problem; I liked having the insight into the students' interests, and they liked looking at all the stuff on the wall.
I devoted large portions of two walls of my classroom to student work. One had a big section called "the WRITE stuff," on which I placed examples of superb student writing; the other section was filled with larger projects that students created throughout the year: masks, drawings, maps, dioramas, advertisements, etc. In this way, the students were able to see and be proud of their own work as it was on display.
The most popular decorations in the classroom, however, were the dozens of photographs I stapled up all over the back wall, showcasing my travels and other experiences over the years. I had pictures of me in various countries in front of various cool stuff, pictures of foods from other places, photos of my family and friends, all sorts of stuff from my past decade and a half on the road. I think the students' two favorite photos were of some bugs being cooked up in a big stir-fry pan in Cambodia and a yearbook photo of me from when I was a 16-year-old sophomore with a thick, rich, luxuriant head of hair.
Elsewhere, scattered here and there on the walls, are posters: Elvis, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, an upside-down map of the world that I tell the students was printed that way in order to get them to change the way they look at the world. The most popular poster, however, shows like 200 characters from The Simpsons. The students love to look at that one and try to find various characters.
These classroom decorations and my relatively laid-back attitude help me create a good rapport with the student, something that was noted by administrators repeatedly as they observed my class throughout the year. They said I got along really well with the kids, and related to them really well without talking down to them or anything. I'd venture that this is because I remember those days -- and the accompanying thoughts and feelings -- so well, even though they were half a lifetime ago for me.
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