I’ll put it out there – I’m not the biggest Hillary Swank fan, but even I thought Freedom Writers was a good movie. I think what made me like it more, is the fact that it’s a true story. (Look here for the true story and Freedom Writers Foundation) Anywho, during my student teaching I quickly came to realize that I wasn’t the only person who saw & liked it. My non-AP kids, ESPECIALLY 5th pd, had seen and loved it. Not only did they love it, but they wanted to know why school couldn’t be like that for them, and they wanted to know all….the…time.
It was a given, anytime they had to work on something that was the least bit uninteresting to them I’d get this question: “Man, Ms. Berry, why can’t school be like freedom writers?” Not because it meant they loved education, or anything so sweet as that – but they wanted school to just have the cool stuff. Why don’t we go to the Holocaust museum every day? Why don’t famous WWII heroes pop in on the regular? Why don’t I spend my non-existent cash flow on sparkling cider so we can make a toast to new beginnings? Well, children, because beyond the cool things that I want to do just as badly – sometimes you just have to do the basic stuff first.
Blame it on the system, blame it on the testing, blame it on the fact that no activity can possibly please all 120 students. Of course the real teacher from the movie incorporated the basics, but no movie’s going to waste time on the boring class lessons like “how to write an essay.” As a result, my students saw these movies and start to question what’s wrong with the education system that it can’t be just like what they saw in the movie. I agree, more cool stuff would be awesome, and I’d love to do it every day, but unfortunately the reality is that they have to master the basics too. I just wish a big movie could mention that next time…
Fun Fact I learned today…anytime anyone hears I’m a hopeful teacher, I’ve apparently just told them that I love to hear their opinions about education. Not only that, but somewhere in that statement I’ve also volunteered to serve as a representative for the Education system as a whole. My advisor in grad school actually warned us about this when we first started, but I thought she was kidding. Like, oh funny – people not involved in it want to talk about education…ha ha?
Tired of the same old thing, I left my apartment today for a local coffee shop, hoping to get some work done in a new environment. In line, I got into a conversation this with polite elder lady, told her what I do and BAM. I’m not saying her points were bad at all, because in reality, they weren’t. But I’ve never met any other profession where people feel as though they are total experts due to their experience as students, and don’t hesitate to share it with the person whose perspective they’ve never had – the teacher.
The comments that crack me up the most are those almost PTSD in nature. Someone had the teacher from hell in elementary school, and want to make sure I know all the bad things this person did so I don’t repeat the same mistakes. As long as they’re not rude at all, it doesn’t bother me – but I am starting to wonder if this is something that happens to other teachers, or if my advisor was warning me alone because I give out an inviting vibe for education criticisms.
In preparation for the progressing job search, I’ve started to make portfolios that I plan on bringing with me to job interviews. Portfolios were a requirement in my student teaching seminar for graduation, but for people not familiar with them – Scholastic has a great article here about them.
The standard portfolio should be more like an interactive resume – it should have letters of recommendation, teaching philsophy, sample lesson plans, sample student work, copies of certifications, etc. What I’ve decided to also include in my portfolio are some copies of student evaluations they completed on my teaching at the end of student teaching.Initially this means a happy little walk down memory lane…I really do miss my students. After that little journey, there’s two common themes I’ve noticed in most of the evaluations – either they’re wildly inappropriate for a portfolio, or the students opinions contrast with what educators allegedly want to see. The inappropriate is at least comical – a bunch of 17 year old boys letting me know they’re single. Great. I’ll definitely keep that in mind the next time I want to go to jail or completely ruin my teaching career.
The interesting evaluations are the kids telling me they don’t like the activities my grad school in particular preached they would love. Learning Centers? My earliest and latest class hated them. At least one student was honest and said, “I didn’t like learning centers cause I’m too lazy to get up and move.” I did unfortunately discover this during teaching, and we resolved it by making it something they could all do at their desks…without having to get up. Their wish, my command.
Learning centers aren’t it – pretty much any activity where movement (not rewarded with food or candy) is required was not well looked upon in the morning or during the food coma hours post-lunch. One funny thing is that a few kids warned me against activities I didn’t even use – but other teachers of theirs had overused them so much, they despised it all together. The lesson from this is that just because you find an activity that works, it doesn’t mean you should stop looking for more that get students interested. Education programs or pundits may praise webquests or RAFT writings, but don’t just cling to the same activities or lessons time and time again. Any game or activity can get boring if replayed a million times.
As for my portfolio, I actually might include one or two evaluations that decry against activities I didn’t even use. With explanation, I think I’ll be able to work it to my advantage – just “look at how I incorporated student feedback into diversifying my curriculum. ” Something along those lines should work, but the point is still there – teachers who rely on only one tool or trick end up taking any usefulness away and replacing it with boredom in the students. Not only that, but they’re taking away any effectiveness that activity could have for teachers who have these students in the future. AKA – this could have something to do with the 36 evaluations I got (no lie) begging me to never do a webquest because they did too many sophomore year. If I had these kids two years later and they’re still sick of webquests – maybe that teacher needs to consider toning it down just a wee bit.
Now that the holidays are over, and I’ve returned from my two week stay in California…One of the perks of having military parents – home can be some interesting places…the job search has officially commenced. As in, I’ll do more than work on my cover letter and resume and start subbing/praying for a job!
I got a big kick in the butt this morning when I got a call from an Assistant principal this morning in a high school 30 minutes away. I have no idea how, but someone amazing, passed along my name and number to her, and she wanted to know if I could send my resume in for a sudden job opening at the HS. Yes, it’s awesome – there’s only one catch. The position is a Special Ed Govt teacher. Government is the easy part, I’ve got practice there thanks to student teaching. The catch is Special Ed. The position has two self-contained classrooms and three team taught sections, and while I’m pumped about the team-taught, I’m a little nervous about the self-contained. I have NO experience in self-contained, and I’m wondering if they can even hire me for it without certifications in sped.
If I even get an interview, I’m wondering how honest I should be about my inexperience. Balancing desperately needing a job and the need to be good at it is not fun. Interview tips anyone?
Of course I sent my resume to her within 5 minutes, but even if nothing comes from this, it’s a reminder that I got to get moving quick on getting in the sub system in my new county and making connections! I’m also going to try and figure out how she got my name and number so I can thank that person…
Since the job search has officially started, I’ve hit my first uh-oh, that being the cover letter. In grad school they had us write one for a sample portfolio, but in all honesty – mine sucked. And now, applying for subbing, I’m kicking myself for not writing something that I can actually use. On the bright side, I have something very practical to write about today!
Looking on the web – there’s not much that’s actually good, but I did find one site from Boston College that gave really great advice for writing a teacher cover letter. To paraphrase from the site and my scattered notes from seminar, cover letters are a great way to differentiate yourself from the crowd, and provide information about yourself that may not fit in a resume.Not only are you presenting yourself in a cover letter, but you’re showing that you can help work towards that specific districts goals. Where I’m applying, there’s a large emphasis placed on technology and helping every child. (aka they love differentiation) So in my cover letter, it’s important for me to show how my experiences can lend to those causes.
Within that context comes bragging time. I had a hard time doing this in my bad one, but here comes the part where you get to write three paragraphs about how great you are. My brother doesn’t believe this is hard for me, but it is so awkward writing this and not feeling a little pompous in my opinion. But it has to be done – and this is supposedly the part that can set you apart. The only thing I’m curious about, is who do you write this to when submitting it to the county? The county I’m applying to is HUGE, and you submit a cover letter to them – not just the individual schools you apply to. In grad school we wrote them to individual principals, so now I’m at a little bit of a loss…I guess the superintendent is the best choice for now? But anywho, hope this helps anyone whose in the same boat as I am! Definitely check out the BC link though, they provide a lot of great examples!
Student teaching may be over, but as I was cruelly reminded by my new cell phone bill – the time has come for a job. I was lucky enough to finish my program a semester early, so when I said I was done last post – that included grad school. And oh, let me tell ya – am I so glad to be done. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my teachers, cohort, school, etc. BUT, at some point you get really ready to be done paying for school & want to just get your own classroom.
And so begins the hunt to find a job. The other week I went to a job fair for counties all over the state and was lucky enough to get a meeting with a local principal out of it. After following up with him and thanking him for talking with me (Resume conveniently attached with the email) he invited me to come observe a class at his Middle school. Well, what I though would be a brief 20 minute meeting ended up being the BEST 5 hours I could imagine. Not only did I get to meet with him and the Director of Student Services, but I also got to observe 4 different Social Studies classrooms. Now, I’ve been told this isn’t normal, but it’s hard not to get your hopes up when you see a school with a really great faculty and students and they treat you so well. So now begins the fun part – applying to be a sub, and hoping that I get so many sub calls there that they have to hire me for the next school year. From what I’ve heard subbing is VERY different from teaching, or even student teaching.
I can’t believe it, but it’s over. Student teaching is finite – caput – done, done, done! A lot of people in my group are ecstatic, some are sad, and I think I’m a little in between. I am pretty excited to be done doing all the work for free…and paying for the grad school credits. I won’t lie – there’s also a kid or two I’m ecstatic about getting a break from. But for the most part, I am a little sad. It actually doesn’t feel that real yet though. Maybe it won’t hit me until Monday, when I can wake up whenever I want and not go searching for clean work clothes.
But for now, I think I’ll need the weekend just to recover from my last few days. Not recovering from students – but from the massive amounts of sugar they all brought in and that I ate. My C.I. was amazing enough to plan parties for me in every class on the last two days. (Block scheduling means I would need Thursday and Friday just to see every student) We told all the kids to bring food, and some really took it to heart.
What’s funny is that the AP classes barely brought anything, but my low level – Good Lord they know how to throw a party. I had a girl bring in crab legs. Not just crab legs, but crab legs + old bay + melted butter + a side of tylenol to protect me from the “future headache” she thought all the food would give me. It was awesome. Not to mention the cupcakes, cakes, chips, pizza, dips, sour patch kids (my favorite candy), and Diet coke (my addiction). I may or may not have gained 2 pounds in 24 hours, but I’m not even mad. It was definitely worth it.
My favorite part though was when I got to say goodbye to the kids. For each class I made paper plate awards for all my students, and got to make a big show out of giving them ridiculous awards for things they did through out the semester. Most were jokes, and the best ones were actually in my once atrocious 5th period. I mentioned it previously, but over the course of the semester these kids went from being dreaded, to being my absolute favorite class. Yes, they were chatty and incredibly hard to focus, but they were so good and so funny that it made their bad days bearable. I spent the most time making their awards, from “Most likely to be a lawyer” to “Best impression of Fantasia.” And what was awesome was their reaction.
My other classes liked it, but 5th period acted like I had given them all Grammys. The kids would shush each other while I was talking about each award, and then made a big deal about laughing and clapping when I revealed each winner. I made sure everyone got one too, so by the end they were yelling out names and trying to guess who the winner would be for each. They were also the only class to give me handwritten cards, requested photos with me, and on their way out each and every girl gave me a hug. It was the sweetest and most confidence boosting day I’ve ever had. Any questions of me not being good at this, or not reaching some kids was wiped clean by the end of the day. Especially after 6th and 7/8 pd when two different boys wrote and performed songs about my leaving. (It’s amazing what they can do with the tune of American pie)
The next thing to think about is the job search, but I think for the moment I’m just going to revel in the end of an amazing semester and enjoy the last memories I had with my C.I. and the students. Very rarely do people have a two days that amazing, and I want to enjoy this feeling for as long as it lasts.
So my grad school program has this initiative started about providing a “stress relief” for student teachers. I’m assuming a donor got the idea that we need a break…which we do…and that a good way to get it would be to give us a choice between taking a day off for yoga classes OR mindfulness classes. While very well intentioned, and sweet that they were concerned for us – if you really want to provide a stress relief, maybe make Thanksgiving break come sooner. Sleep > Yoga.
I woke up this morning, and jut going two days without planning, grading, or thinking about all the things I have to do in the upcoming days feels AMAZING. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching – but I also love sleep. And catching up on my tv time. And hanging out with family and not making lists in my head of things to be copied/graded/read. If my grad school really wants to give us a stress free day, a random Friday off would be way more relaxing than any class.
My one plug from this week though – just finished teaching the kids a really cool lesson on the Media and Congress. In our previous unit on Elections, we spent a lot of time focusing on traditional media like newspapers, tv, radio, internet, etc. So for this lesson, I thought I’d take a different stance and focus on how Congress uses new social media like Facebook and Twitter to create their own publicity. I differentiated with Academic and AP, but in both I have to say it was one of the most interesting lessons yet. The kids LOVED it, and even in my lower level classes we had a really great discussion about social media and targeting voters. Essentially all I did was print out copies of two facebook pages – one was Nancy Pelosi’s and the other Senator Mark Warners; and then two twitter pages – Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. John McCain. Combine the handouts with questions to accompany the lesson and you’re set!
Last post, where I talked about getting into the groove of things and feeling comfortable – totally jinxed myself. Got to school today and dealt with a variety of issues that made me a hot mess come first period.
1. To begin with, my first period AP Human Geography class had a unit test today and I needed to make copies, print their scoresheets, and get ready for what they do after.
2. Went to go print the test and of course – every printer in this school is broken.
3. Ran around to the hidden printer on the opposite end of the school…20 minutes later I have my tests, ready to be copied.
4. Finally get to the copy room, not only is there a line but someone aka a whole department of teachers, had decided to make their copies for what seems like the entire year – and take up all the copy machines. I mean really – do you have no planning period during the day, and actually need 200 copies of 10 different assignments. REALLY?! And all of these truly need to be printed right before 1st period? I mean, yes, I was running late – but come on people!
5. Luckily grab a copy machine…that didn’t jam – a first, I might add….and get to class in time with the tests and bubble sheets. But oh wait, I’m not done.6. Pass out the test, which my CI had made for me, and realize that some of the questions didn’t cover content from the book. And I missed them in my lectures. Enter my major apology to the kids & having to look at the data this afternoon and figure out which questions to take off.
My CI sent me an email telling me to not worry, it happens and take this as a learning experience – isn’t she awesome? It’s just embarrassing messing up so stupidly in front of the class/her. Plus I probably looked frazzled from my morning adventure in discovering how important it is to make copies the day before.
Lesson learned – make copies the day before, and look at the assessment ALOT while planning. Ugghh Backwards Design, I thought you were just a theory until today.
So in the past few weeks, I definitely feel as though I’ve gotten into the groove of teaching. And the funny thing is that my 5th period class – once the bane of my existence, is now my favorite.
As prepared as I am starting to feel, there’s definitely one situation I still don’t feel 100% ready for. I had a student recently transfer into my class, and ummm. Well, to begin with “RJ” is a male transgender in the process of becoming a female. No biggie in of itself – except, oh wait, he’s extremely confrontational with male students. And he’s got an IEP for being emotionally disturbed. And included in that IEP is his ADHD. And he’s emancipated. And he’s homeless.
This poor child has so many things working against him outside of my classroom, that it’s hard to control the catastrophes he creates inside of it. My CI and I are working very closely with the SPED educators and his caseworkers, but there are times where his behavior is so out of control I’m legitimately at a loss. Yet, you can’t help but sympathize with him, knowing that his outbursts could easily be a result of him not having a place to sleep the night before, or his hormones, or the lack of ANY support system outside of school.
We are lucky in the fact that he likes us – and so his outbursts are far less in number than other teachers’ rooms. However, that doesn’t limit them to 0. Guidance is considering putting him in an online class instead, but I worry how the lack of social interaction could effect him. But maybe if it’s for the good of the class, it’s something to be considered.
So the query is – anyone have experience with this one? Considering that his outbursts tend to be offensive towards males, sexual in nature, and highly disruptive – I’m clueless.
ps – On the bright side, a non-profit here in town thinks he will have an apartment provided for him in a week or two, so we’ll see what affect that has.