Take One. Pass it on.

Out of all the observations that have come back to me so far, the number one area that “needs improvement,” is wait time. What’s wait time, you say? Only the most impossible thing ever for someone who has no patience for it. In dealing with talkers and those not paying attention, the powers that be have advised me to practice “waiting” for the students to be quiet. Stand up front, and literally wait for them to shut-up, while watching the clock. Not only do I keep forgetting to do this, but it kills me inside. The entire time I’m standing up there waiting, I’m having to hold back what I really want to do – which is to tell them to sit down and be quiet AND i’m counting the precious moments I have left to cover content. With planned testing, I only have so long to cover all my content before an exam, and the entire time the seconds are draining by I’m thinking of how I’m going to make everything fit for the rest of class. Out of respect/desperation, I’m going to try this…I even wrote “wait time” on a piece of paper in the back of the classroom to remind me. But I have to admit, I never thought that waiting for anything would be as hard as this is.

After my last post, I went into teaching 5th period with the mindset that something had to give. My teacher made a comment that really made me think when she told me that “someone is bound to be miserable in this situation – either it’s you from having to work with their behavior, or it’s them having to choose between toning it down or getting referrals.” It sounded so detached, but at the heart of her point, she was right. At the end of the day, I don’t want to have to dread going to school or dealing with a specific class. And if that means cracking down at the expense of their short term happiness – so be it. All of this is fresh in my head until I went into class – and they were uncharacteristically well-behaved.

It’s weird how jarring good behavior can be when you’re not used to it. The entire time I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, since there was just NO way they would be good the whole class. But they were. Not only were they good that class, but they were good for the rest of the week. I’m not sure yet what to attribute it to, but I think it’s due in part to three things.

1. We gave them their interim grades and when some of them saw how bad they were doing, I think/hope it put them in line.
2. Two of the ringleaders have been absent for the past few days…I feel bad reveling in it, but in all honesty – I secretly rejoiced when I saw their name on the absentee list.
3. I stopped getting bogged down with their behavior, and tried just to have fun with the good ones. I had to kick out my first student from that class last week, and instead of letting it be obvious that I was frustrated, I just told myself “I don’t care” and tried to still have fun with it.

I’ll keep tabs as to whether or not this maintains, but I’m starting to think that this might be a class that has their good days and their bad days. In addition to being highly affected by the presence of other students, and my own moods. Who knows, maybe there’s hope for them yet!

Am I being dramatic? maybe. Is there a class that’s caused me to get retail therapy two-three times a week? Definitely. At bare minimum, my wallet hates my 5th period. Now going into this whole process, I was told that I’d be dealing with problem students, problem classes, problems in general, blah blah blah. And I’d like to think that I’ve rolled with the punches in regards to a lot of those problems. I’ve worked with students who are always tardy, skip entirely, have troubled home situations, reading problems etc. But how in the world do you help students who don’t want help? My students in this period are almost split in half – one half are good, sweet children who genuinely want help on work and want to learn and get a good grade. The other half – I don’t know where to begin. I have a group of 5-6 girls, who of course are leaders, and are both disrespectful and dont.stop.talking.ever.

I’m trying to take proactive steps by having my University supervisor come in and observe that class that way I can get some feedback on it. Not to mention that my Cooperating Teacher is there almost every day to observe what’s going on – but even she is in shock at how disrespectful and off-task these girls can be, and unfortunately it drags the rest of the class down. Beyond sending a student out in the hall or even to the office, does ANYONE have any ideas or suggestions in dealing with little darling children with severe attitude problems? Beyond, of course, what would be get me fired and or removed from student teaching.

This weekend was my school’s homecoming, and truly and honestly – awesome. All the teachers in my department encouraged the student teachers to go to the game and dance, telling us hilarious stories of years past. Promises of epically bad wardrobe decisions, crazy dancing, and a hometown football game was all it took to convince me and my friend “Mike” to go. Both of us have a few football players and cheerleaders in our classes, and it was so cute how excited they were about us going to the game. That whole week I had students asking if I was going, and promising to come over and say “hey” at the game Friday. When we got there, the kids were beyond pumped to see us. It’s funny how different they act around teachers outside of the classroom. There’s definitely an awkwardness for a little bit, almost like they don’t know how to react to seeing the human side of teachers. One kid made a comment about how weird it was to see us in jeans…I guess it’s the little things that surprise them?

Even better than their reactions at seeing us at the game was their reactions at seeing us at the dance. At least 5 groups of girls ran by screaming “Heyyyyy Ms. B,” and almost every student I had stopped by for at least a second or two just to say hey and see if I was enjoying myself. My school has had a reputation in the past for having some wild dancing (think rap video – on crack) and I think every kid that came up to me wanted to know what I thought of the dancing, and what it was like at my own high school homecoming. The response from the students was just so overwhelmingly positive, that I wish the other student teachers had found time to come. Even better, the principle of the school came up to Mike and I repeatedly throughout the night, talking about the dance and how happy he was that we came. Best moment of the night – him telling us that showing up to these events tells him we care, and is step one in getting a job in our county or school after student teaching. Helloooooo opportunity! I think Mike and I freaked out at that comment the second he walked away. Before the night was over, the principle and teachers went out and danced for the last song, which was the ever so appropriate “Love in this club.” There’s a good chance there’s a picture of us on facebook somewhere dancing to it, but it was worth it. I’ve never seen a dance crowd clear out faster or, tragically, any students laugh that hard before. But the kids loved it, and my hope is that come Monday, there will be more of a relationship established with a lot of the students who were there and I really got to talk to.

I do have to say – the clothes and dancing were better than I imagined. Joan Rivers would have had a fashion police field day.

One Reader, Lyn, mentioned this in a comment, but I agree with her so much I think it’s worth it’s own post. If any teacher has NOT read “Teach like a Champion” by Doug Lemov they should do so immediately! I was lucky enough to have my grad school use it as a required reading for seminar this semester, and I can honestly say it is the most practical book about teaching I’ve read thus far. Too many books are entirely based in theory, and for me, seem to be difficult to translate into real-life situations. “Teach like a champion,” is the first teaching book I’ve read that has specific practical advice, as well as strategies for incorporating these ideas into the classroom. One of my favorite techniques in the book is entitled “no opt out.” The strategy is a simple way to incorporate students whose favorite answer seems to be “i don’t know,” and make them accountable for the information. There’s even a script helping teachers use it – hence this being the most practical book I’ve read thus far.

I also recommend another book entitled “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting together in the Cafeteria” by Beverly Tatum. Unusual title? Yes. I felt incredibly awkward reading this in public. BUT it was such a great read, and I especially recommend it for anyone teaching a history class. Without realizing it, a lot of history teachers have a euro or white-centric curriculum, and the points she makes are excellent for someone trying to incorporate a more accurate and multicultural representation of history. Other teachers can benefit from it too, but as someone whose passionate about history it really hit home in regards to my content. Not to mention that Tatum’s a well regarded academic with a Ph.D in psychology and works with students, so her perspective is both academic and practical. My school in particular seems to be racially divided by tracking and student choice, so a lot of the points she makes in the books have made me feel more aware of the effects this can have on students. If you have a free minute – read it.

Lastly, all history teachers out there – you MUST read “Divided We Stand: Teaching about Conflict in U.S. History” by James Percoco. Percoco taught for years in Springfield, VA and even won a Teacher of the Year award from USA today and the Walt Disney Company. In the book he gives a lot of great ideas for classroom activities, as well as ways to infuse your curriculum with hooks to get students interested. I’ve used several of his methods in my government class already, and so far they’ve all been successful. It’s a great book to motivate you to make history class more interactive – just read it and trust me!

This week will wrap up our first unit in “Foundations of American Government,” and I thought I’d quickly share some really great resources I found online.First is this video from Soomo Publishing.The video is a youtube video so if your school system filters youtube, you’ll need to figure out a way to rip it at home and bring it on a flash drive.

I can not speak more highly of this video. It was a great way to hook all the kids into the Declaration of Independence, and led to a great conversation afterwards as to why it was “too late” for the king to apologize to the colonists. Every single kid loved it, and a few kids came up afterwards and asked if we could watch more of these.

The other awesome site that I found was this Constitutional Convention game. I used this as a learning center, and created graphic organizer for the kids so that as they went through and played the game they were able to catch the valuable information.

Lastly were some primary sources I found from this collection from the Library of Congress. I selected 6 primary sources from this site, and assigned students into 6 corresponding groups. Each group was assigned a different primary source and had to analyze it using APPARTS. (click here for info on that!) The groups had to fill out an APPARTS graphic organizer and then present short summaries to their classmates. In addition to summaries, student groups also had to present an argument as to how their source best showed how the Continental Congress had global effects. After all the groups had presented, the class took a vote as to which primary source was best. Great way to incorporate primary sources and make it fun!

Exhausted.For the past three weeks, I come home from student teaching and sit. I literally just sit on my couch and sit. Doing nothing but sitting and thinking of what kind of caffeine there might be in my house. In every way possible did I underestimate how exhausting standing for 8 hours a day, planning, teaching, grading papers and being a very awake individual can be. Don’t get me wrong – I love it. But I legitimately question how anyone taught before the advent of Redbull.

Someone else mentioned this, but beyond exhaustion – it’s so weird getting used to not seeing daylight for 8 hours. We’re in an older building, and our classroom is sans-windows. Not to mention that old buildings = wack heating systems. I’ve found that layers of clothing is the only way to function for that long.On the bright side – this week I taught my first solo lessons and was observed by my University Supervisor. Luckily, everything went awesomely AND the behavior problems with my problem student were a non-issue. She responded beautifully with positive attention, and has actually been incredibly well behaved ever since. I’ve made a point of going out of my way to say hello to her everyday and ask how she’s doing, and she’s started opening up a lot more while simultaneously behaving better. Proactive behavior management has definitely been effective in these past few weeks!

First week’s over and done with, and I.love.it.

I’ve always been one of those annoying people who can find the good in everything, and so I’m trying to keep that in check, but my situation seems almost ideal. My peers, both teachers and fellow student teachers are awesome, the kids are interesting in a good way, and I’m a government nerd teaching government. But I did say “almost ideal…”

I have a student, and I know we all have these students, that I can already foresee trouble with. She’s been known to get into physical and verbal fights with students, and hasn’t hesitated to try and do the same with teachers in the past. All of this would be tolerable, even fine, if she didn’t have the adverse effect of seemingly “spoiling” the students who sit around her. I don’t know how or why, but there’s this quality in this child that’s almost a magnet. But instead of being a magnet of positive energy, it’s more of a magnet for bringing out the hateful side in people. So if you couldn’t tell – potential problem student.

Now, I figure instead of giving myself a complex about this child, I might as well make a plan of attack for taking all those potentially negative qualities about her being in my class and using it to my advantage. Contrary to her initial attitude on coming in to the class, I’ve found that she responds pretty well to positive attention AND looooooves being given a task. (I don’t question it, but it’s amazing how kids get excited about something so simple as passing out papers – it’s totally awesome.) So my solution? In two days I’m teaching my first solo lesson(s), which entails of a of a lecture on the origins of American government using a tool called Prezi, and a competitive game reviewing the information students just learned out of the lecture. (In regards to Prezi – use it and you’ll realize how cool and addictive it is, plus kids actually pay attention since it’s not like anything they’ve seen before) So for my little problem-child, I’m going to incorporate her into my review game, having her help keep track of scores on the SMARTboard. It may seem stupid, but I already told her about it and she was really excited already.  Plus, it’ll give her that purpose to encourage her to behave in class, while separating her from her peers and taking away that negative influence she seems to have. We’ll see if it works, but I’m really crossing my fingers on this one. If anyone has other ideas/behavior management techniques that would work with such a confrontational student, please feel free to pass them on. My teacher has been great, but I feel like new ideas wouldn’t be a bad thing to add to the toolbox.

This past week was my first time in my student teaching placement, and was full of classroom decorating (so fun), syllabus planning and lots, and lots, of teacher workshops. The school district I’m in has embraced what they call “21st Century Teaching,” aka catching up in technology and incorporating it in the classroom. (Loved it, great idea – but I do think that if I heard wiki one more time I would have poked my eye out.) The workshops they put on were amazingly awesome, and I have to admit that they were far from what I expected. The teachers in my team had spent hours telling me funny, but true, stories of how bad workshops in years past had been, and even they were surprised to see what the district had put together.

For the most part, the presentations and workshops were put on by two very respected companies, November Learning and Stratalogica. The speaker, Alan November, was both practical and motivating – he even had the teachers try out a lot of the tools he was discussing during his presentation. The workshops preceding were equally informative, and I’ll include links to some of the tools he offered at the bottom of this post. Take one, pass it on:)

Beyond my own infatuation with the workshops, there were two different reactions to this I noticed: half the faculty was really excited, the other half looked ready to die. I know that technology can be a difficult thing to learn – my mom still calls me asking how to turn the DVD player on. I’ve been out of the house for 5 years and am 3,000 miles away. Has she stopped calling? No. Why learn how to turn it on when someone else can do it for you – even if it’s over the phone? So from personal experience with my lovely momma, I get it. What surprised me was that when it came time to pick workshops, all the panic-strickened faculty avoided the technology options like the plague. Why is it that when presented with an opportunity to learn about the clearly unknown, these people were the first to bail? In all seriousness, if you know the answer – don’t hesitate to comment, I’m still curious.

The second thing noticed was more about how the process of learning to be a teacher has changed, thanks to technology. Only a 5-6 years removed from the eldest kids we’re teaching, my cohort of fellow student teachers probably qualify in that category of “21st century learners.” In grad school, there is a large focus on incorporating technology – we even had to take a “Teaching with technology” class to graduate. Technology is incorporated in almost every class, using SMARTboards to teach, online assessments and collaboration, even clickers in class for formative assessments. Technology has seeped into teacher education, making it impossible for new teachers such as myself to picture educating students without it. Taking into consideration the reaction of some of the teachers in the field to technology – it will definitely be an interesting dynamic to watch.

For those curious, here are some of the resources given to us during this week – I highly recommend checking them out and seeing if you can use them in your classroom!

1. http://www.polleverywhere.com/ – great way to use kid’s obsession with cell phones to your advantage!

2. Titan Pad – This is great for chats with large groups of people, but be careful – without oversight, can lead to a lot of off topic discussions. This review from TeachersFirst describes it in greater detail.

3. PrimaryPad – same thing as Titanpad but allows drawing!

4. Khan Academy – endless resources, the link leads to another review from TeachersFirst

5. Itunes U – in your Itunes store, this resource is towards the bottom of the page and hosts thousands of podcasts and any and all academic subjects.

6. Maps of War – great for us History teachers!

7. Student News Action – a really great place to find resources from all over the world on a variety of topics

Tis the day before student teaching starts, where the prepping from one year of graduate school is about to be put to the test. Next week I start a week and a half of inservice, classroom prep, syllabi-building, and of course – Open House. I’ll be teaching government, both general and AP, as well as AP geography to High School Seniors. So far, all my experience has been in 6th and 7th grade, so I won’t lie, I’m nervous to deal with 17 year olds. Middle schoolers are still kids in so many ways that the fact that I’m not much older than them never comes to mind. High School Seniors though? I definitely won’t have the intimidation factor going for me with these kids.

Regardless, I’m ready. I’ve looked at the summer assignment (kind of) and brushed up on government. I’ve even got an entire teacher-approved wardrobe of clothes.  Nervous yes, but definitely excited. Time to get this show on the road!