My Teaching Experiences

I swear this week was longer than five days.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I will officially lose one day of teaching per week due to our visiting author. I've known that all along, but I think that the affects of that have only really become apparent to me recently. This means that every Tuesday I won't have to worry about having a lesson plan ready (good for me), but that teaching TKAM will take longer than expected (not so good).

Also, lessons are taking longer than expected, partially due to a lack of classroom good behavior. There was a student teacher in my class last semester as well - A---- (who I've writeen about previously) - who wasn't so good with classroom management. He worried only about the five or six kids in his immediate range and tended to ignore the rest of the class. And then K----, my cooperating teacher, doesn't actually manage classroom problems; she moves kids to different desks, resulting in a change of the seating chart every few days. The problems, however, never go away. So now I step in. I want to do fun activities, allow the students to talk, move them into groups...but they've either been ignored or highly regimented by seating charts for so long that I don't have any semblance of a system of classroom expectations or consequences to shape those fun activities.

Friday I did a structured group reading exercise I learned in Jeff's class. I had high hopes of it going very, very well. Students were going to be excited to try something new, the conversation would be stimulating, and we would plow right through two chapters with all students hanging on every word. I had role expectations written out on the board. I had a schedule of how we would spend each reading session written on the board. I explained it when they came in. Friday was going to be a highlight of my first two weeks as a student teacher.

Friday was a highlight, all right - of a day gone awry.

My first mistake was in thinking that students could pick their own groups. I didn't realize that the lack of classroom expectations and behavior procedures was as horrific as it is. I think that I was also in the mindset established by teaching college students - thinking that students are mature people who can be held accountable for their actions and know what is and is not appropriate in a classroom and will abide by that social cue at all times. Or at least at most times. It didn't matter that the entire class activities were written on the board OR that I verbally discussed everything with them. I still had to explain two or three times in each class because of side talking and extra conversations occurring around the room. When I would allow them two minutes for discussion so that they could answer their questions and review their summaries and predictions, they talked instead about boyfriends, lunch, myspace and cell phones. When I called them back to order, I would gain the attention of one, maybe two groups. So I would take longer than necessary to get the attention of the rest of the class. Full class attention may have lasted - at the max - twenty seconds. Then, they were right back at the chatting. I spent the majority of my time asking people to pay attention, focus on the group, give respect to their fellow classmate who was talking, turn around, sit down, stop throwing paper...

I don't blame the kids, first of all, even though through this it most likely sounds like I do. I just think that they have no system or structure in place, so they're going to do whatever they want to do. I also think that they look at me and think that they can get away with whatever they want because I'm new, I'm female and I'm young. It's the trifecta that points, in their eyes, to me being someone they can walk on.

By the end of the day I was exhausted and depressed. I didn't feel like I had done a very good job being their teacher. I didn't think anyone learned anything; I felt like they all thought the activity was stupid and more of an excuse to talk to their friends than actually read and understand this book that they hate already. I felt like I had been disrespected all day - just trod on by 140 14-year-olds - and that in allowing that, they didn't even get the book. In each class I had about five students who really seemed to enjoy the activity and get a lot out of it, five who tried to get something out of it but couldn't hear or follow due to the unruliness of their neighbors, five who ignored everyone else in the room and read ahead, and five who caused problems. Spending that much energy on five students is NOT worth it to me.

And so, this weekend I'm recharging my batteries and coming up with a better plan for in-class behavior management and group procedures. Next week - and every future week - must go better or else I don't think I will last another 14 weeks.

Incidentally, K---- is out this Friday through next Wednesday, so I'm on my own subbing for her for the next four days.

My Teaching Experiences
I'm a graduate student at Boise State University just starting to work with the school districts. This no-frills blog is my account of my experiences in the school setting. Archives: January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007	Monday, February 05, 2007 I swear this week was longer than five days. I've resigned myself to the fact that I will officially lose one day of teaching per week due to our visiting author. I've known that all along, but I think that the affects of that have only really become apparent to me recently. This means that every Tuesday I won't have to worry about having a lesson plan ready (good for me), but that teaching TKAM will take longer than expected (not so good). Also, lessons are taking longer than expected, partially due to a lack of classroom good behavior. There was a student teacher in my class last semester as well - A---- (who I've writeen about previously) - who wasn't so good with classroom management. He worried only about the five or six kids in his immediate range and tended to ignore the rest of the class. And then K----, my cooperating teacher, doesn't actually manage classroom problems; she moves kids to different desks, resulting in a change of the seating chart every few days. The problems, however, never go away. So now I step in. I want to do fun activities, allow the students to talk, move them into groups...but they've either been ignored or highly regimented by seating charts for so long that I don't have any semblance of a system of classroom expectations or consequences to shape those fun activities. Friday I did a structured group reading exercise I learned in Jeff's class. I had high hopes of it going very, very well. Students were going to be excited to try something new, the conversation would be stimulating, and we would plow right through two chapters with all students hanging on every word. I had role expectations written out on the board. I had a schedule of how we would spend each reading session written on the board. I explained it when they came in. Friday was going to be a highlight of my first two weeks as a student teacher. Friday was a highlight, all right - of a day gone awry. My first mistake was in thinking that students could pick their own groups. I didn't realize that the lack of classroom expectations and behavior procedures was as horrific as it is. I think that I was also in the mindset established by teaching college students - thinking that students are mature people who can be held accountable for their actions and know what is and is not appropriate in a classroom and will abide by that social cue at all times. Or at least at most times. It didn't matter that the entire class activities were written on the board OR that I verbally discussed everything with them. I still had to explain two or three times in each class because of side talking and extra conversations occurring around the room. When I would allow them two minutes for discussion so that they could answer their questions and review their summaries and predictions, they talked instead about boyfriends, lunch, myspace and cell phones. When I called them back to order, I would gain the attention of one, maybe two groups. So I would take longer than necessary to get the attention of the rest of the class. Full class attention may have lasted - at the max - twenty seconds. Then, they were right back at the chatting. I spent the majority of my time asking people to pay attention, focus on the group, give respect to their fellow classmate who was talking, turn around, sit down, stop throwing paper... I don't blame the kids, first of all, even though through this it most likely sounds like I do. I just think that they have no system or structure in place, so they're going to do whatever they want to do. I also think that they look at me and think that they can get away with whatever they want because I'm new, I'm female and I'm young. It's the trifecta that points, in their eyes, to me being someone they can walk on. By the end of the day I was exhausted and depressed. I didn't feel like I had done a very good job being their teacher. I didn't think anyone learned anything; I felt like they all thought the activity was stupid and more of an excuse to talk to their friends than actually read and understand this book that they hate already. I felt like I had been disrespected all day - just trod on by 140 14-year-olds - and that in allowing that, they didn't even get the book. In each class I had about five students who really seemed to enjoy the activity and get a lot out of it, five who tried to get something out of it but couldn't hear or follow due to the unruliness of their neighbors, five who ignored everyone else in the room and read ahead, and five who caused problems. Spending that much energy on five students is NOT worth it to me. And so, this weekend I'm recharging my batteries and coming up with a better plan for in-class behavior management and group procedures. Next week - and every future week - must go better or else I don't think I will last another 14 weeks. Incidentally, K---- is out this Friday through next Wednesday, so I'm on my own subbing for her for the next four days.