Chapter 4

Chapter 4 gave me a lot to think about.  

As a student-teacher, one of the things that deflate a little bit of my excitement is the dreaded standardized test.  Not just a standardized test itself, but the thought  of being so consumed with anxiety over whether or not students are going to pass the test/s.  Similar to being a student in college “cramming” for a final exam in Psychology, I have this nightmare of being a teacher and just "cramming" to teach the content required every day.  That is not exactly what I had in mind when I first decided to become a teacher and I hope it’s far from the truth.   Instead, I expect that if I become an effective teacher, remain aware of what students need to know and master, and use numerous methods to accommodate the needs of my students, passing the tests will be more of a milestone, rather than an all-consuming aspect of teaching.  My anxieties and expectations see-saw depending on what I read or what I hear from others. The ideal I described is what pushes me forward to continue on my journey as a teacher. 

When I read about the group of history teachers on page 54 that got together, decided what “the big ideas” were and created a curriculum to included “readings, films, library research activities and small group presentations that gave deeper and more textured understandings”  I saw it as a promising sign.  The purpose of being a teacher is to help students connect to subjects, people, places, ideas, etc.  The tests are meant to measure, not dictate and we often lose sight of that.  These history teachers recognized that as long as they kept “the big ideas” as their focus, and they align with the standards put forth, they would be successful. I don't know what the final results were but I can only expect that they were positive.

                One other idea that struck me while reading this chapter is that I want to take the opportunity to work with other content teachers and help students make connections with the other subjects they are engaged in on a daily basis.  The Example at the opening of the chapter (the biography of E=mc²) really showed a great way to open horizons and build connections with other content.  In this example, not only are students reading but they are learning about an important historical discovery, in a way that will ensure they never forget the pertinent details.  Last week in class one of the teachers mentioned that she once planned a lesson with another content teacher, in order to help the students make an even deeper connection with a specific topic.  Why isn’t this something that is done more often?  It seems like it would be a genuinely successful practice.   It’s something I really want to explore.

What is it Like on the First Day?

   Over the summer I decided to do some light reading and I was loaned a book by my professor entitled The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry and Rosemary Wong.  I read that book in a matter of hours.  Although it was geared more towards elementary school teachers, I could see the value for all teachers.  They stressed the importance of being organized, making expectations clear and being predictable as a teacher.  In other words, make sure the students know what it expected on a daily basis so it takes some of the stress out of life.  After reading this book I imagined all of the ways I would decorate my classroom, including the entrance.  I decided that I would have a "Quote of the Day" that I would choose to get the students engaged  on the topic of my planned lesson.  I even thought that letting the students write their own favorite quotes on paper and placing them in a bowl might be a great idea...They might be proud to see their pick on the board!  I decided that I would be sure to greet each student at the door, ask how things are going and get to see their tone for the day so far...Effective teaching? Done.  Okay...maybe more like just getting started, but brainstorming leads to effective actions.
 
  Unexpectedly, I got to find out what that first day looks like and why it's so important to be organized and clear about expectations. Tonight was "Meet the Teachers" for my sons new middle school.  The way it was set up I got to see what a first day really looked like from the students perspective...as an adult it was petrifying.  I can only imagine what it must be like for an 11 year old!  You begin in the main auditorium.  From there, just like on the first day, you receive your schedule.  After receiving your schedule you are released into the maze of corridors.  You follow your child's schedule and are given 15 minute time slots with the teacher.  During this time the teacher explains the policies and procedures of their classroom, the curriculum for the year and any other information you might need.  There were a few things that I noticed "as a student".  Most of the teachers greeted us at the door, asked our child's name, made a comment about what a nice student her was, then asked us to scribble on the sign-in sheet and have a seat.  Many of them had power points prepared and some even prepared pamphlets with important numbers and other info.  In these classrooms I felt at ease. I knew what the teacher expected, he/she was clear and informative and they remembered my son already.
  The last classroom we went to was different.  As we were entering, the teacher was talking to the parents from the class before.  She was rattling off information she forgot to mention and asking for their children's names so she could show their first work of art.  We didn't get to greet her at the door.  We found our way to the sign in sheet and took a seat.  As we looked around, the room seemed out of order and there were supplies left out from the days work.  The teacher entered and she seemed frazzled, she was disorganized and her "speech"  consisted mostly of making guesses about what she would be teaching, scanning the walls for posters about "policies and procedures" and explaining that there were no real grades, it will be based on effort.  It was an art class so to be fair the grading policy seemed perfect to me!  However, this approach felt uncomfortable. She didn't seem to have a plan on how to inform us.  At the end I wasn't really sure what my son was going to be doing and I had a feeling he wouldn't feel sure either...It would be a surprise every week! 

  After this experience it made me realize that the first day of school really will set the mood for the year.  As educators we really have to think about what kind of teacher we want to be, how we will present ourselves and how to maintain the aspects of our teaching that we know will be really beneficial to our students.  Even something as small as greeting our students at the door could change something about our day or one of our students' days.  We also want to make sure we ourselves know what we expect of our students and effectively relay the important aspects of being a student in our class, at the institution we teach in. Students will be able to tell if we are confident.  If they feel we are trustworthy and knowledgeable, it will make our job easier and their own lives less complicated, so they can concentrate on learning, not guessing what they are supposed to do. 


P.S. If I didn't make it clear I highly recommend the book and I hear there is a CD for high school teachers but I haven't seen it yet!

The Basics in Activating Students

  There is an expectation that as an English Language Arts teacher, reading will, no doubt, be one of the most important focuses in my classroom.  When I picture the type of class I will have, I imagine being able to get my students engaged, just as these educators did with the topic of fast-food!  When I started chapter 1 I was so engaged that I failed to make one notation or highlight a single word or sentence for the first few pages.  The first line I stopped to highlight was something I never wanted to forget: "They had learned things that really got them thinking, got them agitated, got the activated."(5)  That is my goal as an educator...to get students "activated".  There will be students who are motivated by other factors, such as wanting to please the teacher, their parents, wanting a good grade, etc.  There will also be students that are unmotivated by those things and will want to sit in the back row and disappear.  To get a student activated through something they have learned, is an incredible accomplishment.
  It reminded me of the experience I had at the HS last week.  When I asked one of the students why he chose Diabetes as his topic, he explained that it was something anyone can get and if he could learn more about it, he could maybe prevent himself from getting the disease.  I was really impressed by that.  After reading this one line I realized that was what I was so impressed with, that this student made his study personally enriching.  He didn't choose the topic because it was easy or because he already knew about it.  I can think of the many times I have made topic choices based on what I know the most about.  When I think back to a time when I chose a topic based on what I really wanted to know more about, I realize that it was because it was something important to me.  Last semester in 406 we had to construct our own lesson plan and then teach it to our peers.  I chose poetry, specifically the sonnet.  I made this choice because I have had a feeling that using poetry is going to be an important tool to teaching students about reading.  (After reading Wilhelm I think my hunch is right!)  However, I didn't feel as if my memory was as strong as I wanted it to be in this area, so I chose it to get some real working knowledge.  The point is, when a student chooses a topic based on their desire to know more about something to help them in the future, they will remember what they learned.  It will impact their life in some way.  That is the ultimate goal:  To let the knowledge impact the student.
  When I read the metaphor about the classroom full of students resembling "rows of deeply impacted, unpulled teeth" (7) I laughed out loud (for real) and shuddered at the same time.  It is THE nightmare.
 For that reason, I really appreciated the exercise in chapter 2 when they had us read about Cricket.  It was one of the most eye-opening experiences I've had as an education student.  As an English Major I have an upper hand in reading a text, even one that I'm not completely sure about.  Even when I read the information on RNA Interaction, I was able to make some small sense of what was going on.  I recognized some of the information but not all. With cricket I was completely unfamiliar with the terms.  I got a vague idea that a game was going on, but I ultimately thought that the writers had just created whatever this example was. This exercise really impressed upon me the need to be aware of the students prior knowledge, especially in a culturally diverse school such as CFHS. 
The overall lesson I learned from the reading was that if I want to "activate" students I need to start small.  I need to get to know the basics: my students abilities, strengths, as well as, deficits.  As the educator I need to choose topics that are beneficial but also engaging and useful to my students.  Allowing them the opportunity to choose from a variety of topics is one way to get to know what they are interested in.  I plan to use that idea!

A Thousand Words

            I’ve always been someone who pays close attention to detail.  I often notice things that no one else seems too.  It could be a butterfly, while I’m on a hike or a hawk flying through the sky as I drive along the highway.  It might also be about people.  I like to people watch and to pay attention to how they interact in the world.  Photography is an art form that allows me to capture those moments of notice.

            When I was young my parents and grandparents always had a camera, but most of the photos we took were group photographs.  It was always forced pictures, something to prove that we were all at the same place, at the same time, on that particular day. I was never impressed by this use of cameras.  However, my great -grandmother died of Alzheimer’s when I was 14 years old and one thing that seemed significant was that she couldn’t remember her trip to Ireland during her last year, a trip that was taken with all of her adult children.  It was her life’s dream to visit Ireland and everyone seemed so sad by her loss of that memory.  I wondered desperately why no one had any pictures to show her, even a group photo would have been helpful.  Years later, when I planned my first trip to Europe, I immediately felt that I needed a camera.  Not just any camera, but something significant and memorable. Instead of a digital camera, I decided a regular 35mm film camera was appropriate.  I bought it on Craigslist and it included a zoom lens with "Macro" capabilities.  I wasn’t sure exactly what all of those things meant but I eventually learned that it allowed me to get close-up pictures, to subjects that were usually more difficult to capture in great detail. 

During my trip to Estonia, I used my camera to capture details that I felt I would remember, but would be excited to share with my husband and children.  I took pictures of walls that were over 1,000 years old, the sun shining over the Baltic Sea,  people waiting by the dozens for public transportation. I stopped on the side of the highway to take pictures of fields of yellow flowers, and walked to the night club because there was still enough light to continue capturing details of the building we would pass by.  When I returned home I couldn’t wait for my film to be developed!  I gave my family the play by play of my trip, with visual evidence to help them.  I was so happy to see all of those moments captured on film, to help me remember as well.

After my trip I began to think about all of the opportunities there are to capture memories in life.  As a mother of young children I was beginning to see how fast my children grew and I wanted to capture those memories as well.  Soon though, I realized that using a film camera was expensive!  I was paying for the film, as well as, the development and I was developing pictures that many times did not come out as captivating as I would have hoped.  The capabilities of a digital camera appealed to me. I began asking some of my friends that also dabbled in photography and they recommended different brands.  I bought my first DSLR camera soon after.  With this new camera and a small SD card I was able to capture hundreds of photos in a single session and I could pick and choose which ones I wanted to share, or print.  I discovered the world of blogging and began my own photography blog on Wordpress.com. Within this forum I was able to interact with other photographers, amateur and professional.  I was encouraged by their feedback on my photos and inspired by the photos they shared. 

The more time I spent scrolling through the photos of my fellow bloggers and reading about the techniques they used to capture specific types of photos, the more I wanted to learn.  At the time I was a college student and I was feeling some hesitation about entering into the teaching program.  So, I decided to take a photography course.  I learned so much about the technical aspects of using a camera, developing film and printing photos.  All of which were intensely interesting and exciting.  However, something else happened.  I became over-inspired, if that is even possible.  After learning so much and being exposed to so many inspirational photographers, through documentaries, literature and prints, I saw what I could accomplish with photography … if only I would give up my dream of becoming a teacher and spend my life behind the camera and in the dark room.  When I realized I wasn’t willing to do this, my inspiration plummeted for photography. 

  Subconsciously and consciously, I took a break from my camera and my blog and decided it was time to apply for the education program at RIC.  I had been afraid that maybe I wasn’t going to be a good teacher, or that maybe I wouldn’t like it as much as I had imagined, all of my life.  It was the one dream I had since I was young, and it remained unchanged, which somehow made it pure and untouchable.  I had put off applying to the education program for so long.  However, when I followed my interest in the art of photography, learned so much about it in that small amount of time and also saw how inspired I became, I recognized that doing the same thing, with the “art of teaching”, would be the most rewarding opportunity I could offer to myself.  As I often did when capturing a photograph, I looked at the small details (applying to the program, graduating from the program) and placed them in the larger picture (becoming a teacher and leading a fulfilling life, reaching the goal that is most cherished to me). I saw that life was going by and my opportunity could also pass by.

Since applying to the program and beginning my journey, I have picked my camera back up.  All of the experience and knowledge that I have learned allows me to be a more versatile and creative photographer.  I can choose whether or not I want to shoot on automatic, if I want to have more control in manual mode, if I want a crisp, clear lens or if I want to place a plastic bag over the lens to create a softer look to my photo.  I feel confident that I can pick up a book about photography and have a good enough understanding to build on my knowledge with greater ease.  This confidence continues to transfer into other aspects of life, including my journey as a student teacher.  I no longer fear my dream of becoming a teacher but instead, I look forward to the challenges and inspiration that will help me to help others.  I know that my interest in photography will continue to inspire me and I will continue to take the opportunity to learn more about this art, not knowing where it will take me. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and there are thousands of opportunities to take a picture but a life long dream can only be realized once.