Week 10

Three weeks of student teaching in high school down!  It's been quite the adventure of figuring out how to adapt my teaching for my juniors and seniors and how to get them motivated in class.  This week has been a mix of really fantastic moments and moments where I felt like I couldn't handle the pressure of teaching this age group.  Overall, it was a good learning and teaching week for me, so here are some highlights as well as where I am in meeting my goals.

My first goal was to learn more about Robert Frost poetry for my lessons this past week.  I was excited to teach about poetry, but I didn't know too much about Frost at all besides the fact that he was a poet.  In talking to one of my cooperating teachers, she told me something valuable:  "We all have to start from somewhere.  I started by watching and learning from others."  In that moment, I realized that I didn't need to be intimidated by content that I'm still learning (even most of the content in high school are topics that I haven't pondered in years).  Anyway, we went through the textbook, and she gave me some main points.  For my first lesson on Robert Frost, I created a Prezi presentation (http://prezi.com/dg9zfibtzw6u/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy) and co-taught the lesson with my cooperating teacher.  The first two periods we taught this lesson, I primarily focused on the first part of the Prezi where it bulleted points about his life and poetry.  Afterwards, my teacher would model analyzing the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost.  Before teaching this lesson, I maybe only read it a couple times and got a general idea.  It was so great to hear my cooperating teacher sharing years of experience with this poem as she highlighted main points.  After hearing her talk about it with the students, I realized how beautiful the poem truly was.  For the last lesson, my cooperating teacher asked me if I wanted to teach the entire lesson.  While I feel like I'm a confident teacher, I didn't think I was ready for that.  But, she modeled the lesson extremely well for me, and I taught the concept very successfully.  A few times, I did ask my cooperating teacher if there was anything specific that she wanted to add onto the discussion, but for the most part, she just listened.  It was a great moment for me, and I learned so much more about Frost just by collaborating with my cooperating teacher.  The next day, I taught the final lesson on Robert Frost poetry.  Although it was Friday, and students were just about done with the day, I taught it successfully using the same presentation.  I felt more confident teaching this lesson, because of the results of the day before.  This was a moment where I felt like I was growing in the education program learning outcomes in practicing excellent teaching.  Excellent teaching isn't about knowing every single thing, but it is about learning from others and applying their effective methods to benefit your students.  It's also about going out of your comfort zone to accomplish your goals.

My other goal was to continue to learn students' names.  Finally, after 3 weeks, I think I have all of them down.  It's taken a lot of looking at Skyward (their version of Moodle) and quizzing myself as they're sitting in their desks.  Also, at the beginning of the week, I had the opportunity to conference one-on-one with each of the students on their papers due this upcoming week.  I learned that I'm better relating with high school students one-on-one.  I know it's not always going to be perfect, and I'll probably mess up some names, but it's been great progress.

My last goal was to work on classroom management.  Classroom management in high school is a different ballgame compared to middle school.  Unfortunately, I can't have fun chants or sayings, because these students are 16-18 years old, and the last thing they want to do is be treated like young children.  One of the things that I've done that has been successful is just taking advantage of how loud my voice can be.  To reel them back in if they're talking to one another, I just project my voice and start talking.  If they're still talking over me, I shut my mouth, and after enough wait time, they get that the teacher is talking.  Also, cellphones are allowed to be used in the school, so when I teach, I don't want to overdo it with telling them to put their cellphones away.  So far, I haven't had to say that, because many of my activities have kept them pretty busy.  But, if it gets out of hand, I have to do something about it.  The thing is, they use those cellphones for school purposes too, so I can't be as restrictive as I would be in middle school.  I've learned that in classroom management in high school, it's all about respect and responsibility.  For them to respect me, I have to respect them without crossing or creating any boundaries.

At the beginning of the week, I got to teach a writing workshop to help my students structure their ideas for their papers on The Great Gatsby.  It started on Monday and continued on Wednesday so my students can ask me questions.  To help them structure their arguments, I decided to use Dr. Sierra's Virtual Board concept using Google Sheets.  I enjoyed using it in my classes with him at Trinity, and I actually asked him questions about how I can get the templates and use it for my juniors.  The students at my school all have Chromebooks, so it was a perfect opportunity to try it.  First period and sixth period used it diligently, but third period slacked on using it.  I also used the Virtual Board on Friday to let them put their ideas about Robert Frost on there.  Personally, I love the Virtual Board, but there are some pros and cons.

The Pros: 

• everyone participates
• you see all of the ideas in one place
• everyone is actively engaged
• you can see the students working in real time
• it's a great start to a discussion

The Cons:

• formatting
• students can edit basically anything (hence messing up my formatting)
• students responses being deleted by others (either accidentally or on purpose)
• they groan every single time I tell them to take out their Chromebooks

I definitely want to keep using the Virtual Board, because regardless of their feelings about it, it's an effective tool to really hear all students' ideas.  I've actually decided to take a grade on it, so if students are really working well and using the time in class well, they get full points.  Many of their grades are low, so I motivate them by saying, "These are easy points that can boost your grade!"  This relates to IPTS Performance Standard 9K which states that the competent teacher, "reflects on professional practice and resulting outcomes; engages in self-assessment; and adjusts practices to improve student performance, school goals, and professional growth."  I'm reflecting on what I can do to make the Virtual Board more accessible and engaging to my students sot that the Cons list.  I want to use the tool effectively, but I want to make sure that I'm adjusting to best help my students be successful.

Throughout my student teaching so far, I've experienced so many different things that I truly have not been prepared enough for--specifically things related to school safety.  Back in Indonesia, my class and I were literally trembling, because we had an earthquake!  I wasn't briefed on any of the procedures or protocol, so I was following my students' lead.  Thankfully, we were all safe, but nothing could have prepared me for that.  On Wednesday this week, I experienced something that I wish we could have been trained much more for.  Almost exactly a month ago, 17 students and staff were killed at the Parkland shooting, and Wednesday, March 14, the one month anniversary, was deemed National School Walk Out Day.  Out of 3200 students at my school, 500-600 students walked out.  This was not a pre-approved event by my school, but we were instructed, as teachers, to not participate in the walkout or discourage students from walking out.  The entire staff had a meeting that morning to brief us on what to expect and how to handle it.  The major point that they stressed was that the students' safety was the biggest priority.  No one was allowed on the football field without a school ID, the school was closed from 9:45-10:45, and police were surrounding the school to ensure that in their peaceful protest, safety measures were taken.  It was interesting, because all but 5 of my students walked out during class time.  I was holding a writing workshop, so it wasn't terribly interrupted, but it was interesting to see.  It's great to see my students standing strong together and exercising their First Amendment rights.  I'm also thankful that the administration at my school chose not to penalize them besides marking that they were absent or tardy.  It was just discouraging that students were starting rumors about teachers offering extra credit to those who stayed or even suspending students.  Ignorance is something that really just gets to me, especially in today's culture.  Hopefully those rumors were quickly dispelled, because they were not true at all.  In April, the students are organizing another event so that the students, teachers, and staff can stand in solidarity with one another and the Parkland students.  Everyone will walk out of their classrooms and link arms in the hallway.  I'm not sure what my role would be in this.  It seems like the entire school is participating, but I don't want to do something that would put my placement at risk.  I'm wondering what I would do in this situation.  It would be really informative to have some sort of discussion about Parkland and what that really means for us as teachers.  In any safety situation, the students come first, and I want to support and protect them to the best of my abilities.

Also this week, Friday ended up being a crazy day for multiple reasons.  The first thing was that Olympic Gold Medalist Kendall Coyne from the US Women's Hockey Team came to visit!  She went to high school at my school and came to talk to a bunch of students.  There was a set time where staff could come and meet her, take pictures, and get autographs.  It was such a cool experience getting to hold her medal (it was HEAVY!), tell her how inspiring she is, and hear her speak about her experiences.  Later, we had an assembly for 3 different things:  Kendall Coyne, St. Baldricks, and Winter Sports Recognition.  At the assembly, she talked to all of the students about the importance of pursuing their dreams and never giving up.  She also received an award to recognize her.  St. Baldricks was easily my favorite part of the assembly.  The students and staff who participated collectively raised over 20,000.  They also shaved their heads in support of those who face or have faced cancer.  It was incredible to see their joy and the impact.

Friday was a fun, energetic, and crazy day, but it was also a different kind of crazy.  During my Virtual Board Robert Frost activity, I caught one of my students looking me up on Google Images.  What on earth do I do about that?  I felt so uncomfortable about it.  In middle school, it's kind of adorable, because those students are anywhere from 10-14.  This student is a junior boy.  I talked to one of my cooperating teachers about the incident, and I still don't know what to do. 

Overall, it ended up being a good week, but I guess I'm still learning a lot more about what high schoolers are like.

Here are my goals for the week:
1. Start teaching lessons without my teacher in the classroom.
2. Handle discipline and confrontation (specifically referring to the student looking me up on Google images).

Classroom Confidential

One of the really great things I love about teaching English is that it can connect to so many disciplines.  My favorite subject to merge it with is definitely social studies.  Social studies is all about people and situations from the past.  It's basically telling a story, and if there's one thing we English people love, it's words and stories.  Schmidt talks a little about literature being historic evidence.  My junior students just finished up The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald which is a historic novel in itself taking place in 1920's New York.  While the students are reading the fictional story about the death of Gatsby's American Dream, they are also learning more about the time period and the different elements of that time period.  Thus, they are studying the social impacts in history.

The English discipline also correlates very well with the arts.  Specifically in my own classroom, I've seen music used as a tool to engage students.  When they learned briefly about poetry created during the Harlem Renaissance, my cooperating teacher played a blues song by Bessie Smith titled "A Good Man is Hard to Find."  Then, she compared it a poem by Langston Hughes titled "The Weary Blues" and had the students talk about the similarities between the two.  Analyzing the rhythm and lines in hearing the song and the poem helped them understand the impact of blues on that time period and how it resulted in that kind of poetry.

In my classes so far,  I haven't seen authentic assessment yet, but I'm hoping to integrate it in my Senior Basic English class especially since they're finishing up their last year of school.  I think the most relevant authentic assessment that I could use for both classes that are appropriate for their age group is debates.  Nowadays, my students are using their voices to express their opinions and views on various topics.  At this age, they are passionate about their ideas, so debates would allow them to "apply their knowledge in a dynamic format that requires specific [ ] knowledge along with the ability to speak clearly and logically."  Many of the books they are reading now involve different sides to social arguments, so this would be interesting to see them debate about these issues in a classroom environment.