Week 5

This week was a really fun week for me!  I got to teach a few more lessons, we had a couple more dress up days, and the students performed in a school musical this past weekend!  Before I get into all of that, I want to talk a little bit about where I am in meeting my goals!

My first goal was to work on being more assertive.  I think I've started to establish myself as a more professional and assertive teacher.  To do this, I've had to be more aware of how I'm communicating to my students.   Whenever the students are off task, usually it takes a simple look, a louder voice (than my typically loud voice), or a few times of saying "Eyes up, mouths closed," to get them to settle down and listen to me.  While sometimes the students don't enjoy the decisions that I make as a teacher, they respect me enough to strive to improve.  Generally, these students are really good kids.  The only issues that I can truly think of are not following directions and not listening the first time.  Otherwise, I love these students, and if tough love is what it takes for them to do and be their best, then that is what I will use.

The above also goes along with my third goal.  I'm not their friends; I am their teacher.  I've been trying to get to know them more and more without stepping any boundaries.  Any chance I get, I try to learn more about their interests.  Sometimes, I'll even act a little crazy when teaching a concept.  If that makes at least one student smile or laugh, that's what matters.  But, I know when I need to be the adult.  When they are talking to one another, I don't enter into their conversation unless they are specifically talking to me.  I've also had to change my demeanor a little bit.  I'm still my bubbly, energetic self around my students, but when it comes to keeping order, I have been able to adapt my posture so that I come across as more serious.  It took a bit of time, but they really take me seriously as a teacher, and it feels great to have established that.

My other goal was to finish grading on time.  One thing that I never realized until this placement:  grading takes A LONG TIME.  Now, I've graded things on my own before during aiding placements, but most of the time, my cooperating teachers would only trust me to grade multiple choice assignments.  For this placement, since I have assigned most of their assignments, I have had to grade them.  It doesn't sound so bad, until you factor in 60 students all writing critical thinking responses.  Thankfully, during the day, we have a lot of plan periods, so I try to get my grading done during this time so I don't have to bring it home with me.  This week, I've had 4 assignments to grade, and all of them have extensive writing.  Also, I've had students hand in their late work, so I've had to grade all that as well.  By the grace of God, I finished before the last period on Friday!  Now, I just have to hand all these assignments back to them.

Throughout this week, I was only able to teach three lessons.  There was so much in the schedule to fit into one week like a spelling bee, computer labs, and reading buddies (where they read with 2nd graders).  My students also took 2 quizzes this week.  The prime teaching days have been Mondays when we see each class twice.  So, I taught a lesson on vocabulary, once again, and I also taught a reading lesson on chapter 5 of A Wrinkle in Time.

This week was actually the week of significant learning/ teaching moments.  Throughout the week, we read through chapter 5 of A Wrinkle in Time.  This chapter deals all about the biggest theme in the book, the tesseract.  In the novel, the tesseract is the scientific/ mathematical concept that the main character's father was working on before he disappeared.  It has a lot to do with the different dimensions and time travel.  Students were trying their best to understand what it was, so I gave my best shot to explain the science and math around the concept as an English teacher.  I was sure that I had failed miserably, but my students were beginning to understand it.  In one class they were insistent on figuring it out, so I ended up giving a 2 minute math lesson on the different dimensions.  They were so astounded by my explanation (that I wasn't even 100% sure was correct) that they were all screaming "OHHHH!" One of my students did a "mind blown" gesture.  To add to the craziness, I took the dry erase marker that I was writing with, held it out straight in front of me, and dropped it doing a "mic drop."  At this point, the students went crazy.  I think I gained some cool points with them that day.  The reason why this interaction was so significant was not just because of my rapport with my students, but because I taught more than just English.  While I'm an English teacher, it is my job to be able to answer any question they throw at me with confidence and not be one-dimensional.  If I don't know an answer, I can be honest with my students and seek to find that answer.  English may be where I'm gifted, but I need to demonstrate to my students that I'm more than just an English teacher.

My other learning/ teaching moment also happened during a reading lesson.  For this lesson, I decided to go with their typical reading routine--popcorn reading.  It keeps students accountable, and it actively engages them with the story.  One of the characters, Mrs. Who, only talks in quotes, so sometimes, it's difficult to understand what that character is trying to say.  One line says, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on."  After that line was read aloud, a student asked me, "Ms. Sarah, what does that mean?"  I was completely caught off guard.  I genuinely had no clue.  I didn't want to look bad in front of students.  Then, I had a sudden moment of clarity.  I turned the question back to the rest of the class:  "Well, what do you all think this phrase means?"  I glanced at my cooperating teacher, and he very slyly gave me a thumbs up.  At first, there was some silence from the students, but then a hand went up, and then two more went up.  They gave really insightful responses, and it turned me into the learner and the students into the teacher.  IPTS Performance Indicator 2K states that the competent teacher, "engages students in the processes of critical thinking and inquiry and addresses standards of evidence in the disciplines."  Rather than trying to prove that I knew all of the answers, I gave the responsibility to my students.  Using critical thinking skills, they were able to make connections, and answer the question to the best of their ability.  They did all of the work; I just provided them the opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking.  My students blew me away.

The rest of this week was good, and what made it even better were the dress up days.  Since we had the earthquake a couple of weeks ago, we weren't able to finish the Reading Week dress up days.  Wednesday, we had culture day.  I was lent a Filipino dress to wear for the day, so that I could embrace my own culture.  It was so cool to see so many students dressing up in their own culture's clothing.  It reminded me that while we are united as one school, we are composed of such diverse cultures.  As a teacher, and even just as an individual, it's really important cultivate relational peace, which is a education program learning outcome.  Helping others recognize and accept differences and multiple perspectives allows us to welcome one another with open arms.  Celebrating unity within diversity and embracing who God created us to be is so special and meaningful.  I loved this day.  The next day was poetry day.  Not many of us knew how we should dress, but some of the senior school students recommended wearing all black.  To go along with the theme, some classes brought in poems to read to their class, which was pretty cool.

On Friday, I was able to see the majority of my student perform in the school musical, Princess Whatsername.  It's a story of a princess who wakes up one day not knowing who she is, what her name is, or where she came from.  On her journey to discover who she is, she comes across familiar fairy tale characters like Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, and the Seven Dwarves.  In the meantime, her prince is trying to find her too.  It was so fun to watch my students in their element and having a great time.  They are all so talented, and I'm glad that I got to see it before I left!

Overall, this was a very fun week, but I'm sad that my experience here is coming to a close so soon.  I wish I could stay here longer and spend more time with the other teachers, the students, and with this beautiful country.  Teaching here has been an absolute privilege, but thankfully, it's not quite over yet!

Here are my goals for next week:
1.  Finish all of my edTPA responsibilities.
2.  Cultivate a better culture of Eptness.

Classroom Confidential

Schmidt's chapter on communication contained a lot of valuable information on how to approach communication with parents.  Throughout reading this chapter I found ideas very helpful for me, but I also disagreed with some statements.  I think the most beneficial strategy concerning parent and teacher communication is Enlightenment.  For the most part, I have understood that as a teacher, we need to inform the parents of the positives and areas of improvement for their student and collaborate on a game plan to help the student.  With the idea of Enlightenment, the parents are not only gaining valuable information about their student's learning, but as teachers, we need to be adamant about the home and family life of each student.  There are many different kinds of family dynamics, and we also need to be respectful of that.  I really enjoy this strategy, because it is a very effective way to help the student knowing that the parents and the teacher are going the extra mile.  A student is not just a learner in the classroom, but is also a learner in the world.

One thing that I partially disagreed with was the section about communication with parents from different cultures.  Overall, I believe that this information is highly valuable, because I want to be culturally sensitive and respectful.  But, from being in an Asian country for part of my student teaching and also being involved in parent-teacher conferences earlier in the semester, some of the statements are not what I have seen.  Maybe it's because of the specific area that I live in, but some of these situations are different.  You never really know what to expect until you are in that country teaching.  Again, this would also be different in the states.  During my placement, I've seen many different cultural backgrounds and attitudes.  Some of my Korean students come from a very hardworking background, so sometimes they go the extra mile on homework assignments.  Also, the issue with the color red might be true, but my students have not reacted to the color red, especially when I mark up assignments.  In fact, Valentine's Day is coming up as well as a celebration for Chinese New Year.  We are to wear the color red on those days.  Also, in this area, it is definitely okay for me to touch or pat my students on the head.  The people in this school really do a great job of letting the students know that they are cared for through these actions.  I'm not saying that these ideas from the book are wrong.  In fact, it's very valuable for us as teachers to be extra culturally aware and make sure that we are doing everything we can to help our students.  Once again, any guide book can tell you some things to expect, but it can never prepare you for the real thing.

When I conduct my own parent teacher conferences, I know that I will be ready, because Schmidt has offered some valuable insight to help me in becoming a better teacher and communicator.  One of the biggest takeaways that I got out of this chapter is that to be an effective communicator to the parents, I need to be able to set my boundaries as the expert and present feedback that is tough, but constructive.  I also need to work with the parent instead of against them, no matter what kind of parent I may run into.  Communication is key, but only if done effectively.