After weeks of putting off sending in my acceptance letter, I finally inked my name on the dotted line—actually, I think it was solid—and became an employee of the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). I probably would have signed and sent it in sooner if not for the fact that I wanted a couple more days of feeling less like an adult with a job and more like a kid at school. I'm totally up for being a responsible adult, though, if it means I have a good job for the upcoming year.
If it weren't for my friend, LaJoi, I would not have applied to AUSL, but she hyped the program up like it was the best ever, so I did some research. AUSL is a not-for-profit that takes over Chicago public schools that have repeatedly failed to meet Annual Yearly Progress, the threshold of success introduced by the No Child Left Behind Act. If schools fail enough times, they need to undergo certain changes, some of them drastic. AUSL, under contract with CPS, takes over failing schools, overhauls the staff, and attempts to transform the school from the inside out. Schools close in June looking one way and open in September with a (mostly) new staff aimed at re-creating the school's culture to promote excellence. It seemed like a great opportunity, and I'm happy I've been accepted. It should make for a very intense educational and enriching experience for me over the next year or so.
Sure, there are aspects of AUSL that made we wonder if it was the right choice. First, you're committed to teaching at one of their schools for four years after the year of training. Four years is a long time! I have no idea what twists and turns my life will take over the next year, much less five! When it came down to it, though, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be trained extensively for another year by experts in education. I also liked the idea of getting a job at a school where everyone is clear about and agrees with its mission.
Second, I was leery of having a limited number of options for where to work after the year of training. AUSL has only four high schools under its management right now. They plan to get a couple more each year, but that might leave my options for placement at six or seven schools. Not much choice. I figured, though, that there might be an opportunity to be placed close to where I already live in the city. Plus, it's more important to me what the school is like and if I'd be a good fit to teach there. Location is important, but all of the schools are going to be located in areas where good teachers are especially needed, and I'm first and foremost willing to go where I'd be best suited.
Third, it's going to be really difficult! That one was easier to overcome. I prayed about the decision for a long time and told myself to stop thinking about wimping out. Besides, any job is going to have its challenges. (Sure, maybe not as many as at these schools, but who doesn't like a challenge?)
I'm looking forward to starting, but there's still plenty that has to happen before then. I still have a commitment to complete to the best of my ability at Jefferson Middle School. Today was a good day, one where I connected more with the students and felt like I did a pretty nice job of teaching the material. Most of all, I think today went well because I did a better job with classroom management. I've gotten it more into my head that the students know when they're out of line, and my recognizing that with appropriate consequences is only right. It should be more surprising to not be punished than to be let off the hook. I hope a couple more days, weeks, or whatever-unit-of-time-is-necessary's will help me get better at setting expectations and following up with them.
P.S. The two dashes in the first sentence are dedicated to Rachel.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Into Week Three
Jefferson Middle School is a wonderful place with wonderful teachers. I'm having a (guess what) wonderful experience thus far. I think the combined impact of several factors is the reason for the good time thus far. These include:
A bit more sleep and a lot less driving,
Team support,
A more gradual transition,
The SMART Board.
Of these, the SMART board is probably the biggest change. My classroom at Danville HS had an ELMO, which was a blessing. Having to use transparencies would have been a nightmare. There were so many more pictures and diagrams I could show the students because I could just slip them under the camera. I could show students' work, samples of work, even a solid object if I needed to. The SMART board, however, makes the ELMO (which the classroom at JMS has also) look like, well, an overhead projector.
Using a SMART board, I can write an entire lesson as a Notebook file and go through it step by step. I can scan images straight from the book and insert them into the slides. I can place objects in the slides and infinitely clone them, which is great when working with a chip board (a visual for adding and subtracting integers). The best part of the SMART board is how students are able to interact with the technology. I call on students to come up and draw on it or move an object into place. I have never seen so many volunteers raise their hands to show their work to the class as I have during my time teaching Honors 6th grade math. Of course, the honors students are more responsive in a variety of ways, but the standard level math students get just as much pleasure out of using the SMART board.
Things had been going so well last week that I prayed for a bad day, just so that I could get the idea out of my head that Jefferson Middle School was heaven on earth. God responds in a variety of ways to prayer, but his response to my prayer was quite clear and immediate. Last week Thursday, my cooperating teacher needed to leave town, so I was responsible for teaching all six classes instead of just the three I had been teaching. First period went well, and I think 6th and 7th went all right (all three honors classes), but 2nd through 4th periods were quite messy. I really think in some ways I lost control of 2nd period. There were two students in particular who were talkative, disruptive, and disrespectful, and I gave both detentions, but that didn't resolve the issues that were ongoing for that period. It didn't help me that there were two subs in the classroom, one for my coop and one for the special education instructor who is normally there. Third period was a little better because the special education teacher was present, but the students still acted out more than they normally would have had my coop been there. Fourth period was interesting for a different reason: unbeknownst to me, almost all of the students had already learned the mathematical game I was going to teach them. One student shouted out the rule before I could even begin. Having no good back up plan, the class dissolved into manageable disorder. Students worked on other assignments or played some games. It wasn't awful, but it was quite draining. I definitely need to improve on my discipline! That's probably my greatest weakness right now.
Though I'm enjoying my time, I think high school is where I'm cut out to be. Sixth graders are very different from high schoolers. (Probably the most obvious statement I've ever posted.) They goof around more and need more babying. I have a somewhat difficult time relating to them. I think working with high school students comes a bit more naturally. We'll see how things go. Hopefully, they continue to go well... I certainly won't be praying for any more bad days!
A bit more sleep and a lot less driving,
Team support,
A more gradual transition,
The SMART Board.
Of these, the SMART board is probably the biggest change. My classroom at Danville HS had an ELMO, which was a blessing. Having to use transparencies would have been a nightmare. There were so many more pictures and diagrams I could show the students because I could just slip them under the camera. I could show students' work, samples of work, even a solid object if I needed to. The SMART board, however, makes the ELMO (which the classroom at JMS has also) look like, well, an overhead projector.
Using a SMART board, I can write an entire lesson as a Notebook file and go through it step by step. I can scan images straight from the book and insert them into the slides. I can place objects in the slides and infinitely clone them, which is great when working with a chip board (a visual for adding and subtracting integers). The best part of the SMART board is how students are able to interact with the technology. I call on students to come up and draw on it or move an object into place. I have never seen so many volunteers raise their hands to show their work to the class as I have during my time teaching Honors 6th grade math. Of course, the honors students are more responsive in a variety of ways, but the standard level math students get just as much pleasure out of using the SMART board.
Things had been going so well last week that I prayed for a bad day, just so that I could get the idea out of my head that Jefferson Middle School was heaven on earth. God responds in a variety of ways to prayer, but his response to my prayer was quite clear and immediate. Last week Thursday, my cooperating teacher needed to leave town, so I was responsible for teaching all six classes instead of just the three I had been teaching. First period went well, and I think 6th and 7th went all right (all three honors classes), but 2nd through 4th periods were quite messy. I really think in some ways I lost control of 2nd period. There were two students in particular who were talkative, disruptive, and disrespectful, and I gave both detentions, but that didn't resolve the issues that were ongoing for that period. It didn't help me that there were two subs in the classroom, one for my coop and one for the special education instructor who is normally there. Third period was a little better because the special education teacher was present, but the students still acted out more than they normally would have had my coop been there. Fourth period was interesting for a different reason: unbeknownst to me, almost all of the students had already learned the mathematical game I was going to teach them. One student shouted out the rule before I could even begin. Having no good back up plan, the class dissolved into manageable disorder. Students worked on other assignments or played some games. It wasn't awful, but it was quite draining. I definitely need to improve on my discipline! That's probably my greatest weakness right now.
Though I'm enjoying my time, I think high school is where I'm cut out to be. Sixth graders are very different from high schoolers. (Probably the most obvious statement I've ever posted.) They goof around more and need more babying. I have a somewhat difficult time relating to them. I think working with high school students comes a bit more naturally. We'll see how things go. Hopefully, they continue to go well... I certainly won't be praying for any more bad days!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Movin' in with the Jeffersons
That title is lacking. I really wanted to make a play on words with the theme song for The Jeffersons, but I didn't want to make it seem like going from Danville HS to Jefferson Middle School was a step up or something. In some ways, however, it is. As far as test scores go, JMS has about 80% of its students meeting or exceeding state standards. DHS has only 40% or so meeting or exceeding standards. Convenience is a plus, too. It takes about 10-15 minutes for me to get to my new placement, which is much better than the 40-50 minutes to get to Danville. On the other hand, it will take quite a bit for me to learn more than I did at Danville. I feel a lot more prepared to teach after having that experience... but now I'm at Jefferson, so let's reflect a bit on the first week there.
First of all, I love the teamwork that goes on at JMS. The math department meets on a weekly basis to work on curricula planning. This allows the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers to know what each other will be teaching in a given year. I think it makes every teacher more effective to know what everyone else is doing. The 6th grade math teachers (my co-op and another woman) collaborate formally on a weekly basis and informally much more often than that. They exchange ideas and plan what they'll be doing in the coming weeks. It helps us have an idea of where we're trying to go when we have that far in advance planned. That was a struggle for me at Danville: trying to stay ahead. (Of course, sometimes things don't go as planned, and you need to make changes, but they're easier to make when you're ahead.)
In addition to departmental teamwork, there are almost daily team meetings among the 6th grade teachers who have the same students. This allows one teacher to say something like "It seems like Johnny has been slipping with his effort," and get feedback from other teachers to see if this is a trend across all classes or just that one. I love it when I get to meet up with my fellow pre-service math teachers at U of I, and it's this kind of exchange and discussion, the kind where you find out that you're not alone in something, that strengthens me. It also lets the teachers figure out the best way to help students. It worked especially well during Parent-Teacher conferences this past week because parents were able to hear from all their son or daughter's teachers at once to learn what they could do to help their child.
Lastly, the teamwork at Jefferson works well even on the school-wide level. Every week (I think), the entire JMS faculty get together for professional development and discussion of school-wide issues. There is a sense of community during these meetings. It feels like everyone is aware that they are working toward the same goals. There is good-natured joking amongst the staff. There is respect for those who take the lead during the meetings. Now with a smaller staff than of a high school, this is probably more feasible. Dunbar's number is 150, which would suggest that a high school faculty should be able to achieve this same sense of community and social stability, but with a faculty of around 55 it's probably easier to establish at a middle school like Jefferson. No matter if it's easier or not, there is definitely a healthy community at JMS that cannot help but aid in how students learn there.
My experiences in the classroom have been positive as well. I haven't run into too much disobedience, and what disobedience there is is nipped in the bud by asking students to "take one." This is code for "Put your hands in your lap and remain silent for a short period of time." It's a way to "reset" students, let them know that they were being disruptive, and correct their behavior with minimal embarrassment. It's simple and seems to work. There are times when students are slightly more disruptive and need to be taken into the hallway for a short conversation, but these incidences are much less common. Detentions and referrals are even more rare.
I haven't really begun teaching yet, and I'm likely to encounter some of the same difficulties I faced at DHS, but I hope to be able to handle them better than I did before. I don't want to have unrealistic expectations for this experience based upon the first week. I know, know, know that there will be crests and troughs. Being more mentally prepared for them is a good start. There's a long way to go, but I'm ready to keep movin' on up. (There it is! The reference I wanted all along.)
First of all, I love the teamwork that goes on at JMS. The math department meets on a weekly basis to work on curricula planning. This allows the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers to know what each other will be teaching in a given year. I think it makes every teacher more effective to know what everyone else is doing. The 6th grade math teachers (my co-op and another woman) collaborate formally on a weekly basis and informally much more often than that. They exchange ideas and plan what they'll be doing in the coming weeks. It helps us have an idea of where we're trying to go when we have that far in advance planned. That was a struggle for me at Danville: trying to stay ahead. (Of course, sometimes things don't go as planned, and you need to make changes, but they're easier to make when you're ahead.)
In addition to departmental teamwork, there are almost daily team meetings among the 6th grade teachers who have the same students. This allows one teacher to say something like "It seems like Johnny has been slipping with his effort," and get feedback from other teachers to see if this is a trend across all classes or just that one. I love it when I get to meet up with my fellow pre-service math teachers at U of I, and it's this kind of exchange and discussion, the kind where you find out that you're not alone in something, that strengthens me. It also lets the teachers figure out the best way to help students. It worked especially well during Parent-Teacher conferences this past week because parents were able to hear from all their son or daughter's teachers at once to learn what they could do to help their child.
Lastly, the teamwork at Jefferson works well even on the school-wide level. Every week (I think), the entire JMS faculty get together for professional development and discussion of school-wide issues. There is a sense of community during these meetings. It feels like everyone is aware that they are working toward the same goals. There is good-natured joking amongst the staff. There is respect for those who take the lead during the meetings. Now with a smaller staff than of a high school, this is probably more feasible. Dunbar's number is 150, which would suggest that a high school faculty should be able to achieve this same sense of community and social stability, but with a faculty of around 55 it's probably easier to establish at a middle school like Jefferson. No matter if it's easier or not, there is definitely a healthy community at JMS that cannot help but aid in how students learn there.
My experiences in the classroom have been positive as well. I haven't run into too much disobedience, and what disobedience there is is nipped in the bud by asking students to "take one." This is code for "Put your hands in your lap and remain silent for a short period of time." It's a way to "reset" students, let them know that they were being disruptive, and correct their behavior with minimal embarrassment. It's simple and seems to work. There are times when students are slightly more disruptive and need to be taken into the hallway for a short conversation, but these incidences are much less common. Detentions and referrals are even more rare.
I haven't really begun teaching yet, and I'm likely to encounter some of the same difficulties I faced at DHS, but I hope to be able to handle them better than I did before. I don't want to have unrealistic expectations for this experience based upon the first week. I know, know, know that there will be crests and troughs. Being more mentally prepared for them is a good start. There's a long way to go, but I'm ready to keep movin' on up. (There it is! The reference I wanted all along.)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
And So It Ends
My last week at Danville High School was by far the best of all of them. I felt like I planned my lessons with a much better understanding of how much the students can learn in 50 minutes. Except for one period where I was much too ambitious with the activity I planned for the students to complete, I think I prepared just the right amount. There weren't as many discipline problems as past weeks, but of course there still were some. In addition, the students performed fairly well on the assessments I gave on Thursday (quizzes for the Algebra 2/Trig students, tests for the Algebra repeaters). All in all, I'd say I developed a better sense of how to teach at DHS last week.
And then I left :(
Whereas I'm looking forward to starting a new experience at Jefferson Middle School, I'm disappointed that I couldn't stay at least one more week at DHS. There's this thought in the back of my mind that maybe last week was a fluke, that the stars aligned for me. I would have liked to have one more week to see if I truly had taken my teaching to a new level. Now, I'll have to introduce myself to a new group of students and go through some of the same adjustments I had to go through seven weeks ago. I suppose if I indeed have learned from my experiences that the first couple of weeks at JMS won't inflict quite so many growing pains. And, yikes, there were so many at DHS.
I really don't know where to start when it comes to what I'll take away from my experience. I've learned I need to be more consistent and assertive with my discipline. A plan of action would help me know what I want to do in certain situations if/when they arise. I've also learned that you can't make every lesson spectacularly brilliant as I am wont to do. There were lessons I spent upwards of 3 hours working on, and that just can't happen consistently. ("Should it happen at all?" is also a good question to ask.) Furthermore, I realize that having a procedure for grading homework is vitally important. Do students get time to work on it in class? Do they get graded on completion, correctness, both? If both, when does each happen? There are so many questions to ask.
One of the most significant lessons I learned came on the last day of class. I had not the greatest end to my very good week. The Algebra 2/Trig classes were not very respectful, and the Geometry class was, well, how it usually was: some very on-task and others very clueless. The Algebra class, however, was thoroughly engaged with my oddball lesson on a game called NIM. I learned the game during my second semester here, and I've found it to be a very, very good way to introduce students to induction. I really enjoyed teaching the Algebra repeaters on Friday. It had to do partly with the lessons I prepared for Friday, but they were consistently the group I liked to teach the most. They really seemed to appreciate it when I did different styles of teaching with them. Though they had some major behavior issues, I feel like as a group they had more curiosity than the other classes. The Algebra 2/Trig classes seemed to want to just memorize the formula and get on with it; the Geometry class... I still don't understand that group; but the Algebra 1 class was fun to teach. They showed me more of their personalities. Even one student, whom I saw a total of three times throughout the seven weeks, seemed to reveal more of who he is to me than a majority of the students in the other classes. I think what I learned was that those are the kinds of students I should teach.
Now, mind you, this is just still a thought, but I've been strongly considering teaching with a foundation that would set me up with a yearlong learning experience in a school of need in Chicago. Then, I would probably find a job at one of the "turnaround" schools that they run in Chicago. I'm feeling more like this is the direction I should go, but I'm still very unsure. I don't know when I'll know for sure what I want to do. Maybe two weeks. Maybe two months. Hopefully not two years!
For now, I face another new beginning tomorrow.
And then I left :(
Whereas I'm looking forward to starting a new experience at Jefferson Middle School, I'm disappointed that I couldn't stay at least one more week at DHS. There's this thought in the back of my mind that maybe last week was a fluke, that the stars aligned for me. I would have liked to have one more week to see if I truly had taken my teaching to a new level. Now, I'll have to introduce myself to a new group of students and go through some of the same adjustments I had to go through seven weeks ago. I suppose if I indeed have learned from my experiences that the first couple of weeks at JMS won't inflict quite so many growing pains. And, yikes, there were so many at DHS.
I really don't know where to start when it comes to what I'll take away from my experience. I've learned I need to be more consistent and assertive with my discipline. A plan of action would help me know what I want to do in certain situations if/when they arise. I've also learned that you can't make every lesson spectacularly brilliant as I am wont to do. There were lessons I spent upwards of 3 hours working on, and that just can't happen consistently. ("Should it happen at all?" is also a good question to ask.) Furthermore, I realize that having a procedure for grading homework is vitally important. Do students get time to work on it in class? Do they get graded on completion, correctness, both? If both, when does each happen? There are so many questions to ask.
One of the most significant lessons I learned came on the last day of class. I had not the greatest end to my very good week. The Algebra 2/Trig classes were not very respectful, and the Geometry class was, well, how it usually was: some very on-task and others very clueless. The Algebra class, however, was thoroughly engaged with my oddball lesson on a game called NIM. I learned the game during my second semester here, and I've found it to be a very, very good way to introduce students to induction. I really enjoyed teaching the Algebra repeaters on Friday. It had to do partly with the lessons I prepared for Friday, but they were consistently the group I liked to teach the most. They really seemed to appreciate it when I did different styles of teaching with them. Though they had some major behavior issues, I feel like as a group they had more curiosity than the other classes. The Algebra 2/Trig classes seemed to want to just memorize the formula and get on with it; the Geometry class... I still don't understand that group; but the Algebra 1 class was fun to teach. They showed me more of their personalities. Even one student, whom I saw a total of three times throughout the seven weeks, seemed to reveal more of who he is to me than a majority of the students in the other classes. I think what I learned was that those are the kinds of students I should teach.
Now, mind you, this is just still a thought, but I've been strongly considering teaching with a foundation that would set me up with a yearlong learning experience in a school of need in Chicago. Then, I would probably find a job at one of the "turnaround" schools that they run in Chicago. I'm feeling more like this is the direction I should go, but I'm still very unsure. I don't know when I'll know for sure what I want to do. Maybe two weeks. Maybe two months. Hopefully not two years!
For now, I face another new beginning tomorrow.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
It Was a Good Day
This past Wednesday was the first day that when asked the question "How did it go?" I could honestly say "It was good." Up until that point, I had been relegated to saying "All right," or "Okay," or sometimes "Not so good." What made the difference? I felt like I was more of myself in front of the class that day. I managed to walk the fine line between being a teacher persona and staying true to who I am. At some point, I know I'll get the hang of this, and it won't feel so much like acting in front of everyone. Another contributing factor to its being a good day was how prepared I felt. I had a good presentation ready to go, and it took just the right amount of time to go through. Having the next two days off for interviews helped, too, but that's not something I can control, so I'll stay away from giving credit to the circumstances.
My goal going into this last week at Danville H.S. is to have multiple good days. Part of that means getting more prepared ahead of time. I've got a solid idea of what I'm going to do over the next five days, and now I need to start making those ideas into realities. It's difficult for me to be in a situation where there's always more that I can do to be prepared. I like to be able to check things off of lists, and I can't really do that with teaching because nothing is ever really closed. For today, I can just use my time as wisely as possible to get ready for the next few days. There's no point stressing myself out before the week has even begun. A cool and calm me is going to be a better teacher for the students in my five classes.
In addition, I'll try to incorporate a little more of myself into the lessons. I snuck in a picture of my looking like a Weasley twin, which the students enjoyed. It also broke up the lesson into two distinct parts. It acted as a quick time to loosen everyone up and take a quick break from thinking about trigonometry.
One more thing I learned from this past week is that being absent is sometimes more work than being present. It's a lot of work to write sub plans, even if your "sub" is your cooperating teacher who does this thing every year. Now, having been gone for two days, I need to look at what I had planned to happen, what actually did happen, and what I want to happen and try to align them all. It'll take a while, but I'm not nervous or worried. I'm just looking forward to my next good day.
My goal going into this last week at Danville H.S. is to have multiple good days. Part of that means getting more prepared ahead of time. I've got a solid idea of what I'm going to do over the next five days, and now I need to start making those ideas into realities. It's difficult for me to be in a situation where there's always more that I can do to be prepared. I like to be able to check things off of lists, and I can't really do that with teaching because nothing is ever really closed. For today, I can just use my time as wisely as possible to get ready for the next few days. There's no point stressing myself out before the week has even begun. A cool and calm me is going to be a better teacher for the students in my five classes.
In addition, I'll try to incorporate a little more of myself into the lessons. I snuck in a picture of my looking like a Weasley twin, which the students enjoyed. It also broke up the lesson into two distinct parts. It acted as a quick time to loosen everyone up and take a quick break from thinking about trigonometry.
One more thing I learned from this past week is that being absent is sometimes more work than being present. It's a lot of work to write sub plans, even if your "sub" is your cooperating teacher who does this thing every year. Now, having been gone for two days, I need to look at what I had planned to happen, what actually did happen, and what I want to happen and try to align them all. It'll take a while, but I'm not nervous or worried. I'm just looking forward to my next good day.
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