Silence.

“Please summarize the story for the class.”

Silence.

“What’s the theme of this text?”

Crickets chirping.

“Is the main character reliable?”

A pin drops.

These are the responses, or lack thereof, I get when I attempted to have my sophomore classes discuss a text; a few times this semester, my CT has been absent and I have worked a discussion into my lesson plans, only to have it blow up in my face.  Before class begins, I envision a perfect dialectic discussion in which students not only share their ideas, but clarify and analyze their classmates’ responses.  Unfortunately, that’s not at all the way it actually happened.

This is my fault.  My students are not having productive a discussion and it’s completely my fault.  What can I do to fix this?

In his article, “Tom Sawyer, Teaching, and Talking,” Robert E. Probst addresses ideas such as having better discussions in the classroom, increasing the quality of student questions, and improving student listening.  After reading this article, I developed some of my own strategies that I will use in my student teaching and next year when I have my own classroom to have more effective classroom discussions.

1.        The Question Box.  This strategy is something I thought of when answering my own questions for seminar last week (I was the Discussion Director).  After reading a text, students will be asked to write one question they have about the text; it can be anything about a character, setting, plot, or even the author.  After they write their question, they place it a physical box, called The Question Box.  Depending on the class, I may or may not ask students to put their names on their questions.  The following class period, I will pull out the questions, read them to the class, and ask students to respond to them.  After discussion is exhausted for each question, I will ask students if the question produced a good discussion.  If they say yes, I will ask them why and if they say no, I will ask them how the question could be improved.  This will get students thinking about their questions and eventually they will write more effective questions and have better discussions.

2.       Summarize/clarify.  During classroom discussions, after a student has finished his or her response, I will randomly select another student to either summarize or clarify for the rest of the class what the initial student said before moving forward in the discussion.  This will greatly improve student listening skills, as they will never know when they will be selected to summarize or clarify.

3.       Advance discussion questions.  When I have a classroom discussion planned, I will prepare a list of questions, give them to students, and inform them that they will have a discussion and must have answers prepared.  Giving the questions to students in advance and allowing them to develop answers will increase the quality of classroom discussions, as it allows to students to thoroughly think about something and write a response before vocalizing it in class.

I’m sure I will add to this list later as I think of more ideas.  What are some strategies you use to increase the quality of student discussions?  I am looking forward to reading your ideas!  Thanks for reading.

References

Probst, R.E. Tom Sawyer, teaching, and talking. In Beers, K., Probst, R.E., & Rief, L.  Eds. (2007) Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice (pp. 43-60). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

“Are you sure you’re really a teacher?”

“Ms. Herbert, how old are you?”

“You don’t look old enough to be a teacher…”

“Um, student teacher? What?”

As a student teacher, I face such questions/statements on a daily basis.  Just this morning, during first hour, my CT asked me to watch the class of seniors while she ran an errand to the office.  I agreed and as she walked out the door, she shouted, “The class will be just fine!”  Man, she couldn’t have been more wrong.  Not even thirty seconds after she left, my classroom turned into a zoo.  Three students (who are strategically placed in separate corners of the room) began shouting and throwing paper wads, leading the rest of the students down a dark path of unfocused, off-task behavior.  I panicked.  I did not know what to do. 

Long story short, I was able to get the class under control before Mrs. Bradley got back, but it wasn’t easy.  On top of that, I felt wholly disrespected by my students.  Who could blame them though?  I am just a student teacher in their eyes.  I mean, I get mistaken for a student in the hallways.  Clearly, they think they can bend the rules when it’s merely me in charge.  So my question is, how can I look and act more like a teacher to my students, rather than just another one of them?  I need some serious help in the management department, friends. 

In The First Days of School, Harry and Rosemary Wong convey the importance of establishing solid routines and procedures on the first few days of the school year or semester.  However, since I am entering a classroom that is not mine during the middle of the school year, I feel defeated.  Nonetheless, I brainstormed a list of ideas I can try out in my student teaching experience.  Please feel free to share your own and evaluate mine.

1.    Continue to dress and act professionally – Thus far, I believe I have maintained a personal disposition and appearance in my placement.  If I continue to do this, I believe it will reinforce that I am here as a teacher, not as a friend to my students.

2.   Stop students’ misbehavior before it starts – I believe that when students are actively engaged and participating in their learning, the chances of misbehavior significantly decrease.  When I begin implementing my own lessons, I will ensure that my students are constantly working on something so that they are too busy to misbehave.

3.   Be consistent – If I catch Molly texting on her phone during class, I need to follow the same procedure as I did when I caught John on his phone.  When students see that I act consistently and fairly with every student, they will see that I am a polished and professional teacher.

4.   Ask for help – As a professional, I will constantly ask my colleagues and fellow student teachers for guidance and thoughts about what I am doing and how I can do better.  Veteran teachers may have some tricks up their sleeve that could potentially help me with my management concerns.

Now two weeks into student teaching, I still need to establish myself as a figure of authority to my students.  My sophomore classes are willing to share their ideas with me and ask me for help on assignments, but the senior classes very much want to challenge my authority and test my patience.  Hopefully I can change this with my own list of ideas and with the responses I receive.

Thanks for reading!

*All names have been changed to pseudonyms to protect privacy.

It's Picture Day (Genre Reflection #2)

It’s picture day.  Today’s the day to look your best, shimmer brightly, and make a permanent impression.

The newly refined young men and women file into the steamy classroom on the cramped third floor of Awesome High School with combed hair, tied shoes, and ironed clothes.

This picture is going in the yearbook.  This picture will follow you for the rest of your life.

With a tiny twinkle in their eyes, they all sparkle just a little bit brighter today.  Anna flashes a toothy smile at a compact mirror she carries in her purse as a final measure.  Jackson and Nicholas, two smiley boys who love making others laugh, scramble to get ready for their photographs.  Other students, also unashamedly, ready themselves for their pictures.  My eyes fixed on the students’ eager expressions, it finally hits me.  Mrs. Bradley follows the students with their picture packets as they walk down the hallway together in a messy line while I am left alone in the overheated classroom with William Shakespeare posters, a chalky blackboard, and haiku poems.  I am left alone to ponder my new discovery at 9:57 in the morning by myself.  I walk over to the window, gaze out at the busy highway, and it let sink in: these students care.  If they care about their appearance on picture day, they are bound to care about things such as grades, school, teachers, and their future.  That is all I need.

Before this exact moment, I was longing for affirmation; I needed to know that my students are even capable of caring.  It sounds awful, but makes sense after teaching The Creation of the Navajo People not to a class of twenty-one students, but to a class of twenty-one zombies.  Zombies who stare blankly and refuse to answer discussion questions unless directly called upon.  Today is different though.  I got a glimpse of what I was dying to see.

Students don’t care.  I’ve heard this and other variations of the idea many times.  Maybe, just maybe, I have even occasionally believed it, too.  I will never believe it again though. Not after today. Students care.  They may not care about Native American poetry, literature vocabulary, or 11-sentence paragraphs, but they care about something.  For now, they may only care about the exact placement of each strand of their recently colored treated hair on picture day, but I can use this concept to make students show me that they care about something deeper.  Not only is it my duty, but it is one of my goals as a teacher.  It will take time and might possibly make me want to rip the hair out of my scalp, but I must persuade students to show me the something they care about and when I can skillfully do this, I can make them care about dramatic irony, understatements, iambic pentameter, and American Romanticism, just like it’s picture day.

*All names have been changed to pseudonyms.  

Paper Wads and a Substitute Teacher

A few weeks ago, my CT, Mrs. Bradley, informed me that she’d be gone for a few days; she told me that a substitute would be in the classroom, but that I’d be in charge of second hour.  I was excited and nervous, as Mrs. Bradley had not missed a day yet this school year.

Monday morning came soon enough.  When I walked in the classroom, a substitute teacher was sitting at Mrs. Bradley’s desk.  He introduced himself as Mr. Taylor. He was one of the creepy subs no one likes and I knew he was going to be entirely unhelpful.

On that rainy Monday morning, my students, usually angels, were unruly savages, screaming obscenities and throwing paper across the room.  What in the world have I done?  I thought this to myself and attempted to remain calm: “Zachary, please pick up the paper wads and sit down at your desk.” He looked over at me, saw that I was serious, and followed my instructions.

I turned my back for a mere second to discipline Zachary, but when I looked back, Jessica and Tammy, two of the best behaved students in the class, were out of their seats talking, laughing, and distracting others students.  Once again, I kept my cool: “Jessica? Tammy?”  They looked at me as I continued, “Please return to your seats and finish your assignment.” They rolled their eyes at me and stomped back to their seats.

 

However, the hour’s excitement was not quite over.  As I slowly paced through the classroom, monitoring the class several minutes before class ended, I overheard Samantha and Veronica:

“Hey, Sam? Can I borrow your assignment? I didn’t do mine. I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”
 

“Sure.”

Samantha passed the assignment over and Veronica gently slid it into her binder.  The bell was going to ring any second.  What should I do?  How do I handle this situation?

Rrrrriiiiinnngggg.

I had to do something.

“Samantha and Veronica, come see me, please.”  They reluctantly walked over to me.  “Did you give your assignment to Veronica, Samantha?”

“No, I didn’t.”  Samantha stared at me coldly.

“I saw you hand your assignment to Veronica when she asked to borrow it.”

“No, she did her assignment by herself.”

I studied her face for a few seconds: “I hope that when you two turn in your assignments tomorrow, you have completely different answers.”

They rolled their eyes at me and murmured, “Okay” as they entered the hallway. Mr. Taylor, the substitute who was completely useless during the hour’s events, stood their dumbfounded throughout the conversation.

Well, that could’ve gone better. I need some help.  What are some good classroom management ideas for first year teachers?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  After doing some research, I found an awesome non-print text (kudos for me!) that offered some great tips for first year teachers.  It’s a video called New Teacher Survival Guide: Classroom Management and highlights a first-year teacher, Ms. V.  Here are some classroom management tips I learned:

·         Develop individual strategies to redirect students who act out.  When I create individual ways to help students who tend to misbehave, this will help the entire class stay focused.

·         Use games and competitions to keep students engaged.  Believe it or not, high school students still get excited about classroom games.  If I create an assignment that allows student to compete, this will minimize the chance of misbehavior.

·         Break down lessons into their smallest component parts.  By breaking down lessons into the smallest piece possible, students will know exactly what’s expected of them and will be less likely to get off track.

·         Use whole class strategies like positive narration.  Highlighting students who are doing well will make the rest of the class want to be recognized too, increasing student attention and minimizing misbehavior.

What do you think of these strategies?  What are some you’d like to try in your classroom next fall?  What other classroom management strategies can you suggest?

By the way, after I graded the assignment Samantha gave to Veronica, I discovered that they decided not to cheat. :)

*As always, all names mentioned in this post are pseudonyms.

Works Cited

New Teacher Survival Guide: Classroom Management. Teaching Channel, 2011. Film. <http://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/new-teacher-survival-guide-classroom-management>.

If You Missed KATE, Read This!

As my title suggests, I'll share some of my experiences from the Kansas Area Teachers of English (KATE) Conference, where I spent a good chunk of time on Thursday and Friday.  So if you missed KATE, reading this post is almost as good as attending.  Almost.

Breakout sessions.  The most interesting break-out session I attended was called “The 100-Word Story: A Quick, Easy, and Fun Way to Teach Narrative Standards” by John Ritchie.  I favored this one because it was very practical and applicable.  I would love to introduce my students to this assignment.  Oh, and it also hits a few Common Core Standards.  Bingo!  I also enjoyed “Survivalism 101: Navigating the Jungle of an Unfamiliar School and Making It Through the Critical First 5 Years of Teaching” by Amanda Torbett and Monica Swift.  They shared many wonderful tips useful for beginning teachers.  However, since this conference was hosted for English teachers, I would have like for them to share more information regarding teaching ELA classes; most of the topics they discussed were applicable to any secondary classroom.  Other breakout sessions I attended were “Poetry Out Loud” by Michelle Kirk, “Young Adult Literature in the Common Core Classroom” by Kelly Frederick, and “What to do When Your Students Have Reader’s Block” by Virginia Beesley.

Keynote addresses.  Clare Vanderpool and Jay Asher were both phenomenal speakers, but (I’ll be honest here), I found their presentations primarily entertaining and funny (especially Jay Asher) rather than informational.  Clare Vanderpool’s heart-warming story about her life as a writer, a mother, and a Kansan was charming.  I also loved Jay Asher’s subtle jokes and witty remarks.  In fact, everything he said was funny!  I found it very impressive that he arrived in Wichita less than 24 hours before his presentation, but found the time to snap a photo of the pumpkins in the lobby and incorporate them in his presentation.  Disappointingly, the only English-teacher-thing I pulled out of their presentations involve their writing processes.  It’s interesting to note the length of time both authors spent writing their novels.  For example, Clare Vanderpool spent fifteen years writing Moon Over Manifest.  Did you read that correctly?  Fifteen years.  Yeah, that’s a long time.  Jay Asher’s choice to have four people read Thirteen Reasons Why, one after the other, was intriguing, as well.  I will share their writing processes with my students: “Class, if Jay Asher needs four people to help him revise his novel, you can benefit from having others look at your writing, too.”  Showing my students that even published authors need help with revision, just as they do, will make writing more relatable to them.

Networking.  Fortunately, my Cooperating Teacher, Mrs.  Bradley, attended the conference and she introduced me to several KATE board members.  They were very friendly and offered words of encouragement when Mrs. Bradley told them that I am currently a pre-student teacher and will student teach during the spring semester.  I also talked with a few teachers whom I sat with during breakfast on Thursday.  They provided some words of wisdom and thought it was awesome that I (and other pre-student teachers at the table) attended the conference as students.  I’m not sure that my networking at KATE will benefit me in the future, but it was still great to gain experience talking to other living, breathing human beings who happen to teach English.

*In this post, other than the name of my Cooperating Teacher, names are NOT changed to pseudonyms.

And Then There was Billy (Online Reflection #3)

What do you do when there’s one student who refuses to pay attention in class?  You know what I'm talking about: every other student is thoughtfully engaged, but this one has his/her head down on the desk with no supplies in plain sight.  This student is the one who never (I mean never!) has any notebook paper or a pen.  When he/she finally pilfers some supplies from the student next to him/her, this student doesn’t do anything with it anyway.  During a lesson, all other students diligently work on their group discussion questions, but not Billy.  Well, in my case it’s Billy.  For you it may be Frank or Sally, but you know who Billy is all the same.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m working with a sophomore level Honors English class.  My experience with these students has been very pleasant so far.  And then there was Billy.  I can tell that Billy is an extremely intelligent young man, but, as mentioned, Billy refuses to do his assignments most of the time and when he actually decides that he has enough time to work on something, he argues with me about the questions he doesn’t like.

What does a pre-student teacher do in this case?  How do I handle a single student who refuses to participate while managing the rest of the class?  Can we make students to do their assignments?  These are the questions of someone new to the world of education: the questions of a pre-student teacher.

According to Charlotte Wellen, a high school teacher from Charlottesville, Virginia, teachers cannot make students complete their assignments. Fear not though. Wellen does offer an explanation: the school as a community must help "him [the student who refuses to do any work] come to realize that he wants to do the work because he wants to graduate and the work is the way to get there" (Wellen).  This sounds good, but I realize it’s easy to read it in an article and difficult to implement in a classroom.  I believe it will be even more difficult in this case because I’m not the "real" teacher in Billy’s eyes.  Nonetheless, I will help Billy become more engaged in his work by helping him understand the benefits and success he will reap if he does complete his assignments:

Step 1: I will get to know Billy better. 

Step 2: I will no longer allow Billy to sleep or do nothing in class.

Step 3: I will learn what Billy likes and doesn’t like about school and classes.

Step 4: I will use something he likes to help him focus and become interested in an assignment.

Step 5: I will begin to monitor Billy more frequently during work times to ensure that he is staying on task.

Step 6: I will continually reiterate to Billy that his performance now affects his success in the future.

These are a rough draft of steps I have developed to help Billy.  I will get rid of and/or add on to them as necessary.  It is my hope that Billy’s case helps me fine tune the way I deal with unengaged students and help them become fully engaged in their assignments, classrooms, and futures.

I could use some help with my steps -- please critique, complete, or share your own ideas!

*The student’s name has been replaced with a pseudonym in order to protect his privacy.

Works Cited

Wellen, Charlotte.  "Getting Students To Complete Their Work."  National Education Association.  Web. 3 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nea.org/tools/15816.htm>

It's a Contrastive Life, My Friend (Genre Reflection #1)

College classrooms; high school students.

Teaching and learning.

Making tests; taking tests.

The assessor; the assessed.

It’s a contrastive life, my friend,

As both student and teacher.

“Ms. Herbert, when is this due?”

“Sarah, do you have your lesson plan?”

“Class, please turn to page…”

“Don’t forget to grade the…”

Semester plan, student teaching autobiography,

Common core standards, conceptual framework.

Writing, performing, reading, learning, meeting, practicing.

Sometimes angry, usually frustrated, and always preparing for something.

Tired. Very tired.

Stressed cannot describe!

Wait, did I grade those papers?

Have I finished my blog post?

No time for sleep: Must. Write. More.

I think I’m finally finished.

Check that off the list.

Where’s my checklist?

Slow down.

Take a breath, I tell myself.

Someday soon, I’ll be through,

No longer both student and teacher;

But always a student

And finally the teacher!