Week Ten: A Spiritual Occupation

In teaching my first formal lesson this week, I initially felt like I had more questions than answers. While I knew I had tools to use when things didn't go as planned (and most things went as planned so it wasn't necessary to use them), I also realized that I wanted MORE tools to choose from. The more experience you have in the classroom, the more tools you have developed to draw from, and the more successfully you can tackle problems when they DO arise. More strategies also means that you can implement ones that are more appropriate for a given situation. My lessons this week have also taken me on a personal journey as I attempt to view the positive (and sometimes mind-blowing) accomplishments of my students and ultimately come to the realization that (even if an activity doesn't go as planned) learning HAS occurred.

My professor's statement about teaching being a "spiritual occupation" stuck with me. It's something that I've been mulling over for the past couple of weeks, and I have to agree. I'm not sure I can describe why this is, but that I have no other explanation for the moments when I see that my students truly "get it", the feeling I get when I've taught a lesson, and the realization that I am happier on the days when I am in field and in a classroom, the days I am involved in my students' learning in one way or another. As I contemplated the implications of teaching as a "spiritual occupation" I couldn't help but wonder who else was affected by this statement; is teaching a spiritual occupation, and if not, how would you describe it?

Week Nine: Use Your Resources!

This week I found an unexpected source of inspiration...my dad. He isn't usually the first person I go to when I have an educational question (if it's one of my parents it's usually my mom because she's a professor), but I was stuck. I was trying to write two lesson plans, one for class on Friday and one a formal lesson in my World Studies class, and I had no idea what kind of activities I wanted to do. I was talking to him on the phone about my lesson on group work and remember saying something along the lines of: "So far all I know is that I need to USE group work in my lesson ON group work...but that seems fairly obvious." As a businessman and project manager, I don't see why I didn't think to ask him...he WOULD know about effective and ineffective teams, wouldn't he? After years of experience and countless professional conferences on effective management he definitely had a thing or two to say! What did I learn from this? USE YOUR RESOURCES! Sometimes what you really need is right in front of you.

I'm still struggling to come up with ideas for my lesson on unions and the rise of socialism/communism for my World Studies class. I firmly believe that the less time I spend in front of the class and the more they can teach themselves through activities and guided discussion, the better they will learn and the more they will be able to engage in text-to-self reflection. Unfortunately, my lesson is a transitory lesson that is strongly knowledge-based...but I don't want it to be. This is my chance to pique student interest for the rest of the upcoming union (in which they will be looking at the development of unions, socialism, and communism throughout the world). How do I engage students when my lesson is essentially a summary of British Industrialism and an introduction to new concepts/definitions/people? I can't expect them to be interested or engaged when I'M not interested or engaged!

Week Eight: Q&A

It was definitely strange being back in the (college) classroom this week, but I enjoyed having the opportunity for discussion, particularly in writing our questions on the board and the ensuing debates! I sincerely hope we'll have a chance to address some of the other questions that people had (that was probably the most frustrating part...not being able to get to everyone's questions). I'm also enjoying the beginning of the new Feinstein book, though our reading thus far has largely summarized the last book. I think it will really help address issues that we are all concerned about having to deal with in our own classrooms, and I look forward to reading more!

Other than that, I'm anxious and excited to be teaching in field next week, right now more anxious...the excitement will come when my lesson is planned and I'm not worried about the "how am I going to make this interesting" portion. I think having some time off and hearing about other people's experiences has inspired me to try to get even more involved in my classroom. I should be excited about going to field and in order to get to that point I need an "I made a difference moment" IN the classroom as well as outside of the classroom!

Week Seven: Making A Difference

I'm home for Fall Break and my brain is slowly shutting down, so hopefully I can remember everything I planned to write about...hopefully! Here it goes: Field this week was very much like field has been every other week. I didn't get to be as active in the classroom as I would have liked (though my cooperating teacher had intended to have me help this week, we just ran out of class time). On the flip side of that, however, I have a topic and date for my first lesson, which will cover unions and the rise of socialism (post-Industrial Revolution in Britain) in my World Studies class. I'm excited and am brainstorming possible activities (unfortunately every time I do this I get "Food, Glorious Food" stuck in my head...which might also have something to do with my grumbly stomach).

The thing that had, by far, the biggest impact on me this week was not something that happened in the classroom, but while attending my professional activity (a *INSERT NAME OF ORGANIZATION HERE* meeting). The *INSERT NAME OF ORGANIZATION HERE* is a group comprised of the mothers of *INSERT NAME OF HIGH SCHOOL HERE* graduates who have since joined the military. They organize activities for Veteran's Day, hold a Military Appreciation night, organize donation drives for care packages, send letters (written by the younger students) to military members, and organize a "50 Flag Salute" for soldiers' homecomings.

The women at the meeting explained the tradition of the “50 Flag Salute” in which they place three signs on the lawn of the returning soldier reading: “*INSERT NAME OF ORGANIZATION HERE*”, “Welcome Home”, and “50 Flag Salute”. Around the signs they place fifty flags representing each of the states the soldiers fought to protect. I was given the honor of creating the "Welcome Home" sign that would be displayed on the lawns of all of the returning service members. I cannot even begin to describe how meaningful this was for me! I had the opportunity to talk to the mothers there, listen to their stories, and do something I am passionate about (and I got to COLOR)! There is no feeling more wonderful than the feeling that comes from knowing that you made a difference, and I MADE A DIFFERENCE! However indirectly, I know that through that sign I am welcoming each of those soldiers home...

Week Six: Tedious But Worth It!

The mentor teacher interview this week really helped reassure me and make me think about field placement this week. I think that now I have a better sense of the class and maybe a better sense of how to approach teaching my lessons. If nothing else, I know that the door is open and I can continue to ask questions of him in the future. I had requested permission from my cooperating teacher to record the interview and realized as I was asking questions that this was very much practice for my I.S.. Then when it came time to work on my reflection and submit my questions I decided to take it a step further and use this assignment as an opportunity to practice my interviewing and transcription skills. Just to provide some background, I am conducting an oral history I.S. in which I look at the changes in veteran perspectives through specific, personal "turning points" in the conflict.

Other than that, my field placement has been very similar to field the past couple of weeks. I would like to be more involved in the classroom, and am going to take this up with my cooperating teacher again next week. In the meantime, however, I'm slowly getting to know my students and was particularly optimistic when I got one student to open up to me. She is one of the students that often doesn't participate in class and is generally quiet and unengaged. She's also usually one of the first students in the classroom every morning, so I have had a chance to talk to her and get her engaged in the mornings. Lately she seems to be more vocal in class and more engaged and enthusiastic!

Week Five: The Substitute

This week in field, my classes had a substitute teacher on Tuesday and Wednesday, so my week went something like this: planning for substitute, substitute, and post-substitute review of worksheets completed while there was a substitute. What did I learn from this experience? I will absolutely NOT give my students worksheets when there's a substitute unless there's no way around it! The worksheets were all either clearly created at the last minute or taken from the book and weren't enough to keep the students occupied for an entire class period.

Additionally, it is SO important to have a backup plan whenever you're using technology...even if you, as the teacher, aren't there! My cooperating teacher planned to have one of his classes complete worksheets on the library computers. First, he neglected to reserve the computers for the class either day (though luckily it was a small class and there were enough). Second, there were problems with the internet both days and the network started blocking ALL of the websites except for Google. This meant that the students had to try to search for everything on Google and find the answers in the short blurbs under the links.

Besides the worksheet chaos, the students in World Studies started industrialization...the unit I will be teaching formal lessons from. My cooperating teacher showed me the list of lesson topics he wants to cover within the chapters and I have absolutely no idea how to teach any of the topics I saw on that list. I have a couple of concerns. First, I don't feel like I can easily spend a whole period teaching just one of the topics on his list. Second, I was bored just looking at the topics...how am I going to make them interesting for my students? Even he thought they were dry topics and encouraged me to try to be creative with them (a good sign, but I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do that). In the meantime, I'm reading the chapters and I hope that there's something there that piques my interest!

Week Four: Mmm...Peaches! :)

This week was week one of field placement! Though there are times I think that I may be learning as much about what I do not want to do in my classroom as I am about what I would like to incorporate in my classroom, it's a positive learning experience either way. Watching the students hold a mock Congress, follow basic Parliamentary procedure, and debate/vote on the bills they created certainly gave me valuable insight into my students. It highlighted what issues they feel are important, and in listening to their debates I got a sense of their beliefs and those of the community as a whole. The hardest part was keeping my mouth shut and letting them take the debate wherever it was going to take them!

My favorite debate, by far, was the representative democracy debate where the bill (presented by the representative from Georgia) proposed making peaches the national fruit. To hear their conversations, with comments ranging from "I like strawberries better, can we make it strawberries?" to "But I don't like peaches!" to "If we make peaches the state fruit that will boost the economy of states that produce the largest quantity of peaches" was a priceless teaching moment (not to mention hilarious)! It blew my mind that a class of ninth grade students would be contemplating the economic implications of declaring a national fruit!

I learned a lot of little things about my teaching style, what my classroom will look like, and how I want my students to learn. In short, I'm developing my teaching philosophy. Wednesday morning, I was the first one in the classroom; I got to turn on the lights; I got to greet the students. It seems like such a little thing, but for a few minutes I owned that classroom and those were MY students. That's when I realized how vital the "little things" are to teaching.

That morning, I realized that I would be the teacher with the to-go cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate/whatever (that morning it was chai) in hand, and I recognized the significance of something I would never have thought of before. How often do you have a chance to contemplate the symbolism of a to-go cup? Yes, I actually sat around and thought about it. What does that to-go cup say to your students when they walk in the door? How can something as simple as setting down or picking up that cup be used as a teaching tool? It's all relevant...maybe contemplating my morning chai isn't the most important thing to consider, but it got me thinking!

Week Three: Anticipation

Right now, I am mostly just excited (and a little scared) to be in my field placement starting Monday. I miss being in a classroom, miss working with children, and I miss the way I feel when I'm in a classroom working with children...I won't say teaching because I don't feel like a teacher yet. I still very much feel like a student, and I'm not sure when I'll actually cross that line between student and teacher. I hope to get at least a taste of it this semester, but I know I won't really be there until I'm student teaching and then when I have a classroom of my own. At the moment I'm just trying to grasp how very much I have to learn!

This semester has already changed the way I think. I've learned so much more in my classes because I took the concept of text-to-self to heart, facing my own personal demons while learning, and ultimately realizing that everything in our lives is connected. Life is interdisciplinary. It's amazing how much you can change if you "be the student you would like to have in your classroom", whether that means participating more in discussion or reading ahead in the textbook. Everything in my life suddenly became educational. I had a rough week, but it doesn't look so bad when I realize just how much I learned from the setbacks. No, I certainly don't want to repeat the experience but at least something beneficial came of it!

Week Two: Asking For Help

Sorting out my thoughts long enough to write even a comprehensible blog post is a challenge. My brain keeps tugging me in completely different directions and I'm getting input and advice from so many sources that it's hard to synthesize all of the information tumbling around in my brain. I think perhaps that alone has taught me more from an educational perspective than anything else this week. Students get overwhelmed, whether they're college students tackling Senior I.S., classes, and life or they're high school students navigating their own classes and personal lives. The actual events, the actual problems, the actual circumstances may be different, but ultimately we face similar obstacles and challenges.

So often it seems as if teachers only recognize that a student is having difficulty and take action when it's too late, when the student has already fallen far behind. What we need to recognize is that the easiest time to address potential problems is when we see that a student is overwhelmed but not yet to a point where they cannot function effectively in the classroom. I wasn't even aware that this academic limbo existed until I found myself stuck in it, and maybe that's because it is usually such a short window (either because the student pulls him/herself out of it or they fall quickly). Regardless, it's something that should be addressed when possible, and there are warning signs in student behavior even if they're still handing work in on time.

Yes, it's imperative that students learn to ask for help, but speaking from experience...that isn't always easy, especially when that means that you have to open up to a person you may or may not completely trust. It's hard for some students to admit that they have too much on their plate and they don't know how to handle what they already have. This is just one more way in which teachers must understand the needs of their students on an individual basis. While some students thrive under pressure, others may crumble. If a teacher can establish rapport with students, it makes it infinitely easier for a student to approach a teacher and ask for help when it is needed.

Week One: Initial Thoughts

The first week back has been characterized by a plethora of emotions; it has been exhausting, wonderful, terrifying, and completely overwhelming both on a personal and an academic level. While this summer I grew in so many ways and on so many levels, both as a person and as an educator, I was ready to be back in a classroom...ready to learn...ready to be back in field placement. Returning to Wooster isn't without its burdens, like chasing a cockroach around my room at two-o'clock in the morning, but being in an environment that promotes critical thinking on a daily basis more than makes up for it.

From the very first day of class I was struck by the sheer amount of knowledge and skill sets I have yet to acquire. It's impossible to sit there and NOT realize that one day I will be responsible for my students' brains, for that gray matter, for establishing foundations for the rest of their lives. I knew that as teachers we had the power to make a difference (a difference I have experienced firsthand), but the physical evidence is overwhelming.

From that very first chapter of reading I realized that in this class I would be learning as much about myself as I would about the teaching profession. Under other circumstances, learning about the parts of the brain and their various functions might not have made such a profound impact. Now I know that the hippocampus is responsible for my short-term memory loss after the car accident last semester and that I may very well be able to thank brain plasticity for my ability to return to the college and pick up where I left off.

Despite all the emotions, I am thankful to be back, and as daunting as the prospect of one day being responsible for the minds of my students may be, there is no doubt that I am in the right place and ultimately pursuing a profession that I love even now.