week 2 - no need to reinvent the wheel

A lot happened this week...

- This week was Picture Week. The students took their pictures during English class. I definitely had some deja vu moments when I went with the students to the gym each block and watched as those infamous LifeTouch photographers captured images of my students in all their 9th and 10th grade glory.

- I attended my first school staff meeting on Monday. For the first time I saw how many teachers a large high school like this one actually has - we filled up the cafeteria. I made an appointment to meet with the principal next week, so I'm looking forward to meeting him and learning more about the student community at this school.

- Ms. S got sick on Wednesday and had to leave after 1st block, leaving me as the only teacher out of 4 (the CT, the para, and the sub) who kind of knew what was going on. I found myself teaching a review of transitive/intransitive verbs by myself, for a good 15 minutes. It just kind of happened - the best part was that I felt so confident up there. I could see flashes of understanding in the students' eyes and it encouraged me so much. In fact, I'm thinking it was the natural high that gave me the adrenaline I felt as I kept teaching. But the best encouragement came from the CT and the sub, who both said I did a great job. High praise coming from 2 seasoned educators.

I ate lunch with the sub and was surprised to learn that she was a Christian who is actively involved in volunteering for City Union Mission and a member of multiple prayer groups. One of her prayer groups is the very same one who prayed for my roommate last year as she was undergoing treatment for her rare bone marrow disorder. Absolutely amazing. This woman has worked in a nearby district for many years, so I have written her name down just in case I solicit that district for a job in the future. This precious prayer warrior prayed for me after school that day. It was the sweetest thing. Meeting her was the blessing of the week.

- The title of the post came from my first creative attempt for a lesson plan this semester. Last week I began work on creating a Choose Your Own Adventure story(ies) for my 9th graders to introduce our first short story in the short story unit. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell is a fascinating suspense/adventure story about a famous hunter who must match wits with another hunter - one who has decided to hunt people instead of animals. I thought that a CYOA game would cultivate discussion about making choices and figuring out how to survive by using what you know. I read those novels as a kid and found them incredibly entertaining. I loved how each story could begin the same way, yet have multiple different endings based on which pages you chose to turn to.

However, when it came to writing my own CYOA, I quickly learned that I had set myself up for an incredibly difficult task. I was actually writing several short stories for this CYOA game, and they were multiplying exponentially as I continued to offer 2 choices for the students on each story card. It was too much work. I was so disappointed, thinking that I had set myself up to fail, but fortunately Ms. S liked my idea. She suggested that we just borrow some of those CYOA novels from other libraries and have the kids work through them in groups next week. So, my idea still works, even though I'm not actually writing the scenarios for them. As Ms. S said, "there is no need to reinvent the wheel."

- Back to School Night ocurred this week. I had been told I would most likely see all the parents of the honors 10th graders and very few of the regular 9th graders. It was true. Mrs. B's room was full of eager parents while Ms. S had just a handful. There were a few parents of struggling students that I would have liked to see who did not show up. However, it was great to see whose parents did come, because it showed that they definitely take an interest in their child's education. Lots of interesting adults came, some who I definitely recognized as being certain students' parents and others who completely surprised me as to whose parents they were.

- More planning for teaching the short story unit to the freshmen and "Julius Caesar" to the sophomores. Dreading "Caesar," it sounds so...boring and dull. But I guess it's not fair to call it that when I haven't even read the play yet. Et tu, Brute?


All in all, a very eventful week. I am so excited about leaving grammar far behind and moving on to short stories with the freshmen! It's going to be awesome. The sophomores start Elie Wiesel's "Night" this Monday, that will also be exciting! Hooray for actual literature! :)

week 1: butterflies and confidence

I added a picture from a springtime view of the gorgeous Kansas Flint Hills to the top of this blog. In the 9th grade Honors class I observed today, the students were learning about symbols. Thus, to show that I was paying attention, I suggest that this photograph is a symbol of education moving the wayward traveler along her path in life. Nice, right? :)

After tomorrow my first week as a student teacher will be over. Although it's only been four days, it really feels like Monday actually happened LAST week - that's how long the days have felt and how much I've seen/learned in the past 4 days. I've been soaking up my observation time each day and leading the 9th classes for a few short lessons (in grammer, no less - blech. let me tell you, the sullen looks of boredom and the torture of these grammar lessons on those students' faces is absolutely WRETCHED. something i want to fight tooth and nail when i take over in a few weeks. ).

I am dissatisfied with the trend I already see in myself: that, much like a pot of boiling water, I start off cold with the students in the 1st block, then only get hot and poppin' around 5th block. Sadly, I bet part of it's the coffee finally kicking in. Still, I am waiting to fall into the rhythm of readiness that comes with being at school each morning, prepared and ready for those first blocks of the day. Each student deserves my best, and the morning blocks shouldn't miss out because the student teacher was still working on her caffeine fix.

The truth is, I am still pretty nervous when I get up to lead a class. My mind gets fuzzy and I forget important details when I'm speaking to them, I speak too quickly, and/or I muddle my words by my classic mumbling skills. In a way, it was interesting to see how my confidence grew and the butterflies in my tummy were quelled after the first few times of going through the routine of the same lesson taught to different students. I'd just like to be that way, to be on and going strong, ALL the time. A work in progress, I guess.

So you can see why it's a good thing I'm not totally alone at the front yet! I have 2 cooperating teachers, Ms. S and Ms. B. Ms. S teaches 9th regular English and Mrs. B teaches 10th Honors English. Their classrooms are side-by-side in the "garden level" of the school (what every other person, including myself, would call the basement). The rooms have no windows but are still bright and the temp doesn't fluctuate nearly as much as you would expect. It's relatively quiet down there because students only come down when they have a purpose, like class. Consequently, the hallway is not filled like the upstairs hallways with the crush of student bodies slowly trickling to classes and winding around pockets of people chatting. The gymnasiums, large and auxiliary, are a few hallways down from my teachers' classrooms. I walk past them to visit the restroom or fill up my water bottle. I plan to take pictures for my own use soon, but I'll have to check to see whether I can actually post them on here.

This week I've learned a few things about the students in my classes and how teachers teach them:

1. It is a lot more difficult than I thought to distinguish which students belong in which social groups. Of course, there are the athletes and the cheerleaders. Then there are a few who stand out because of their apparel. You have the artsy-"scene"-fashionista girls who wear high waisted skirts, brightly colored Keds and those goofy black plastic glasses with no frames. (Seriously, what is that about? Don't get it.) On the flip side, you get the skinniest skinny jeans in all kinds of colors - the best I've seen so far was a zebra striped pink and blue pair. But for the most part, the students are just students. They wear jeans, T-shirts, hoodies, tennis shoes and flipflops, and as I look out at them from the front of the room, I can't always pinpoint who is popular and who's not. I expected that with my sharp memories of the pain of high school cliques that I would instantly catch on to the "who's-who" of this school, but apparently not. That's probably a good thing.
2. Summer reading gets very little time in the classroom - about a week and that's it. The 10th H students took their "Once and Future King" test the 2nd day of school and now they're over it - or rather, Mrs. B is over it. Soon they'll be starting Elie Wiesel's "Night." It's made me realize how precious classroom time really is for teachers as far as the curriculum THEY want to cover rather than covering the summer reading that they didn't necessarily choose.
3. Freshmen students are quite possibly the toughest crowd I've ever encountered. I tried to get them to react by telling a pretty detailed story about my weekend at the Ozarks and how I murdered a poor catfish because I thought I knew how to take out a hook - but instead jammed it down his throat with the pliers. No response. Maybe they were busy dreaming of fried catfish, since it was lunch time?
   
4. Ms. S and I were talking about the difference between regular students and honors students when she caught me off guard with this statement (paraphrased): "I have students in my regular class who are smart enough to be in the honors class. The only difference between honors students and regular students is that the honors students have more drive." I have NEVER thought of that before, ever. Probably because I was an honors student with barely any drive...now I know why most teachers want to teach honors - most of them are the kids who really want to be there.

Well, that's the essence of week 1. Now on to the weekend and week 2!

"The best thing for being sad...is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn." T.H. White (Once and Future King)