- 2 days this week, I taught only 3 of the Language Arts
classes and the advisory class because the first two classes were
taking PARCC testing in the morning. While this had some negative
effects as well, easing into the morning just silently watching kids
take a test was a pretty nice start to the day
- my cooperating teacher had me implement a system she's used
before to get the kids to be quiet quicker – hold up a timer and
time how long it takes. If the class gets to 5 minutes by Friday,
they all have a lunch detention. It did seem to work better for
getting them to get quiet quickly, and no class got to 5 minutes
- CST traveling company performed A Midsummer Night's Dream
for us Friday and it was
fantastic
- Friday we were able to go
outside during advisory class because it was so gorgeous and sunny
- some students in 4th
hour commented on Friday how I was a nice teacher, which was good in
light of some other comments I'd been getting that day and the
previous day
- I didn't feel as behind on
my planning as previous weeks
- I was in bed by 12:00 or
12:30 most nights
I'm not going to go on to list negatives because no one wants to read a list of complaints, and really my footing seemed surer this week. However, I will go on to give you a window into some more portions of my week.
This week we continued our Shakespeare unit, though it was basically the last week. Monday's lesson went all right, because it was mostly reviewing who all of the characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream (AMND) are – it does get confusing! I also showed some clips I found on youtube of some of the scenes, which is how Shakespeare was intended anyway – to be seen. The kids were pretty talkative on this day, though, but I started the new timer system. However, advisory did not go well. The students wanted to go to the gym, like we do many days, but I was told to just keep them in the classroom today while my teacher finished with the PARCC students. They had an assignment – check their grades, make a plan for how to improve them – and then just had quiet time to read or work. However, most of the students didn't want to stay in the classroom and were pestering me most of the class. One student kept getting up and going to walk out the door, but then would come back. However, eventually, he ran, saying he was going to the gym, and slammed the door in my face. I stepped into the hall and he was nowhere in sight. Just at that moment, my cooperating teacher was coming down the hall and I told her. She called the office just before the student returned. He told the principal he was going to go to the bathroom, but he was given a consequence anyway because he had not indicated anything to me other than that he was gone. However, this student continues to challenge me (and honestly, most of the teachers). He has taken to calling me by my first name, mostly to get a rise out of me, which is why I show little reaction. He also refused to listen the rest of the week in advisory and told me repeatedly this week how all the students dislike me. Thankfully, I have a thick skin in regards to his comments and am also aware that he's just trying to get to me. But it doesn't exactly feel nice either.
Tuesday's lesson was a flop, really. I was trying to do a jigsaw activity with an article about what Shakespeare used as sources for some of his characters and plot points of AMND, but few were understanding what to do, even after it was laid out step by step on the board, and they refused to go with the groups I split them into. As a reflective teacher, I realized by last hour this was going nowhere, so switched up some tactics and worked through the article as a whole class instead.
Wednesday improved. We watched portions of the movie version of AMND and looked at specific, important quotes to try to decode some of the language. Most students appreciated watching the movie clips and that kept them quieter.
Thursday was better still. The students were assigned a short writing piece – 2-3 paragraphs – arguing why Puck is the protagonist of the play. We first discussed who they thought might be the main character, and why. Students seemed engaged in this, and then I explained that we'd be specifically considering Puck as a protagonist (as required by my teacher). After laying out the guidelines for what I expected, including explaining setting up quotes using the analogy of an Oreo, students got to work and worked on this again on Friday.
Friday was by far the best day – students worked for the whole period, we saw the play, and it was a sunny day. However, I got more comments from a couple other students that I was not being nice to them and was only ever picking on them. These came after I had circled the room a few times, reminding them and several other students in other areas of the room to stay on task and get to work. Now, I know that I was giving other students reminders to stay on task and so I wasn't singling them out, as they claimed. Additionally, I never raised my voice to them, only redirected them away from conversation. However, as a reflective teacher, with about 4-5 students in the week making comments about either disliking me or thinking I was mean or unfair (one student had similar comments Thursday because I wouldn't allow him to eat in the room and I was telling him to quit talking numerous times), I couldn't help but wonder if something in me this week was more harsh than usual, or if this was the students just getting defensive and I was in the clear. Most of me says, after thinking about it, that because I've started being more firm and giving stricter consequences, students are reacting. I would need a third, adult opinion about my behavior this week, though, because maybe there was something I wasn't seeing in how I interacted with students. Yet, the attitude I display for students will be something I will keep in mind going into this week.
We're beginning Poe this week, and it honestly has me quite nervous. I'm supposed to be teaching them the biographical information about Poe and other background material, and then after Easter starting “The Raven.” Poe is someone I have learned very little about as a man himself, and the last time I read “The Raven” was junior year of high school. To add pressure, my teacher is a Poe fanatic and was describing how she had to plan and provide materials for the other Reading and Language Arts teachers because she wants this unit done “right.” As a positive, I do have the long weekend to think about “The Raven” and we are only easing into Poe this week because Reading isn't ready. Yet, MAP testing is also throwing a wrench into plans because a) my students take them Thursday then the following Tuesday and Wednesday and b) the teams decided that instead of shortening all classes to just change which classes we see each day. So with break in there, there are some classes I don't see for just under a week, so I can't plan anything big that they will forget when they don't have class or anything that bridges the weekend. On the plus side, working with this schedule at least prepares me for standardized testing schedules when I'm a teacher!
I have 18 school days left at this placement – 2 four day weeks and 2 five days weeks. At this point, I don't know when I'll be transitioning out of full-time teaching – if that will be at the end of April, at the end of the Poe unit, or if I will be teaching 6 classes right up until May 9. I'm just taking it a week at a time, trying to do everything that's needed, no matter how much time that takes. I'm hoping that soon I will have time to actually enjoy my last weeks with my friends, with the Trinity community that has meant so much to me over four years, before graduation and we all spread to different parts of the world (literally... I have friends going global), even if that means just an hour a day that I take a breather from schoolwork and planning.
In this week of Holy Week, I also hope to be filled and reminded daily of what this week means to our faith. Thus, though I may not be getting spiritually filled at school, I pray that I be granted ime to be filled by doing special activities this week on campus that will then allow me to pour out an extra measure of love in the classroom.
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