Seniors v. Freshmen

Ugh. That's about all I can say. As a high school teacher, I am faced with the challenge of teaching Seniors and Freshmen. I teach Freshmen most of the day, and I have one period of a Senior Novels course. Because they are at such different levels--maturity wise and academically--it is really difficult for me to plan my lessons sometimes.

I really LIKE my Seniors, and most of them are intelligent, but they just don't want to DO anything. I know they have Senioritis, blah blah blah, but can I really just expect NOTHING out of them? I require reading every night and the activities we do in class make it quite obvious if they are not keeping up with the reading. I require writing assignments and creative assignments, and nothing seems to catch their interest. I play relevant music (and even music videos) and half of the time they stare at me like I have 16 heads. So, I ask myself "Is it me? Am I really that ineffective as a teacher?" I'm hoping the answer is "No."

I have finally discovered something they like: fighting. Okay, not fist fight, but they like to argue and debate. We are currently reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. About two weeks ago, I had the students write "thematic statements" for two of the chapters. We talked about theme for a little bit and I explained the difference between a "theme" and a "thematic statement." "Love" would be a theme, while "Love conquers all" is a thematic statement. They wrote their chapter thematic statements on note cards and turned them in. Little did they know what would occur the next day.

I typed up all of the chapter statements, but I did not include the author of each statement. I told the students to review the lists for each chapter, and I asked them to indicate on their papers which ones they did NOT think represented the given chapter. Finally, I told them that we, as a class, had to narrow the list down to the best statement for the chapter. Then, a beautiful thing happened.

They talked, yelled, and got up out of their seats while trying to make a point, but it proved one thing to me: THEY WERE CONNECTING WITH THE LITERATURE! This is any English teacher's dream, of course, so I was ecstatic. The debate lasted nearly the entire hour.

Last Friday, I decided that I wanted to get them riled up again. This time I came up with "agree" or "disagree" statements about war. For example, one statement was "The United States abuses its power when it comes to war." If a student agreed, he went to the front of the room. If a student disagreed, he went to the back of the room. And if a student was undecided, he remained seated. I told the students ahead of time that they needed to defend their responses at least twice. Little did I know that I could have required five different responses, because almost every student would not shut up (in a good way). We only got through 6 of my 10 statements, and it was great! Two different students asked me if we could do it again soon.

Butterflies...

I teach three different classes a day. In the 2nd half of the English 9, we are getting ready to read Elie Wiesel's Night, which is a memoir about his experiences in the Holocaust. If you haven't read it, you need to! Anyway, I've heard a lot about this "butterfly" poem that has to do with the Holocaust. I Googled it and this is what I found:

"The Butterfly"

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone. . . .

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
 kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
in the ghetto.

                  Pavel Friedman 4.6.1942

I really liked it--and I really wanted my students to be invested in the book--so I decided I wanted to do a class activity with it.

I put my daily agenda on the board everyday and the students immediately wanted to know what "The Butterfly" meant. I heard comments like "What in the world are we gonna do with butterflies?" and "What are we, in kindergarten?" It was kind of humorous that they were wondering so much. I just kept my mouth shut though, and told them "You'll see," which has to be the most annoying response ever.

I gave each student a biography page of a person who somehow experienced the Holocaust. I then gave the students blank butterflies. The students were instructed to turn their butterflies into the person. I told them they could decorate the butterflies in any way, shape, or form, but that it somehow needed to identify the person. The results were amazing and I really think the students got a lot out of it. I took some pictures of a few of them. My favorite butterfly is the second one. I apologize for the low quality pictures!

Indiana's new requirements

Under the new rules for Indiana's recently licensed teachers, all teachers must complete a professional teaching portfolio. Last year's second year teachers were the first teachers who were forced to complete such an assignment. And as a second year teacher, I was plagued with the same assignment this school year.

Being a second year teacher is difficult enough, so I admit I was a bit peeved that I was forced to deal with this "other thing," too. The deadline is May 1, 2008, but I wanted to get it over and done with. Since my school runs on trimesters, and I knew I would be teaching three different classes during the second trimester, I chose to do my portfolio during the first trimester of the school year. I decided to do my portfolio with my unit of Romeo and Juliet, and I ended up having a lot of fun with it. Because I started and planned ahead of time, I had my portfolio completed at the beginning of November.

Among pages upon pages of reflection and reporting, the portfolio requires analysis of student work and a videotaped teacher led discussion with the class. I had never videotaped myself teach before, and it was kind of a fun (yet frightening) experience.

So, why is the state requiring all this work for newer teachers? In my opinion, I think the state may want to "weed out" the people who shouldn't be in the teaching profession. But if that truly is the case, should older teachers be required to do some sort of work, too? Or is it understood that if you've been teaching for a number of years that you're automatically an accomplished, successful teacher?

I'm new at this!

I admit it. I've become addicted to many teaching blogs, so I decided to create my own. I am brand new at this and I have never had a blog in my life, so bare with me.

At this point, I'm not sure what I will post, but I hope to report my experiences--both good and bad--as a newer teacher.