Learn Me English

One More Thing...

2008-04-17T19:40:00.000-04:00

One more thing!

I got into grad school, so I'll be starting that this summer!

Sorry...

2008-04-17T19:37:00.001-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated recently. Since Spring Break I've had a hard time focusing (no wonder the kids feel that way!)

We just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird and we're getting ready to start the introduction to Night and the Holocaust. Night is probably my favorite novel to teach, and it's short, so it's a nice novel to end the school year with.

That's all for now. Sorry it's not more exciting!

As long as you laugh with me and not at me...

2008-03-24T19:31:00.002-04:00

So, I fell today in my classroom for the second time in two weeks. My students are pretty used it by now, because I learned early on in my teaching that I am a clumsy teacher. Notice that I did not say a clumsy person; normally I am not very clumsy (I leave that to my sister) but being in front of a bunch hormonal teenagers does something to me, I guess.

No only did I trip, but I was also getting observed by one of my principals at the time. WAY TO IMPRESS! She said I "recovered beautifully" which is a compliment, I guess. The kids got a kick out of it though, and they know to laugh with me and not at me. :)

That's all for now. How many people actually read this thing, anyway?

Real life application!

2008-03-18T19:05:00.002-04:00

So, it's nice to know that all this talk about stereotyping and tolerance is actually getting through to my students. The following conversation happened a few days ago with one of my students.

"Hey, Miss C, I have to talk to you." (She seemed really urgent)

"Okay, about what?"

"Well, it's about everything we've been talking about in class."

"Yeah, well, what happened?"

"Well, my mom had a Tupperware party and the woman was from "insert southern town" and the moment she told everyone that, all the women's faces instantly fell. They weren't very nice to her after that, and I knew it was because they were judging her. I couldn't believe that I was seeing them stereotype her in front of my own eyes! I didn't realize it happens THAT often!"

While this was a very small instance, it makes me feel good that students are taking what we do in class outside of my classroom.

"Scarecrow" Pictures

2008-03-11T19:30:00.007-04:00

Here are some pictures from the "Scarecrow" activity (see previous post).

Stereotypes and To Kill a Mockingbird

2008-03-11T17:03:00.003-04:00

Because we are getting ready to read To Kill a Mockingbird, my 9th graders have spent A LOT of time talking about stereotypes. Some are getting sick of it, while some really enjoy the discussion.

For the first lesson I showed about 10 different pictures of various people and asked my students to write down their primary thoughts about the person (they were stereotyping, even though they didn't know it at the time). I included Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, a 10 year old who kidnapped and brutally killed a 2 year old, a successful woman who stole over $100,000 from her mother, a cheerleader, a young African American male, and more. Some of the pictures were just ordinary people, while others had stories to go along with the pictures. We talked about each picture and what their impressions were, and then I revealed the identity of some of them (the ones that weren't ordinary people). All in all, they were shocked! It really got them thinking though and it proved to them that they stereotype "at first glance" even if they aren't conscious of it.

Today we listened to Melissa Etheridge's "Scarecrow." It is about a boy who was beaten and left to die (but I didn't tell them what it was about). It is a really sad song. I had the students listen to it once and asked them to draw whatever they were thinking and feeling. We had a good discussion about the song, and then I revealed half of the story (just that a boy was beaten and left to die). We listened to the song again, and this time knowing more about the song, they drew another picture. After their second picture, I revealed that the boy was beaten and killed because he was gay. Most of my students couldn't believe it and were really shocked; in fact, many were speechless. One boy had the nerve to say, "Well, he was gay...no wonder he got beaten and killed." This made my blood boil and several students immediately got on him for his comment. Needless to say, I still kicked him out of class and talked to him privately. He didn't understand why his comment was wrong until I asked him "What if someone in our class was gay? How do you think that would make him or her feel?" It turned out okay, but I couldn't believe his comment. His comment made me realize one thing though: because there are people out there that feel that way and openly voice those attitudes and opinions, it is still important to teach things like the Holocaust and books like To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'm going to post some of the "Scarecrow" pictures later!

And lastly...I made a movie! Before you get all impressed, I made it from Microsoft's Movie Maker, so it's not stellar quality. I wanted to give my students some background information on the Great Depression before we started reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It took me three hours, but here is the final product (there's sound!)

Darfur

2008-03-03T19:58:00.004-05:00

Because the second part of English 9 has Night and To Kill a Mockingbird in its curriculum, I decided to revolve the entire trimester around human and civil rights. We start out the first few weeks of the trimester studying nonfiction and we've read things like Rosa Parks' "My Story," Nelson Mandela's "Glory and Hope," and Charlayne Hunter-Gault's "In my Place." We analyzed Sam Cooke's song lyrics for "A Change is Gonna Come." We've also read a few more current newspaper articles about people standing up for something they believe in, and one of them was about IU students trying to raise money for the genocide in Darfur.

This website is a great resource and my students seemed very interested in the issue. In fact, when I asked, most of them had no clue about Darfur. I also used the following YouTube videos. 1) 2) Overall, I think I really was able to get my students to THINK. Hopefully, talking about all of these issues now will prepare them for Night and To Kill a Mockingbird.

New Trimester, New Students!

2008-03-03T19:46:00.004-05:00

Two trimesters down, and only one to go! I can not believe that this school year is going by so fast! Only a few more months, and I'll be completely finished with my first two years of teaching!

Starting a new trimester is always so tedious. I do not really like going over rules and classroom procedures, but since 90% of my students are new to me and my classroom, I have to do it! One rule that my students hate, in particular, is my "No IPods" rule. They think it is absolutely ridiculous. I turn it into a joke and say that it has been scientifically proven that IPods are not necessary to succeed in my classroom. While they giggle a bit, they still hate the rule. I told them not to argue or complain about it and that if it was that big of a problem they could go down to guidance and get switched out of my class. When I was in high school, which wasn't all that long ago, students DID not complain this much to their teachers or question their authority. What's up with that?

Anyway, my new students are pretty good, and my fifth period class is almost identical to the second period class that I had first trimester. They are a good group, but they came in yelling and screaming with excitement on the first day. I had to "throw it down" and say that just because I liked them before doesn't mean I have to like them again. I think they got the point, and they've been pretty good the past few days. They do like to joke around a little bit more than my other classes, but they also know me the best, so I guess it's okay.

Help me!

2008-02-22T19:56:00.002-05:00

Since I'm new to blogging, I can not for the life of me get my blog to look good! If you're good at it, please e-mail me! I need help! :)

The Truth Hurts!

2008-02-21T17:41:00.003-05:00

Because my school is on trimesters, today and tomorrow are the last days that I will see my students. I gave an end of course evaluation, because I truly wanted to know how the students felt about my teaching. It was a scary experience, but in the end, I feel that it was worth it.

Most of the comments were very nice and helpful. I think most students were genuine in their comments and suggestions. Some even made me tear up a little! :)

There was one boy in particular though whose evaluation was quite interesting. Of course, the evaluation was anonymous, and completely optional, but he was blunt and to the point. I asked for one negative thing about the class and he said "Well, you could have just broken my balls on day one instead of stretching it out throughout the entire twelve weeks." Given the handwriting, I'm 99% sure I know who the student is. His comment confuses me though. He ended up failing my class, but not because he couldn't do the work; rather, he wouldn't do the work. He is actually very intelligent, however, he is extremely lazy. I didn't give him too much of a hard time, but I did call his mom every now and then to give her an update. I'm thinking maybe his mom got to him, rather than me, and that's why he made the "breaking the balls" comment, but I'm not sure.

Many of the students said to do away with MLA research papers. While this obviously cannot be done, it kind of makes me feel good that they didn't have WORSE complaints. All in all, it was a good experience, and I'll do it again.

I'm going to give my seniors their evaluation tomorrow...eeek! We'll see what they have to say!

Senior Skip Day and Romeo and Juliet!

2008-02-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

So, today was one of our senior skip days (yes, we have two--one for early graduates and one for the June graduates). I entirely expected an empty 4th period, because my students had been talking all week how they were going to magically "be sick" on Friday. To my surprise though, about half of my seniors showed up. I decided last night that I was going to make cookies for my seniors who made the choice to come to school, even though it could have been very easy for them not to. I made two batches and they devoured them! They seemed genuinely grateful though, so that was nice.

Since these were most of the "good kids," I decided to take a risk. They took a quiz, and after they were finished, I said "If I ask you guys something will you tell me the truth?" Most agreed that they would. I then asked, "Why do most of you hate this class so much?" They then proceeded to talk about the class--my class--for about 10 minutes. It was very reassuring to hear though, because they assurred me that it wasn't ME, it was THEM. They said, "We've been told that we are the worst senior class to come through this school;" "We are just so lazy;" "A lot of people actually do like this class, they just like to complain and act like they don't;" "You actually try to make this class interesting, but a lot of us just don't appreciate it because we've been through 12 years of schooling." Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better, but I hope they were being honest.

My freshmen, on the other hand, are finishing up Romeo and Juliet. I did a great assignment last trimester that made the students connect song lyrics of their choice to the play. They had to analyze the lyrics and find common themes between the play and their song. It was a class discussion that lasted half of the period, and it turned out very well. Because it was so successful last trimester, I was very excited to do the same assignment this trimester.

I gave out the assignment last week and the students seemed excited too. We practiced with two songs together, and they loved the idea that for homework they had to listen to music. Well, today was the class discussion, and I was disappointed because it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. In fact, 1/3 of 2nd period and 1/2 of 5th period didn't come to class prepared with their song lyrics. It was very disappointing. I don't know if it was me or the kids, but it just goes to show that one lesson doesn't work with all classes and students.

Free stuff for teachers!

2008-02-08T16:48:00.000-05:00

I am a huge fan of the website www.donorschoose.org. I came across it this past summer and saw that it was a place where teachers could write proposals to get materials for their classrooms. I thought it was a long shot, but I decided to write a proposal to try to get a class set of dictionaries. With shipping and thirty $30 dollar dictionaries, the total cost of the proposal was over $900. I was very skeptical, but I thought, "What do I have to lose?" I'm glad I went through with it, because my proposal was funded within FOUR days. Before school started I had 30 brand new hard cover dictionaries.

With new found confidence, I submitted another proposal for around 50 books to add to my classroom library. Again, I thought I only got lucky once, but within a month and a half, my second proposal (worth over $500) was funded. I now have submitted a third proposal to get more books to add to my library. My students LOVED the new books that were added after my second proposal was funded.

The great part is that these people don't even know me, yet they spend hundreds of dollars to help teachers get the supplies they want/need for their classrooms. All donations are anonymous, and in a world full of hate, crime, and violence, it is quite touching to know that there are good people out there who don't want any recognition for their charity!

After getting two proposals funded, I think I've discovered some tips for people who would like to get their own proposals funded:
1) Write a detailed (but not boring) proposal. Make sure the donor would know where his/her money would be going, and make sure you explain what the materials would be used for.
2) Make it personal! Provide background for your readers! For instance, when I wrote the proposal for my dictionaries, I gave an example of receiving answers such as "IDK" (short for I don't know) on quizzes and tests. I stressed that because we live in such a technological world, students are used to text messaging and chatting online. As a result, they don't know how to spell, because they no longer take the time to use something as simple as a dictionary. By giving such personal examples from my classroom, I allow the donors to see that such materials truly are needed.
3) WRITE WELL! If you're not a talented writer, have someone proofread it. Make sure it's free of grammatical errors and misspellings.

Seniors v. Freshmen

2008-01-23T20:17:00.001-05:00

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...

2008-01-23T19:45:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-21T18:39:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-01-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

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.