Sonnet 18

If You Ever Need Something to Buy Me

I Didn't Do My Homework Because...

* I didn't do my history homework because I don't believe in dwelling on the past.
* I didn't want the other kids in the class to look bad.
* A sudden gust of wind blew my homework out of my hand and I never saw it again.
* Another pupil fell in a lake and I jumped in to rescue him. Unfortunately, my homework drowned.
* Our furnace broke and we had to burn my homework to keep ourselves from freezing.
* I'm not at liberty to say why.
* It was destroyed in a freak accident involving a hippo, a toaster, and a bag of frozen peas. You don't want to know the details.
* I have a solar-powered calculator, and it was cloudy.
* I made a paper plane out of it and it got hijacked.
* My mom used it as a dryer sheet.
* My agent won't allow me to publish my homework until the movie deal is finalized.
* I was abducted by green-skinned, three-eyed, pig-snouted space aliens, and they incinerated my homework with their death rays.
* I felt it wasn't challenging enough.
* My parents were sick and unable to do my homework last night. Don't worry, they have been suitably punished.
* We had homework?!
* I see your lips moving, but all I am hearing is "blah, blah, blah."
* I didn't want to add to your already heavy workload.
* I spent the night at a rally supporting higher pay for our hard-working teachers.

Week of 10/23-10/27

Interesting week. I definitely did a lot more teaching recently and I am enjoying that. This week I had TESA 4 with Tim Oster, I made some interesting observations about his class that I can definitely relate to myself. At our ages I think it becomes very easy for us to want to just get into a banter with the talking, trouble making students. Maybe in the back of our minds we think that we can beat them at their own game, but just because we have joined the game they have already run. In the backs of their minds all they really want to do is to derail us from what we are trying to do. At one point he sent a student out of the room because they were being too disruptive, and then later went out and spoke to them. His guide teacher was not in the room at the time, so while he was gone he lost the rest of the class to some level of chaos. It makes you wonder if talking to that student was worth losing the attention of the rest of the class.

My guide teacher made an important observation that I am definitely taking to heart. She noticed that we were both becoming far too lax with our students, and they were beginning to take advantage of that. She also made the point that it was really her fault because she was modeling what she normally does, which is to go pretty easy on her students, being a nice teacher, which I agree with. However, since there were two teachers in the classroom doing this it just slipped down the slope a little too far. We tightened the reins throughout the week and it has definitely made a difference in the students' attention. Proof once again that classroom management is truly important.

I am a little angry that I was not able to do my Synergy class as planned. Mike Wegenka told me that they were unable to get the room that would be needed for a swing dancing class, and that he is hoping to be able to work me in for the next session. We will see how that goes though.

Week of 10/16-10/20

Interesting week. I taught a lesson literary analysis terms and did WOW words. However, the best part was Friday when Mrs. Johnson came in I was ready for her. Had a great lesson planned that I developed originally on my own, but then I went to my guide teacher for some guidance and edits. Mrs. Johnson said that it was an "impressive lesson." Just like what I learned from my TESA evaluation, you have to find things that the kids can relate to. What I had them write about in the lesson was what they like about City Heights. Because of this there was not a single person in the class that had absolutely nothing to say, it was great.

We had Gates MacGinitie testing on Thursday in our second period class, my first experience in administering a standardized test. I still do not approve of the use of standardized tests, but realize that they are going to be part of my professional life whether I want them or not. The students were well behaved, I almost get the feeling that these tests scare them. One student could not stay awake during it. I asked him if he had gotten enough sleep and he told me that he had, but he doesn't like tests. Sometimes I wonder if the importance of these tests on the students' educational future is stressed enough. If you just tell them, "no worries, just do your best" it may not ring strongly enough to take it seriously.

The most important thing that my guide teacher keeps reminding me about is circulating throughout the classroom. I keep fearing that I will fall into that ridiculous habit of being unapproachable and hiding behind my desk. Not only does it make the students less likely to ask for help, but it makes me seem aloof and uninterested. Kids need to see me moving around the class, checking if they need help, even if they don't look like they do. Most of the time they seem like they would rather get an "F" than ask me for assistance. Maybe they equate that to cheating for some reason? I don't totally understand it all. But, no chair time in class, gotta get up and move, and that's my plan from now on, no matter what is going on.

Journal Week ending 10/13

Wow, Friday the 13th, nothing really spectacular happened though. Our week went pretty much like clockwork. Ms. Hoehnstein taught the class and we remained most of the time for some extra supervision. The sex ed. class was very educational. I think the one part that I could have lived without was the slideshow of sexually transmitted diseases. I went to Tim Oster's class to do his TESA evaluation for Unit 3. I think that this TESA is a little more difficult than the others. I think that it is hard for Tim and I to relate to our students, especially since we both came from much different backgrounds than they do. But, I am looking forward to making my attempt at it on Monday, maybe with my reflection of his work I can do better on mine. We shall see.

Journal Week Starting 10/9

This was definitely the start of a not too exciting week. Ms. Hoehnstein came in this week and taught sex ed. During this time Mrs. Perez and I took the liberty of attempting to do some planning and catching up on some grading that we had gotten a little behind on. It was probably the best sex ed. presentation that I had ever seen, much better than the one I had received in high school. Ms. H. incorporated foldables into the lesson and I think that the students really enjoyed that, it gave them something physical to hang onto. The students were surprisingly well behaved and receptive. It was a good experience.

Journal 10/2-10/6

Well, I am getting a lot of great experiecne in my classroom. It is interesting to figure out all of the things that you take for granted when you are planning. Like should the kids keep the handouts or pass them in? How am I going to prove that they learned anything while they were doing their reading or listening to a lecture? My guide teacher has been really helpful in pointing these things out. I know that she has a great knowledge of all these things.

I have definitely been teaching more lessons in the class, which I like. I am not doing nearly everything, but I am enjoying getting more time to instruct the students. This week I gave my first quiz, made by myself. It went great, except for a student stealing the quizzes from me at the end of 1st period, lesson learned, the top of my desk is not safe for such things. But, back to the quiz itself. It seemed to go over really well with the students. It seems like quizzes and tests are not as looming and scary for them if they are presented through a media like powerpoint. In addition, I created a Jeopardy game for their Words of the Week, which they became very competitive in. There are some bugs to work out with the system in playing it, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Everything appears to be going well and I am looking forward to next week.

Another one from O.K. Go

These People Entered the href="http://www.myspace.com/okgo">OK Go href="http://youtube.com/group/okgodance">Dances With You(Tube) Contest. You should, too.

I was right, a boring week of sex ed.

This was definitely the start of a not too exciting week. Ms. Hoehnstein came in this week and taught sex ed. During this time Mrs. Perez and I took the liberty of attempting to do some planning and catching up on some grading that we had gotten a little behind on. It was probably the best sex ed. presentation that I had ever seen, much better than the one I had received in high school. Ms. H. incorporated foldables into the lesson and I think that the students really enjoyed that, it gave them something physical to hang onto. The students were surprisingly well behaved and receptive. It was a good experience.

Boring week of Sex Ed.

This was definitely the start of a not too exciting week. Ms. Hoehnstein came in this week and taught sex ed. During this time Mrs. Perez and I took the liberty of attempting to do some planning and catching up on some grading that we had gotten a little behind on. It was probably the best sex ed. presentation that I had ever seen, much better than the one I had received in high school. Ms. H. incorporated foldables into the lesson and I think that the students really enjoyed that, it gave them something physical to hang onto. The students were surprisingly well behaved and receptive. It was a good experience.

The days are a changing, but in a good way

Well, I am getting a lot of great experiecne in my classroom. It is interesting to figure out all of the things that you take for granted when you are planning. Like should the kids keep the handouts or pass them in? How am I going to prove that they learned anything while they were doing their reading or listening to a lecture? My guide teacher has been really helpful in pointing these things out. I know that she has a great knowledge of all these things.

I have definitely been teaching more lessons in the class, which I like. I am not doing nearly everything, but I am enjoying getting more time to instruct the students. This week I gave my first quiz, made by myself. It went great, except for a student stealing the quizzes from me at the end of 1st period, lesson learned, the top of my desk is not safe for such things. But, back to the quiz itself. It seemed to go over really well with the students. It seems like quizzes and tests are not as looming and scary for them if they are presented through a media like powerpoint. In addition, I created a Jeopardy game for their Words of the Week, which they became very competitive in. There are some bugs to work out with the system in playing it, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Everything appears to be going well and I am looking forward to next week.

Which Video Is Better...You Decide

Week ending 9/25-9/29

Well, I got a realization on Thursday, and I bet a lot of the student teachers that are just out of college got the same thing; you have to engage the kids to be active in the learning process. You go to college, you sit, you listen, you talk when appropriate, but you are always engaged. If you are not engaged, then you figure out something to get by. In high school, the teachers are the ones who are expected to do the engagement. I think that straight out of college we forget the type of environment that we are going into. Once you learn to get the kids interested, to give them some sort of liability, then you get their attention. My guide teacher and I had a very good conversation about this; I kind of wished that she could have told me before I taught my lesson, but I guess that experience can be the best education.

I think that Tesa went great. Tim Oster and I did it on Friday 9/29. He came into my room during first period while I was leading the students in an art project as a culmination of our unit on narratives. When he came in I had the kids broken into groups of 4-5 people. Each group then created a poster that had an "artist's rendering" of a character, then they would explain why they drew the character that way, and provide 5 quotes/objects from the story that had significance for their chosen character. I moved about the room, trying to get to everyone. Two of my identified students decided that they would form their own two person group. In order to facilitate their cooperation I allowed it to happen. Almost surprisingly they were very productive and almost completed the art project. Sitting in with them quite a few times not only kept them on task, but I was able to give them direction. One of my most troubled students in the class was with a group that really helped to pull her along. When I went over to the group I tried to get her to participate and offer some ideas. She seemed to be coming out of her shell a little bit and providing the group with some insights. When I conferenced with Tim after second period I told him that I noticed that one of my particular students was in his class as well. We both agree that she is a good student, but definitely needs a lot of time and attention. All in all I think it went well. Since the project required them to be loud it was hard for Tim to really hear what I was saying. I'm pretty sure that I was affirming and correcting them, but I don't know if it came through.

Week beginning 9/25

Well, this week felt like it was dragging along all the way until Friday. I don't know, I was beginning to have some reservations about my abilities to be an educator. It seems like I had all of these great ideas and lessons for engagement of the students in college, but now that I'm here they are all gone (should have written some of them down). But, there are always ups and downs in everything, I'm probably just in a slump. I do know that I have very good support at home, so that is really helping. Also, I can tell that as the weeks go on I am getting more and more tired, I don't know if I should be worried, but I'm sure that I will pull through.

I get the feeling that the kids are starting to respect me more as their teacher. I probably say this every week, but I notice more and more them knowing my name, asking me for help, first, and looking to me as an authority figure. Maybe it is because I wear a tie?

Just because I love this band so much

Teaching kids the art of detecting "BS"

It seems a little hard to explain to students that they need to go online and do research (since that seems to be the only place to do it now adays), but that they shouldn't believe it all. I think that a great activity for them is to tell them to research a generic subject, such as genetic mutation, or something that is a major conspiracy theory, like the 9/11 crashes. Send them out, tell them to locate anything that they find of interest on the subjects. When they come back, they can present their findings to the class. With the conspiracy theories, they could show the rediculous information that is out there on the different ways that it could have happened (though some are more credible than others).

After demonstrating to them that there is a lot of bad information out there it is important to show them that there is good information, and how to discern it as such. I would like to provide them with some websites that provide credible information, such as Wikipedia. In addition, show them ways to locate credibility, such as researching the person who wrote the article, or looking for accredidation for the article that they have found. Is the person who wrote it a credible source, what education do they have, what proof of that education do they provide??? Just like anything in English, we need to teach our students how to think for themselves and to discern things that may seem strange or new. Once they know how to think critically about their research in the classroom, they should be able to transfer that knowledge elsewhere.

I have the real guys, so I guess we have to add the Lego version

Strange times in the education world

Overall, I think that this has been a good week. As I was walking through 408 to get to the exit through Mrs. Johnson's office I saw someone telling her a little complaint, at that point I decided on my way out I would let her know that everything was going well and I had nothing bad to tell her. I think it made her day, I get the feeling that people, especially in her position, don't really get that kind of feedback regularly.

I am still a little nervous when I am teaching, but I know that I am going to love it full time. This week was the first time that I really got a chance to sit with students on an individual basis and help them with their papers. It was nice to have students asking me for help that really appreciated my guidance and assistance with their papers.

On the other end of the spectrum, I just don't know what to do with some students who just seem determined to do nothing and fail. I don't know how to motivate someone who expects to either have everything handed to them or is just okay with failing. It is a hard thing for me to see, especially when I know that student has a great deal of potential. But, I can't let the problems of the few distract me from the promise of the many, I will keep trying.

Looking forward to chaperoning the dance next week. I'm going to bring my Fiancé, and since we are going to teach a Synergy class on Swing Dancing together (Mr. Wegenka said he would hire her on as well), I thought we could showcase our talent a little bit there as an advertisement. I'm looking forward to all of these extra activities. On Monday I was thinking that I would bring the chaperon sign up to class to get the other interested people to sign up, I'm afraid that they will wait until the last minute and then the dance will be cancelled before they commit themselves.

What a start to a week

It has been an intersting week. Our computer broke down at the end of last week, so while I am still grading things, I can't enter the grades into our grading program. I can understand how much work teachers really do now too. Even if I am grading things that are not essays and don't require near that much reading, it is still a lot of work to have to do them in the first place. But, it is just another piece of the job, that's why we get paid the big bucks, right?

It is exciting to go to school and know that my Guide Teacher and I are getting along so well. I really feel like we are becoming more than "co-workers" at school, I consider her my friend now and feel very comfortable with her. Also, I get the feeling that she appreciates my work and help, and I hope that she can tell that I appreciate her, though I do try to let her know.

Back to the computer thing, it is hard to get things fixed. When we needed a code for a Macintosh computer, the tech guy at school told us that he's "not really a Mac guy" and said that we should ask someone else, then we just got the run around. It seems like we would get a lot more done with a little more cooperation.

We had our first talk about TESA and how we should speak to students, etc., at Monday's class. Then, I went to my first period class on Tuesday morning and had a lapse in brain function and said something incredibly rude to a student. All I wanted was for the earth to open up and swallow me whole for the rest of the day, since I knew I was wrong. But, she's better with me now, I think that we have gotten past it and I have definitely learned my lesson. At least I know I was wrong and can move past it, there's a little something to hold onto.

Wish I could think of things like this...

My kids utilizing a blog in the classroom setting

Well, from what I can gather, wouldn't be very useful to my students. While they thought it would be nice to be able to respond to things in that manner, most of them don't have ready access to the internet, let alone a computer. It would just be another hassle for them to have to stay after school, go to a library, etc. in order to find a computer to use a blog on. It seems like a good idea, but in a low income school, which mine very much is, it would be almost impossible to expect all of my students to regularly check and use a blog.

On the other hand, many of them didn't even know what a blog was, that was interesting to explain, and then to get the blank looks of "why do people do this crap?"

That's about it though, no blogs for my class, not right now at least.

End of Week 9/11-9/15

Well, this week has had its interesting twists and turns. I've done a lot more actual grading, which is a nice change as compared to running erands and making bulletin boards, though I realize that these are just as important parts to the job, in their own way. We had picture day, and of course I didn't expect the kids to walk orderly in a line to the gym, but it was a little disconcerting to realize that I can't watch all of them all the time. In addition, I found out that one of my kids might possibly lash out violently if we push him over the edge with his work, giving him a hard time for turning in things late, arguing back with him when he argues with us. I didn't realize how touchy you have to be with some students, especially the ones that appear to be the toughest. All things that have gotten me thinking, but not in a discouraging way.

Beginning of Week 9/11

Well, I went into this week not really knowing how my master teacher was thinking about scaffolding me into the full teaching, but I think that now I have a better feel. She and I have talked, and I think bonded a lot more and I think she is going to give me second period in order to give me the opportunity to see her do first. The kids are also really starting to warm up to me, I can tell because they remember my name now. Not only that, but they even ask me for help, and feel confident that I can give it to them. That is probably the best feeling that I have had about this whole experience so far. It's probably the reason that I wanted to get into this work, because I wanted to change the lives of these kids, it's nice to get a little positive feedback.

After Surviving Week 1

The week has gone by pretty quickly. I never realized how good Thursday would feel, waking up and realizing that I didn't have to attend any extra classes in the evening.My guide teacher has been very helpful and responsive throughout our time together. As we go along she takes the time to point out particular things that she tries to do. In addition, she does let me do a great deal of the grading and clerical work, not so much to turn me into her work slave, but to give me an idea of what will be involved. Having introduced me merely as "Mr. Russell" has helped the students to see me not as a student teacher, which I don't believe that they realize, thankfully, but as a co-teacher. While Mrs. Perez-Peters is taking the lead now, I do know that I will soon be feeling comfortable enough to take the reins and to become a more active part of their learning experience. The kids were not nearly as unruly and unresponsive as I believed that they could be. Overall, I have enjoyed my time so far and look forward to the rest of the year progressing in the same manner.

Reactions: Before the Students Arrived

The first day when my guide teacher was a little interesting. It seemed somewhat short and a little whirl wind. I have to admit that I first had some trepidations about Mrs. Perez-Peters. She was a little quirky and a little over the top sometimes. However, I soon learned that all of this fuels her for her days, and that she is an intelligent, passionate teacher, who really loves what she does. My planning time with her has shown me that she puts a lot of thought into what she gives to her students. In addition, she has become incredibly adept in interpreting their problems and knowing how to handle them on an individual basis. One thing that I do appreciate a great deal is the time that we take to sit down and discuss the lesson plans. Not only do we plan for the next week, which helps me think of things to do for my own future classes, but she also wants my input on how I think things went with the lesson we just did. If there is something that I have any sort of comment or criticism on she takes it in stride, and then explains why she may have done that in a certain way. She is an excellent guide teacher, and with that in mind, I believe that I am in good hands for the semester and possibly the year.

Is the worst picture of me ever taken?

Titling my blog

It was harder than I thought it would be.