Posts (page 2)

Mrs. Young was my team teacher and she seems to be a very laid back person.  However, she was not easy on me at all when it came to evaluations.  One thing that Mrs. Young called me out on that noone else had before is my hand writing.  My hand writing is abysmal and Mrs. Young let me know that.  I think hand writing is definitely something that I am going to have to work on before I start teaching in the fall.  I might have to rely completely on pre-printed materials. 

Another thing that Mrs. Young taught me is to watch my DOK levels.  Before, I had gone by exactly what the framework said.  Mrs. Young made me realize that most of my lessons weren't matching the DOK levels that I had indicated.  I will need to make sure and get that corrected if I am going to be dealing with the state takeover at North Panola. 

Mrs. Young also taught me to deal better with discipline.  I had gotten kind of complacent in my classroom management practices partly because of how good my class has been and partly because I got sort of lazy.  I definitely need to work on consistency in classroom management. 

Well, I filmed myself earlier this week teaching, and I was not surprised that I was surprised at what I saw.  Every time I record myself or film myself I am disappointed in how my voice sounds.  My voice is not deep at all, and it is more country than I imagine.  As far as teaching, one thing I noticed is I tend to pace back and forth at the front of the room but I do not move around the room as much as I should.  While I am talking/teaching I stay at the front of the room but I only move to the back when I am not talking.

I consider myself well-liked by my students, so I tolerate a certain amount of "misbehavior".  That is, I ignore a certain amount of speaking out as long as everyone focuses on the lesson.  However, I did not realize the amount of talking/laughing that goes on that I do not notice.  While I am doing all of my pacing, students are talking and snickering amongst themselves.  I need to do better with that. 

While I dislike watching recording of myself, I found it incredibly useful.  I think the things I noticed in the video will do a lot to improve my teaching and the learning experience for the students. 

Ole Gary Rubinstein kind of scares me.  One reason for this is because his description of himself sounds almost exactly like me.  He was a college graduate who was reluctant to go to law school (same for me) who decided to do Teach For America partly because it sounded like a great diversion and partly because he felt he had an aptitude for teaching (same for me).  Like Rubinstein, I also often feel intimidated by the passion others seem to have for teaching.  I'm not sure if teaching is really my passion.  I know teaching English isn't. 

Unlike Rubinstein, I do feel I have at least some pure motives.  I really have always had a desire to help my home state, po' ole beat down Mississippi.  I felt from the beginning that the MTC was a great way in which to do that.  I really did not want to go through life without attempting to do something difficult in an effort to help others.  I also did not want to go through life complaining about all the problems in Mississippi without actually doing something about it. 

I do not feel that I will be as poor of a disciplinarian as Rubinstein was in the beginning.  I will have my problems, but losing my temper and screaming and yelling is not something I feel like I will do.  I feel like I have the right temperment for teaching in that I do not lose my cool easily.  I really feel like I will not be the pushover that Rubinstein was either. 

I think that Rubinstein gives some great advice in his book.  Do not try to patronize the kids.  Do not pretend to be something you are not, but at the same time make sure you come across as a "real" teacher.  Pick your battles.  All of this is great advice.  I guess we will see what happens when I become a teacher. 

I really need to write both of my second year teachers a personal thank you note for everything they have done for me during the past few weeks. I have learned so much from both of them during Summer school.  I feel that Austin Walker really showed me how to begin taking teaching seriously.  Austin stayed on top of me to make sure that my lesson plans always turned out well.  I thank him for all the help that he gave me. 

While Austin constantly reminded me of how bad I was at teaching, Cary made sure that my self-esteem never got too low.  Seriously, there were a few days in the past few weeks when I was really down on myself about teaching.  Cary always offered encouragement.  Cary taught me to get past the feeling that every lesson I taught was the worst lesson of my life.   

Both Austin and Cary taught me many things about what it takes to become an effective teacher.  I really do believe that without Austin and Cary's help I could never have taught such an amazing lesson on ifinitives.  When they first met me I could barely come up with anything to teach.  Now, I am churning out informative, entertaining lessons on the dullest parts of grammar like nobody's business. 

I tried the Cold Calling questioning technique in my classroom.  I liked it because it helped me to make sure I was spreading my questioning all around the room, not just to a few people.  I ended up varying from straight cold calling because one of my students was nodding off in class.  I ended up calling on him instead of following the index cards.  After attempting cold calling, I would say that it is better to use your own instincts when questioning students.  My students didn't seem any more alert with the cold calling technique.  It does help though in that it gives you a method for making sure that everyone in class participates.

Okay, so apparently my last blog post was not well received by the general blogging public.  I would like to make it clear that my last blog was not meant to be negative in any way.  I have a great respect for those who are able to write so much in their blog posts.  I even envy them. 

My point was that it is hard for me to write a large amount  on my own blog.  Therefore, I was wondering what motivated people to write so much.  I was not trying to say that writing a lot on a blog is a waste of time.  I was merely trying to find out what motivated people so that perhaps I too can be a motivated blogger.

I don't understand how all you people write so much.  What's the motivation?

Mrs. Monroe required us to read Delta Autumn, a book written by former teacher corps members.  It is really well written and informative; I am glad I read it.  The book made me realize that I am in for a huge challenge as a new teacher.  I suppose I already knew that to a certain extent, but Delta Autumn really made me realize how much work goes into being a teacher.  I hadn't really thought about all the little things one is expected to do as a new teacher.  

The Teaching Secondary English section of the book really hit close to home for me, as I have seen much of what was written about in the book in my own classroom.  Expressed in the book is the difficulty of teaching to kids with multiple reading levels.  It is next to impossible to figure out how to teach the same lesson to a kid who is on a 12th grade reading level to a kid who can barely read.  Seriously, what is one supposed to do with a kid who cannot read in a 10th grade English class?  This is something I am going to have to figure out this summer, and especially this fall. 

It seems that the more I learn about teaching, the more I realize how hard it is going to be.  To be honest, I am beginning to feel a little apprehensive about doing such a tough job for the next two years.  However, I am vowing to myself that I will not quit, and that I will be successful in the classroom, even if I only achieve success on a small scale.

Well the first week has come and gone, and I can say that I have had a great time.  I have met many interesting people from all over the country which is what I had hoped to do in when I joined the program.  I suppose my favorite part of the week has been trying to explain the state of Mississippi to anyone willing to listen.  As a native Mississippian, I am a minority in the MTC so I try to do my best to give off a good, but realistic impression of our state. 

I feel like I have a little less to say in my first blog than the average MTC participant because I am already familiar with the state and the campus at Ole Miss.  I am, however, fascinated with seeing how all the new participants in MTC react to the state of Mississippi.  I thought it was a great idea to go out to Austin Walker's family farm to shoot guns, eat fried chicken, and have a bonfire.  What a slice of Mississippi that was!  I hate exclamation points, but that was a great time.  One of my fellow first years, Liz, said that she had never seen a gun, much less shot one before she did at Austin's place.  When she told me this it led to a discussion about gun control, and we each shared our very different views on the issue.  It is interesting that something as simple as firing guns can lead to intelligent discussion and new perspectives. 

Am I excited about teaching this week?  I'm not quite sure.  I don't really know what to expect yet.  I would say nervous would be a more fitting word.  It is just now hitting me that this program is something I am committed to for the next two years.  The MTC is no longer something cool that I can tell everyone I am doing after college.  It is a reality, and I am interested to see how I will react to the challenges that teaching will present me.