H-town Teaching

Today I gave my kids their final exam, and for those who finished early I instructed them to write me a letter. “About what, Miss? I don’t want to write a letter!” I was able to get a handful to actually write one. Folded in the shape of a heart, one student handed me a letter as she walked out today. It’s too cute not to share:

2: Ms.________

URM: Name of student

Hey Ms. ___ wuz up(arrow up) or down (arrow down)!!! whut u doin??? wut hav u bin up(arrow up) 2 lately?? Well N * E* Way I just want 2 tell u that U’R a really nice teaceher and I enjoy being with u every 2nd period. I like the way U teach and I’ma miss u. Here’s ma myspace email address ifu wunt to send mi messages……..

DONT CHANGE AIGHT.

I heart Mando

I had another student draw me her dream house….it was burger king, and it said “Have it your way.” I asked that student if she really wanted to live in Burger King and she replied “Miss, I REALLY want a whopper right now!”

They crack me up.

They also were on their worst behavior this week. To make matters worse, I sat in on top of a table yesterday that FELL, with me and all my papers on it. SOOOOOO embarassing, and my students were pointing and laughing sooooo hard. “MISS, we’re going to tell EVERYONE what happened to you!” I told them I would give them ten seconds to laugh as hard as they wanted, but then we would have to refocus (it was pretty funny after all, at least for them).

I’m sad to report that I didn’t meet TFA’s goal of having 100% of my students meet their individual growth goals this Summer. That being said, every student (minus one) improved significantly and I’m proud of them. I’ve learned a lot, and there are about a million things I will need to do better (and most definitely WILL do better) once I start my new job (6th grade science teacher!).
Second to last day of institute…woohoo!

It’s fascinating to watch the dynamic between my students, and the impacts that minor changes to this dynamic will have on a class. Whether it involves a seating chart, or certain students being absent, the tiniest changes can transform the entire flow of the classroom. Half my class was gone today for state testing, and I figured that it would be an easy class…I mean there were only 7 students. I was wrong!

I probably spent about 25 minutes talking over my students, struggling to re-invest them in coming to school the next week event though, according to HISD, they’re officially done. How can I say “if you don’t come, I won’t be able to give you my summative test, and then I can’t measure how much you’ve grown to see how much I’VE grown as a teacher!” Obviously this is already the wrong mindset to have–I’m here at institute to make sure my students are prepared for high school, not just to train myself. Oh but on days like today, when they press every button I have, I feel like they all deserve another year in middle school just so they’ll know they can’t mess with Miss _. I’m awful! Then I get the opportunity to come here, and do the “self-monitoring” things, and remind myself that a.) this is the worst attitude to have, and does NOTHING for closing the achievement gap…which is why I’m here! b.) I love my students, even when they’re feisty and c.) my students will do amazing things in high school, and I most definitely do have a job to put in everything I have this next week to help them get there.

One of my students could sense my frustration today as I struggled to calm down the class, and he yelled out “Don’t worry, Miss. You’re our best teacher!”

Before I could even reflect on this statement, another student looked at him and shouted “Don’t even lie to her!”

I’m not taking it personally, I’ve known that social studies is not this particular student’s favorite class.  I’m just going to have to work hard this next week to change her mind!

Here’s to better luck tomorrow, the culmination of a 4 day week, in the 4th week of Institute. Happy fourth of July, and hooray for long weekends!

It’s week four and I’m absolutely bewildered by how comfortable I feel in my new teacher skin. The highlight of week one was coming up with my teacher stare, this week’s highlight is consistently (ok, maybe not consistently) using it effectively. I’ve begun to establish the necessary authority in my classroom to control behavior with my eyes…it’s like my own teacher super power! I’m still getting the hang of lesson planning and unit-structuring, but I’m proud to say that classroom management, which was once my greatest challenge, has become one of my stronger skills as a teacher. I’m nowhere near perfect, and there are days where I seriously want to tear my hair out and scream louder than my students (impossible I think), but I don’t have to think about it as much anymore and I can really focus on my lessons and gauge student understanding.

So here comes the next problem–now that I’ve been able to control my class long enough to figure out where my students are and what they know, I’m realizing there are a few students who I’ve failed to notice throughout the summer since they were always so quiet and to an outsider visiting my class would appear to be model students. Now I’m realizing they’re quiet because they don’t want to be noticed, are afraid I’ll call on them to read out-loud (which is very hard on them), and that they are consistently failing my daily quizzes. I wish I had the time to work with them after class, but the structure of institute prohibits me from meeting with students after-school, or from missing sessions to tutor students during lunch. I feel like I’ve failed these students…I feel like I can’t deliver on my promise to prepare them for high school and help them pass my class.

And then there are the students who have demonstrated growth. It’s really exciting to watch them confidently raising their hands, helping other students, and mastering my daily quizzes. They’re taking so much pride in their growth, and they’re fighting to be on my “historian of the week” board which I update every week.

I also feel like I’m starting to establish a really great rapport with my kids…we can joke in the halls, but they take me seriously in the classroom. On Monday I asked my eighth graders to share with me how they spent their weekend. I guess they’ve gotten way too comfortable with me because a couple girls started bragging about getting meeting up with boys at a hotel and getting drunk over the weekend. This was a class conversation, and I just cut it off by saying “Class, this is inappropriate discussion for school so it’s time to start on our lesson.” I’m wondering if I dealt with that in the most appropriate way. Should I call their parents/guardians and inform them? Should I have a talk with them about underage drinking, and its dangers? Anyways, who am I to give them advice on this kind of thing? I’ll admit I engaged in my own deviant behavior in the 8th and 9th grade, so I don’t want to be hypocritical.  I keep thinking back to that and wonder if I missed an opportunity to discuss something very important…I hate the idea of my students, who I’ve really grown fond of, doing something that might endanger them. These girls are only 14, and I wonder if they have other people in their lives that they can turn to and talk about this with.
So it’s scary to think that I only have about 7 more days of instruction, and that this is my basis for teaching in the Fall. I really am starting to feel prepared, and I’m happy with the foundation that TFA has built for me here at Institute, but I also know that I have so much more learning to do. What will happen when I go from my class of 14 students, to over 30 (in one period, up to 150 the whole day!)? What about finding time to invest parents and other members of the family/community? I can barely manage to finish a lesson plan before passing out at my desk. I know this will come with time, and I’ve been challenged in the past by steep learning curves that at the time felt almost impossible to overcome. With those experiences I just had to tough it out, keep referring to mentors for advice, and over time things really did get easier. I wonder if this will be the same thing? I hope for the sake of my sanity, and my students’ achievement that it’s at least similar!

At this point I’m also not ready to leave my kids. As I’ve mentioned in just about all my posts, I’m absolutely crazy about them. They’re smart, they’re sassy, they’re funny, and they’re good kids. They also yell, dance and sing, and run around the class until I’m dizzy and exhausted from trying to manage the insanity.  I feel like we have so much more learning to do together, me as a teacher, and them about history and all the other useful things I’m trying to convey to them. I will really miss them and it’s sad to think I won’t be able to have a great discussion about politics with D, or research extra information for CD. My funny interaction with C and T after class always make me look forward to after school dismissal, and I can’t stress how sweet A is. Today, C found me after school and announced “Miss, I know I’m your student of the week, but tomorrow I’m going to sleep in your class. I’m bringing a pillow and blanket and everything!” The hilarious thing is that this has become our joke…I know he feels a sense of responsibility with his new title as my student of the week, and he knows he has to be a model to his fellow students. So I’m going to trust that he’ll come in ready to learn tomorrow, and hope that he doesn’t bring that pillow because I might just steal it and sneak a nap during differentiated time which is against the rules…students, don’t tempt me!