Today was a staff development day at my school. Mostly it was pretty interesting, and definitely useful for getting a picture of the pressures of working in a low-income, low test-scores school. It really became clear after lunch, when my master teacher and the other fifth-grade teachers got together to plan how to prepare the kids for an upcoming test, one of the ones that they use with Open Court every 6-8 weeks. The problem seems to be that this test has a whole new story for reading comprehension, and vocabulary that the kids have never seen before--in other words, it has very little to do with what the kids have been taught for the last six weeks. The teachers were complaining--justifiably, it seemed--that everybody SAYS "don't teach to the test," but on the other hand, that is just what the teachers are forced to do if they want to raise test scores. So they talked about how they were going to bring in some background knowledge that would go with the test story (seems like anything short of actually reading it to the kids ahead of time was fair game) and how to get them the vocab. words they would need.
Now, I am totally sympathetic to this approach, especially when it comes to vocabulary, because, I'm sorry, there is no way most of these kids are going to know certain vocabulary words unless they are explicitly taught--it's completely unfair to give them a bunch of words over the course of six weeks and then test them on OTHER words. But when it comes to the reading comprehension portion, I have mixed feelings. I am puzzled. It seems that the point of reading comprehension is, indeed, to be able to understand something you read, even if you are reading it for the first time. A lofty goal, perhaps, but there it is. So maybe that's why this test gives a completely unfamiliar story. AND if what we want and what we want to test is the ability to comprehend something read, even if it's new--then maybe it's not such a great idea to spend a week on one story from the reader, reading it over and over. Would it not be useful to hit the kids with new stuff to read every day--and go over it with them slowly and in depth, teaching them both a wider variety of vocabulary in context, and strategies for understanding and remembering what they read?? I know--at least I think this is what I've heard--that reading something many times builds fluency--but does it build fluency just for that particular piece, or overall?? Maybe it does... I'm just a student teacher and I sure don't know. Experienced teachers, please feel free to comment. I'm just confused.
My master teacher has said she's going to give me a lot of freedom to work with a particular group of students, and what I'd like to do, instead of so many fill-in-the blank worksheets, is give them stuff to read, and for me to read with them--maybe just a page, maybe just a paragraph--and work with that, going over vocabulary, main idea, point of view, etc--maybe have them do some writing in response, and so on. Is this just off the wall, or what?? Any insight, would be much appreciated!!
..in a whole lot of ways! First off, so far I really like my master teacher. I love the way she manages the class--absolutely consistent in giving consequences (the school has a time-out system which seems to work well), yet addressing the students always with scrupulous politeness and liberal use of endearments: "thank you, dear, that was perfect," "yes my darling," etc, which she delivers in a charming foreign accent. The kids seem to really respond to this. She tells me I would never believe the way some of them act outside of class, and I'm sure she's right. I can indeed see the difference when the kids from another class come into our class. (Funny how I'm acting as if I've been there forever--I just spend one whole day there today!)
My last master teacher was not entirely consistent with classroom management. She demanded a quiet class, but she got it with a mixture of threats, spottily-delivered consequences, and haranguing. My new teacher does not harangue or lecture. She has a system of counting down during transitions, or when she wants their attention, and if they settle down before she gets down to one, they get minutes to add toward their Friday free choice time (this is a school-wide thing, too). If they're not quiet by then, she goes into negative minutes. Then when they finally settle down, she'll just say, "Well, class, you lost five minutes this time, but there will be plenty of time to make it up before Friday." Then she has a student write the number of minutes on the board, and that's that, end of story.
Speaking of stories, they are using the Open Court reading at this school, and so far it seems not so bad to me, despite what I've heard to the contrary. But one thing that bugged the heck out of me was the way the selection was read on the CD. I don't think it's a bad idea to have the kids listen to it read aloud, especially since many of them are not strong readers, but did they have to record THIS lady! She made a serious story of a Jewish family's flight from Czarist Russia sound like a toothpaste ad! Argh!
But that's my only complaint so far--not bad for someone who loves to complain as much as I do!
Thanks for your comment, Betty. I'm hoping I can do it this quarter. I did hear from my new master teacher--we're supposed to meet tomorrow for coffee. Wow--a face-to-face meeting with no kids around, just to talk and plan together--I never got that with my first master teacher! I have high hopes for this placement and this teacher. Also, her email to me was very articulate and formal in a polite way--so different from my other MT's curt notes consisting of text-message-style abbreviations! Also, evil snooping person that I am, I googled her full name and found out she has an interest in poetry... maybe we're going to get along really well! I remember when I first started last quarter, helping my master teacher pass out the "poetry notebooks" for her class. "Cool!" I thought. Poetry in 2nd grade! But of course the "poems" turned out to be just little phonics rhymes. There was one real poem they saw while I was there -- a very nice, accessible one by Langston Hughes that would have made a great lesson--but alas, it was just an exercise out of the handwriting book--not a word was said about it as a poem!
OK, so my last entry was back in August, waiting to hear about my first student teaching assignment. And now I'm waiting to hear from my 2nd placement master teacher... at least I know who it is. I'll be working in 5th grade in a poor area--very different from the very middle-class school where I did my 2nd grade first placement. What to say about that experience? It was so-so. I learned a heck of a lot, of course, and I enjoyed the kids, but I didn't click with my master teacher. Still, we got along OK, and the knowledge that things could have been a lot worse (heard various horror stories from my classmates) makes me a bit nervous waiting to hear from my new lord and master (mistress). Still, I am rather excited about this placement. I requested the area, and they read my mind and gave me 5th grade, which I think I would really like to teach. So, here's my chance for finding out! And my chance to find out if I can cut it in a really low-income school--that is, can I live up to my ideals? And also, can I deal with the commute? Not a long one, but still... if it seems like a big problem, better to find that out now than after I'm committed to a job.
Let's see if this time around I will actually be able to blog, unlike last quarter. In fall we were required to keep a daily journal--which I did, sort of, like the good little student I am--so I didn't exactly have much urge to write any more. But this quarter that's not required. I know we have to keep another kind of journal for our supervisors, to show how we're hitting all the vague and redundant Magic Teacher Points that are required for graduation. Since I didn't get a lot last quarter (seemed to depend on who your supervisor was) and since I finally now understand what is required (all was revealed at my evaluation meeting last quarter--oh NOW you tell me!!) I have come up with a template to use for these "reflections" that hits all the MTPs for each lesson I teach. BUT perhaps the blog will be a chance to write some of that fun stuff that I don't want my supervisor to know!
Once again, watch this space!
arrrgghh.... school starts next Monday and I still don't know where, for whom, or at what grade level I'll be student teaching. I HATE waiting for news! Well, at least one person from our group sent out an email that she'd finally heard from our team leader... so at least someone is alive out there... and apparently it's still true that we're supposed to start on the 27th. I've been checking my email obsessively... so stupid, but I can't help it.
Oh well. At least I have my Wednesday night hula class to look forward to.
Here I am writing from my mom's MacBook, trying to decide if this will work out for me. The only thing is, the screen is small and the print seems so small. I'm only a few years (months, maybe?) away from presbyopia, so I wonder if this is going to be a problem. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to bother Mom. Yet. It's still a new machine for her.
Whereas I have a 6 year old Dell laptop that was buggy from the very beginning, and is really showing its age now that I'm supposed to be doing all this stuff for school. So we'll see... if I get a new one now, I'll have some time before fall classes and student teaching to get used to it... might be better than having my old one blow up in the middle of the semester!
Sorry this is such a dull entry. Things are nuts, but will be over soon!!
Yay--last day of back-to-back morning and afternoon four-hour classes. Ever. Because next term will be student teaching in the morning--at least my rear end won't be so sore from sitting all day!
I haven't blogged for the last month because it's been so crazy. I feel uninspired, too--maybe I'm so busy doing stuff that writing about it seems superfluous. Well, I'll see how this goes on.
I'm home alone for a couple days--LM took the Bear to a family reunion on the coast. About three hours after they left I got up from my desk, went into the bedroom, and saw the Bear's neatly packed suitcase sitting there on the bed. Argh!!And all because I was trying to be such a good wife and not hover and nag--no, actually, it never occurred to me to check if they'd forgotten something. Wish I had--but oh well, I guess they are surviving! I imagine the Bear can borrow some clothes from his cousins. I would dearly love to talk to them but LM doesn't like talking on the phone, and cell service is quite spotty out there. Gosh, I was really lonely last night! I'm somewhat used to LM being on the road, but to have the Bear gone too is quite weird--peaceful, but weird. I'll be glad when they're back, although I'm getting a lot done while they're gone.
Which is a good thing, since I've plenty to do! So long for now!
Well, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that this is the first day I've had time to post something since my classes started on Monday. It's been a whirlwind week--at first I felt like I'd been shot out of a cannon, but now I am calming down and I think I'll be able to handle this. I guess the low point came on Tuesday night, when I finished an assignment at about 11:30 and discovered there were also 75 pages of reading assigned! So, I'm learning how to skim. The assigments aren't that hard, it's just a matter of being organized enough to figure out when everything is due and plan accordingly. What makes that a bit difficult (aside from the fact that I've never been in school as a mom before) is that I'm a commuter student (as are most of my fellow students) and I can't just pop over to campus for an hour or two in the library. Well, of course the other thing is that when we are up on Rattlesnake Hill (where the wind blows like crazy!) we are constantly in class. The summer "quarter" is only six weeks long, so class sessions are three and four hours. So far the professors do a pretty good job of keeping it interesting, with a variety of discussion topics, videos, etc. And of course, breaks.
Everyone is very nice and I'm trying to be more outgoing than I usually am, so I won't feel like a loner. Yesterday for the first time someone actually spoke to me without me speaking first--yay! Our class is mostly young women fresh out of college, but there are a few older women and a few men--looks like only two of the men are recent college grads and the others are my age or older. Intellectually, the course material is not terribly challenging, but it's a new field for me so it's interesting enough. It seems like we are getting a lot of theoretical stuff now, and the more nuts-and-bolts things will come later when we're doing student teaching.
So far MLM and the Bear seem to be adjusting OK to the new schedule. I was worried on Friday evening, though, when the Bear came down with a sudden fever and I figured I'd get it, miss school, and have to take incompletes in all my classes! But he got better quickly so it seems more like just a cold and not the flu. I probably will get it soon, but maybe I'll still be able to get to class to infect everyone else, ha ha!
MLM has returned to the bosom of his family, the Bear's behavior has improved (probably because there are no cousins around to get him all excited) and we've had a near-perfect Saturday. For a change of scene we took a drive out to the local fancy private college (they also have a teacher credential program, for maybe two or three times the price I'm paying to go to Rattlesnake State), wandered for a bit around the perfectly groomed campus, admired the gardens, courtyards, and fountains, etc, and visited their art museum, which had a nice landscape exhibition. There was some kind of sporting event going on on campus, and we were the only ones in the museum. The students staffing the front desk seemed touchingly grateful to us for coming in, and they even took some artsy-looking wooden toys they had for sale out of a locked cabinet and let the Bear handle them. Needless to say, this was not my idea, but fortunately he was good (influence of other adults besides us in the room) and didn't cause any damage. These toys were very cool and really not that expensive. I might have bought him one if I hadn't known it would be broken within an hour of coming home.
Well, tomorrow is Sunday and the last day of summer for me! OK, we have almost month off in August, but still. The last day of my innocence, before I am initiated into the mysteries of teacher education! Thanks for your comments, Betty and Mystery Teacher. I am definitely going to try to keep all the good ideas in a file. And teaching math, and how to teach kids of all different kinds of abilities, are all the kinds of things I'm hoping to learn a lot about. After so many years out of school, I am really looking forward to LEARNING again! That is, of course I've learned a lot in the past twelve years--but most of it has been the tough, annoying, learning-from-bitter-experience kind of thing. Sitting in a classroom absorbing new knowledge just sounds so refreshing! Well, we'll see how I feel about it after a four-hour lecture (summer quarter is short so these classes are pretty intense) but I think it can handle it...
Watch this space!
five days til classes, two days til dear hubby returns. (I hate that formulation. I think I'll try something else.. how about MLM for Mein Lieber Mann? Maybe that's how they blog in Germany.) Anyway, today I've already managed to get something done--started in on re-arranging my office/art studio/exercise room/guest room. Not a big room, either, so you can imagine it's a bit crowded. I decided to get rid of one of the exercise machines (the one that makes MLM seasick--I don't have that excuse; I just hate it because it's an instrument of torture) and move the recumbent bike back to where I had it before so I can do computer stuff (namely jigzone puzzles) while I exercise. I need to get a lazy susan so I can easily move the laptop around. Of course, I'm not exercising while I write this--tried, but the keyboard slipped off the little book platform I've rigged up on the bike. Yes, trying to figure out how to do something useful while exercising is sort of an obsession with me. It's kind of like the Holy Grail. Recently I found out about something called the Geek-a-Cycle, which combines a bike with a computer desk. Maybe I'll buy one when I start raking in those big bucks as a teacher! ha ha
Ordered some of my books yesterday--they are supposed to be delivered to the satellite campus where I'll be taking classes. I hope this is fun, or at least moderately interesting. A relative who teaches high school English (which I thought about doing before I decided to go the elementary school route) has expressed nothing but contempt for his education classes. But I think that, with teaching younger kids, there is more to learn that is actually useful--like how the heck to start out teaching kids to read (although I'm hoping to work with older kids anyway). What I mean is, what I don't know about teaching teenagers is more likely to be learned by experience (I have taught freshman college students before) rather than coursework, but I can believe there would be more to learn about teaching younger kids. Especially since you have to teach everything, not just one subject.
Anyway, I'd be interested to know what experienced teachers think about the education courses they had to take. Were they useful? Did they prepare you at all for the reality of the classroom? Or were they just another set of hoops to jump through?
OK, it's time to try this again. I wrote a few entries back in March, but it didn't take. Still too far away from the real thing, I guess. But now it's less than a week til I start teacher education classes, and I want this blog to be a record of what goes on in my musty fusty brain--and in the real world around me, too--while I go through this process. It's been a year since I decided to go from housewife to teacher--it hit me like a ton of bricks over the 4th of July weekend--and since then, as I've jumped through all the hoops of applications, taking tests, and getting experience, I've gotten more and more antsy to JUST GET STARTED! So here we go.
Well, I hope keeping a blog will be another example of how the more you have to do, the more you get done--whereas the reverse has been the ruling principle of my life for the past couple years. For some reason, now that I'm about to be very busy, I feel like I might find time to clean the house, organize my office, work in the yard, write in a blog, etc etc. Over the last couple years, lazing around eating bonbons (and trying to keep a lid on my little wild man, who is really going to test the mettle of his kindergarten teacher next fall) has become less and less amusing to me, and I've realized I'm not at all as well suited as I thought I was to play the angel in the house. Turns out I really do want a career. Turns out I really do still want to teach. So here I am.
And now that I've gotten this little introductory piece out of the way, maybe my blogs will get more interesting. Like, for instance, today I discovered online Scrabble. Now THAT's educational!!