Not Giving Up!

This week has been one of the hardest and most important weeks at Penn GSE.

My CM was out for three days this past week. Therefore, I had to help a substitute teach the class and carry through the lesson plan. For those of you who have forgotten, students tend to go crazy, bounce all over the wall, and test the limits. As you can imagine, my first day with the substitute was far from pleasant. The children were misbehaving and the substitute arrived late. I took the moment and began teaching the class while the substitute was catching up with the lesson plans. Things went well for a while and the students began to test the limits. By the end of the day, I was very sad and emotional about the students conduct.

I took the next two days to analyze and synthesis what had occur. I reverted to some of the articles we have been reading regarding classroom management and strategies for effective teaching. I decided to, although It wasn't required, to return the classroom before the weekend. I wanted to end on a better note and give teaching a lesson another try. I did want to give up and I felt I had the tools to teach my class without my CM

I returned to the classroom for Friday afternoon after class at Penn GSE. I quickly got into the classroom and before I knew it, I had the class silent reading, doing math worksheets, and writing in their journals. It was an incredible experience and it was the difference between night and day! More importantly, not only were the students being productive but I was also establishing relationships with them. It was a great learning experience and one that will stay with me. I felt like a quarterback that threw the game winning pass at the Super-Bowl.

The Age of Testing

During our summer term our cohort read various articles on No Child Left Behind. We discussed its implications and the general climate of high-stakes testing during our summer term. I left the summer term believing I would have to teach to tests and focus more on Math and Science than traditionally observed. This notion came to a complete halt yesterday as I sat through the third session of professional development for the year.

The school is focusing heavily on Math and Literacy. The students test scores were presented to the staff and the theme of the school year is reaching a 15% increase in testing results. Again, I got the impression that there would be great effort on Math and Literacy but room would be made for other subjects such as science and social studies. Now, after my third week at my placement, I am finding that there is barely any instruction on Science or Social Studies. The students only have on period of Gym, Science, Computers, and Art each week. As a low-performing school (although it has made consistent progress the last three years) there is a greater urgency and demand placed on the school in order to be seen as an achieving school.

Thus far, I have observed only one Social Studies lesson. This is not to the fault of my CM. She is restricted by administrative directives. Unfortunately, yesterday's professional development meeting focused on implementing another administrative directive to increase independent reading and writing. It virtually leaves little to no time for other subjects.

I am gaining a first hand experience to some of the results of the No Child Left Behind Act and the current stress for testing placed upon schools.

Understanding Emotions

As I continue my journey as a student teacher, I am finding emotions to be a critical piece of becoming a successful teacher in both classroom management and instruction.

I am placed in an under performing school in North Philadelphia. The community is struggling and is plagued with social ills from unemployment to drug trafficking. When students enter the classroom, it is difficult not to think about their homes, community, and how they are experiencing their world. I am fortunate to have a great classroom mentor (CM) - the teacher you work with at your placement - as she has an uncanny ability to take moments of misbehavior and turn them into opportunities to connect with students at a more personal level and assist them.

The students in my placement are slowly individually finding emotional support from my CM. All children need emotional support, but I believe the context of urban schooling presents greater complexity and importance for serving as a emotional outlet for children. It also shows how, as teachers, we must not look at the profession as instilling knowledge effectively but as a holistic effort where we nurture and develop the moral, social, and intellectual growth of students.

To give an example to my observation, a child was being disruptive all morning. When the children returned from lunch the child was cussing openly and being disorderly. I intervened and gave the child an opportunity to gather himself. We return with the rest of the class but his behavior did not change. I talked to my CM and we pulled him from his elective, Computers. We talked to him individually and learned that he had not taken his medication and was having issues at home. We talked about his responsibilities and possible solutions. The conversation ended positive and we gained a greater understanding to his emotional state.

Situations like these are hard to endure but are reminders, at least to me, of the importance of teaching in urban communities.

What would you do with $200

There is a strong emphasis on test scores at my placement, particularly in reading and writing. To manage the administration’s directives about test results and help students express and manage their emotions, my classroom mentor has her students write daily journals. The journals help gain an insight to the lives of the students and have them develop their writing skills. We also participate in the journal writing and students are allowed to read what we write and the teacher also shares some of the students’ writing. As I read their journals, I have started to pick up on their individual writing levels. There is one student who is advanced with great writing. I have been very impressed by his skills. I was further taken back when the teacher asked the class to write about what they would do with $200. This young man decided to take $100 and save for college. With the other $100, he is going to buy the teacher and I a present and donate any balance to charity.

I was completely in awe by his response. It is a mature answer for any student at any age or community. The teacher told me that such answer gives her an indication that there is someone talking in his ear and teaching the importance of school. It was a moment I wanted to share with every person who has given up on urban education. I had to rethink about my assumptions and the ideas about my students I bring into the classroom, regardless of how much I try not to have them. I felt the experience was teaching me not to look at my students and the neighborhood as monolithic-a simple idea but gets seems to get lost at times.