Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

During my last year as a student teacher I think it is important to remember that this is only temporary. You have to remind yourself that you will soon have a room of your own and the power and responsibility of the students’ education rests on your shoulders. Throughout student teaching I would get discouraged because I never felt like a real teacher. I had to get permission from my MT to use certain tools, computers, and other resources. I know as a teacher you still need permission from the higher ups, such as, your administration and department head, but during student teaching it felt awkward to have to answer to someone else day in and day out. It wasn’t like checking in with a parole officer, and I’m sure I’m making it out to be worse than it was, but I never felt like I was truly in charge during student teaching.

If I could do something differently during my student teaching I probably would have entered into the transition to teaching program instead of enrolling into the College of Education. I fully believe that the College of Education has helped me become a better 1^st year teacher by offering me examples of best practice and insightful resources that include my professors, academic journals, and colleagues input on how to overcome any pitfalls of teaching, but I can’t help but wonder if the transition to teaching program would have been better suited for me. I am a firm believer in learning through experience and the transition to teaching program would have offered me the opportunity to dive in and immerse myself in teaching, instead of taking it bit by bit like I have done in the College of Education. If I entered the transition to teaching program I could have graduated at an earlier date and basically get paid as I learn to student teach. At the time I did not know there was a transition to teaching program, but if I could go back I would have definitely put a lot thought in joining the program. I am not in any way discrediting the College of Education, I just know that as an older student with experience in being in a classroom without MT/CT support, I would have preferred having responsibility in my classroom immediately, as opposed to spreading out my responsibilities over the course of four semesters.

My program has helped me the most in providing quality professors with great knowledge of their craft, and wonderful colleagues that I can use to bounce ideas off of. Seeing the passion and knowledge that my professors possess has shown me that they take this profession seriously and understand what it means to be a quality teacher. The professors I have had during my core classes always have a handy article in mind that can help stimulate growth and improve whatever issues we may have as student teachers. Having professors around who are passionate about educating students and teaching future teachers how to become future teachers of value is the greatest strength of the education program.

During the education program I would have loved having more time to actually lesson plan. I feel like that is going to be one of our biggest struggles as first year teachers, and promoting more time towards that process in Core 1 and Core 2 would be beneficial to making sure we are ready for our time as a student teacher. I feel that a majority of the time was invested in classroom management techniques and learning about the background of education. I wanted more opportunities experiencing first hand how to enhance myself as a teacher, instead of reading about which strategies work best and which person started areas of thought concerning education.

Rant over. I still enjoyed it all. 

The Sludge of Spring

Every spring there is a natural phenomenon that occurs; students are bored with fluorescent lighting and eagerly looking to the windows, yearning for an escape from their mortar prison they have been confined to these past eight months. I don’t blame them, how could I? My students and I are both showing up with puffy faces, stuffy/runny noses, and red, itchy eyes, reminiscing of a time when our sinus cavities were free from the impurities of pollen. One of the perks of teaching is having summers off, so I understand the plight of my students who hope that the thin red needle of the clock will spin them closer to the freedom of swimming pools and cookouts. Spring season in Kansas is crummy. Compound that with teaching poetry and you have a recipe for student angst.

I have had to step my game up as a teacher the past few weeks and fight through abrupt weather changes to guide my students to better understand and analyze the poetry presented to them in class. My colleagues and administrators have given me insight, advice, and techniques on how to handle the drudgery of spring teaching. The principal of the school gave a presentation to the teachers on how to inspire student learning and participation throughout the spring semester by creating competition through games in class and dialing up the pressure on students to strive for improving their grades throughout the semester.

The two concepts of competition and pressure will help students stay focused on the tasks in class, instead of daydreaming about how they will spend their leisure time throughout the summer. I employed the use of competition during my lesson over “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. I split the students into three groups of six and they competed to see which group had the best answer and analysis over the stanzas, theme, and tone of the poem.  In the previous lesson I had the students complete an analysis of “The Soul Selects Her Own Society”, and student enthusiasm was lacking due to poetry being denounced by all sophomores. By grouping them up and making a game, the students used it as an opportunity to show their knowledge to their peers and experience a self-esteem boost.

I have gone through multiple springs as a student, but this is my first spring as an educator, and it can be a tiny bit demoralizing when the students’ interests are far off on thoughts not associated with your lesson. The past few weeks I have spent more time repeating myself to the students than I have during both semesters combined.

The National Education Association has a few tips that can help lively-up your spring semester, both as an educator, and as a student. First on their list is to give the students fresh air. “I take advantage of the better weather and take my class outside for lessons” (Graham). Let the students have time during the school day to enjoy the relaxing weather. As an English teacher I can teach Romantic literature, have students immerse themselves in the external forces of nature, and write poetry, or short story associated with how nature impacts their lives. I have wanted to take my students outside this semester, but we have had to move throughout our units so quickly that we haven’t had time for a day to go outside and reflect upon the nature surrounding us.

“Cover the hardest work near the start of the semester and plan creative activities near the end. When the students are beginning to relax, relax with them—better than trying to fight gravity” (Graham). I see the benefits to this concept of letting students be more creative towards the end of the semester. The students should have completed most of their learning objectives throughout the year, now it is time to see what they can do with what they have been taught. Allowing students’ time to get creative gives them more freedom to show us and their peers what they have learned throughout the semesters. I feel like it would need to be a structured creativity time because as a teacher you are opening yourself up to students mistaking student-led work time for checking out and beginning their summer early.

Planning a field trip towards the end of the semester can help cure some ailments of spring fever. "You have to embrace spring fever in the kids and understand that there is no way school should always be defined by four classroom walls" (Cullota). Plan meaningful field trips that allow the students to be outside and connect with the town. Even as an English teacher, I can plan trips to history/art museums that allow the students to learn more about the literary time periods we study. I see the benefits of planning activities that lead to holding class in a different setting. This would allow for the students to become interested in class, instead of focusing on their summer plans.

Cullota, Karen A. "Help Young Students Focus When Spring Fever Strikes." Tribunedigital-chicagotribune. 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

Graham, Edward, and Alain Jehlen. "Try This - Curing Spring Fever." Try This-Curing Spring Fever. NEA, May-June 2010. Web. 06 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nea.org/home/38795.htm>.

Good Enough (The King of Improv)

So, recently I was told that I wasn’t very good at structuring lessons. Let me rephrase that last sentence. Se, recently I was told that I had shown zero skill at implicating lesson structure. There that is a better, and a very true/accurate statement. I have no recorded ability of structuring a lesson. To be more specific I have implicated not a single structured book reading and discussion in my classroom. Sure, I can make a mean outline. People come from miles away to get a gander out the outlines I push out. You need an outline for a unit delivered to your door in one hour? Let’s make it 20 minutes and what do you say we throw in a few choice assessments while we’re at it. Yea, I can do that, but structuring single lessons, now that’s where I draw the line. 

I cannot give an exact reason for why I haven’t tried to structure lesson plans. It probably has to do with the fact that I have an improvisational thinking pattern and enjoy coming up with information, jokes, and commentary on the spot. It’s a point of pride for me to be able to have random facts in my head and being able to spit out an acceptable response. I’m good enough to get by using my improv skills, and good enough has been a self-label of mine for many years. I have always been good enough to get decent grades. I have always been good enough to get the job. And I am essentially okay with being good enough, but lately I have seen that good enough doesn’t in the classroom in regards to creating lesson plans. Good enough means the students didn’t light each other on fire. Good enough means that maybe only five students fell asleep during your lesson today. Good enough means not exceptional in any way.

Being good enough has got me to where I am today, but where might I be if I thought to achieve more that good enough. I can’t bring that attitude into my classroom because it will become infectious and spread from teacher to student like the famed virus that had eradicated life on Mars (Google it). Stepping Stones, a non-profit organization registered in Hong Kong and Shanghai with a mission to improve the education and general welfare of disadvantaged children in China, states that there are five parts to structuring a lesson plan:

1.       Warm Up – Bell Work that might review of introduce a new topic

2.       Presentation – Plan what is to be taught and how to teach it

3.       Practice – Students should have fun practicing or talking about the learned material

4.       Production – Can the students use the material taught to produce a viable outcome

5.       Conclusion – Discuss or recap what was has been taught/studied

To be clear, I can do steps 1 and 5 because that is generally all that is needed to make an outline for a unit/lesson plan, but the presentation, practice, and production aspects of my lesson planning have been lacking. Since I was told that my structure is not observable during my lesson, and in turn my lesson suffered dramatically because I was teaching my lesson as a formal lecture. My students were zoning out and I wasn’t able to get much out of them during class discussion. So, I guess you could say that the negative critique of my work was warranted.

I took the criticism to heart and have since changed up my presentation aspect. I plan out every question that is going to be asked to students. My lesson plan has become a living, breathing organism that I will continuously form in order to get the results I desire. And that result is student comprehension, participation, and analysis of the reading. By constructing thorough lesson plans the practice portion of my lesson has progressed and the students are now having fun during the scheduled activities such as journal entries and class discussions. This has allowed more students to become involved in classroom learning and get a better understanding of the material being taught. Production is the last aspect of my lesson planning I am currently tweaking. In my infancy of teaching I am still not 100% sure my desired outcome is for every lesson. Is my outcome participation, gaining written/oral skills, or analysis of literature? I need to become more concrete on the objective of my production and then I will feel that I have come leaps and bounds in my approach to lesson planning and implicating those lesson in the classroom.

In conclusion, I have seen the error of my ways and am now working on a way to improve one of my biggest weaknesses as a student teacher. Whoever you are that assessed m

In conclusion, I have seen the error of my ways and am now working on ways to improve one of my biggest weaknesses as a student teacher. Whoever you are that assessed my work, saying that it was sub-par, know that I appreciate your sugar-less feedback, your brutal honesty has pushed me to create a more structured learning environment for my students. Thank you.

 Leigner, A. (2015, February 10). 5 Steps for Structuring Your Lesson Plan. Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://steppingstoneschina.net/ss-news/7639 

An Ode to the KPTP

Do you care about me?

Because I care about you.

How could you do this to me?

I thought we were meant

For one another.

I was a fool to think

That we would be

Happy together.

I knew I always

Wanted you, but

What is happening

Now makes me wonder

If my dreams were all a

Lie.

My days are dull.

And I escape in

Dreams to ease my mind

From thoughts of what’s

To come.

But now those hopes

Are dashed

You’ve seeped into

My nights now. Turning

Light into darkness.

Agony with a side

Of anxiety.

It will subside

As everything else

Has before it.

Being replaced by

Some new invention

Of madness. For,

Now I will suffer.

For, now I will toil.

To complete what lies

Before my sight.

Hoping to appease

Some dungeon master that

Lurks beyond my vision.

Tightening the constraints.

Trapping me within

My laborious thoughts.

They watch me like a rat.

Experiment upon experiment,

To see the results of

Their twisted abomination

Now standing before them.

Slouching and twisted,

But still erect.

Eyes gazing upwards,

Blocking the fluorescent glow

With my mangled hand.

You will consume my time.

Steal my freedom and

Manipulate my body, but

You will never

Have my

Mind.

Genre Reflection #2: Inside the Actors Studio

Genre Reflection #2: Inside the Actors Studio

We have a special story to tell this evening ladies and gentleman. I have the pleasure of introducing a great talent, and he will join us later to open up about his latest and much anticipated feature film. This film had been in development for many years, hype for this picture was white-hot in the summer of 2011, and the audience was bubbling with anticipation when they had been told the film was going to be released in May of 2013. However, there were some unforeseen setbacks and instead of debuting in 2013 the film was pushed back to an unknown date. While in limbo, the director and producers pulled out. This once highly anticipated film was now without direction, moving closer and closer to being thrown into the scrap heap. Left for dead and barely holding onto life, the film had managed to find a foothold. A small, independent studio, had picked up the rights to the film believing that there was still a story to tell. We now take a look into the life of the lead actor and how his life hinged on the failure and eventual success of the film.

Joshua West, the lead in the film, and master thespian from the famed Mel Brooks Academy of Improvisational Acting, was ready to break free from his comedy upbringings and test his skills as a dramatic actor. In the spring of 2011, weeks into filming, West had been tested by the fates. During a routine CT scan for possible appendicitis, doctors had found something many of them had never seen, or heard of before. West had an aneurysm located on his superior mesenteric vein and doctors were quite unsure of how to handle the situation. After months of meeting with specialists it was decided that the best option was to do nothing since the aneurysm posed little threat at this time. Mr. West continued with shooting the film as scheduled and went on as if nothing had happened. We had learned in an interview that West was having trouble keeping his mental state intact in the months following the CT scan because he was unsure of his future. This doubt caused his on screen performance to suffer, and eventually, without word, walk away from the film in late 2011 for personal reasons.

The December 2013 issue of Vanity Fair West stated, “The doctors told me everything would be fine, but the lack of medical journals covering this type of diagnosis caused me to believe that my time on this Earth would be limited.” By keeping a stiff upper lip and maintaining a stoic approach to life, West had internalized all his feelings of anxiety, causing stress and relentless doubt to creep into his psyche. Months after filming began he would have to take leave in order to recover from a mental and physical collapse in early 2012.  West’s breakdown caused his body and mind to fatigue at a frightening rate and his family was concerned for his well-being. No longer finding solace in his work, or his hobbies of playing rugby, lifting weights, and being active, West spent most of his time inside, depressed and wasting away while the world passed him by. This went on for roughly eight months until he decided to seek professional help.

West claimed that seeking help for his anxiety and depression was the best thing that he could have done for himself. After a brief encounter with a vagabond West decided it was time to either heal or give up. “I saw that there were no fundamental differences between this man and myself. He was homeless, and I was well on my way there, I lived in the backroom of a warehouse for seven months. We were both essentially moving in the same direction in life, and that’s when I knew I had hit rock bottom. I could either wither away into nothingness which I had already done a fairly good job of so far, or I could decide to make my life worth living again.” West pushed himself to come back into the world. In a few short months since seeking medical attention he returned to the rugby pitch, began exercising again, and decided to dedicate himself to making a return to acting. “I had to change my thinking habits. I studied what aggravated my anxiety and depression, and decided to clear those thoughts and activities from my life. No longer was I stressing out over things not within my control, instead, I learned to embrace the random; embrace whatever may come. I see myself as the ponds surface now, calm, tranquil, pleasing, and when life’s hardships are thrown onto me I can now accept them, push them out away from me, to the edges of the pond, until they are soon forgotten”.

News spread in early 2013 that West was wanting to get back into the spotlight. The large production studios questioned his desire to become great again. They did not want another financial nightmare that had ensued just two short years ago, and declined to offer him any roles in their upcoming films. West sought out a well-respected independent studio, Wichita Screen Uprising, WSU for short, and asked if there was any possibility of earning a feature role. As it turned out they had been in the process of securing the rights to his old movie, planning to resurrect the film he had to leave behind in 2011. West jumped at the chance to take on this challenge. “There was no greater obstacle than this film. If I was going to come full circle and redirect my life in a positive way, then I had to finish what I started four years ago. I am no longer the brash actor I was in my early twenties. I have gained nuances of wisdom and perspective that allow me to see my role in this film as something greater than myself.”

The film is scheduled to be released in May 2016, three years after the intended release date. West has been quoted as saying that the development of the film provides parallels and personification to that of his own journey. “This movie has been mired with delays, financial strains, producers leaving, directors quitting, and actors walking out on their role, yet here it is today, fighting for a chance to be seen”.   

I would like you all to stand and join me in welcoming Joshua West to the stage.

That's a Wrap (On My Seven Week Teaching Unit).

First off I would just like to say that I was utterly terrified of this semester. I imagined this fall to be when I realized that teaching just wasn't for me and possibly I should look into another career. Maybe I should go retro and be a pager salesman, or what about going to work for an apple store and then I can use my man-bun to become the ultimate hipster. After seven weeks of formulating my own lessons and teaching my students, it is safe to say that those fears have subsided and are now replaced with the paralyzing anxiety of teaching multiple classes the entire spring, but hey, c'est la vie. 

This semesters teaching has shown me a few things about myself as a teacher, and about teaching in general. I have learned through my seven weeks of teaching that as hard as you try to plan a lesson that goes smoothly and will be a hit with the students, your plan still has a great chance of falling flat on its face. I created a lesson plan that I thought would promote great collaboration and discussion between the students, but instead of pure awesomeness flowing from student to student,  they all looked at each other with blank stares. I thought it was pretty funny, especially since I have days when I correct students for talking during class, but once I have assigned time to do talking, they lose their ability to be chatterboxes. 

Having had lessons that fall flat was not such a big deal for me since I have a small classroom and could refocus them on what the objective of the lesson was for that day. I have learned that I sometimes fall into the trap as the friendly teacher guy. This means that the students want to connect with me. Which is fine. They listen to me when we speak one on one. Again, which is fine. And they tend to get hurt when I get stern and correct their undesirable behavior. Which is not fine. I don't want the students to be hurt or upset when I have to correct their behavior. Many of their other teachers correct their behavior and the students realize they were in the wrong and move on. In some circumstances with me it has been different. I have a talkative bunch of students and I had to correct a group of them because they would not keep quiet during class. I got onto them and they stopped talking, but after class one student from the group said, "I think Mr. West doesn't like me." Which is not true, but I have seen that when I discipline students they look like a little puppy who got yelled out for tearing up the furniture. They feel I have forsaken them. Maybe, not forsaken, but they are just in awe that I got all teachery on them. 

I want to create a persona as a friendly teacher, and not their friend. Author and educator Rick Wormeli states that, "We can grow closer to students when we share a common interest or work on long-term projects, but in every interaction, we remain teacher/student, mentor/mentee, not true friend, and this is wise." This is great advice for young teachers and especially student teachers because as novice educators we may see being friendly as a great way to gain student trust and likability, but there should be a direct line between educator and student. This will help insure that students see you as an authority figure and not their buddy they come and hang out with during 3^rd hour English.

My short time as the main educator for my classroom has shown me that teaching is not as daunting as I once thought it to be. Yes, creating a lesson plan and an entire unit as a new teacher can be overwhelming at first, but with the use of mapping out your semester with outlines new teachers can make their teaching experience less of a stressful ordeal. My MT showed me how to map out the unit I was teaching. We found our starting date and our end date. We agreed that 7 weeks would be sufficient time for our students to complete their book as well as their essay. Once we found the beginning and end dates we started filling in the class periods with brief description of what each day would entail. This made it easier when creating my lesson plan because I already knew what they kids were supposed to be learning that day, now I had to create learning activities to help achieve the goals and standards connecting to the unit. Having an IUG (Integrated Unit Guide) has helped tremendously because it gives the standards necessary for the unit and you can choose from the assigned materials that are provided. For experienced teachers this may seem cumbersome, but as a rookie I was more than willing to follow any suggestions the IUG had offered me.

My unit plan this semester was a thrilling time for me because I got to see myself in action as a teacher for the first time. There were times I struggles and times I surprised myself with my teaching skills, but I was always learning from the good and the bad. Now that my unit plan has ended I have stepped back and am now observing/co-teaching again and I am completely bored not being in control of my classroom. I thought I would be happy once my unit plan was over, but now I am experiencing a postpartum depression of sorts because I miss having the excitement of teaching my students every day.

Articles Cited:

Ferlazzo, L. (2011, October 25). Response: Can Teachers Be Friends With Students? -- Part One. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

Sharing Experiences and Story Telling

To be completely candid I was skeptical on attending the KATE conference. I had heard from experienced teachers that teaching conferences were usually a bore and they spent the majority of their time spacing out on their phones. I didn't expect this conference to fit their descriptions of their own conferences, but I was wary of what I was walking in to. I was a little upset that I had to attend because I have been teaching my students for seven weeks now, we are finishing up an essay, and I want to be there every step of the way for them, but the after 12 hours of KATE conference presentations I was glad I stepped away from the classroom to attend. 

There were two presentations in particular that I enjoyed. The first was a seminar from my 10th grade English teacher, Kelly Frederick, joined by Katherine Whepley and Brieun Scott. Their session concerned itself with taking the students deeper into collaborative group discussions. This meeting gave the audience ideas and worksheets for stimulating students into digging beneath the surface of their reading and come up with their own ideas regarding metaphors, symbols, alliteration, imagery, and other literary devices. I am always intrigued with trying to find ways to get students to discuss literature and discuss it well.

On the second day there was a presentation from two former WSU student teachers, Lindsey Slater and Sarah McQery. These two first year teachers had a wonderful presentation that informed us of multiple ways that music can be used in the classroom to help boost student learning. The main idea of their seminar was that music can be a great way to begin student discussion. Music invokes feeling and students especially teenage students are prone to having a deep connection with music and are more likely to open up with a discussion over music rather than with literature. I loved this concept because it allows for the students to discuss their individual and unique ideas, which will help them feel comfortable with their teachers and their peers. 

As the conference came to a close I was getting restless and wanted to head to the exit. It's hard for me to sit still for almost two whole days and listen to speakers, but it gave me some insight on how students with ADD or ADHD feel when they have to remain seated throughout an entire school day. Tired and wanting some sort of stimulation I was getting antsy. I was certain the KATE stories to end the conference would be a snooze fest of what teachers had learned throughout the years, but my assumptions were completely wrong. The KATE stories segment was the highlight of the conference for me. Hearing personal stories from the speakers had the audience in tears and I did my best to hold mine back. I thought I had done a pretty good job of maintaining until the last speaker shared her story of her student, Nicole, who attended school the day after holding her dying mother in her arms. I wish for my students to live untroubled lives, but I know that that is often not the case. Hearing her story affirmed my belief that the student to teacher connection is vital and it is our job as educators to care for these students and their futures.