Pathways to Truth

I really cannot believe how fast my first semester of student teaching flew by. It was absolutely incredible, and I miss my eighth graders so much already. Since I unfortunately don’t have time to do a full post on each of my many, many learning experiences, I’m going to use this post to cover some of the highlights of my first semester as a student teacher in Milwaukee.

*As soon as I was designated as the adult in control of the classroom, before my students even really knew me, I was suddenly, instantly trusted, looked to for leadership, and asked for advice, permission, or explanation. That was amazing to me—I never really got that until it happened. Once I was “teacher,” I was given this remarkable gift of trust. It reminded me how these kids were letting me lead them because that was what I was there to do. So I worked as hard as possible to earn that gift that they gave me by default.

*I had two classes, and the different personalities and chemistries of each definitely created challenges. My second hour class of nearly 40 kids practically cartwheeled into the room, bursting with energy and noise. Singing, laughing, hitting each other, and bombarding me with questions, this group was incredibly wild, but also enthusiastic and really bright. It was my daily goal to harness and focus their energy. My third hour class (about 25 kids), on the other hand, was very withdrawn and apathetic at first. As the semester went on, I worked to draw these students out of their shells, to engage them with me, the curriculum, and each other. By the end of my stay, they were a truly interdependent group. I was so proud of them!

*Finding my classroom management style was the biggest revelation for me. I tried out a bunch of different tactics, but I soon figured out that there’s only one surefire fact about classroom management: there is no magical solution. However, my current thinking is that the best strategy is to work to create a true classroom community, where each member has a role and an understanding of his or her responsibilities to the class community, and all are respected, welcomed, and listened to. It works well for me to build positive interactions between students and teacher, so that when (not if) problems arise, there is a sense of “we’re all in this together” that keeps everyone working as a group to get through the rocky spots. I hate “lording over” students—it doesn’t work, they just spit at you behind your back. I want my authority as a teacher to spring from a place of respect, not fear of threats. I definitely mean business in my classroom, but I also leave room for students to work together to solve their own problems. That’s what they’ll have to do in the real world anyway!

*Students need to work together to learn. They are social animals, and they need to learn skills of cooperation, compromise, tolerance, tact, and communal problem-solving just as much as they need to know the meaning behind symbols and how to write a good conclusion. Whenever possible, I incorporated that into my instruction. Clearly, students need to achieve individually, but human beings also need to interact to learn. Especially at the introduction of a concept, my students’ best resources were often one another.

*Eighth graders can handle college level work. I have no doubt about this. As long as they have support, and as long as the students trust their teacher, they can achieve at way higher levels than the state expects them to. Over the course of my semester with my eighth graders, I had them writing metaphor-filled poetry, practicing sophisticated grammatical constructions (like compound contrasting sentences joined with semi-colons), discussing the effectiveness of various literary techniques in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, relying on logical argument backed up by research for their persuasive essays, and interpreting paradoxes in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I expected my eighth graders to do each of those things, never doubting that they couldn’t. And I was so right. Obviously, I often got complaints about things being too hard or too complicated, but in the end, once they got beyond their own inhibitions, they could really handle it. I can now say from experience that high expectations work. There is no reason to dumb anything down. All students are potential scholars. And I expect mine to become them.

*A supportive community of peers is absolutely invaluable. I cannot express enough how vital my fellow teacher candidates, professors, and co-operating teacher have been throughout everything. The wisdom of experience as well as the understanding of shared learning creates so many human resources that I’d be a fool not to take advantage of. It is so nice just to sit with another educator and toss around different scenarios, ideas, and solutions. One of my favorite collaboration opportunities this semester was a seminar that I attended with my co-operating teacher and another student teacher. We participated in activities that taught us some ways to incorporate movement into teaching—it was so much fun, but it was also a wonderful time for the three of us to talk about what was going on in our classroom. What was good? What made it that way? What wasn’t working so well? How could we improve it? The constant reflection, revision, and creative nature of teaching is so fulfilling when it’s a collaborative effort.

*Every day is different, and you can never be too prepared. Anything and everything will happen. The powers that be warned me of these things, but I didn’t quite believe them. Now I do.

*Confidence. Plainly put, I wasn’t sure I could do this. I wasn’t sure I could be a teacher at all, much less in an urban district notorious for its safety concerns, low parent involvement, and achievement gap woes. Once I got there, though, I realized that the hype never measures up to the reality, that my students were amazing people, and that I was a perfect fit for this job. This realization brought so much joy to me. After such a long time of being uneasy about my career path, I finally feel secure. I love teaching. It’s such hard work, but it’s the right work for me.

*Basic overview of what I taught this semester [over 15 weeks, with an observation period]:
-poetry (devices, terms, literary interpretation, composition, revision, reasons to write poetry)
-The Outsiders (characterization, vocabulary, theme, connections to current society, making inferences, point of view, author’s purpose)
-Proctored for WKCE testing
-Persuasive writing (grammar in context, basic essay structure, acknowledging/refuting the opposition, distinguishing between fact and opinion, writing a solid argument hinging on logic, using reliable internet sources to conduct research and incorporating direct quotations into writing)
-Creative writing (Conflict, setting, characterization, classic plot elements, show vs. tell)
-Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Who was William Shakespeare?, translating Shakespeare’s English, basics of reading dramatic works, summarization, paradox, making predictions)

It was an insane 15 weeks! Here’s to a great semester. I’ve learned so much already, and I’m ready for more.

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I visited Wordle.net to help me out with today’s post, which is about the English classroom. The word images above and below show the many interrelated concepts/activities that I teach and expect in my classroom.

Last week, I devoted an entire class period to discussion on thematic, characterization, and inference-based questions on the novel The Outsiders which my students just read. They were confused! I was not handing them a worksheet. I was not looking for correctness. I was not telling them to be quiet. All I was asking for was a respectful, engaged discussion. I even put the desks in a circle (in this classroom, that’s radical). I stressed that discussion skills are important to learn, and that talking about our reactions or ideas about books is a big part of what English is all about. I was so proud of them–they really got into it, and I got so much participation, even from students who barely ever speak up. I was shocked that this was such a new type of activity to my eighth graders. They are still being weaned from their steady diet of sit-quietly-and-fill-this-out worksheets.

I am beginning to understand that some English teachers focus on one or three skills for the year and assess these skills with worksheets and tests. But “English” is so much more than that! It’s more than comma usage and the five-paragraph essay. English is…

1. Learning the language itself, its rules (what they are, what they’re for, when to follow them, and when to not), its effect (how to organize sentences and paragraphs to create different reactions), its words (an extensive vocabulary with words for any purpose or occasion), and its history (anything from etymology to linguistics to connotations).

2. Learning to compose in such a way that one can speak from the heart through the flawless execution of Standard American Spoken English as well as honestly from one’s home dialect. Wielding writing for creative, expository, persuasive, and reflective ends. Achieving clarity and a true voice through the written word.

3. Learning to speak about literature and culture. Having discussions and debates with peers reflecting the lively exchange of ideas that come up through reading, whether these ideas harmonize or conflict. Respecting the opinions of others while firmly supporting one’s own. Contributing to and collaborating with a community of scholars.

4. Daring to think and to express those thoughts in ways that haven’t ever been done, personally or categorically. Standing alone, willing to say: “I think ________ . Here is why.”

5. Deciphering, understanding, and interpreting the beautiful mysteries that authors create with our language, through metaphor, symbol, allegory, ideological lens, and theme. Letting others speak to us and through us, and speaking back.

6. Conducting research to answer a question worth asking. Learning to locate and utilize sources such as books, articles, online sources, films, images, personal interviews, letters, and observations to help answer this question.

6. Seeing literature, art, film, culture, and ourselves as texts.

P.S. For a better, more official list than mine, view the standards set forth by the National Council of Teachers of English or the state.

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After reading and discussing Catherine Cornbleth’s Diversity and the New Teacher: learning from experience in urban schools, my colleagues and I expressed a thankfulness for the book’s addressing of “urban issues” for pre-service teachers. (“Urban issues,” of course, has become a borderline euphemism for social issues that extend far beyond the limits of urban areas: poverty, racism, violence, negative messaging, failing schools, achievement gaps, and a population of teachers that is very different in many ways from its diverse population of students…) As a program, we were grateful to have a resource that directly interacted with these issues.

Still, we were also a bit disappointed.

Coming from a program that puts urban issues at the forefront, we have all been discussing the things that come up in Cornbleth’s book since freshman year. The “PT’s” (prospective teachers) in the book, though entering their student teaching experience, were just beginning to scratch the surface of urban issues and how they pertain to teaching. This book belongs in an entry-level education course, we said, possibly as an update to Vivian Paley’s White Teacher, which is currently used in the introductory teaching class. We are in our fifth year of study. We thirst for something that will help us, as prospective teachers who have been examining urban issues all along, begin our careers from a place of deeper understanding.

One of my colleagues, a notorious optimist, suggested that we write our own book. This elicited many cries of “You must have a lot of free time!” and “Ok, I’ll get right on that–NOT!” However, the idea has been turning over in my brain, and I have to say that I agree with her. Our program has a national reputation for being one of premier schools of education with an urban mission. We really can write a book that takes Cornbleth’s base one step further. We can give an audience of pre-service teachers a glimpse at our own experiences from a perspective that, while still in a stage of beginnings and discovery, comes from an informed, dedicated, passionate place when it comes to urban issues.

Yesterday, I sent an email to the optimist, as well as to a couple other student leaders that I thought would be interested. It said, essentially: We CAN write a book, so let’s do it. Here’s how we can start. In?

The replies came rapidly. Everyone was in. So it’s starting. We’re applying for grants. We’re having meetings. We’re going to write a book.

I couldn’t be more excited.

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