The Importance of Knowing Your Classes

I have been teaching my period four class since January and I've come to know them really well  both collectively and individually. I know when I am planning my lessons that they will get taught to this class first. So naturally, I am planning my lessons with this class in mind. I know how fast we will get through some things and how we will need a little more time on other things. Because I have spent so much time with them, I know exactly how much to plan for each day.

My other classes are not like this. My period three class will fly through an activity or lesson in one class period whereas period four took two full class periods with the same activity or lesson. My period two class needs to have things slowed down, and we spend a lot of time on each piece of literature we read and each activity we do. This is fine. It didn't occur to me when I first took over the class that what works well with one class might go over like a lead balloon with another class (it seems so obvious, right?). I like that I get to plan to teach the same lesson three different ways. It keeps things interesting, it keeps me looking at these lessons in different ways, and it is always done with the best interest of the students in mind. 

Yesterday, my period three class finished their makeovers of J. Alfred Prufrock after having one class period prior to this dedicated to the makeover and we were able to do three poems by E.E. Cummings. It took my period four class 2 days for the make over and 1 day on E.E. Cummings and we were only able to look at one poem. I suspect that my period two class will take two days just doing the makeover and another class period for the presentations. When it comes time to do E.E. Cummings, I know that if I plan to read three of his poems, this will be unrealistic. That would completely confuse the students and wouldn't be in any way beneficial to what I am trying to do with E.E. Cummings, AND THAT IS OKAY! I like that I have to prepare comprehension questions for period four, but not period three. I enjoy finding ways to relate the literature to my period two class so that they can use text to self connections to deepen their understanding of the literature. Each student is different, each class is different, and it just makes sense that each lesson should be different as well! It's one of those things that is so obvious, I just never thought about it.

I love that I teach the same lesson three different ways. As long as the students end each lesson with the same level of understanding about the literature, I am happy and it doesn't matter how we got to that point. I will probably finish my unit plan with my period four class at some point in the next week and a half and I get to teach them Of Mice and Men! I am most likely going to get through Of Mice and Men with my period three and four class with time left to be able to schedule activities to complete during our reading of the novel. My period two class may not get through the whole novel before May 9th and some of the activities that I have planned may not be the best way for them to connect with the book. This just means I get to look at the book through their eyes and plan to teach them in a way that is tailored specifically to that class.

Using Revision as a Tool to Succeed!

Every day I can count on one thing: Adam (not his real name) will come into the classroom ready to learn. He usually walks in with 3-4 of his friends, but he always makes it a point to say "hello" or "good morning" to me before he sits down. I have not given my period four class assigned seats, because I haven't had a reason to do so, but Adam distances himself from his friends when choosing his seat. He almost always sits in the front row only a desk or so away from my desk.

Adam is a student who really surprised me. If I hadn't had the opportunity to observe this class many times prior to taking it over, I would just assume that he is quiet and shy.  This could not be farther from the truth. Adam always participates during class discussions, even if he is not confident about what he is saying. He is willing to put himself out there and ask the questions that I'm sure a lot of his classmates are thinking, but are too tired to ask at 7:30 in the morning. I love that he asks these questions! He isn't afraid to ask me to clarify something or repeat what I said, and I admire that about him.

Adam has an amazing work ethic. He did not receive what he considered to be a good grade on the first assignment that I gave period four (his grade was a C) so he took the opportunity to revise it. I am a big believer in giving students honest feedback (with my purple pen, NEVER RED) and he took the time to read my comments and resubmit the assignment, without being prompted to do so. Adam always strives to do his best and doesn't stop until he is satisfied with whatever he is doing.

English may not be his best subject or even his favorite subject, but the fact that he is willing to revise his work on his own is astounding, especially in a world where students are being constantly reminded by parents and teachers to do most things. Adam isn't one of my top students in this class, but he isn't failing. He's somewhere in the middle, and he takes it upon himself to improve. He is one of the few students I have who actually READ what I write on their assignments. As a teacher, this makes me so happy. Not only does he read it, but he understands my comments and uses them to make his work stronger.

Surprises and Makeovers!

As of yesterday, my period four class is midway through the poetry portion of our unit. Yesterday was probably one of the best days that I have had with my students for a couple different reasons. My CT had to be at a data team meeting all day yesterday and thus he was out of the classroom (and the school) all day. This was my first time teaching the class without him being in the back of the classroom, observing me. I was not nervous about teaching the students on my own, because I have a good rapport with them and classroom management is not an issue with this class. The students completely blew me away. It started with one of my more challenging students walking into the classroom and declaring "This is going to be a good day! We're going to have a good class today!" after which I praised him for starting the class with such a positive attitude! I had the students working in groups to find different literary techniques (metaphors, similes, personification, repetition, and allusions) in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. We read the poem as a class the day before and had a class discussion after each section of the poem (I had broken the poem up into sections) to help aid in comprehension. This is NOT an easy poem, and I let the students know that when we started it. It's more difficult than The Red Wheelbarrow and I felt confident in telling the students this, because I followed it up with "even though this is more difficult than the poems we have been reading, I have complete confidence in every single one of you, you're all intelligent people and I have broken this poem up so that it is less overwhelming" and the students appreciated my honesty. 

As I monitored the groups, I was impressed with what I was hearing. Students were making amazing connections with the text and using the literary techniques to determine how they were important in the poem. Another challenging student was making amazing connections with the literary techniques and I had to praise him by declaring "Wow ***! You brought your a-game today!" The students were all on task, and they weren't afraid to ask me questions. They were completely comfortable with me and although this has not been an issue, I feel that I was finally accepted as their teacher! I think that my CT not being in the classroom had a big part in how the students were behaving! I did not have to reprimand anybody and the class period could not have gone smoother! After we discuss the literary techniques in the poem, I am going to have the students give Prufrock a makeover! As a class we decided that his life is a mess and it needs some professional help! They are going to work in groups and use magazines to make a collage and then present it to the class on how their chosen images will help Prufrock. I am excited to see what they come up with! I feel like they like this poem more than the ones we have been reading, because they are able to make connections with their own lives. Who knew that Prufrock would be the key to surprising me and cementing my teacher role in the classroom? 

"Miss, please tell me none of these poems made it big!"

Last week was my first week of teaching my period four class and it has been a rollercoaster of emotions! The first day that I taught them I had them first period, after two snow days. Needless to say, they were less than excited to be in school that day. As I was teaching my WOW lesson on disillusionment, defiance, and discontent (the major theme of our unit) I realized that my lesson was a little redundant.The students didn't notice this, thankfully. But I made a note to myself to revise the lesson plan for when I have to teach it to my two other classes. The first day went well, but not without a few hiccups. I was a little hesitant to call on the students, because I did not want to put them on the spot. So instead, I used this as an opportunity to exercise my wait time. 

The next day I was teaching them "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams as an introduction to Imagist poetry. I was really excited about this lesson because I thought that the students would have fun with it! These poems are really short, no longer than twelve lines and each line was only about 3 words, so I felt that the students would like this. Next, I planned to introduce the students to the idea of "parody" through a Weird Al song, "Eat It" (a parody of "Beat It"). I wanted to then have the class journal about why this is a parody and what elements of this song make it a parody of "Beat It" and then do a whip to share out. Finally, I wanted the students to write their own parody poems of either "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "This is Just to Say" (and I provided them with examples of parodies of these poems, written by students their age). 

As we were reading the two poems, it became very clear to me that the students did not like these poems, as I thought they would. At one point one student said "Miss, please tell me none of these poems made it big! I could write something better than this!" I could not have been happier that he said this! "YES! You say you can write something better than this? HOLD ON TO THAT THOUGHT!" Now he was just saying that to get some laughs from his classmates, who shared his dislike and disinterest of the poems, but he was leading us right where I had planned for the lesson to go! It was an amazing way to transition into the next part of the lesson. When it came time to tell the students that we were going to be writing parody poems, I referenced back to his statement and said "How many of you think you could write something better than this? Good, because you're going to have the chance to do that!" The parody poems that the students handed in were so funny! They all included a clear example of imagery and kept the same structure of the original poem. I could tell from the class discussion and the parody poems that the students understood the concept of Imagist poetry. I have included three student examples below! I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did!

A parody of "The Red Wheelbarrow" 

So much depends

upon

the Golden arches

a soda dripping

with condensation 

beside the McDonald's

worker

A parody of "This is Just to Say"

This is Just to Say: I'm a tree

I have broken

the windshield

of your new red sports car

which you're 

going to be angry about.

But I swear it's not my fault

the wind pushed me too far

into your front yard. 

A parody of "This is Just to Say"

This is Just to Say: Coca Cola

I have drank

the last bit of cola

that was in the fridge

which you wanted

before bed.

Forgive me

it was tempting

so sweet

so bubbly.

I love soda.

Weathering the Storm with Nana!

I am very fortunate that my grandmother lives right near PHS! I have spent the storm with my 90 year old grandmother and she has declared us "survivors of the storm!" As I type this, we are sitting in the Warwick Public Library because her house does not have internet. Last Friday, PHS had a snow day, and for once I was not happy about it! I was supposed to start teaching my first class on Friday (after what seems like a million years of sitting in the back of the classroom just observing the students) and I was looking forward to starting an introduction to "Literature of the Modern Age: 1914-1945" or, Unit Four. Nevertheless, I have used this three day weekend as an opportunity to continue planning my lessons, and get better at playing Yahtzee.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I can teach my first class and start the new unit! Even as I type this, I am not nervous to teach but rather, I am anxious to start teaching! I feel like I am ready and prepared to take this first class Look out period four, here I come!

I will be taking on an additional two classes after they finish up their unit on transcendentalism with my CT. Instead of doing a poetry slam like period four (which I was fortunate enough to observe), they are ending the unit by watching "The Dead Poets Society" and then doing a Socratic Seminar on it, which I presume will take over a week. It's strange to think that I won't be taking on these two classes until almost March (because February vacation is next week), but it will give me the chance to teach my lessons to period four and then reflect upon them and revise them to make any necessary changes before teaching the same lessons to periods two and three.

My Nana has been a great sounding board for me to bounce my ideas off of, as she is a former teacher herself! As she was alive for most of the "modern age", I used her as a reference to gain historical insight on the United States from 1922-1945. I'm not entirely sure how accurate her stories are from that time period, but they seem to check out when I cross reference them with history books! If nothing else, her stories will help to add to a colorful introduction to the "Modern Age."

Pre-Assessing Myself

Although I have been into PHS before, this past week marks my first official week as a student teacher! I have begun the process of getting back into a routine and I could not be happier! As I continue along, it becomes easier to get up in the morning (most likely because I'm in bed at 9:00 out of pure exhaustion). This past week has been an interesting first week of student teaching because it was exam week at PHS. During exam week, the students have a half day of school and 1-2 two hour exams. Each content area teacher has to proctor a different content area's exams (I would guess that this is to discourage cheating, but I am not sure). While my CT has been in/out of meetings and proctoring exams, I have had the opportunity to plan/prepare for the upcoming weeks!

I am so grateful for the chance to be able to prepare for my future lessons during the school day, because I understand that this is not the norm. My CT has made himself available to me to go over these plans and let me pick his brain. One of the most surprising things that I have learned this week was how much I needed my CT to help me plan. This is not a bad thing by any means. I did not realize how important it would be for me to see my CT as a fountain of knowledge. He knows the students much better than I do, so it was important to me that I run my lessons by him to make sure that they would be engaging to the students. He has much more experience teaching this content than I do. I looked to him to help me brainstorm and give me ideas about what would work/wouldn't work. It became apparent to me how important working cooperatively together was. 

I am teaching three American Literature classes. As I flipped through the textbook, I was astonished to find that I had not heard of (much less read) many of the pieces that I would have to teach! I was familiar with most of the authors of these pieces, but not the actual literature itself. I made it my priority to become familiar with these texts to the point where I would be fully prepared to teach them. I read the texts and then I read the questions that the students would have to answer and tried to answer them myself. I then went online and did some research about these texts and then reread the literature. If there was something that I did not understand, I felt completely comfortable asking for my CT's opinion on the piece. I made it my business to know these pieces inside and out and to be able to interpret them using different critical lenses. 

After this week, I have learned that I am not afraid to ask for help. There is no use in pretending that I know what I am doing, if I do not. I am surrounded by knowledgeable teachers who have been more than willing to answer my questions. I would rather ask too many questions than not enough. Just as you cannot be over-prepared for a lesson, you cannot hurt yourself by asking too many questions. "Is this activity going to be too simple for the students?" "Is this writing prompt worded in a way that will best engage the students?" "Are the students going to be okay with each reading a paragraph of the text aloud?" "Are the students used to sharing their writing?" I just think that I am not asking these questions just for myself, but also for the students. I don't want to give them an activity that is too simple, or a writing prompt that is vague, or ask them to share their writing if they are not used to being asked to do that. With every question that I ask, I am learning more about my students. Each question that I ask, makes my lessons even stronger.