May 13th Journal

I wanted to start this with some reflections on our discussions from class last week. I thought we had some good discussions about a lot of topics – some of which I have addressed in my journals – and some I have not.

The first things I wanted to address had to do with technology. I love the idea of having an international blog. Although I have used a PC for years and am proficient in many ways – I have never entered the world of ‘blogging’. Yet, I see how many ways this can be so useful in a classroom. First to communicate with the children and families. And secondly, for the class to communicate with the outside world! There are so many wonderful ways this can be used! Culturally, as you said – to develop relationships with people or groups in other areas! This conversation – and the “global-ness” of this – inspired me to go figure the whole “blogging” thing out! Or even to seek out a professional opinion on a topic (I could see this as being useful in math to get input on who out there in the real world is using some of the topics we cover – I hear so often ‘why do I need to know this…’). Then how do we add more into this – Skype, etc. Always remember that anything put on-line should be something you wouldn’t mind being put on the front page of a newspaper! So, thank you for the 'kick in the pants' I needed to really find ways to use this technology (also in the Wiki page and Google Docs - I've used both now!)

I also really liked the idea of the ‘getting to know you’ questionnaire at the beginning of the school year. I have done this many times for my daughter and never heard any more from or about it from their teachers – but I can see how it would be useful to ‘know’ the child.

And then, I had struggled in one of my journals with the apparent contradiction between seeing kids as part of a cultural group yet seeing them as an individual. And I still think this is a very fine line – but I thought we had good discussion – and I liked your analogy about how their identity as a member of a particular culture is PART of who they are – there is so much else. So, the culture is important – but not everything. I do think this will be a fine line we walk – to see their culture, but not make assumptions based on stereotypes of that culture. I liked your idea that when something is ‘not working’ with a child that we look into the cultural differences to see if there is something there that needs to change. Not necessarily the answer – but a good place to start.

And one last thing – I liked the discussion about kids who work best with ‘competition’ vs kids who work best with ‘cooperation’. And how we, as teachers, need to provide the kids with options – or, better yet, with the choice to do it the way it works best for them. I still wonder about the kids who will do it ‘cooperatively’ – for those that just means they write down the answers everyone else is giving them. I see those kids out there in the school – and obviously this doesn’t work for them. The answer cannot be to tell them they need to do it alone. But, there is no learning going on if they are just putting down the answers that everyone else is working to get. I need to do some thinking about this.

On a bigger scale – my perspective of this first quarter is that you and Jean are getting us to focus on some of the ‘bigger questions’. What kind of teacher do I want to be? What does that mean and how do I best become that teacher? What systems work best and how do we keep the focus on what is best for the child? These sort of ‘big picture’ questions help us envision in our minds the ideal. My hope is that when we get into more of the schooling – and then eventually out into the workplace – and get ‘busy’ with the day to day ‘grind’ that we can continue to reflect on these issues and not lose sight of the ideals we are now defining.

We had two principals visit our class on Monday and they had some great advice for us.

I will start with some advice they gave about interviewing – I wanted to journal these things to ‘keep them’ – there was a lot of good advice to refer back to. First – the goal is to find the ‘perfect fit’. This means different things to different people. Some issues to consider are do I want a more defined or more I get to define it curriculum. What social standing school do I want – the higher socio class – the ‘easier’ the teaching is, but the opposite provides the real ‘meat’ of teaching. And do I want a more tech savvy district/school – or less. There are many more issues – but these are a few to think about. More realistic, - I will just go where I find a job, but if I have a choice to define the ‘perfect fit’.

And then they talked about what skills they look for. They were mostly the things that one would expect – but still good to think about. Be confident that I can do the job – but know that I don’t know everything (at all). The knowledge of skills to be an educator. Good communicator. And do I WANT the job! The most important thing was to answer the question! This is what I believe… (spout theory) and I have done this by… (actual practice).

Then they gave some advice for first year teachers. First and foremost they talked about how important those first two weeks are in September where you are setting up guidelines and standards for the classroom. This is so important and must be held consistent throughout the year! Then, get the kids to be independent workers so you, as the teacher, can spend time with the children. This one was interesting – don’t rely too much on personality for classroom management – put a system in place. And last – don’t wait too long to get help!

We had a great interdisciplinary program in our middle level learners class – in groups we put together a curriculum that covered at least two disciplines. We learned a lot of really great concepts about doing this – how it can make everything enriched by making it more ‘real’ and tying things together across disciplines. And how all our ideas became better through input from everyone. It was very rewarding. Then we were all disappointed to hear that it’s not realistic - that most middle school’s don’t teach this way. But, we were then encouraged that we must take this knowledge and ‘make it happen’. And we talked that if we ‘just do it’, maybe in small ways – with one other teacher and a small program to start. And let it grow from there – hopefully it will.

And lastly, I wanted to touch on the Ayers chapter. I would say the line that summarized the important parts of the chapter was:
“The challenge is to teach well in spite of the mandates, to refuse the implied constraints and confinements and to do a good job with students anyway.”
There were great points in this chapter – how to make the learning interesting so the kids care and want to learn. And this can be done by finding things that interest the children. As Ayers says, there is no recipe or formula that works for all learners at all times. So, we need to use a variety of techniques and continuously revise. This is more work, but it’s worth it. I think, no matter at what level we teach, these techniques can be put into place. It all ties with the interdisciplinary techniques I was talking about above. All of these things make the learning interesting to the children – so the learning just happens – and is more memorable.


Summary –
Use interdisciplinary techniques. If this currently is not in place in my school – make it happen. Start small and grow. Make the learning interesting to students – start with things they care about and make the learning standards fit into that, not vice versa.
When interviewing – want the job, be a good communicator, and answer the questions. Answer both in a theoretical way and an ‘how I applied’ this way.
When a first year teacher – define classroom standards and consistently apply them, put a classroom management system in place and ask for help if needed.
Use technological tools – international blogs, etc.