Coramia’s Neighborhood

TIME FLIES

Start of summer school = essentially CLUELESS on how to write a lesson plan, how to deliver a lesson plan, how to assess if the students understood the lesson at all... CLUELESS on everything that was TEACHING.

My lesson planning usually went like this during the month of June:

-figure out what the state objective for the topic I am teaching is

-spend 3-4 hours tearing out my hair, googling everything related (or unrelated) to the subject I'm planning to teach, talk to myself (usually out-loud) until I think I've come up with the perfect way to teach the state objective

-propose my brilliant lesson plan idea to my second year

-have the second year say something along the lines of "umm.... yeah... okay... well, how about THIS" and propose a MUCH more brilliant and effective plan for the lesson

-spend 2-3 hours trying to write that brilliant plan into the "lesson plan" format... making sure the VERB in my objective was perfectly perfect

-spend the bus ride from oxford trying to remember some of the brilliant lines I had thought of the night before

In total, maybe 6 hours. For one lesson plan.

When I look back at the start of summer school, at how I felt lesson planning and how I felt teaching, I can most definitely say that this "crash course" into teaching HAS been effective x 100000. My lesson plans no longer take 6 hours and are much more effective than those lesson plans from June that DID take me 6 hours to write. I have figured out this whole "verb" thing and create lesson plans that ACTUALLY teach the students what they are supposed to learn during the lesson. I feel comfortable. I feel good. I see PROGRESS and that is reassuring. I feel as ready as a 7 week (was it 7?) intro to teaching could make anyone feel....

Some things I wasn't too too tooo fond of:

- I am not good at pretending to get mad, pretending to be in a "chick fight" or pretending to be verbally assaulted. I tend to start laughing (more of a giggle, really) and it all goes down hill from there. I was not good at role playing. However, I DID really like hearing the team teachers' accounts of REAL experiences they encountered during the year and HOW they dealt with those experiences. That was helpful... I hope their wise words come back to me once I find myself in similar situations...

- This is not something that can be changed... but it would have been even MORE helpful/realistic if our class had had more students... or at least some trouble-makers. Our class was composed of angels, really, and classroom management issues were never even on the radar...

Big thank you's to Ann Monroe for giving us all the logistical, preparatory and book knowledge possible in such a short amount of time, the 2nd years and the team teachers for sharing your personal experiences and acquired knowledge to prepare us for what we're going to see this year, principal Sweeney for running a tight ship, and the interns for making sure it all ran smoothly...

If you ever get nostalgic and miss Holly Springs, come on up and visit me :)

Free-Spirited Writing

First, I would like to give a disclosure: The feelings expressed here are not representative of the beliefs of MTC, its administrators, or affiliates. These are my own thoughts, representative of my own beliefs and opinions, being expressed in the form of free (spirited) writing.

You want to know what scares me most? I used to be afraid that I'd be alone for the rest of my life. Then, I accepted that "fact" for a year, before meeting the love of my life and marrying him a year later. Before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't amount to anything, having wasted four years' education in an expensive financial institution/college ($30,000 annually) to be left with what I considered to be nothing: no job options, no connections, and student loans to repay. (Depressing, huh? It gets worse...) And before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't get to leave Mississippi and attend my first college of choice in Atlanta; thus, being trapped in Mississippi and forced to deal with its backwards ways of thinking for the rest of my life (Currently, my husband and I live in Ridgeland, MS).

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but I've noticed that fear has had an important impact in my decision-making over the past four years. And, of course, it was not fear alone that influenced my decisions. It was usually coupled with it's best friends: anxiety, stress, and depression.

Now, I see my fears as blessings in disguise. You see, I have a profound belief that everything happens for a reason. And I am convinced that my then defense mechanism: fear, has began to manifest itself as faith. Going back to those things that frightened me. It's okay to be afraid. Fear is a normal emotion, but one that should be dealt with with special attention; otherwise, that fear would manifest itself as one or all of its other allies. As I look back on those times, I realize that being afraid took more work and more energy than having faith. In essence, I came to the same result (as was meant to happen), but being afraid made the journey miserable instead of exciting. I did not realize my blessings, and was afraid because they were not in line with what I wanted for myself.

My fear is on another level: now I "fear" that I will not recognize God's blessings and use them to show His light, not only for myself but for others as well. I'm afraid that I will continue with this vicious cycle of fear, instead of continuing to believe in myself and having faith. I'm afraid of continuing to live in fear.

God gives us just what we need. And for that reason, I try using every moment of every day to see what His plan is for me, knowing that it is better than my plan for myself. That's why I'm here: to do God's will by educating and enlightening His people to want a better life for themselves and to use those blessings they reap to help others.

This may sound easy, but it's definitely a challenge; however, I'm ready to reap the benefits that faith provides and fear deprives.

Are you ready for that challenge?

Welcome to Holly Springs

Holly Springs.

H. Springs.

Hollyville.

Ballerville.

This Summer...

This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students. At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year. I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size. So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.

Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful was having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have. They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom. They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting. If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom. I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good. Now, here's the bad and the ugly. What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself. I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation. My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:

1. The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss. Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.

2. MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends) as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from). I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems. MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that).

Now, these are just suggestions! But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

This Summer...

This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students. At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year. I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size. So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.

Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful where having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have. They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom. They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting. If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom. I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good. Now, here's the bad and the ugly. What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself. I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation. My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:

1. The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss. Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.

2. MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends), as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from). I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems. MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that). Now, these are just suggestions! But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

x, y, and me

the who - my generation

Apparently, I'm making trendy personal and professional choices.

New York Times: Geezers Doing Good

I'm amazed, however, at the vitriol expressed in some of the comments on this Op-Ed piece. Saddened, too, at the prejudice shown by those whom I assume are largely Gen-Xers or thereabouts who hold such monolithic opinions of their Baby Boom elders.

I was born smack in the mathematical middle of the Baby Boom, a span of roughly 18 years. The stereotypes drawn by the comments on this piece couldn't be farther from describing me or most of the people I know in my age range. Apparently, these readers (as might be stereotypically characterized of their generation) sucked up a shallow media-produced portrait of some 78 million individuals. They've watched DVDs of a couple of movies from the 1980s (you know, the years when their parents were working to support them) and bought it hook, line, and sinker. (See important disclaimer at the end of this post.)

Yeah, you're the first generation EVAR to say "I won't become my parents." Guess what.

The other day a friend in his early 20s expressed admiration for his parents for having made the decision to spend years in the suburbs, enduring commutes and all that comes with that, in order to give their children excellent educations in comfortable housing. And then he gracefully granted their deserved happiness at beginning a new empty-nest life in a thriving urban center surrounded by culture and all its benefits. His parents are the same age I am, and made many of the same choices. We've diverged on how we're navigating our 50s, but the idea is the same. My generation responsibly raised children, for the most part, and are now making choices that would not have been appropriate during child-rearing years. Dare I say we sacrificed? And now we want to do something else.

Who are any of them to question our motives?

I gave up long ago defending my life choices to those 30-somethings who choose to deride the upbringing (and its incumbent funding) that gave them their superior educations at well-heeled graduate schools. But now it seems they should at least grant those in my generation the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how we choose to spend the little viable time we have left after ensuring they are educated and independent enough to look down on us.

I'm hoping that AGW's attitude is an example of the rule, rather than the exception, among my new colleagues. From what I've seen at MTC that's likely the case. Maybe it's true that social as well as genetic traits seem to skip a generation (or in this case a half-gen) and that these Echo Boomers will be less dismissive.

The generational rant aside, I do agree with a few of the comments that Kristof could have, as comment 45 says, produced "more light -- and less heat," by making the main focus of the piece about what real people can do in this regard. I know, you have to put a big name in the lede or no one will read it. But we are all tired of hearing about the likes of Bill Gates and all that he does with his billions. Grab our attention and then really rope folks in by telling stories they can see themselves as the stars of. (I had my 15 minutes of fame on this front a few years ago. I'm not asking for more.) That might prompt more people to actually do something instead of using the excuse that only the Gateses of the world can "afford" to make a difference. (My own comment, by the way, is at number 44.)

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OK. NOW THE DISCLAIMER: You know, most of you reading this, that my friends and lovers skew very heavily in the Gen-X years. And I couldn't be happier about that. You give me faith in the future. Thanks for being who you are.

Video Blog 2

Parks
4 days ago
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I will begin by saying that I feel like I have improved a lot over the summer as a teacher. I am a much more confident teacher than the bumbling, nervous teacher I was at the beginning of the summer. This was indicated in the video, as I seemed more sure of myself than before. I had more "presence" if that makes any sense.

One specific thing I noticed that I improved on was moving around the room. In the June video I noticed that I was pacing at the front of the room a lot, but there was very little movement around the entire room. I noticed that I did much better with this in the second video. By moving around the room I was able to make the lesson less about me and more about the students.

One specific thing I noticed that I did wrong was actually pointed out to me by another teacher who was watching the video with me. I thought little of completely turning my back to the entire room as I was writing the bellringer on the board since I was doing this before class had officially started. Carmen Jones pointed out to me that kids are going to be doing stuff behind my back even if it is before class. I definitely need to do better with writing on the board like that with my back completely turned.

I do feel that I was entertaining and made the lesson fun. I sounded enthusiastic and did a good job of getting all my students involved in the lesson. Once again, I have to do better with consistency in classroom discipline, but overall I feel like I did pretty well. We will see how things work out in the fall.

I watched myself teach today...

I watched myself teach today for the second time. I think it has been a large improvement over the first times I filmed myself. The most important change I have made is that I talk much less, move around the room much more, and I do not answer my own questions (i.e. so guys, what is the right formula? I now pause and wait until someone tries to answer it instead of telling them the right answer after a short pause). This said, I still need to work on some aspects of my teaching, such as giving clearer directions and grading rubrics.

July Observation...

One of the main things that I wanted to improve was pausing during the lesson to think of how to explain/phrase things. I think that I accomplished that over this past month. I was pleasantly surprised in how much I improved over this past month. Last month I gave myself an 88%. This month I gave myself a 92%.

Things I did well:
*The student was really into my set. In comparsion to June's lesson, my set even more engaging. My lesson was over globalization and we took an in depth look at Starbucks and McDonalds around the world. He loved it!!
*Even balance of lecture and independent work. I have defiantly gotten better at not talking as much and letting the student do most of the work. In June, I was doing too much talking and not enough "teaching." I tended to guide the student too much. I think that I have fixed that problem. In July, I did not talk that much and let the student discover most of the information. I only came back and clarified things for him.

Improvements:
*I am still having a time management problem. I tend to over plan my lessons, but everyone keeps telling me that it's better to do that than to under-plan a lesson. I think I had the same problem in June; but I am getting better at making adjustments throughout my lessons.

I was really pleased with my lesson and improvement since June. It is amazing how much you can improve as a teacher on such a short amount of time. I hope to only continue to grow.

"The Mirror (Video) Doesn't Lie" (Part 2 )

After watching another fifty minutes of myself teach, I feel contrite.

"Why?" is the first thought that assails any former belief in my lesson's effectiveness. The next thought is, "How am I going to actualize this mental commitment to abandon all tendencies, blatant or subtle, that prevent solid, indisputable, and measurable LEARNING?"

Learning needs to be (and always should have been) the ends and the means of each lesson. This may sound like the most trite of all platitudes, but my noticeable hesitancy and anything short of an unwavering execution stem from a lack of confidence (in my lesson's potential effectivenesss) that there is no room for.

This particular lesson had so much potential. The supplemental material included Maya Angelou's "I still rise," and "Phenomenal Woman" (which I did not give justice to) and lyrics by Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah. How could this lesson have been anything short of provactive, enagaging, and necessarily effective? For the following reasons:

Even before beginning this lesson, I didn't fully believe (or expect) the objective, "analyze the relationship between multiple genres and identify use of figurative language" to be accomplished in the same 50 minutes that I would introduce and review SATP concepts, present and discuss the previous day's homework, and present a mini-biographical lesson on Maya Angelou's life (within the lesson)! I wish I could say this was the first time I attempted a block (100 minute) lesson in 50 minutes, but it most certainly is not. If the (colloquial) definition of insanity is to repeat the same actions while expecting a different result-I may have been temporarily insane. Temporary, because, after watching 50 minutes of tiptoing around, rather than seizing to the core of my lesson, I am plagued with a visual that will not go away until my students do meet objectives and my team teacher will unreservedly be able to affirm the lesson's effectiveness.

My lessons ineffectiveness may be traced more specifically to the following:

A bellringer (posted work that students begin upon entering the classroom for the first 5 minutes and in this case SATP practice questions) that turned into a lesson itself.

This bellringer actually cost me 20 minutes of instructional time so that instead of smoothly transitioning into the biographical information that would focus the relevancy of that days' content, we defined unfamiliar vocabulary that came up in the practice test. Although this is entirely necessary and imperative as most of the class will be taking the high-stakes SATP this coming school year-out of context it detracted, rather than facilitated the learning that should have taken place and the objective that should have been met. As is, more than half of my lesson covered objectives that were not intended for this class period.
Because I did not stick to the lesson plan at hand, my verbal instruction reflected the wavering indecisiveness of my improvisation and my students did notice (as did everyone else.) After watching my lesson, I'm even confused with the instructions I gave.

Until now, I didn't quite realize how precious (and fleeting) instructional time is. Every minute has the potential to either spark a fire that prompts learning or ignite a flame of mass confusion...

In other words, time management is currenlty the most detrimental of my instructional weaknesses.

Still, its time to move on. I can continue to dwell on the details of what went wrong and let this reflection turn into pure commiseration or resolve that this very moment's plannning is a conduit rather than abstraction of next lesson's execution and outcome.