Showing Students You Care

Since last week, I’ve been kind of thinking a lot about what Ms. G, our guest English teacher said about helping that student start to enjoy reading and getting him to the point where he finished an entire book from start to finish—something he had never done before. This point also brought up how a little one on one time and making the effort to get to know your students can really be beneficial and effective. I also thought what Principal JL said about sympathy vs. empathy was really important as well.

 I think making an effort to get to know your students, work with them, help them, and show them you care and genuinely want them to succeed is really beneficial for the students. Like Ms. G said, that particular student she dealt with did not like or want to read, but once she took the time to work with him and give him that bit of extra attention that he needed, he had picked out a book from the library and finished it. She showed him that she cared and when students can see and realize that teachers are on their side, I believe they feel more motivated. If a teacher doesn’t make it clear that they care, or they get frustrated with students who may be acting up, not showing an interest in material and/or performing poorly in class, it only makes the student feel worse about him or herself. Getting frustrated or trying every professional method you can think of isn’t going to help the student. While professional techniques do help, part of teaching is getting to know the students in your class, being patient and kind, showing them you care, being understanding and figuring out the best way to help them learn and believe that they can learn.

 And then there’s the balance between being sympathetic and empathetic. Like Principal JL said, you want to have empathy towards your students, which means being able to understand and acknowledge how they might be feeling, but you don’t want to get to the point where you feel bad for them, so you make things easier or don’t establish expectations. You want to have expectations and standards for them and you want them to succeed. You don’t want to ignore whatever issues they may have, but you want them to be able to move forward and rise above them. I think this also relates back to showing students you care. I feel as if acknowledging whatever a student is going through, but also giving them the attention they need and helping them meet the expectations laid out for them is showing you care, not feeling sorry for them and letting them slack off or making work easier. You have to believe in the students and also show them that you believe in them. 

Typing this up also reminded me of a TV show that further illustrates this point. I actually watched the show on YouTube over the summer for fun and I love that I’m actually applying it to school. The show is an Australian mockumentary called Summer Heights High and while a lot of it is supposed to be comedic, I think the story of Jonah, one of the students, contains a lot of seriousness and fits perfectly with some of the things we’ve discussed. In the show, Jonah is a Year 8 student who came to Australia from Tonga when he was three. He has four siblings and was raised by his father after his mother died when he was young. He lives with his four siblings, his father, two cousins and an aunt. He struggles in school, specifically in reading, so he goes to a remedial reading class with Ms. Palmer, who he actually enjoys. When we see her interacting with Jonah, she is always kind, polite and patient with him and it is clear that she believes in him and wants him to do well. She truly wants him to learn to read. And while Jonah is in her class, he wants to learn how to read. He actually states at one point that maybe someday he’ll be able to read “Harry Potter in a day.” On the contrary, his English teacher, Ms. Wheatley, gets frustrated with him. It seems as if she is shouting at him nearly every day and even throwing his books on the ground as she kicks him out of class. The contrast between the behavior of these two teachers and Jonah’s behavior as a result is very interesting and shows the differences in students depending on how a teacher treats them. Jonah wanted to improve in Ms. Palmer’s class because she cared about him. She believed he could learn how to read and she made the effort to help him and care about him. Jonah even stated that Ms. Palmer appreciated him. She gives him appropriate work to do and works with him so that he'll be able to read on story day at the end of the term. On the occasions he does act up, she stays calm and gets him back on track. Ms. Wheatley, on the other hand, just screams at Jonah and gets frustrated. She doesn't make an effort to talk to him or get to know him and she doesn't make him feel as if he could do any better or improve. Here is the link to the final scene of Summer Heights High, which I think sums up the difference between Ms. Wheatley and Ms. Palmer pretty well: Summer Heights High.

October 31st Observation

During our last visit to District C, it worked out that I got to spend some time in all three English classes listed on the paper provided for us. The first class I went to was working on their common task in the library. They were an ELL level 2 class and I believe the teacher said that most students had been in the country for two years or under. We were encouraged to walk around and talk with the students about what they were working on and even help them out if they needed it. I actually felt a little unsure of what to say considering it was an ELL class and the last time I had tried to talk with an ELL student, it had been somewhat uncomfortable for both of us. But as the teacher ended up bringing up, it takes time to be able to feel more comfortable and to easily communicate with these students, which applies to not only many other parts of becoming a teacher, but almost anything new in life. There will surely be moments of awkwardness and discomfort and moments where things don’t go perfectly. But as time goes on you can only get better. 

The second class I visited was an inclusion class. When we got there, the teacher had a few minutes left of her lunch break, but she allowed us to wait in her classroom until her break was over and her new class began. She let us look at copies of the book the students were reading, which was called Things Fall Apart. The copies she let us look at were very interesting because they looked like normal books, but there were vocab words bolded and then defined at the bottom of the page. There were also questions at the end of every chapter about things like the theme. The teacher did mention that this particular class was an inclusion class so I felt that those types of additions to the book would be helpful to them. When the class began, the students did not seem very interested in participating. She would ask if someone would like to read and she would be met with dead silence. It appeared that not every student had their book with them either. While I found the teacher likeable, there was just no excitement in the class and this was actually quite the opposite of other classes I’ve seen where the students are very eager to read out loud and share things with the class. 

The third class I visited just so happened to be one of those full-of-excitement classes. I had never visited this class before and I really loved the energy in the room. They were discussing different types of irony and filling out a sheet as a class. Students would volunteer to read a scenario that illustrated a certain type of irony and then students would identify what type it was. Everyone was very eager to participate, read scenarios, and discuss certain aspects of what they had read and/or what they thought the answer was and why. At one point, a scenario was read about Eminem swearing in his songs, but not allowing his children to swear. It ended up sparking a sort of debate over whether or not Eminem was really being hypocritical. I think this energy really did have a lot to do with the fact that the scenario included a rapper that the students would be familiar with at the very least. It would have been different if the scenario had talked about a singer that the students didn’t know or enjoy. This shows how important it is to know your students and what gets them excited and eager to talk and participate. People are always more comfortable talking about what they know and like, so being able to tie interests into the lesson is so beneficial.

 Of the three, the third class was definitely my favorite. It seemed to me that she had found that balance we talked about where she had a good relationship with her students, but there was also learning going on. The students were excited and eager to participate and from what I heard, nobody was getting an answer wrong. It is definitely what I would like to see from my future students one day and hopefully I will be able to take what I saw and be able to effectively use it just like this teacher did.

Essential Question

The idea of having to come up with an essential question was somewhat intimidating at first, at least for me, because it's something that requires a lot of thought. There are also a lot of aspects and things to think about when planning to become a teacher and it seemed almost a little overwhelming to be able to settle on one important question.  

That being said, I started really thinking about the teachers I’ve had in the past and what I liked or didn’t like about them and why. There were teachers I absolutely loved, teachers I didn’t like as much and teachers who were just okay. One of my favorite teachers in middle school liked to come off as very strict, scary and intimidating at first, but then as time went on, students realized that while he meant business, he was still very approachable and not scary at all. He also made sure that we learned and that we worked hard, but kept the lessons interesting enough where we weren’t bored. Another impressive teacher was my band teacher. The high school band consisted of 150 students and he knew every single one by name. At the end of the year, we’d have a band banquet, and he’d call the seniors up to the front of the room and say something about all of them. The fact that he not only knew his students names, but knew enough about them to talk about them at the band banquet was very impressive. Granted, students had been in his class for four years, and some for six, but I love that he actually made the effort to pay attention and get to know his students. There are teachers, who, even though they still may have a large number of students spread out over multiple class periods, don’t get to know their students at all. They don’t make an effort. They stand at the front of the room, teach what they have to, and leave at the end of the day. Everyone in the band respected the teacher and could joke around as a class, but at the same time, when it was time to buckle down, we worked hard in order to sound good at performances, parades and competitions. We all wanted to do well for him and we didn’t want to disappoint him. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that being a teacher is a constant balancing act that the good teachers I've had seem to have mastered. It’s about finding all the right balances in every situation. It’s good to be friendly and approachable, but not so much so that you’re a doormat. It’s good to get to know your students, but not so much that you’re more of a friend than a teacher. You have to make the class fun and relaxing, but not so much where no learning happens and where the students don’t want to work. So, with all this in mind, I decided on my essential question: How can I not only find that balance in a way that works best for both me and the students, but also maintain that balance over time?

Mindfulness In The Classroom

I think a common belief that a lot of children and even some teenagers have is that when you’re an adult, your life is easier. You have your own place, you can do what you want, your parents don’t have to tell you what to do, you’re out of school and you can get a job that earns you money. But what’s interesting is that there are adults that believe kids and teenagers have it easier. Up until they do buy their own place, they don’t worry about electric or heating bills or a mortgage. While teenagers and college students have part time jobs, they don’t have a career yet and they don’t have to worry about supporting a family. The truth is that everyone stresses, no matter what their age is and it really is so important to make the time to relax and just breathe. 

The article we were assigned to read on mindfulness is one that I think is very important and useful as both a student and a future teacher. Not only does it discuss how mindfulness has positively affected students, but it gives advice on how teachers can practice it in their classrooms. As a student, I definitely know what it feels like to be stressed. Back in high school, there was the stress of balancing friends, relationships, a social life, doing well in school, and applying to colleges. In addition to that, and as the article mentioned, “In any given classroom there will be at least a few children who have lived through one or more of the following: neglect, divorce, illness, death of a family member, emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse, violence in their homes or communities, being uprooted from their homes, and war.” There are some students who will be dealing with a lot more than the “typical” types of stress such as balancing school, relationships, etc. As teachers, it really is important to be able to understand this about the students and know how to properly deal with it.

 

I really liked the Still Quiet Place that the article mentioned. Taking a few minutes to introduce this in class and having the students visit this place for maybe a few minutes during class on a few days a week will not only benefit the students, but the teacher as well. It’ll get everyone to relax and take a moment to leave their stress behind and go somewhere else. I think it’s also important to make it clear that the students can practice this and visit the Still Quiet Place whenever they want. They don’t have to be in school to do it. They can do it whenever they’re feeling particularly overwhelmed in order to calm down and see things more clearly.

 

I really think practicing mindfulness is a good idea in the classroom. Teacher’s usually want the best for their students and they want them to succeed and do well and practicing mindfulness is a way they can do that. Personally, I've always hoped that as an adult and a teacher, I wouldn’t lose sight of what it was like to be a teenager. I didn’t--and still don't--want to become the adult that asked my kids or students What do you have to worry about? You’re young. I hope to be able to keep in mind that kids and teenagers stress out just like adults do and that it’s important and beneficial for everyone to learn how to properly deal with that stress.

Last Week's Class

Even though we didn't spend last week's class at District C, the time was still spent covering quite a bit of material, including the process of teaching backwards.

I think this process makes so much sense and makes things a lot more organized for yourself and for the students. By using this process, you aren't just throwing a bunch of things together, hoping the students will learn something from it and possibly leaving everyone kind of lost as a result. By working backwards, it gives you a chance to organize things better and figure out what exactly you're expecting and how exactly to get there.

I also liked the square activity we did and how each person having a role proved the point that assigning the roles also keeps things organized and a lot less chaotic. I remember some of my teachers assigning roles to group members in elementary and even middle school and from what I can remember, it worked really well. Students liked having their own assigned job and some of them took it very seriously. It just goes to show that something as simple as assigning each person a specific job can make things more organized for the class as a whole and also be something the students think is fun and interesting.

ELL

Last week, during our visit to District C, we got the chance to go into some ELL classes. This time, we were also divided up into pairs, which is the smallest grouping we've done since we started going to District C. It felt more relaxed in the sense that I had a better idea of what to look for and I was also able to find it fairly quickly instead of feeling like I needed more time.

I think the ELL classroom I liked the most was the math class we visited. I saw a lot of techniques suggested in the reading being used in that classroom. For example, the teacher was allowing students to help each other during class. It seemed as if she had positioned seats in such a way where the students' strengths and weaknesses balanced each other out so that they could help each other as they went along. She also used some Spanish in her lesson, but only words that were important to to lesson and only after saying the word in English first. She had diagrams on the board and used different colored markers to further help the students understand. She also had agendas and objectives on the board and around the room so that the students knew what was expected of them.

 

As far as teaching an ESL class, it is not something I'm opposed to. I actually do think these classes are beneficial to not only the student, but to the teacher as well because it gives them experience and insight into the life of someone whose first language isn't English and maybe hasn't even always lived in America. However, it may take some getting used to because there is that language barrier. As I said last week, I took Spanish in high school and know some basics, but I am no way fluent. Maybe this could be a good thing, though if I ever did become an ESL teacher because it would help me to understand how the students must be feeling learning how to speak English and I could learn from them just as they'll be learning from me.

Walkthrough Experience so far.

As of today, our class has visited District C three times. With each visit, I find myself getting more and more comfortable with being there. At first, I didn't know what to expect at all. It was an entirely new experience and I wasn't even sure of what to look for. During the first walkthrough, I felt that five minutes wasn't enough in each classroom because I wanted to be able to observe every little detail. But as we visited more and more classrooms, it became easier to pick up on the important things to look for.

Last week, we were split up into smaller groups of three and visited a few more classrooms. This time, I not only found it even easier to spot important details in each classroom, but I also found that I had a better sense of direction in the school. I was able to recognize classrooms from the previous week and felt more comfortable navigating through the hallways. This was certainly a good sign because being unsure of where you are in a new school only adds to the nervewracking "new experience" feeling.

So far, I'm really enjoying our visits to District C. I love how enthusiastic Principal JL is and I love how welcome he makes us feel week after week. His excitement really is contagious and I'm glad we are able to have this experience with him at his school.