One moment of bafflement came last week as I attempted to lead a class activity in Mr. Brubaker's second block. The class had been studying the Anglo-Saxons through the classic epic, Beowulf. Mr. Brubaker and I discussed what activities might be engaging for the students that reinforced the characteristics of the epic poem. I suggested bringing in a current example which he thought would be a good idea. He told me that he had used Star Wars in a similar way before and would help me as I navigated this activity. I selected clips from Star Wars Episode IV: A new Hope that I thought illustrated aspects of the epic hero, and the epic genre in general. My plan was to show a short clip, then bring the class back in for discussion. I even provided my students with a graphic organizer to guide their thinking. After showing the opening scene of the movie, I prodded the students for examples of the epic characteristics getting a few brief responses. I asked my questions in rapid fire, and I quickly moved onto a new question when the students gave me blank stares. The class began to get a little off track after I showed the second clip. Some students looked at their phones, one sat on his laptop and none of them responded to my questioning in any relevant way. Incredibly the class regained composure after Mr. Brubaker came to the front and asked some questions of his own. He gave time for the students to answer and also held them accountable for answering. My bewilderment came from the fact that Mr. Brubaker took a class that was on the brink of total disengagement to almost full engagement in a brief period of time. I'm not sure if it was because the students still see him as the primary teacher. Talking to Mr. Brubaker after class, he seemed to think it had more to do with his awareness of classroom engagement, and how to handle it. He explained that he had a good sense of how to bring a class back with a few engaging questions which came from his 10 years of experience in a classroom. He offered advice to me as a young teacher as well saying I should make sure I hold the students accountable for their contributions to the class. One way might be to make the students write down responses before sharing, and another is to give adequate wait time when I ask questions to the class. One great part about that experience is that Mr. Brubaker sensed my bewilderment and helped alleviate it during the class activity, and also after class with his advice.
I like the phrase "kept them accountable for answering." I think it's a good way of putting that. I find myself struggling with using solid questioning techniques AND pairing that with wait time. I am also working on calling on students who aren't engaged or raising their hands to keep them involved. I think I tend not to call on the ones who don't seem to care because I know it could be more work to get answers from them. Also I mostly focus on the ones who are actively engaging. Good stuff man, keep learning buddy.
I am also working through the bewildering process of asking relevant and probing questions that promote learning while simultaneously trying to manage the classroom and remember what the heck I am supposed to be talking about in the first place. My pacing tends to be fast because I am afraid of silence or pauses. This is good to realize, and I believe I have even begun to remedy that by purposely slowing down and letting the students think and answer al la "wait time." As I process these small victories and progressions in my craft, I am left somewhat chagrinned by knowing there is so much that I can't even really comprehend how little I know. That being said, I am enjoying this process VERY much, and welcoming the challenges this semester has brought me.
I think silence provides for some of the most terrifying moments in the classroom. Maybe we have to take that silence as an indication that students are thinking, before we assume they are disengaged.
Seriously; what is this 'silence' of which you speak? My seventh graders talk when I'm talking, they talk when we are reading, they likely talk when they are sleeping. If I had a moment of silence, I'd assume the principal was standing behind me.
I'm almost embarrassed to say this but the kids baffle me. They look like adults and a majority of the time they act like adults, so I forget that they are only 16-- they can't even see R rated movies!
More than once I have found myself referencing relevant events from the last decade, and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Example: they don't remember 9/11, they have no idea what the Patriot Act is, Princess Diana is a fictional character, and most of them don't even use Facebook. I came into this program thinking it would be incredibly easy to use our closeness in age to make educational connections with them, but a small 5 years seems like a century.
It has taken some time, but I'm slowly starting to realize that when I make a reference that bewilders them I have created a teachable moment that can turn into an awesome classroom discussion.
I can completely understand where you're coming from, especially since my middle schoolers are closer to 6-8 years younger than myself. I reference a song or movie and they have no idea what I'm talking about (Can you believe over half the class has never seen Mean Girls? So not fetch). It's especially hard when trying to talk about YA books that were popular when we were their age but they're on a completely different page. Sometimes I even have a hard time relating to them because I'm not familiar with their current interests, either.
You've got the right idea though, taking the misunderstood information and making it into a learning experience. It would be pretty cool not only to explain and start a discussion, but attempt to relate it to something the students DO understand. It's certainly a two way street that both parties can learn from.
What I can't understand is how students continually ignore instructions and do poorly on their assignments. I just finished grading the first paper assignment, and all the classes bombed them for the most part over silly mistakes. My co-op gave each student a checklist of what needed to be in the paper and went over it MULTIPLE times (mind you, this entire paper was done IN CLASS in a computer lab). She then turned the checklist directly into the rubric - again, which she let the class know several times. The students turned the checklist in after a peer review workshop claiming that they had all the requirements. Well, they didn't have anything - it was things as simple as capitalizing "I's" and making sure there was a proper heading on the page. It was so frustrating grading those papers because I didn't want to give them bad scores, and they all would have done well had they took the extra five minutes to edit and make sure everything on the checklist was in the paper.
As frustrated as I am and as much as I want to throw all the papers out the window, I plan on using this as a learning experience. I'm not quite sure how to fix the problem completely, but I think I can begin with some kind of drafting and requiring the students to submit a first draft before the final copy is due. The only problem I run into is time constrictions and actually getting the students to turn it in.
I think that's my issue - getting the students motivated enough not only to do well, but to do the assignments at all. I really can't make sense of it all, to be honest. It blows me mind that the students were given word for word how the paper was to be graded, and they chose to ignore it because five minutes of editing clearly isn't worth it. I hate to sound so angry, but I just can't get over it - I suppose the only way to go is up, and I should take this frustration and turn it into drive to help these kids improve.
I think motivating students is the hardest job for any teacher (even with skilled teachers). You can't make people do something - and that is no different for our students. Unfortunately, most students focus on doing the smallest amount of work in order to scrape by; unfortunately, that probably works most of the time. Their past teachers before you may have encouraged that to become a habit in their schooling, so now it may be a matter of breaking that habit. I wish I knew how to answer the question of "how do I motive my students?" but, like most things, there usually isn't one answer. I am also baffled by how lazy students can be sometimes.
I'm baffled by the range of abilities I see throughout the day. The class size, dynamics, and strategies for approaching class readings and discussions are vastly different. With my 10th grade college prep class, my mentor and I have to be very clear and thorough when we give directions, and our discussions always start with the basic questions like "Who are the main characters?" and "Why did John do X?" When I compare that to my AP English kids who can keep a conversation going amongst themselves for 50 minutes, it's hard to remember that they're only seniors in high school. Furthermore, the class sizes (32 in two sections!) have so much variation in abilities, ethnic backgrounds, and even interest or excitement in the course that takes creativity to compensate for all the students' needs.
I think I'm getting off task, so I will close. Thus far I'm most baffled by the variety I see in the teachers, students, levels, and methods since I went into this placement believing that I had a good handle on the suburban school environment, especially in unique and quirky Lancaster County where I've lived my whole life. Alas, there is more to learn!
"Alas, there is more to learn!" is something I hope to never hear you speak or see you print again! Say it no more! Get it (or thee) hence! Away with it!
You bring up a very good point with the idea of creating your own style. I sometimes think I will never be able to really have my style until the classroom is truly mine. But then I think, "Hang on, you might as well start being quirky and eccentric right now, Jesse!" Luckily for me, Jesse agrees. But it's rather difficult sometimes to separate my growing style from that of my mentor, for we are similar, and our co-teaching is such that we sometimes are entwined like vines growing up the same lattice, save that I am but a sprout, and my mentor tall, and well-rooted. Sometimes it's nice in the shade, but I do need the sun from time to time in order to do some growing of my own. (that was almost Sedunesque!) Soon grasshopper, very soon!
Good observations Jubee! You probably already have your style, but I think it's hiding or just hasn't germinated yet (there's quite a load of horticulture talk going on). You will definitely find and cultivate (ah! more!) your style and presence in the classroom, I just know it.
My mentor and I have been talking a lot about how baffling the differences between our high- and low-level students are, even this early into the school year. Not only do they differ academically and emotionally, but, even more sadly, is the differences in their home lives. At Parents Night a couple of weeks ago, only four parents showed up for the learning support class we have first period (where there are twenty-six students). For our advanced class of thirty kids, almost every parent attended and some even had to stand because there were not enough seats. I know there is a lot of correlation between student achievement and parent involvement (but for the sake of my hands and your eyes, I will not get into that discussion), so just seeing how evident the gap is was harrowing.
I have these two drastically contrasting sections at the very beginning of the day, so I've been a bit baffled with how to adapt to their needs so early in the day. Usually, the more you practice the more natural and organized the day's lesson becomes; I don't have that time, however, to practice before needing to differentiate. This variety in student learning is quite intimidating, but I know it is just going to take practice before I become accustomed to doing it more successfully. I often see my mentor having similar struggles with motivating our learning support class, which, admittedly, is a little nerve-racking.
I think that sometimes my questions are a little too challenging for the age group I am teaching. I want to challenge my students, but I want to make sure I do it appropriately. Some of my learning support students range from working at a seventh-grade level to a sixth-grade level, so one of my goals is to incorporate activities and strategies into my lesson plans that will successfully encourage them to connect with material like my other sections (albeit, though, it will be more challenging for them). These students, specifically, have so much working against them already that I want to make sure I am providing them with an equal opportunity to thrive.
I'm often baffled by the fairness of grading. I was actually discussing this with Jess just the other day. In my mentor's classroom, the students have a short 2 question, 4 point reading check every day. They come in and, before discussing the literature that was assigned the night before at all, they must answer questions about content of the work and then oftentimes create an argument about that work. For example, just the other day we read the Wife of Bath's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. One of the questions asked was, "Why is a woman's love like a burning flame?" We had our normal range of answers from paragraph-long explanations from those we knew had read the book to two words from someone just trying to skate by.
This question in particular, however, created some problems. Most of the questions we ask are more in-depth, asking for an important plot point in the work and then what that made you think as a reader. The "why" of the question implied to many good students, as it should, that they would not only have to quote the work, but explain that quote. That's what I was hoping for, at least. My mentor apparently had other thoughts. One of our most involved students decided to answer the question with the asked for quote (they're allowed to use notes and guided reading questions on the quiz), but he then proceeded to attempt to explain this quote. Unfortunately, he missed the mark and didn't quite understand what was being said in this medieval literature. Still, you could tell he read it and he tried. He got 1 of the 2 points available for that question.
Another student, who even admitted that he didn't read the tale, answered with only the quote. It's likely that he copied a friend's guided reading worksheet before class started and was lucky enough to have that specific question asked on the quiz. He didn't attempt explain it, but he got full points, just because nothing he said was wrong.
The point of this quiz was a reading check. Should the first student have lost points for attempting to answer the question? This isn't the first time something like this has happened, and my idea of 'fair' occasionally differs from my mentor's. I'm not sure what fair really is in this situation.
Kerri, I know exactly what you mean! The other week I graded a poster project that the students did, and I was extremely baffled with how to keep the grading fair! What is fair? Are we supposed to expect better work from one student than another? Some students we know are capable of higher quality work for sure, but sometimes they put less work in than students that truly struggle to produce lower-quality work. Who, then, gets the better grade? Do rubrics even take that into account? Still trying to sort this all out...though whenever I am grading in my placement my mentor says I am doing fine...
One moment of bafflement came last week as I attempted to lead a class activity in Mr. Brubaker's second block. The class had been studying the Anglo-Saxons through the classic epic, Beowulf. Mr. Brubaker and I discussed what activities might be engaging for the students that reinforced the characteristics of the epic poem. I suggested bringing in a current example which he thought would be a good idea. He told me that he had used Star Wars in a similar way before and would help me as I navigated this activity. I selected clips from Star Wars Episode IV: A new Hope that I thought illustrated aspects of the epic hero, and the epic genre in general. My plan was to show a short clip, then bring the class back in for discussion. I even provided my students with a graphic organizer to guide their thinking. After showing the opening scene of the movie, I prodded the students for examples of the epic characteristics getting a few brief responses. I asked my questions in rapid fire, and I quickly moved onto a new question when the students gave me blank stares. The class began to get a little off track after I showed the second clip. Some students looked at their phones, one sat on his laptop and none of them responded to my questioning in any relevant way. Incredibly the class regained composure after Mr. Brubaker came to the front and asked some questions of his own. He gave time for the students to answer and also held them accountable for answering. My bewilderment came from the fact that Mr. Brubaker took a class that was on the brink of total disengagement to almost full engagement in a brief period of time. I'm not sure if it was because the students still see him as the primary teacher. Talking to Mr. Brubaker after class, he seemed to think it had more to do with his awareness of classroom engagement, and how to handle it. He explained that he had a good sense of how to bring a class back with a few engaging questions which came from his 10 years of experience in a classroom. He offered advice to me as a young teacher as well saying I should make sure I hold the students accountable for their contributions to the class. One way might be to make the students write down responses before sharing, and another is to give adequate wait time when I ask questions to the class. One great part about that experience is that Mr. Brubaker sensed my bewilderment and helped alleviate it during the class activity, and also after class with his advice.
ReplyDeleteI like the phrase "kept them accountable for answering." I think it's a good way of putting that. I find myself struggling with using solid questioning techniques AND pairing that with wait time. I am also working on calling on students who aren't engaged or raising their hands to keep them involved. I think I tend not to call on the ones who don't seem to care because I know it could be more work to get answers from them. Also I mostly focus on the ones who are actively engaging. Good stuff man, keep learning buddy.
DeleteI am also working through the bewildering process of asking relevant and probing questions that promote learning while simultaneously trying to manage the classroom and remember what the heck I am supposed to be talking about in the first place. My pacing tends to be fast because I am afraid of silence or pauses. This is good to realize, and I believe I have even begun to remedy that by purposely slowing down and letting the students think and answer al la "wait time." As I process these small victories and progressions in my craft, I am left somewhat chagrinned by knowing there is so much that I can't even really comprehend how little I know. That being said, I am enjoying this process VERY much, and welcoming the challenges this semester has brought me.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you lot are doing well too!
I think silence provides for some of the most terrifying moments in the classroom. Maybe we have to take that silence as an indication that students are thinking, before we assume they are disengaged.
DeleteDefinitely! Silence can be so terrifying! I am certainly trying to shift my way of thinking about silence.
DeleteSeriously; what is this 'silence' of which you speak? My seventh graders talk when I'm talking, they talk when we are reading, they likely talk when they are sleeping. If I had a moment of silence, I'd assume the principal was standing behind me.
DeleteI'm almost embarrassed to say this but the kids baffle me. They look like adults and a majority of the time they act like adults, so I forget that they are only 16-- they can't even see R rated movies!
ReplyDeleteMore than once I have found myself referencing relevant events from the last decade, and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Example: they don't remember 9/11, they have no idea what the Patriot Act is, Princess Diana is a fictional character, and most of them don't even use Facebook. I came into this program thinking it would be incredibly easy to use our closeness in age to make educational connections with them, but a small 5 years seems like a century.
It has taken some time, but I'm slowly starting to realize that when I make a reference that bewilders them I have created a teachable moment that can turn into an awesome classroom discussion.
I can completely understand where you're coming from, especially since my middle schoolers are closer to 6-8 years younger than myself. I reference a song or movie and they have no idea what I'm talking about (Can you believe over half the class has never seen Mean Girls? So not fetch). It's especially hard when trying to talk about YA books that were popular when we were their age but they're on a completely different page. Sometimes I even have a hard time relating to them because I'm not familiar with their current interests, either.
DeleteYou've got the right idea though, taking the misunderstood information and making it into a learning experience. It would be pretty cool not only to explain and start a discussion, but attempt to relate it to something the students DO understand. It's certainly a two way street that both parties can learn from.
What I can't understand is how students continually ignore instructions and do poorly on their assignments. I just finished grading the first paper assignment, and all the classes bombed them for the most part over silly mistakes. My co-op gave each student a checklist of what needed to be in the paper and went over it MULTIPLE times (mind you, this entire paper was done IN CLASS in a computer lab). She then turned the checklist directly into the rubric - again, which she let the class know several times. The students turned the checklist in after a peer review workshop claiming that they had all the requirements. Well, they didn't have anything - it was things as simple as capitalizing "I's" and making sure there was a proper heading on the page. It was so frustrating grading those papers because I didn't want to give them bad scores, and they all would have done well had they took the extra five minutes to edit and make sure everything on the checklist was in the paper.
ReplyDeleteAs frustrated as I am and as much as I want to throw all the papers out the window, I plan on using this as a learning experience. I'm not quite sure how to fix the problem completely, but I think I can begin with some kind of drafting and requiring the students to submit a first draft before the final copy is due. The only problem I run into is time constrictions and actually getting the students to turn it in.
I think that's my issue - getting the students motivated enough not only to do well, but to do the assignments at all. I really can't make sense of it all, to be honest. It blows me mind that the students were given word for word how the paper was to be graded, and they chose to ignore it because five minutes of editing clearly isn't worth it. I hate to sound so angry, but I just can't get over it - I suppose the only way to go is up, and I should take this frustration and turn it into drive to help these kids improve.
I think motivating students is the hardest job for any teacher (even with skilled teachers). You can't make people do something - and that is no different for our students. Unfortunately, most students focus on doing the smallest amount of work in order to scrape by; unfortunately, that probably works most of the time. Their past teachers before you may have encouraged that to become a habit in their schooling, so now it may be a matter of breaking that habit. I wish I knew how to answer the question of "how do I motive my students?" but, like most things, there usually isn't one answer. I am also baffled by how lazy students can be sometimes.
DeleteI'm baffled by the range of abilities I see throughout the day. The class size, dynamics, and strategies for approaching class readings and discussions are vastly different. With my 10th grade college prep class, my mentor and I have to be very clear and thorough when we give directions, and our discussions always start with the basic questions like "Who are the main characters?" and "Why did John do X?" When I compare that to my AP English kids who can keep a conversation going amongst themselves for 50 minutes, it's hard to remember that they're only seniors in high school. Furthermore, the class sizes (32 in two sections!) have so much variation in abilities, ethnic backgrounds, and even interest or excitement in the course that takes creativity to compensate for all the students' needs.
ReplyDeleteI'm baffled by the differences between my two mentors' approaches to teaching as well. They both have great classroom management skills and know their students yet they run their classrooms in completely different fashions. As much as my instinct tells me to mimic them and copy all their great ideas and technique, it's also revealing to me so early in this process that my style has to be my own. I know, I know, this is so cliché and something that you might hear at some life rejuvenation camp conference, but if I don't figure out how I can cleverly and tactfully mix my humor, love of words and literature, and professional demeanor this year because I'm too busy copying another style, then I will have to reinvent it when I have my own classroom. Plus, I think it's more advantageous to the students to have two teachers in the classroom who offer a specific twist to the way they come at the material and the types of questions and work they ask of their students.
I think I'm getting off task, so I will close. Thus far I'm most baffled by the variety I see in the teachers, students, levels, and methods since I went into this placement believing that I had a good handle on the suburban school environment, especially in unique and quirky Lancaster County where I've lived my whole life. Alas, there is more to learn!
Julia,
Delete"Alas, there is more to learn!" is something I hope to never hear you speak or see you print again! Say it no more! Get it (or thee) hence! Away with it!
You bring up a very good point with the idea of creating your own style. I sometimes think I will never be able to really have my style until the classroom is truly mine. But then I think, "Hang on, you might as well start being quirky and eccentric right now, Jesse!" Luckily for me, Jesse agrees. But it's rather difficult sometimes to separate my growing style from that of my mentor, for we are similar, and our co-teaching is such that we sometimes are entwined like vines growing up the same lattice, save that I am but a sprout, and my mentor tall, and well-rooted. Sometimes it's nice in the shade, but I do need the sun from time to time in order to do some growing of my own. (that was almost Sedunesque!) Soon grasshopper, very soon!
Good observations Jubee! You probably already have your style, but I think it's hiding or just hasn't germinated yet (there's quite a load of horticulture talk going on). You will definitely find and cultivate (ah! more!) your style and presence in the classroom, I just know it.
Bonne chance!
My mentor and I have been talking a lot about how baffling the differences between our high- and low-level students are, even this early into the school year. Not only do they differ academically and emotionally, but, even more sadly, is the differences in their home lives. At Parents Night a couple of weeks ago, only four parents showed up for the learning support class we have first period (where there are twenty-six students). For our advanced class of thirty kids, almost every parent attended and some even had to stand because there were not enough seats. I know there is a lot of correlation between student achievement and parent involvement (but for the sake of my hands and your eyes, I will not get into that discussion), so just seeing how evident the gap is was harrowing.
ReplyDeleteI have these two drastically contrasting sections at the very beginning of the day, so I've been a bit baffled with how to adapt to their needs so early in the day. Usually, the more you practice the more natural and organized the day's lesson becomes; I don't have that time, however, to practice before needing to differentiate. This variety in student learning is quite intimidating, but I know it is just going to take practice before I become accustomed to doing it more successfully. I often see my mentor having similar struggles with motivating our learning support class, which, admittedly, is a little nerve-racking.
I think that sometimes my questions are a little too challenging for the age group I am teaching. I want to challenge my students, but I want to make sure I do it appropriately. Some of my learning support students range from working at a seventh-grade level to a sixth-grade level, so one of my goals is to incorporate activities and strategies into my lesson plans that will successfully encourage them to connect with material like my other sections (albeit, though, it will be more challenging for them). These students, specifically, have so much working against them already that I want to make sure I am providing them with an equal opportunity to thrive.
I'm often baffled by the fairness of grading. I was actually discussing this with Jess just the other day. In my mentor's classroom, the students have a short 2 question, 4 point reading check every day. They come in and, before discussing the literature that was assigned the night before at all, they must answer questions about content of the work and then oftentimes create an argument about that work. For example, just the other day we read the Wife of Bath's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. One of the questions asked was, "Why is a woman's love like a burning flame?" We had our normal range of answers from paragraph-long explanations from those we knew had read the book to two words from someone just trying to skate by.
ReplyDeleteThis question in particular, however, created some problems. Most of the questions we ask are more in-depth, asking for an important plot point in the work and then what that made you think as a reader. The "why" of the question implied to many good students, as it should, that they would not only have to quote the work, but explain that quote. That's what I was hoping for, at least. My mentor apparently had other thoughts. One of our most involved students decided to answer the question with the asked for quote (they're allowed to use notes and guided reading questions on the quiz), but he then proceeded to attempt to explain this quote. Unfortunately, he missed the mark and didn't quite understand what was being said in this medieval literature. Still, you could tell he read it and he tried. He got 1 of the 2 points available for that question.
Another student, who even admitted that he didn't read the tale, answered with only the quote. It's likely that he copied a friend's guided reading worksheet before class started and was lucky enough to have that specific question asked on the quiz. He didn't attempt explain it, but he got full points, just because nothing he said was wrong.
The point of this quiz was a reading check. Should the first student have lost points for attempting to answer the question? This isn't the first time something like this has happened, and my idea of 'fair' occasionally differs from my mentor's. I'm not sure what fair really is in this situation.
Kerri, I know exactly what you mean! The other week I graded a poster project that the students did, and I was extremely baffled with how to keep the grading fair! What is fair? Are we supposed to expect better work from one student than another? Some students we know are capable of higher quality work for sure, but sometimes they put less work in than students that truly struggle to produce lower-quality work. Who, then, gets the better grade? Do rubrics even take that into account? Still trying to sort this all out...though whenever I am grading in my placement my mentor says I am doing fine...
Delete