dealin' in the D.

About a week ago, I visited the classroom of a math instructor, Mr. Boehm, that I know from Wayne State where he teaches in the Honors program. He is also the co-founder of Math Corps, a summer camp that reaches out to Detroit Public School students; I worked for this program for three years and it's the reason why I want to be a teacher.

For one hour, four times a week, Mr. Boehm teaches math to a class of sixth graders as Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Detroit. He has always wanted me to visit and watch him interact with "his kids". So I finally took him up on it...

All I can say is when the bell rang signaling the end of class and the students filed out of the classroom, I began to weep. I has just witnessed such a beautiful thing within the confines of that little crusty classroom. Students were engaged in learning; they couldn't get their hands up fast enough. Sixth grade students were discovering the rules of exponents from patterns, and they were into it! 

I wish I could attribute what I saw happening in the classroom to magic, but I just don't believe in that stuff. Reflecting back to that day, I can recognize some teacher moves performed by Mr. Boehm that must have created a safe enough classroom for students to explore the realm of mathematics:

Nicknames: Mr. Boehm relates to his students enough to nickname them. There was a Beyonce, and Destiny's Child, a Muffin Man, a Sir Robert, and he even nicknamed me--Princess Leah! The nicknames added a sense of warmth to the room and a sense of community among students. Muffin Man is no longer sitting by some girl, but rather a girl worthy of the name Destiny's Child. The nicknames obviously add some fun to the mathematical mix as well.

The Star: At the beginning of the class, Mr. Boehm draws a star on the board. Throughout the period, whenever a student does something honorable, like allow another classmate to answer a question, Mr. Boehm will put the student's initial on one of the edges of the star. If the class does something well as a whole, he will put the letter "C" on an edge of the star. He is praising the kids in a simple way. Even though there is no gift such as candy or extra points involved, the students respond to Mr. Boehm's offer of encouragement.

Non-verbal: In Mr. Boehm's classroom, when someone is answering a question or offering something to the class, all the other students are supporting their fellow classmates by rotating one forearm around the other. If the students agree with the statement, they shake their hands in the air. If they don't agree, they move their arms like an ump does to signal a runner is safe. If they are confused by the statement, they wave only one hand. The movements build a community and provide space for students to respond to and support one another.

Respect: Before even answering a question or providing a general statement, the student must address the rest of the class with: "My esteemed colleagues...", and when I was their they addressed the class with: "My esteem colleagues and my esteemed visitor...". Students honor and respect one another. 

Discovery: This is what drives Mr. Boehm's students. He does not simply provide students with the formulas and rules necessary to get math problems right. Students discover the rules by looking for patterns. While I was there students discovered that any time you have a base with an exponent and you multiply it by a a number with the same base but different exponents, you add the exponents. And students were so excited that they had discovered something of this magnitude. 

The atmosphere of Mr. Boehm's classroom did not just happen on accident. He set up his classroom deliberately for an effective learning experience. I can't wait to try some of his ways in my future classroom.

Ohhh, the things we learn in tech class...

We learned how to make claymation movies in our tech class today! You can tell we are novice claymakers...Enjoy! WARNING: the last scene is graphic, if you need to close your eyes please do so.

blog it up.

My methods instructor began our class on Tuesday with journal prompts. I needed to tae the quote below and explain what it had to do with teaching English; since I have been mulling over the purpose of teaching English as a high school subject I picked this prompt and the words overflowed:

“To speak of mere words is much like speaking of mere dynamite.”

Neither exists, mere words nor mere dynamite. (They could exist merely but they would not be worth much, if anything.) Dynamite is nothing except for its power, and the same goes with words. When we teach English, we teach students the power of words—their power to communicate, to bring forth emotion, to encourage, to wound, to inspire, to defeat, to manipulate, to relate to or with people, to connect, to ruin. As teachers, we do not merely teach words or the order of words or the interpretation of words, but how to use them to the benefit or harm of people, to the growth or atrophy of society.

Would kids be as disengaged as I have witnessed if this is what we communicated as the goal/philosophy/adventure/purpose of teaching and learning English?

why oh why?

I got myself to thinking during my prep hour...

Watching my teacher do her thing up front could easily get myself in a trap. She makes it look so easy, like I could just skip on up there, open my mouth and let good things pour out. And kids would ace their tests, pass their standardized exams, graduate, and go to Harvard. I know that is not the case though. My mentor takes time to prepare her lessons; she has the whole year planned out and is very organized. 

What guides her planning though? I know that Romulus is given curriculum guidelines and standards to meet due to being branded with "D" for their AYP. How does my mentor plan her lessons knowing her students must live up to state standards and that if they don't, Romulus will lose more money? What are her objectives as an English teacher?

My methods class shed some light on why I may be thinking the way I am...we took a test that determines the way we learn and I came out as an abstract random learner Oh how I love tests that tell me about myself! I say this sarcastically as well as literally because the outcome was actually right on...I think of things in terms of the whole. I need to know why I think English is an important subject for students to learn in order to teach on a daily basis. What is it that I want my students to leave my class with? What tools, what ideas, what passions will they need to take on the world that I can supply them with as an English teacher? 

When I know the answers to these questions (and I have a feeling they will evolve) I will better be able to lesson plan. One of my worse nightmares is that my teaching, my time, my work will be futile. I mean, I know that one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher was and still is to pour into students' lives, to love them, believe in them, help them to see their value and worth but I could have done that as a youth pastor or as a social worker. Why do I think education is so important?

I would really love to read some of your thoughts on how this pertains to your subject matter. Why do you think it is important for your students to study language/math/social studies/science? What do you want to equip them with for their lives? What legacy do you want to leave as a teacher? Why did you choose education as a career?

Give it to me.

deep stuff.

I've been thinking about what  I was going to blog about for the past three weeks. It would cross my mind at least once a day, but for some reason I could not bring myself to write it. I finally recognized that I was putting immense pressure on myself to write something "worthwhile." I want my posts to be "perfect" or "controversial" or "thought-provoking." I put these things in quotation marks because my definition of these terms are based on other people's opinions. If I can get a reaction or get affirmation from a person then my writing is worth something. I fail to realize that my writing has inherent value simply because I wrote it. I know much of my procrastination comes from a lack of confidence in my abilities and the fear of how people react. Will I, can I, earn my professor's/ classmate's approval? Reflecting on these debilitating thoughts, I began to see a connection between myself and the Alfie Kohn article that was assigned in Diversity class.

Alfie talks about the effects of condition teaching and conditional love. I definitely connected with Kohn's writing; I wept after reading the first two pages. That's me, I kept thinking to myself, I'm the effects of conditional love he describes. I am the student that learns that my, "worth hinges on [my] performance." I was always the overachiever, striving for affection and affirmation through my educative performance. I did not feel like there was room for mistakes because making one may risk the loss of approval, or even deeper than that, a loss of love. School was not a safe environment in which I could learn by taking risks, hence to this day, I hesitate before performing an assignment, the pressure of performance heavy upon my back. (I do not blame my school for all of these effects, sometimes I wouldn't even allow an opportunity for my teachers to show me unconditional love).

         My personal experience leads me to agree with Kohn's pleas for the practice of unconditional teaching. I see the importance of creating a safe learning environment for my future students, one in which they are sure of my love and approval of them and sure of how precious they are despite or in spite of their performance. I also understand how difficult this is to live out. Last week I volunteered at my church's Vacation Bible School; my job was to lead and teach the 12-13 year-olds throughout the nights. OH MY GOSH. Each night ended with exhaustion and frustration. My best friend who was helping me out wanted to walk out on the students the last day because of their behavior. There were two particular students that would not stop fighting, verbally and physically, and the rest of the group was very talkative. They just did not want to hear what we had to say. But I knew I was called to love them unconditionally. In my heart, I felt love for them. But I don't necessarily know if my actions showed this; I mean, I showed up every day despite the frustration I had felt the night before, so that had to count for something. 

         The last night we had a little celebration and we were supposed to choose five students out of our group to receive backpacks for their good behavior, attendance, and memorization of three verses. I was SO conflicted. I knew in my heart that this would not convey unconditional love to my students. One of the children that was causing most of the trouble turned around from where he sat and asked me to please choose him. I told him it was for the kids that behaved the best and asked him if he thought he deserved it. He turned away from me in anger and didn't talk to me the rest of the night. Another girl who was very well-behaved but who didn't receive one because she missed one of the days was crying. I think it was very hard for my kids to discern my love for them despite their lack of a backpack. And these are kids that NEED a backpack. I verbally expressed my care and love for those who did not receive one but did they believe me? Giving of rewards for behavior may express that love is earned. I don't know how to handle that. 

         I guess this will come from practice. As a teacher, I need to unconditionally love myself by giving myself room to fail and learn and try again. What scares me, though, is the question: how will my failure affect the students that I teach? How do teachers cope with this? 

overwhelmed in a good way...

My mind is on overload; there has been so much for me to process even in the last week. I think what is most on my mind is the concept of equity in the classroom and how technology can aid teachers in providing equal opportunities for every student in their classroom. 

I had not thought of the fact teaching all students the same way does NOT constitute equity in the classroom. In fact, it is the opposite. This should have been obvious to me, seeing as I know that all students do not learn in the same way. And now realizing that I most likely will have students with disabilities in the classroom, I need to be prepared to teach accordingly to each student. When Sara was talking about students with disabilities and how the general education teacher must be prepared to teach this student, all I could think about was how there are specific programs in order to train teachers for special education. I did not choose to be trained in this way, yet I will be expected to perform in the classroom. How will this work out?

My heart is for every student, so I am open to learning ways to attend to every students' needs. I know differentiated instruction is an area where educational technology must come in; however I feel pretty ignorant even as I am writing these words. I did a little research on the web and found some resources:

Being an Informed Consumer of Educational Technology

Assistive Technology for Children with Autism

The Alliance for Technology Access

but please post some more! I want to get into this topic and be as prepared as I can!

it's all about the students...

I cannot believe how plugged into the world of technology I have become. Wikis, twitter, blogging...my world is expanding. I have been able to connect with some edubloggers and learn from educators' tweets. A teacher from Johannesburg posts links to interactive math tools...another teacher interested in educational technology posted this description of a school in Canada that had been displaced by a tornado and reconstructed the school as follows:

"By reallocating resources and using recycled furniture, principal William Demille made a commitment to transform this new school into a universally designed environment with Speaker systems in every classroom, Smartboards, document cameras and much more. The staff and students will always feel a sense of connection after experiencing such turmoil and change. The transformation has just begun."

Then I read quotes from students that a teacher in the Bronx shared with his readers. The students lifted up their teacher and provided him/her ( I can't tell which yet :)) with encouragement. The students' comments reminded me why I am in this program, why I care about learning educational technology, why I want to learn and fight against institutional oppression, why I want to research educational reform...it's all about the students. I think it is a school's job to prepare students for a job, for higher learning, for life beyond high school. I like Dewey's idea of "filling in the gap" between students' parents and themselves. I think even in an ideal world where parents are involved in their children's lives, other adults need to step in and share their wisdom and love with the children. It's that "it takes a village to raise a child" idea. I've experienced the benefits of this "village-raising" in my own life. My parents were (still are actually) very involved in my life and sacrificed a lot for me, but without the input of my high school teachers, adults from my church, and my friends I wouldn't be who I am today. Seriously. 

So I definitely agree with Dewey when it comes to the importance of the social aspect of school. Communicating with people, learning about people's humanity-knowing and valuing our similarities and differences, and learning who we are in the process is invaluable. Through relationships in my life, I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses and value as a human being. Putting work into relationships develops character and selflessness which the world definitely needs more of. All of these thoughts are what would keep me from homeschooling or even putting my child in a private school. I would want my child to experience the challenges and rewards that come with being in a public school environment, especially those in areas with diverse populations. Going to school and interacting with students of all different economic, religious, and racial differences as well as differences in ability and sexual orientation. Heck, if I want my child to be sheltered. And that is what I would want for children in the U.S. 

As a teacher, I plan on creating an environment where it is safe for students to interact with each other while at the same time being themselves. I know this will take encouragement on my part as well as high expectations that are explained and upheld. I want students to learn from each other, and I think educational technology will help support my desire for students. The internet with its twittering and wikis and blogging, provides a vector for student communication. I will, of course, never forsake face-to-face discussion, but am excited to implement all that I am learning about technology in my future classroom.

reflection on my drawing...

When asked to make a list of the types of technology I would want in my future classroom and then draw this classroom, I immediately cringed. First of all, I hate drawing. Second of all, I am not that versed in technology. I mean, I am a product of this generation so I do my fair share on a computer, on a cell phone, and with a digital camera. But I have never thought of technology in a classroom, and as a student in my high school did not experience much technology in my learning. Needless to say, my drawing did not include much technology. I drew a Macbook pro, a stereo system, a record player, and a projector and a screen.

I am familiar with Macs and love all the software that comes with the computer. As an English teacher, I would love to use sources from Youtube and poetry site. I had a professor that showed us videos and links of people reading their poetry which gave us insight into the reading of the poem. Making a text visual and audible is very powerful for a student. 

I really want to be able to show films that challenge students' thinking and also supplement the novels we will read. Reading films as a text provides a different view of what a text is. I would use the projector and sound system for this purpose. 

The sound system would also be used for the music unit I want to include in my teaching. I want to extend my poetry unit to include music and wold love to play old records for my students. The quality of records give a certain feel to the sound of music. 

I also hope to teach mathematics but have not experienced any technology in teaching math. I am so open and feel privileged to have the opportunity to learn my options for technology in my future classroom. I already feel confident that I am going to use the text polling activity in the future. I am sure that after this course my list of technology is going to grow; hopefully, I will not have to draw it. :)

Here goes...!

The end of the first week of the Secondary MAC program is coming to an end. My mind is loaded with objectives, taxonomies, and benchmarks. My colleagues are wonderful, and I look forward to working hard and long with them throughout the year. The staff are caring and have much to share. I am excited. What does the future have in store? Look forward to future posts for more.