A principal observation, an unpublished letter-to-the-editor, and a party!

Whoa, what a whirl-wind this week has been! It feels strange to have five days of school without any breaks (it's been a while since I've done this!). But, in any case, I did it, and here's what I have to say about it:

1. I had an observation/evaluation on Wednesday. Due to the craziness of communication at our school, I had NO inclining that this evaluation was taking place. Oh well! Here's the deal though: I had planned to be in the library to use the computers for my WebQuest (more about that later), but I wasn't able to use the library due to miscommunication. So, basically, I was caught in the middle of a mild nightmare: I was being forced to teach "by the seat of my pants" during a principal evaluation! Ahhhh! When I saw my administrator take a seat in the back of my classroom, all I could think was, "What the hell!? This would be my luck!!!" But, instead of panicking (at least on the outside), I decided to pretend that the administrator was not there. I used my common sense (I knew we NEEDED to go over the elements of a story) to create a mini-lesson (I won't go so far as to say that this was an EXCITING mini-lesson...) in which my students were jotting notes into a "cloze" and offering prior knowledge to generate definitions of these elements. Basically, I was pleasantly surprised at how cooperative my students were! I think they were on my side.... Moral of the story? My principal emailed me with a reflective question to respond to after the evaluation...

The question: "What hunches do you have to explain why some students performed as you had hoped while others did not?"


My response:
Although it is tempting to respond, "Because some of my students are just sassy!" to your reflective question, my (limited) experience and college education has taught me otherwise. Truth of the matter is, we can't blame misbehavior/off-task behavior on the students ALL the time; in fact, MOST of the time, off-task behavior is an indicator of a number of things. Some of the things that off-task behavior indicates are poorly planned lessons (i.e. lag time between instruction, unclear directions, activities that are too difficult/not difficult enough, etc.), activities that do not address an individual student's learning style, a lack of confidence in the student's ability to complete the lesson, outside issues, and numerous other extraneous factors/causes. Now, if I focus my thoughts/reflections onto my lesson from yesterday, I think I would blame a few things--too much "listen to the teacher" time, lack of engaging activities associated with the lesson, and little sensitivity to varied learning styles. For example, I had planned on taking my students to the library on Thursday (we had been working on a WebQuest that I made as an introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird--I have the link to this website at the end of this email... feel free to navigate it!), but there was a change of plans at the last minute, so I was sort of forced to teach by the "seat of my pants." I knew that we needed to go over the elements of a story (we will be analyzing these elements in To Kill a Mockingbird), so I tried to "whip up" a mini-lesson that focused on the elements of story. Due to the lack of preparation on my part, this "by the seat of my pants" teaching turned into note-taking. Most of my kids are excellent note-takers, but there are a few who simply don't see the value in it (which I understand to a certain degree). To account for this, I try to create handouts that encourage them to follow along by filling in blanks, and stamping these sheets for participation points. For some learners, note-taking is incredibly daunting--it involves sitting quietly and processing visual information. With that being said, I believe that this lesson lacked sensitivity for my kinesthetic/tactile learners. Also, I believe that there is still a need for development of student interest in the book we are beginning to read: To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm hoping that my love for this book will become apparent to my students as we "dig in" further. On a final note, I have a hunch that some of my students use Silent Reading time as "nap time." For me, this is an indicator that I need to more clearly communicate the general benefits of reading (for pleasure!). I think my students need me to thoroughly explain the benefits of reading for pleasure: vocabulary development, exemplars of strong writing skills, practice with active reading strategies, and an opportunity to increase reading fluency (which then translates to an increased ease with reading for other classes!). Thanks for reading! :)


Next order of business for this post: my unpublished letter. :( Last week, I was involved in professional development that led me to write something that I wanted others to read. I was encouraged to send this writing to the editors of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, and I did. I was excited when I recieved an email informing me that this writing would be published as a letter-to-the-editor in Monday's (November 9th) paper! However, this excitement was quickly defused when I realized that my writing was nowhere to be found. After a few days of hopefully checking for my writing, I emailed the editors to say, "hey, what's up?" and I have not gotten a response. :( BOOOOOOO!!!! So, here it is:

In a fourth floor classroom at Pulaski High School, I found myself excited about being involved in a day of professional development while happily surrounded by enthusiastic English teachers from all around the district.  We—for the most part—had smiles on our faces.  Teachers love this kind of stuff.  The characteristic that all of us shared today was that we all teach in schools that utilize the Pebble Creek curriculum for ninth grade English classes.  The theme of our professional development was a great one: how to teach this curriculum effectively and successfully!  Just like teachers tend to do, we were reveling in the joys of digging into the curriculum materials and then participating in modeled lesson plans.  The unit that this day was devoted to was centered on the theme of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, so the texts and activities that we were engaged in were related to the culture, landscape, qualities, struggles, and successes of New Orleans before and after Katrina.  The activity that prompted the text I wrote below involved reading and responding to a text about the loyalty that the citizens of New Orleans have to their homeland.  We were simply asked to think of a place where we feel great; a place that brings delight to us.  The catch to this assignment was that this same place of delight needed to also be a place that is generally scorned by the majority. Some of the places that my colleagues described included a less-than luxurious car, a run-down bar, an unorganized basement, and a worn couch.  My place?  Ahh, that’s easy: Bradley Tech High School.

“My Home-Away-From-Home”

            Okay, so maybe Tech isn’t a five star resort, but it is most definitely one of my favorite places.  Although the cement floors, the lack of walls, and the screaming whistles during passing time warm my heart, these traits fall far from warming the hearts of the general public.  You see, to the outside world, Tech is simply a “terrible school,” or a place that “has a long way to go.”  These types of descriptions cut deep into my soul—after all, this school represents everything that I am passionate about, and everything that I have worked by butt off for: education.  It really is a shame that the media attention our school usually gets tends to focus more on the “punch” rather than on the family of students and staff who work hard to prevent that punch, or stop it after it has been thrown.  The struggles that occur within the walls of our building are real—they are dramatic, authentic, and fundamental, and they help us develop as a tightly knit family.  It really is a shame that most of the outside world never has the chance to witness the laughter, joy, support and growth that occurs everyday inside our home.  So, instead of rejoicing at the reporting of serious successes, we have developed a bond over our own secret: we are great!

I think I posted this in my previous post, but I wanted to repost it with the beginning part as well.

Finally, I just wanted to record the fact that I made six dozen cookies, four pans of brownies, taco dip, and brought in four gallons of milk today for my kids. I was VERY apprehensive about this for several reasons: it was expensive, it took me FOREVER, and I feared an emotional break-down at the possibility of little appreciation. As a new teacher, I have already learned that it is a BAD idea to expect appreciation from a bunch of adolescents. The truth of the matter is simple: they are programmed to worry about themselves, and it's my JOB to be there for them. Basically, I have already realized that I need to have thick skin, and I need to be there for them NO MATTER WHAT. However, considering all of the work I put into this "kick-off the new term" celebration, I was seriously doubting my ability to brush things off my shoulders. With that being said, I was INCREDIBLY satisfied with the response of my students. They were VERY appreciative and thankful. In addition, they were surprised at the amount of work I had put into everything. The shock on their faces as I loaded paper plates with goodies was better than ANY thank you. It showed me what I was hoping for: they weren't EXPECTING that much out of me. I had exceeded their expectations, and it felt good!