This post of mine has 566 reblogs. I don’t have that many followers, not even close. That says something.
(Source: politicsoflocation)
“Tweet, tweet, tweet!” chirped the kindergartners in Jennifer Aaron’s class last week, as they settled onto the multicolored carpet and began to consider what they would like to send out into the Twitter universe that day.
Three days a week, as the school day draws to a close, the children in Ms. Aaron’s class sit down to compose a message about what they have been doing all day. They then send it out to their parents and relatives through Twitter, the stamping grounds of celebrities and politicians, where few kindergartners have been known to venture.
Ms. Aaron began the experiment this year with her class at Public School 150, an elementary school in TriBeCa, where every classroom has a Smartboard, a kind of interactive whiteboard, and all the fourth and fifth graders work on their own laptops.
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
And another.
Another
One of my student’s drawings.
During lunch one day, two of my students, Jamal and Tyric, had an altercation that quickly turned into a physical fight. Teachers separated the boys, and the fight was seemingly over. As I led my students out of the cafeteria to go back to class, I saw Jamal pressed up against a wall with a 250 lb. Atlanta Police Department officer against his back. The police offer, who works full-time at the school, was handcuffing Jamal’s hands behind his back. I was terrified and enraged to see a ten-year-old boy being treated in such a way, and yet, the students that surrounded me in the stairwell seemed completely unfazed by what they were witnessing. They had seen it many times before, and often were the ones being handcuffed. Indeed, a large number of my students were on probation for a variety of offenses, from trying to steal a car to starting a food fight at school.
I ran into the police officer a few hours later. I tried, as appropriately and respectfully as possible, to question his decision to arrest the student. The officer responded that arresting the student effectively served as a deterrent from future misbehavior. If he had not arrested the boy, he explained, my Jamal would have gone on to commit crimes; arresting him served as a scare tactic. This sentiment was echoed time and again by other teachers throughout the school. If I tried to challenge their logic, they passionately defended their claims that policing effectively deters crime, despite no existing evidence that it in fact does (Mukherjee, 2007).
- Excerpt from report I’m writing on student teaching and classroom management
Dear 8th Graders,
I’m sorry.
I didn’t know.
I spent last night perusing the 150-plus pages of grading materials provided by the state in anticipation of reading and evaluating your English Language Arts Exams this morning. I knew the test was pointless—that it has never fulfilled its stated…
(Source: Washington Post)
At Morris Hills, I often had the feeling that I was teaching in a prison. Students were never allowed to be alone without a teacher supervising them, including when attending the bathroom. When they switched classes, they were ordered to stand in a straight line on the third square tile from the wall. If a student stepped out of line, one of the teachers monitoring them would yell at them. I often witnessed teachers speaking to their students in degrading and inappropriate ways, including calling them “hoodlums.”
- Excerpt from report I’m writing on student teaching and classroom management
I posted this in November. It’s time to be reminded of this. I only wish it said “You’re going to do fine this semester, and at work.”
(Source: leilockheart)
I’ve moved into teaching full time now, which completely changes my classroom management experiences. I’m not surprised by this shift, but it’s very interesting to observe and be a participant in. As a full time teacher, I must take total control of the classroom, and I’m no longer Dr. D’s assistant like student teacher. He’s been good about ceding control to me too – whenever someone asks something of him, he tells them they have to ask me. On one hand, teaching means classroom management is much harder just because it’s now all up to me and I don’t get any help. On the other hand, in some ways it’s easier because what I say actually goes.
This week I’ve tried to establish some of my basic rules not by announcing them but by enforcing them. One of these rules is cell phone use. I don’t take a phone if I see it, but I will if a student repeatedly uses it after I’ve told them to put it away. And I keep it until the end of the period. Instead of setting these incredibly strict rules, I’d rather teach them to respect my wishes. That’s why I don’t say no cell phones, but instead am trying to convey the message of respecting my desires after I’ve asked them to put the phone away. I like this approach because it feels more organic and comfortable to enforce and is more reflective of my teaching philosophy.
Another example of this approach is my policy towards sleeping in class. I’m pretty much doing the exact same thing as with the cell phones – not telling them not to sleep, but rather just making it clear I won’t tolerate it. If they fall asleep in class, I wake them up. If they fall asleep again, I tell them very quietly that if they fall asleep again I’m going to make them stand up for the remainder of the class. If I tell them that, I make sure to enforce it. This week I made three students stand up. One of the students begged me several times to sit down because he said his legs were hurting. He’d only been standing for twenty minutes or so, so I wasn’t concerned this was true (I did see that last week a GA teacher got arrested for making students stand up for seven hours though!). I realized as he was begging me to sit down that if I let him sit, it would send a message that I’ll eventually back down if he asks enough times. So I made him stand up for the rest of the class. The next day he made some joke about how I didn’t let him sit down, and I said, “Yes but you’ll never fall asleep in my class again will you?” And he laughed and said “No, I won’t.” Victory!
Ryan then told the kids they could help raise up to a million dollars for other schools’ libraries — and qualify for a sweepstakes entry (trip for four to Universal Studios). All they had to do was persuade their parents to go to the nearest Mazda dealership for a test-drive. For every person who test-drives a car — and brings in a special certificate, which students received at school Tuesday — Mazda will donate $25 to the NEA’s foundation for public schools.
Ryan told his rapt audience that Mazda’s latest models get great gas mileage — at 35 miles to the gallon, the CX-5 is the most efficient SUV on American highways, he said.
“That’s the kind of car we think the Lorax would like to drive,” he said.
Shortly thereafter a very lovable-looking Lorax emerged from stage right and the kids — many of them wearing homemade striped Cat in the Hat hats — erupted in squeals. The Lorax waved and doled out hugs. The kids serenaded him with a song. And then everyone was ushered outside to see two cars up close — a Mazda 3 sedan and a CX-5 sports utility vehicle, both specially painted with Lorax scenes and both with what Mazda has termed “Truffula Tree-approved SKYACTIV® TECHNOLOGY.”
You have got to be kidding me.
I’ve been working hard to build a relationship with E. He’s doing well in my class, and despite his constant conversations with friends about all the weed they smoke and dumb stuff they do, I know his heart is in the right place. But yesterday I sat in on another teacher’s class that he was in and was really disappointed by what I saw and heard. Before he arrived, the teacher told me about how badly he’s doing in school and that at the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even graduate. She said E’s failing classes he’s already failed once. When he arrived in class, it was time for for him to give a presentation that the class has been preparing for for weeks. He and his partner completely bombed it. They laughed the whole time, were not prepared at all, and essentially did nothing. They deserved less than a zero, because not only did they not do the work, but they were disrespectful to themselves, to their teacher, and to the class.
After he was finished, the class had the rest of the period free, so I told him to take a walk with me. We walked around the school, and I basically asked him what on earth he was doing. I talked to him about his grades, about where he thinks he’s going with his life, etc. I actually said to him, look, if you’re going to be lazy, at least be strategically lazy. I think what made me most angry about his presentation in class wasn’t the fact that he hadn’t prepared before the class, but that he could have done fine if he had just paid attention for five minutes to the student that presented before him. That was the kind of laziness I told him I was upset about.
Because he’s a little skater, he knows all the older skaters who I know. In a way this makes things very strange, but I think it can also be used successfully to relate to him and his life outside of school. We talked about those older skaters and about how lame their lives actually are, and that he’s going to be just like them if he doesn’t figure out what he’s doing in school. We also talked about his life, and the fact that the only adults in his life are his mom and step dad, who don’t seem very involved in E’s life. His dad lives nearby but seems to be a total jerk and doesn’t have any relationship with E. I explained to him how I feel about him - concerned and dedicated. I want to be a good role model for him, I want him to spend time around an adult other than his parents, one that truly cares about him. I want to show him that he can do what he wants out of school, skate and party and listen to rap, for the rest of his damn life if he wants, as long as he gets by in school.
I also gave E my phone number and told him that he can call me if he needs anything. I don’t want him sleeping on a friend’s couch for two months after he gets kicked out of his house (like he did this summer) and I don’t want him sleeping in the park (like his best friend also did this summer). I was scared about giving him my phone number, especially after he texted me after school yesterday, because I don’t want to get in trouble. When he texted, I wrote back and told him to be smart with my number and use it wisely. I know I’m not doing anything wrong. I believe that teaching is more than what material I’m teaching in the classroom. I also know that many teachers do not have the same philosophy as me, and I can’t expect everyone to congratulate or admire me for my approach. But I have to know I’m doing the right thing and that I just have to ignore the haters.
I’m not sure if anything I actually said got through to him, but I do know that my presence, my compassion, my interest - I know he heard and felt that. That’s what’s important for now.
