Pam's Junior High Teaching Blog

Reading

2009-07-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

One of the profs at Pepperdine and I were talking today, and he said to me that he felt like reading was really necessary in today's society. He was talking about how he believes in visual learning and so much can be told by pictures and I started thinking about what he was saying. Does it make me really traditional to say that I think that's nuts? I do understand that some elements of reading can be taken over by other technologies, but I still believe that reading has so much to offer in terms of storytelling, world building, knowledge building. I don't know how it can be replaced with other tools. And if that's what happens, I believe that will shortchange students. I'm open to displaying knowledge in other ways. I don't believe watching a movie, listening to a recording, even an interactive multi-media project has the same impact as reading a book. Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse, but I need to find a way to make this point to my students, the people who really matter. Perhaps, this year, I will have my students prove the point with a project where they get to figure out a way to use other media to tell the story, providing all of the essential learning. Hmm, an interesting idea coming on...

My next focus

2009-07-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

A cool by-product of being here these few days is that I'm really thinking more about how to be an effective teacher. I will probably go back to my room today and start making a list of what things I want to try, what I need to do, how to change the world. I also am going to flesh out the article that I'm planning on writing about the discrepancy in education between poor kids and wealthy kids. We'll see how that goes.

Texting students

2009-07-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

What does it say about my teaching that two of my students called and texted me about 15 times last night, insisting that I go to Magic Mountain with them. Even if I was in town, it wasn't going to happen, but my, they were persistent. Perhaps I've let them get too comfortable with me.

New ideas and what to do with them

2009-07-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

So today was an interesting day for me. I spent the afternoon at Pepperdine, helping out in the master's program and I found something interesting (that I hope my close friends won't take the wrong way.) And that is, that I've outgrown this. The good news is, I think that's actually a positive thing, and I'm guessing a lot of my classmates outgrew this long before I did. What I mean to say is that I learned all this information from Pepperdine and I got all of these great ideas that I've been using and implementing and I'm now to the point that I'm moving a bit away from those ideas, in different directions and seeing what I really think is important for education reform right now. I guess you could say that the reformers I was listening to back when I was doing my master's had a great impact on me, but they are still saying the same thing and I'm wondering what's next. What else do you have to say that will make an impact on the educational system?

I'd love one day to come back and teach here, if I ever decide to get my doctorate. But first I need to figure out more about the solution to the problems that are out there. What I've discovered in the time that I've been out of grad school is that no one has the answers. I used to idolize Jonathan Kozol. I still think he's done amazing things and I frequently reread his work, but I don't think he has the answers. He does a good job at raising the questions. I used to idolize Gary Stager and think that he was on the right track. I don't think his solutions work for the schools we have. When we are ready to demolish those and create new ones, Gary has great ideas. I think Alfie Kohn is awesome, but until more people do, I'm stuck quietly implementing what I can from him.

What I have thought a lot about in the last year or so is that we can think all we want about what our ideal is. We don't have the ideal and today's kids are in these schools. My students, the ones who are right this very minute texting me to try and get my attention need good teachers who care about their learning and even more so care about them.

It's a struggle to give students the instruction they need. We do have a flawed system. I see my students for two 45 minute blocks per day. That's because I teach Reading and English. Most instructors get the kids for one 45 minute block per day. Sometimes that feels like a long time, especially when you have a particularly difficult kid, but most of the time, we realize how little can really be accomplished during that time. I'm lucky that at least I have the option to go back and revisit something the second time they come in. Is this the best way for students to learn? I don't think so. Do I really have the option to change it? I don't think so.

I thought to make a strong impact in education that I really needed to leave teaching and teach teachers. I think, still that maybe one day I will. Right now, I think figuring out how to work within the system, creating a viable model of powerful learning might better serve my students and eventually others. It's taken me a while to think that just teaching was an important enough change to make. I think, however, that it is. If I can figure out how to do it the right way.

Random thoughts

2009-07-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, this blog is kind of cheating because it isn't really about teaching Junior high, but teaching and more so, learning in general. It's funny because it's been about 3 years since I got my master's degree in Educational Technology. That program changed my view of education and really changed my ideas of what it means to be a teacher. Since then, I had one great year where I really go to try out all of my ideas, and then one year where I had to completely pull back on everything I believed because of the views of my administration.

Last year was different. Last year, I moved into a new grade level with entirely new people, no technology and a curriculum I didn't know. Last year, honestly, I didn't try to teach the way I really want to. This year, I will make changes that will help me to see how technology can help 8th graders to learn more. I want to be constructivist in my approach-to a degree. Perhaps I'm not a real convert, because I believe that no matter how much a kid says they don't want to read, it's important that they do. My job, then, becomes to find the books that will make reading interesting and stimulating to my students. I got sick of hearing students say reading is boring last year. I disagree, or I wouldn't have become an English teacher.

The funny thing is, even some of the most stubborn non-readers got interested in certain things that we read together: The Monkey's Paw, Flowers for Algernon, Tell-Tale Heart. This is telling for me. It says that while students enjoy the stories, they don't want to do the work of reading them on their own. Those stories we read together, and honestly, students didn't have to exert that much effort in order to appreciate them.

I'm frustrated, because I hear people like Steve Jobs saying that people don't read anymore and books are a thing of the past. No matter how you read, what media you use, reading is important. Reading is learning and understanding the world around you. Reading is expanding your mind, and allowing different possibilities. I don't think there's a replacement. It makes me worry that people in positions of power do.

I'm heading off to Pepperdine again tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it. I was once so excited about the change that is possible in education and I'm afraid I've become a bit jaded. I hope that I become reinspired.

I have a feeling this will become a multiple post blog over the course of the week. This is it for now. I may even post more later tonight.

Okay, so it's summer

2009-06-11T21:12:00.001-07:00

Obviously I haven't done a great job keeping up with my blog this year, but now as I'm starting to thin about next year, I figured I should start it up again. I got a call today from one of the teachers on my team about meeting to discuss changes for the new year. I have to say that the word changes makes me nervous. That doesn't generally bode well, at least not in the current educational climate. I am going to remain positive, though!

Last year was a good year, and my hope is that this coming year can be as good or better. I think I may have had an unusually good year. It started out a little rough, but by the end of the year, I realized what a good group of kids I had and how much fun I had teaching literature.

Testing is almost over

2009-04-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted anything in so long that it's crazy, but I've let myself get insanely busy, and am just now starting to come up for air. I'm happy to say that we have only one more day of testing left. Despite how much I hate the idea of testing, I've never dreaded the actuality of it more than I did this year. The schedule was crazy, the kids were nuts after testing and it was just all in all an unpleasant experience.

An interesting realization this week. I generally adore the kids I have in my classes. It has taken me a while to come to that point, and there are days when I don't really feel that way, but I will miss these kids a lot when they leave. I hope that's a good sign of things to come and means that junior high is definitely the right place for me. I've realized this week how strong the relationships are that I've built with some of them, partially because of things they've said. One girl told me that I'm cool because I listen when she talks and a few told me how happy they are that they are testing with me. Two of my boys did things that I found disappointing this week, and then because they realized I was upset, sort of went out of their way to make it up to me. I think this is progress and good. There are five weeks left in the school year, and while I hope they hurry by, I also want to make sure I take time to remember these people. Hopefully I'll see them again one day.

Eighth graders have split personalities

2008-10-07T19:02:00.001-07:00

Seriously. It's one of the things I haven't had to deal with before. Fifth graders tend to either love you or hate you. They don't flip back and forth every day. Or every minute. 8th graders are much more fickle creatures. Of course there are some that love you, some that hate you, some that are indifferent. But I've noticed that things are much more definitive with this age group. One of my more difficult children was talking to me about how she wanted me to come watch her run track one minute, and then I had to send her out of the room for being disruptive, literally about two minutes later. And then she came back and was fine again. My difficult class was good and mostly on task today. And another class was making me nuts.

This has been an interesting week in that the rest of my department seems to be having a melt-down. Last week was my week to be upset, although I will say that was really just the one day. This week, there are people in my department so upset about student behavior that they are talking about quitting. I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems bad.

I don't by any means have junior high behavior figured out. I know it works a little differently than with the 5th graders I've been teaching. I hope that if I stick around, it will get easier. I know the one thing I have to learn this year is not to take it personally.

The one good thing I'm learning this week is that it's not just me. I'm not struggling just because I'm new. Everyone seems to be having a hard time.

interesting developments

2008-10-06T17:57:00.001-07:00

So after my nightmare day last week, I mentioned that one of my students is getting moved out of my room because of how many difficult kids I have. This afternoon, at the start of 8th period, my vice principal called and said, guess what, it's Christmas. What other student do you want removed? We couldn't have the conversation right then because the name of the student I would have said was sitting in the room, plus I wanted to find out what the deal was.

The woman across the hall, the one who periodically shouts things like "I'm your teacher, you have to respect me" requested that one of her kids be removed, and that child is coming to me. My vice principal said to me that this kid is not really a behavior problem, that it's more of a personality conflict. Essentially, the other teacher yells at her kids (I can hear this across the hall) and has a tendency to escalate problems rather than diffuse them. Not that I am always good at diffusing problems, but my fault tends to be letting problems go on too long, as opposed to yelling too much.

So whenever this girl gets back from suspension, she comes to me. I told Pat I'd choose someone to send to the other teacher by the end of this week. I'm not sure what I think of that, but I know this- the teacher across the hall is going to want to kill me if I give her one of my difficult kids. And that's what Pat said-- basically that he warned her she was not going to want one of my kids, but she was going to get one if she insisted on getting rid of this other kid.

Anyway. We'll see how this goes.

This week

2008-10-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm excited that this week I get to start a novel with two of my classes. I'm also a little perplexed about how to deal with a few things. I'm a big Agatha Christie fan. I've read most of her books. We are reading And then There Were None. I love mysteries, love Agatha Christie but this is a hard one to teach to my class, not just because of the things that don't translate that well with age, but because of the overtly racist nature of the book. I agree with teachers who say that we don't want to shy away from that part of history, but it will take some explaining. Besides the fact that the books original title is "Ten Little Niggers", there's also derogatory comments about Jewish people and the phrase "a nigger in the woodpile" appears a couple of times. I also think it would be easier if there were more black students in my class, but there are only a few, which makes it more awkward. I'm planning on doing a whole discussion on racism before we start.

I'm also being evaluated on Tuesday. Every one has told me not to stress about the evaluation, that it's no big deal. But in my other schools it has been a big deal. I think my plan for the evaluation is good, so hopefully it will go well. I did plan the evaluation for my birthday, which may not have been the best idea, but it made sense at the time. Oh well, the most stressful part of the week will be over Tuesday at 9:10.

a not so fun week

2008-10-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

So this week has been tough for several reasons, but I'm growing less and less pleased with the way my last period is going. They just are disrespectful to me and mean to each other. And of course I'm feeling like a failure because I can't find a way to get them to happily do their work. Pretty much everyone will do some semblance of what I ask in the classroom, except for being quiet or polite. But they do their work. However, they don't study for tests, about half of them do their homework. It's been frustrating me for a while how apathetic some of them are. There is one girl in this room who never speaks. And then I have the 3 really badly behaved kids in this room. One of them is about to be removed from my room.

For me, this came to a head on Wednesday and I just felt really defeated at the end of the day. I had 7 periods where I felt like everything went great, but I ended the day with this group of students.

I closed my door, cried for a few minutes and then decided to go to the Volleyball game where some of my girls were playing. Where I saw my principal. Who proceeded to walk by me 4 or 5 times. Without speaking to me. I was the only teacher there, besides the coaches, and he didn't speak to me. This was only slightly surprising because he doesn't speak to me on a daily basis, but I always assume he's busy. There was just no excuse for it at the game. I went home not feeling great about my choice to work at Actis, move to Bakersfield, all of that.

Today was a better day for sure. I talked to one of the members of my department, and she and the other teachers bought me flowers and were totally supportive. My vice- principal is totally cool and is going to move one of my problem kids out of my class. It's not my favorite solution, but it may be what I need for right now. I sent my most disruptive kid out of the class today to another teacher's room and he was so awful that she immediately sent him to the office. That amused me. She told me that it wasn't me, and that she couldn't believe I had put up with him for as long as I had. Interesting...

All in all, not a great week, but I have to remember the other kids who are doing great and seem to be learning.

an interesting week

2008-09-27T13:59:00.001-07:00

So, let's see...we had our first prep day this week, went on lockdown, had all kinds of union issues and I ended the week by writing a referral for a kid. Fun week.

The week in review

2008-09-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

So, an interesting week this past week. I finally broke down an wrote a referral for a student who has been passive aggressive disrespectful since the first day of school. I gave him so many warnings and I think the kids can tell that it really pains me to go through the office for any kind of discipline, but I just got to the point where I had had it with this kid. And even though I was pretty sure he was not one of the more difficult kids in my difficult class, the class was calm on Friday, when he was in-school suspension.

The school I'm working at is so much more organized than any place I've ever worked, but one complaint I have is that I don't know the history of any of my kids. I found out when I talked to the vice-principal about him that he has a long history of misbehavior and it could be bordering on a personality disorder. His parents are having him tested because of all of the problems he's having at home. This is the way it works with a lot of my kids, and that may be a biproduct of teaching junior high. You don't get all of the detail on your kids that you get in an elementary school classroom.

I've found out over the course of the week that I have 5 boys in my third period class that have been diagnosed with ADHD. It's no wonder that class feels like a zoo sometimes. I love all of these kids, but together they are so loud. It is my most fun class and also my most frustrating. Hmmm... I actually said to one of those 5 boys on Friday, "boy I'm glad it's Friday because we need a break from each other." To which he agreed. Haha.

A minor triumph to mention- my kid who's on probation was so into this week's story. On Thursday afternoon, when we were having a discussion on it, he started arguing with students in class about points in the story, flipping through his book to find details to support his argument. I watched this in amazement and said to him later how impressed I was that he was so involved in class. Later he came up to me to tell me that he really liked the story. I've dealt with these kids enough to know that I haven't won him over or anything-- I will probably see misbehavior on Monday. But I also know that he can be reached and an interesting story will make him a captive audience. That's a victory in my book. Now if I can just keep him in my class instead of juvenile hall.

The Tell Tale Heart

2008-09-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

This week was kind of fun in reading class. At least for me. Hopefully for the kids too. We read the Tell Tale Heart. A few kids had read it before, but most of them were suitably impressed by reading about the dismembering of the old man. They were surprised to be reading about stuff like that in school, for sure.

I'm still struggling with my 8th period class. I have two kids who are good at getting the others riled up in this class. One of them was out two days this week and the class was great those two days. Working on reaching them is going to be difficult, but I will of course keep at it.

Start of week 4

2008-09-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

A lot has happened in the last week. I got sick, lost my voice and missed a few days of school. Fun! I also survived Back to School Night on one of those days that I was out sick. All of the parents I met with were very nice and very supportive.

I'm excited that this week I will be doing the Tell Tale Heart with my kids. I hope it goes over well. It's a little dry, but I think that the kids will appreciate the horror of it. Plus, I'm showing the Simpson's to introduce Edgar Allen Poe. I'm hoping it's fun.

Two weeks almost done

2008-08-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a long day. I think when I am tired at the end of the day, the kids talking annoys me more. I don't like to have to be mean, but I think every teacher worries about that day when they can't control the class, so early on, I have to nip certain things in the bud. However, it makes me grumpy.

That being said, there are some really sweet kids in my classes. The class that I was sure was going to be trouble is actually fun. (But loud.) There are some kids with just great personalities, and though I do believe that I will have discipline problems with some of them along the line, they are all basically good kids. (I think...)

Anyway, I'm tired, and Bug is trying to knock my computer off my lap.

The start of a new week

2008-08-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today started my second week teaching junior high, and I remain pretty relieve at how well it's going. I think I was really seriously scared about how badly behaved these kids would be. It doesn't help when everyone you meet says "You're teaching junior high? Boy, you're brave." I've heard that sentiment an alarming number of times this summer.

I have one group that is a bit talkative, and a few boys who need a bit of redirecting, but in general, things really are going well. One of the interesting things that I've found so far is that the people around me don't seem to want me to be doing well. They ask how things are going, and when I respond positively, I hear things like "Well, it's early yet" or "You got a really easy schedule." These are people who seemed pretty nice a week ago, so I'm not sure where this is going from. And it's not every one who is acting this way. But, in general, I find this kind of attitude disturbing.

One week down...

2008-08-24T19:58:00.001-07:00

So I survived my first week teaching 8th graders. And didn't write anything about it all week...mostly because it was a truly exhausting week. Exhausting, but I do think fairly successful. I am, quite honestly, figuring out what I'm going to do, and how I want to teach, and all of what comes with teaching English, but as far as establishing a rapport with the kids, I think I've begun to do that. I have one class that seemed like it was going to be tough at the beginning of the week, and while there are still some kids in there who are tough, the class is really coming around and I've made some serious inroads with some of them.

I have jokingly said to many people that I find it so weird that they all seem to be doing what I ask them to. I think people here don't quite get what I mean when I say that. They said, oh, it's the first week, they all do that. Well, maybe here they all do that, but not where I've been teaching for the last six years. So that's sort of refreshing and a little weird. And I wonder how long it will last.

We are reading our first story this week, one that I think is kind of fun. We'll see how that goes.

School starts the day after tomorrow!!

2008-08-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have been working in my classroom all week and have just had time to really think about how things are going. It's fairly overwhelming to be brand new again at a school , especially when I've been used to being a leader within my school. I don't like the part about not knowing where things are, how to get things done, who to call when my computer breaks, and not knowing the curriculum as well as I'd like. I'm working in a department of very nice people, but at the same time I'm not included in discussions because they assume I don't know or don't care what they are doing yet. I have to laugh and remember that in my first teaching job, no one spoke to me for the first 6 months. That's a slight exaggeration, but really really slight. This isn't unusual, it's just not fun.

I feel somewhat ready to start the school year. I feel more ready than I thought I would at this point. My biggest concern of course is behavior. I'm teaching 8th graders and I really want to connect with them, but everyone has so freaked me out about behavior expectations that I feel the need to be really tough at first.

My classroom

2008-08-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I saw my new classroom for the first time last week. The good news is it's in the actual building and it's near the other 8th grade teachers. The bad news. It has no technology. Seriously, NO technology. When I saw that there were no student computers, I asked the principal if there would be computers for the students in the room. His response "Why? Did you want one?" When I said yes (uh, ONE?), he said he would see if there were any extras around, and if so he'd try to get me (yes...) ONE.

Okay, so I'm trying to be positive about this, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do some of the things I've gotten used to doing with my classes. I've even started looking up the price of LCD projectors on Ebay. Although, I'm open to suggestions...

Motivating Junior High Students

2008-07-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

So, today, I went to a half day workshop on motivating junior high students. It was... long. Well, there were some good ideas presented, but a lot of it was stuff that I found to be questionable. Then again, I am an Alfie Kohn disciple and so some of it was just hard to listen to. One guy, whom I actually sort of liked, suggested giving your class marks on the board (as a group) for bad behavior. If they get 3 of those marks, the whole class gets punishment homework. The thing is, everyone was thinking this is a good idea and I was sitting there wondering how he could possibly justify that in his head, even if you believe in punishments and rewards.

The thing is, I believe that I'm going to have to make some changes this year, at least this year as I get used to teaching Junior High kids. I guess we'll see. I'm hoping, however, that I won't have to go quite that far.

On another note, there was an earthquake during the workshop to liven things up a bit.

Tomorrow

2008-07-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my first day in my new school district. I am doing a half day workshop on motivating junior high students. While I'm ready for school to start, it is weird for me to think of school starting, mostly because it makes my new little life in Bakersfield seem more real. This past month has been really strange, being in a new house, in a new city with no responsibilities. Nothing seems quite real yet. This week I'm doing a few more real things, like the workshop, going to the dentist, etc. You know, adult stuff.

Now, I just need to see what exactly I need to do to motivate these junior high students...

A week and a half before school starts

2008-07-27T13:10:00.001-07:00

So, I decided to write this blog because as I transition from teaching elementary school to teaching junior high, I have gotten lots of comments about how I must be crazy to teach junior high kids. I know that it's a tough age, and I don't have any illusions that this first year teaching junior high is going to be a piece of cake. I am excited, however, for several reasons. I am psyched to be able to focus on just one subject, and hopefully to get really good at teaching that one subject. I have always enjoyed Language Arts most of everything I teach, and it's exciting for me to be able to do that all day long. I love reading and good literature and I'm hoping that some part of my day will get to be sharing that love with my students.

I have to say I'm also looking forward to not teaching in the inner city this year. I actually live relatively close to my new school (about 15 minutes away) and I'm looking forward to that commute, as well. I'm hoping that the difficulty of this age of students will be combatted by the fact that these kids haven't grown up in the hood and won't be quite so needy. I loved my kids, but my last group especially has had a lot of special needs, more than I felt that I was able to effectively deal with.

I've decided to keep this blog so I can really chart how things are going and what I really think of this new move. I have a week and a half until I have to report to work, although it's not accurate to say that it's a week until school starts. School doesn't start until August 18th. I keep saying that I wish I could skip ahead to October when I know the routine, know my kids and have some time under my belt. If only things worked that way...