The Final Countdown

As I am getting closer to my final day of teaching at North Marion, many thoughts have crossed my mind. I wonder, "Did I teach everything I had hoped to? Were my lessons well-done? Should I have done anything differently? What did I do well?" As my host teacher and I finished the rubric and I received my final grade for the semester, she and I discussed areas of strength and methods for improvement.

I am confident that I have developed a good rapport with my students. I am genuinely interested in their lives and I believe that I show that to them on a regular basis. I talk with them throughout the day and we share stories with each other in class discussions. Several of the students (especially seniors) have mentioned that they will be disappointed when I leave and I must say, the feeling is mutual. I have grown close with the students and my host teacher and I will forever be impacted by this experience. I could not have asked for a better placement or group of kids.

My host teacher and I agree that I behave professionally at all times and have a good understanding of the English/Language content area. I have a passion for teaching and the English language and it is evident in the way I carry myself in the classroom and through the discussions I have held with my teacher.

Since the beginning of the program, I have worked diligently to improve my classroom management. I believe that this is one of the most difficult areas of teaching to master. Classroom management strategies vary from class to class, so it is important to make adjustments based on the personalities of the students. Sometimes I find myself talking over students as opposed to making them quiet down and pay attention. In the future, I will clearly establish rules and expectations from day one and show consistency in implementing those policies. My host teacher ensured me that I will improve in this area over time, but not to worry because I am better at this than for what I give myself credit.

These last two weeks are bittersweet. I will admit, I feel a sense of relief in knowing that I am almost finished with my student teaching. Action research, full-time planning, going to class, and working has been, at times, overwhelming. However, as I mentioned before, I have grown to truly care for my students and the school. I will miss coming in every day to the "Good morning, Miss Kelly!" and high-fives in the halls. I will miss the company and conversations with my host teacher. I will miss the staff, the school spirit, and the 50-minute drive at 6:00 in the morning (okay, maybe I won't miss the last part), but I plan to visit often and hopefully to keep in-touch with my students and fellow teachers.

Time Management

One of the issues I have come across during my intern experience at North Marion is creating lessons that last the entire class period. On some days, I will plan time for students to ask questions and discuss and it turns out they are not as talkative as I had initially hoped. In this case, I refer to my backup plans. When lesson planning, I always try to think of something to take up time in case the material being covered does not take long enough. In one instance, my lesson ended about 15 minutes sooner than I had anticipated, so I quickly looked through my Grammar Textbook Teacher's Manual and found three pages for the students to review. They were preparing to give speeches and the book had some very helpful tips for improving their presentations and oratory skills. The students did not seem to notice the improvisation and I was much more prepared for the following two classes.

Grading subjectively

One of the most challenging issues in teaching English/Language Arts is the requirement of grading subjectively. In other words, there is not always a right or wrong answer, and often times final evaluations are based on the teacher's idea of what is acceptable/unacceptable. Subjectivity in grading was one reason I chose to focus my action research on modeling as a teaching technique. As English educators we do not always have a rubric to follow word-for-word, so in order for students to understand expectations we must provide them with explicit instruction.
This week the seniors are giving speeches on their author papers which they wrote in October. I was a bit nervous about grading the speeches because I was not sure what to expect. The last time I saw students of that age present to the class I was a peer, not a teacher. However, I was extremely pleased with the students presentations. They were very well-spoken and well-prepared. My host teacher developed a rubric for grading purposes. This was a great way of developing a score for the speech, but she and I both agreed that if we felt a student deserved a different grade we would make the necessary changes.

Addressing Different Learning Styles

These next two weeks will be all about addressing various learning styles. The seniors are finishing up their exam on Pygmalion and the juniors will be turning in their rough drafts of their research paper on Tuesday. This leaves me some time to work on revising and editing strategies with the eleventh graders and also presents an opportunity for creative review activities for test preparation in the twelfth grade classes.

In order to ensure the test review will be creative and empowering for the students, I will ask that they separate into two teams. Each team will create 10 study guide questions for the opposing team. After completion, I will read the questions to the opponent and if they answer correctly, I will allow them to either put an X or O on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. The students will hopefully generate challenging questions in order to keep the other team from winning.

For the juniors, I will use a variety of methods to facilitate their understanding of effective editing and revising. I will use visuals, provide audio, and allow the students to work independently. However, the most exciting activity I have planned for the week is for teaching active versus passive voice. The students will be the parts of the sentence (i.e. subject, verb, adjective). Up to eight students will stand in the front of the class while their classmates rearrange them so that the passive sentence become active. For example, "The ball was caught by her" will be changed to "She caught the ball." I'm excited to see the students up and moving around, while also studying important concepts for improving their papers.

Teaching Literature

The entirety of my week was spent teaching seniors the famous play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. I was extremely excited to teach this play to my students because it was one of my favorite texts I read in undergrad. One reason, in particular, that I chose this piece of literature was because language variation and dialect prejudices are major themes throughout the play. The students at North Marion High School demonstrate a wide variety of dialects, so I thought it would be interesting for them to read about social class distinctions based on linguistic differences.

Upon completing the introductory language unit, the students were asked to choose a role to play. They were, for the most part, eager to read and showed enthusiasm on the first day. However, as the play continued the students became less eager and more monotonous. At this point, I began to reevaluate my teaching methods in order to provide the most beneficial learning experience for all of my seniors. I decided that by modeling the way to read the script the students would be more likely to regain confidence and enthusiasm. I read the words of several main characters in the play in an authentic manner so that the students would clearly understand my expectations for their performances. I noticed a slight difference in the students' tones afterwards, but they began to drift off again towards the end.

Teaching a play as a piece of literature has produced some challenges, especially when it comes to visualizing the performance while reading. This particular play also has a very anticlimactic ending, so the students were a bit disappointed. In the future, I would like to have my students practice their parts prior to reading with the class. I think this would make the play more interesting and entertaining for both the readers and audience/listeners. I would also like to make the unit more student-centered by allowing some Socratic discussion among the students so that they evaluate the text on their own.

Research While I Research

This week, I was extremely busy with grading research papers. The seniors finished their micro-research on Wednesday and the juniors are just beginning their junior paper. It has been a bit chaotic to say the least. Teaching the research was not too much trouble, considering I have spent three years with action research. However, two obstacles I have faced are keeping up with all the components (note cards, bib cards, rough draft, final copy) and grading.
My host teacher developed a rubric and checklist for the senior paper, so initially I felt comfortable with grading. I went through the paper, made my check-marks, and offered suggestions for improvement. However, this sense of confidence only lasted about two hours. After seeing the same mistakes over and over, I became frustrated with my students, which is something that I try to avoid. With each paper I became more selective and picky than with the previous submission. I was getting overwhelmed, so I decided to stop what I was doing and focus on something else. After taking a break for food and a nap, I sat down to begin grading. This time I had a clearer head. I was not caught up with the mistakes of every other person in the class, but I was able to grade the individual student.
Grading, especially in the English/Language Arts class, can sometimes be overwhelming. In reading essays and papers, often times words and ideas can seem repetitive, but it is important to grade every piece of work with a clear head. Hopefully, as I work on grading junior research over Thanksgiving I will feel better prepared, less weighed down, and more enthused in reading my students' work.

Dealing with Ambiguity

I read online this week that "a good teacher knows how to live with ambiguity". The first thought that came to mind was, "Well what does that mean?" Sometimes I will plan what I believe is a really exciting and engaging lesson and my students will leave the classroom more confused than when they arrived. Initially, I thought this meant I had not done my job. I was a terrible teacher and had missed my calling in life. Then I began to wonder, "Does confusion imply lack of learning?" My answer? No!
If my students are confused, they are at least thinking about the material. They are questioning concepts and playing with ideas in their head. My solution to confusion? Revisiting material. As my seniors have worked on their research papers, I have noticed that their idea of paraphrasing is simply selecting a few synonyms for words and restating the same information. When I explained to them that this was not paraphrasing, but plagiarism, they looked lost. I decided to set aside a day of class time to discuss paraphrasing in-depth. I showed my students specific examples of acceptable paraphrasing versus plagiarizing a passage. Then, each member of the class created their own paraphrased version of an article passage. Once we reviewed the material together, I could see the light-bulbs start to come on.
Part of accepting ambiguity is also understanding that some lessons, novels, poems, etc. may not affect the student today, but one day they might look back and truly appreciate the things they learned in a classroom. They might remember the words of one teacher who cared.