How To Succeed in Miss Bryan's Classroom (Genre Reflection 2)

Succeeding in seventh grade English class can be difficult. There are all sorts of rules and expectations. To ease the stress, I have complied ways to be successful in this English class; common sense clearly is not enough.
            First, forget all the assigned reading. Spark Notes: Your new best friend. Put minimal effort into your work. Fume when you get less than an “A.” Forget to turn assignments in. Then, insist that the teacher lost ALL of your work. When you find it in your locker, blame the janitor. Certainly, YOU didn’t leave it there. Of course not.
            Take a nap during class. Sleep right through it. Then become enraged that your teacher won’t repeat instructions once you have woken up. Be annoyed. Annoyed that you even had to wake up. Annoyed that you have homework. Annoyed that you, once again, must sit through this class.
            While you are sitting through the most boring class on the planet, feel free to chat up your classmates. Loudly. Distract everyone around you. Throw crumpled up paper. At the trashcan. At your classmates. At my desk. At me. Better yet, shred your assignment sheets into confetti and throw it up in the air yelling, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Then, look confused as to why you are receiving a detention.
            Clearly, this is the way to be most successful in this class.

The Art of a Thank You

               I have been having some trouble keeping my students under control. The change of the season tends to bring with it the chaos of the classroom. My students talk while I’m talking, are rambunctious, loud, walk around the room without permission, and throw things across the room.

            Everything in me is screaming to stop writing this—no one needs to know about the disorder in my room! Don’t let others know that sometimes you have next to zero control over your students!

            I knew that this couldn’t last, and that I needed to do something about it. I thought about motivation and decided to see if handing out candy to those who were “on-task” would help encourage those who were not. I talked with my mentor teacher and we tried it. The students who were given candy seemed appreciative, but the other students didn’t seem to notice.

            My mentor teacher and I talked about how the experiment hadn’t curbed the off task and rowdy behavior. We discussed the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. This is when I decided to try a more intrinsic approach.

            The next day, as students filed into the classroom, I took a mental note of who had gotten their bell work out. When the bell rang, I walked around the room, thanking the students that had their bell work out and were ready to work. Almost immediately, a student at that table pulled out his work and exclaimed, “I have my bell work out!” This happened again and again until everyone was on task. I decided in that moment to thank a few other students, and then come back and thank him.

            This occurrence astounded me. Students would rather have my appreciation than candy? What? Who are these kids? But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Middle school is a tough age, where kids are constantly searching for approval: from their parents, their friends, and their teachers. How easily I forget that!  I am so glad this experience reminded me of that.

            With this in mind I decided to write my students thank you cards after a particularly successful class period. (They wrote for the entire class—and they were quiet!) As my students tore open the envelopes to the cards inside, I watched. I watched as my students read the cards rapidly, with excitement. Multiple students thanked me, and over the course of the next few days I noticed the cards tucked into the covers of their binders, the pockets of their folders, and the pages of their agenda books.

            I now tell my students “thank you” as often as I can. It has made such a difference in my classroom and in the environment in the room. My students are more open to discussion, to my direction, and to working with each other. It’s amazing what a simple “thank you” can do.

The 2015 KATE Conference

                The 2015 KATE Conference was the first I have attended. On the first day I walked in, notebook and folder tucked under my arm, coffee in my hand, apprehensive of the people I would meet and the content I would learn. I took my seat at the table amongst colleagues I knew and those I had yet to meet. I sat quietly, listening to those around me until the introductions started. And with that, the conference had begun.

               I studied the breakout session list, flipping back and forth between descriptions, trying to choose which sessions to go to. It was a difficult choice. So many interesting topics combined with presenters that I knew and presenters that I wanted to know and presenters that I could sit and listen to for hours. It was a difficult choice.

               One choice I am thankful I did not have to make is which keynote speaker I would attend. Thankfully, that choice was made for me and that allowed me to fully enjoy the speakers. As Jacqueline Woodson took the stage, an excited apprehension overtook me. She is a writer. I thought. An actual author who writes books. She started to speak, and as she shared her experiences as a writer and as a person, I realized: I can be a writer too. I have stories to tell. I sat, listening intently as Jacqueline shared her stories, scribbling furiously in my notebook, stories pouring from my mind through my hand, transferring to ink on the page in front of me.  To anyone else the page would seem senseless. To anyone else the notes would seem unreadable. To anyone else the writing would seem cramped. To me the notes and writing on the page transform into stories. My stories. During that hour with Jacqueline Woodson I fully embraced the possibility of seeing myself as a writer; of seeing my stories as needing to be told, to be written down and shared.

               I carried this new knowledge with me throughout the rest of the conference. In Lindsay Slater and Sarah McQuery’s session, I discovered that music can be part of the stories I tell; part of the stories my students tell. I was bombarded with ideas: spectacular lessons, amazing resources, innovative ways to include music in my future classroom. I left the session brimming with excitement, ready to take these ideas and implement them into my classroom for my students, my mind occupied with how excited my students would also be.

               As a pre-service student teacher, walking into a conference full of seasoned teachers who have been where I currently am is two things: unnerving and opportunistic. This experience is unnerving because in the scheme of teaching, I’m an infant. I have barely learned how to navigate students’ behavior and planning let alone adhering to standards while keeping my students engaged. I know I have many hurdles in my future. Luckily, these hurdles will serve as learning experiences, as does the opportunity to meet and talk to those who have gone before me, facing their own hurdles, sharing their failures and victories as badges of honor truly unique to those who teach. I met teachers who strive on a daily basis to engage, connect with, and honestly change the lives of their students. I gained valuable knowledge, tips, and ideas from those I met at the conference. This gain will allow me to effectively teach my students in new ways.

               I left the conference inspired, excited to try new things in my classroom and in my own writing; armed with new knowledge and an invigorated sense of passion.

The Adventure (Genre Reflection 1)

For my first genre reflection, I wanted to challenge myself as a writer. I thought about doing a creative writing piece pretty extensively. Then I thought it would be fun to create a graphic novel. I started my graphic novel and realized that it is a lot of work! I had a lot of fun creating this piece, and it definitely stretched my creativity! The story is about avoiding the boring and mundane in the classroom and the struggle to engage students continuously. I decided to leave it on a cliffhanger, so the story isn't quite finished yet. I'm including a scanned image of the novel.

The last panel ends with "Miss B tries to fend off Mun-Dane, shooting streams of power....(the scanner cut it off).

"You're Going to be Miserable!" and Other Negative Assertations

Recently, I had the opportunity to teach in my placement classroom while my students had a substitute teacher. It was a great experience to teach on my own. The students were engaged with the lesson, they asked questions, and most of them got their work completely done. I didn't have to give out any detentions; it was a great class period. I was feeling pretty good!

However, this particular substitute teacher had taught on her own for two years and decided it wasn't for her. We talked a little between classes, which is when I expressed my excitement about teaching and having my own classroom. She responded with a resounding, "You're going to be miserable!" She explained all of the hard work it takes, and how the first year of teaching is pretty awful. At first, I was offended. I am well versed in how to take on hard work and I am a firm believer that I can do whatever I set my mind to. It's hard to admit, but I was also a little frightened until I remembered all the support I have from my family, friends, colleagues, and mentors. I replayed the conversation in my mind throughout the day and as I did, I realized that her exclamation was not so much about me, about my abilities to teach, or about my work ethic. As I continued to think back on this conversation, I realized that this woman was simply telling me what many others had told me in the past.

There are many people out there who do not understand why I want to be a teacher, let alone why I would want to teach middle schoolers. When I tell people I want to teach middle school, I often get a wrinkled nose, a shudder, or a comment like, “Well, someone has to do it.” I try to explain that middle schoolers are so cool. They are funny, honest, and for the most part, willing to learn. I am continually amazed by my students, even the “tough” ones. These students are the reason that I keep going back after a particularly rough day; when the storms--figuratively and literally (we all know students get squirrely when the weather changes)—create chaos and havoc in the classroom.

As I reflect on why I want to teach middle school, I’ve realized that it is not my job to defend why I want to teach or why I want to teach middle schoolers. My job is to actually teach them to the best of my ability. There will always be people who don’t understand why I want to do this, just like I don’t understand why someone would want to be an engineer or a mathematician. And while I no longer feel the need to defend my choice, I do feel the need to try to help others understand better. So, the next time someone wrinkles their nose or asks why in the world I would want to teach middle schoolers, I’m going to try to explain: just like they are passionate about their work, I’m passionate about mine.

Confessions of a Student Teacher

Confession time. I have realized as I round out my third week of pre-student teaching that I have so much to learn: My students have questions for me that I don't have answers to; problems arise in my classroom that I have a hard time finding solutions to; I have questions for my mentor teacher that don't always have an easy answer; and sometimes, I really do have to give a student detention, even if I feel badly about it.

These are all things I am working out as I learn and teach. Students ask me questions that continually remind me that I do not know everything. In fact, at times I feel that I barely know anything. I decided this week that instead of trying to come up with an answer, that I would be honest and transparent with my students. I told them that I didn't know, or that I wasn't sure--but that I would try to find out and that they should try to find out as well. This worked marvelously! I am constantly being reminded that middle schoolers love honesty! They totally accept that I don't have all the answers--and it takes a lot of stress off of me as well.

Put fifteen to twenty middle schoolers in a room together: mixed genders, races, and identities. What do you get? In my classroom, the answer tends to lean towards chaos. One thing I have noticed about my seventh graders: they are never still. They are leaning back in their chairs, drumming on their legs, or tapping their pencils. Oh, the tapping of the pencils. The sound of twenty pencils tapping to twenty different rhythms is enough to drive anyone mad. If I had a nickel for every time I ask a student to stop tapping...

This became a problem in the room. I was being driven crazy, my mentor teacher was being driven crazy, and I'm sure at least a few of the students were close as well. A fellow student teacher suggested giving the students pipe cleaners to tap instead of their pencils. I wasn't sure if it would take. I prefaced giving out the pipe cleaners with, “Tap with this instead of your pencil. Be sure it doesn’t become a distraction.”

IT WORKED!

….For about five seconds. Within a few minutes of receiving a pipe cleaner, my more “rambunctious” students were twisting them, throwing them in the air, or throwing them across the room. Apparently my definition of a “distraction” is completely different than a seventh grader’s. Let me give a sample of the dialogue after a few were twisted and thrown:

Conversation with Student A:

“Hey, please don’t twist up the pipe cleaners; I would like to reuse them.”-Miss Bryan.

“You have to reuse these?”-Student A.

“Yeah. What do you think I am—made of money?”-Miss Bryan. (This garnered a giggle from the student and resulted in a once-again straight pipe cleaner.)

That conversation went pretty well. I tried to apply understandable reasoning to my request. However, once a pipe cleaner was thrown across the room, I started taking them away and giving warnings to students. I realize now that the best thing I could have done is the one thing I neglected to do: set up a classroom protocol for the pipe cleaners. I should have started with something like this:

“I’ve noticed that the pencil-tapping has gotten excessive in our classroom and can be quite distracting. If you feel the need to tap your pencil, I will give you a pipe cleaner to tap with. Please keep the pipe cleaners the way I give them to you: do not bend, twist, or cut them. If you throw them at someone or across the room, you will not be allowed to have one anymore and you’ll get an Off Task Card.”

My plan is to try this again tomorrow, with the aforementioned classroom procedure. I will post an update on how it goes! 

Goals: Not the Basketball or Football Kind

Yesterday my MT had her students define and set goals for themselves. She introduced the concept by asking them what a goal was: "What is a goal?" she asked. "And not the basketball or football kind." While my students are setting goals in the beginning of this year, I thought I should set some for myself as well. This year I want to get more comfortable teaching lessons that I design and plan for my students. I have substitute taught for the last two years, so I feel pretty good about being in front of students, but I'm not quite as confident teaching my own ideas. I'm excited to start doing that! Designing lesson plans seems like a daunting task right now, but I hope to get good at it! Designing meaningful instruction that my students are interested in is one of my long-term goals for this year. Some short term goals that I have are to learn all of my students' names, and something they like or like to do. I'm developing some goals for myself and certain students, like how to engage them and keep them interested in class. The class I am in most often right now is quite chatty. They talk to each other, my MT, me, and sometimes to themselves. Developing a classroom management plan that I can implement while I'm teaching is another one of my short-term goals. Keeping and managing that plan is one of my long-term goals. I'll keep you updated while these goals develop and change as I get to know my students! 

Teaching is An Adventure

Teaching is an adventure; an adventure that requires constant learning, curiosity, and courage. I'm embarking on a new adventure this year during my pre-student teaching and student teaching. I'm equal parts ecstatic and terrified. Hopefully the fearfulness will fade, and the excitement will build. I'm pretty sure that will be the case. Stay tuned for updates, questions, musings, and lots of fun stories! Down the rabbit hole we go.