Not just reading, but COMPREHENDING.

That was the theme of chapter three in the textbook.  I appreciated this chapter.  I have noticed this problem a lot even in my classroom - not just reading words but understanding what all the words mean.  I can't imagine how it must be to teach English where that is constantly the problem.  In my math class, students are constantly taking notes, doing examples as a class, but when it comes time to do them by themselves, they freeze.  They can't do it solo.  This is an issue that I am currently struggling with and I feel as if most new teachers do.  Thus I was excited to read the chapter.  Perhaps there would be some useful pointers that I could actually implement!  Perhaps there was some small tid bit that would change the way I am teaching in my classroom.  Sadly, I was yet again disappointed by this book and its lack of focus on how math teachers can implement these strategies in their classrooms. 

            The most useful part of the chapter discussed what skilled readers can do: preview, summarize, use clue words, pointer phrases, etc.  These are all the things that my students SHOULD be able to do.  But most struggle with them.  Another one that I thought of was pulling out the main idea or the bigger picture.  Connecting one topic with another.  I often get tons of complaints from my students regarding the fact that I move onto new things each day.  But really it’s all the same.  There is a theme per unit.  I am fully aware that this is the fault of the teacher, however, I am not sure how to fix this.  We discuss our agenda for the week each Monday.  We discuss the unit before it starts.  I come up with sets so that it can relate to their lives.  And yet its not all good enough because after working on it for 2 weeks, I still have students that don’t realize that when they are talking about slope-intercept form, they are talking about a line!!!!

            And here in lies the problem. What do I do? I feel as if I was not given many, if any at all, strategies to fix this problem!!! Now I realize that my students don’t know how to read the notes they are given (sometimes I truly wonder what the point of notes are…why not just do example after example because none of my students ever reread their notes…) BUT what are my options?  There were suggestions such as think pair share, which I have tried occasionally.  Each of you do a problem, then turn to your neighbor and see if they get the same thing.  But yet again, my students don’t see the point of this.  They aren’t working together to solve the problem.  They first do it individually and THEN they share.  Its that damn big picture issue again!  I need to start visually showing my objectives on the board with each subtopic below…perhaps that’s what I will do this week.  Ready. Set. Go.

Reading in Math.

So one of the grad classes I am taking is about reading in your content area. Yeah I know what you are thinking because I have been thinking it the whole time – “Reading in math? What? How does this class apply to whats happening in my classroom?”  Well I don’t really have an answer for you.  I am still trying to figure that one out for myself.

I just finished reading chapter four in a book we were assigned.  It had some pretty useful things in it but again, I am not really sure how to apply.  Better yet, I am not sure why I need to apply them.  The chapter was giving me various ways to assess my students literacy ability and ways to get to know them, which would have been better read at the beginning of the year.  I suppose I am just stuck on what I do once I assess my students.  Yes its true that there are basic sentences to read in my class.  Yes you have to read word problems. And yes you have to be able to read the test.  I still don’t see the value of assessing my students reading ability.  There are key words in math that my students pull out.  Even my SPED students can pull them out.  Perhaps its just because I don’t have anyone who is severally behind in reading?

Not sure.  Anyways, the one section that I have been thinking about in the chapter was about standardized tests.  Seeing as I am an Algebra 1 teacher, I have feelings about this age old debate: teaching to the test vs not.  To me they can not be separated.  I HAVE to look at past state tests to see what material is presented and in what fashion and even what language do they use.  But I often catch myself teaching things and not thinking about the test.  I teach because its important for the kids to know certain things if they are in algebra, but at the same time there is this test that they must pass to move on.  Its definitely a balancing act but not a one of the other situation. 

That’s about all I got out of the chapter at this point.  Perhaps I will learn something new in class on Saturday?

Six Months Later: My first visit home.

Last weekend I went home for the first time since May.  I wasn't sleeping the nights before my trip because I was so excited.  I became very lax in my classroom.  Nothing seemed to matter except getting home.

Describing my feelings when I arrived in DC is just impossible.  I was overwhelmed with just seeing a city for the first time in so long.  AND it was raining. I haven't seen rain in months.  I missed the food.  I missed the general culture.  Then i got to see all the people that I love!! It was the perfect weekend.

But what I found most interesting was talking to my friends from home and college that just graduated.  Everyone was struggling in their own way.  No one really had it "easy."  It was oddly comforting.  Yes I may be in a foreign land with no friends or family.  I have some really low days - I mean low.  BUT so does everyone! Everyone is exhausted.  Everyone is struggling with this new lifestyle that seems very monotonous at times.  I guess I had never really thought of it before.  It gave me a new perspective on life.  The Delta can be a bit of a bubble.  You just forget that life goes on elsewhere!

When it was time to leave I wouldn't say that I wanted to go back, but I wasn't as devastated as I thought I would have been.  I sort of just accepted it and moved on.  Sadly that didn't last long...

I had Monday off which meant it was four day work week.  LONGEST WEEK EVER.  It was homecoming week and the kids were off the chain.  Every day this week all I wanted to do was jump back on a plane home.  The kids came back to school particularly horrible.  But the craziness of homecoming week just made things worse.  Good thing I had an easy unit to teach, but waking up and going to school each day was a real struggle.

Oh wait, and I am sick.

Five weeks until Thanksgiving :)

Functions, Functions, Functions!

I thought it was perfect that we used functions as examples in class the other day because I am teaching functions right now! On Monday I plan to use the Fun with Functions activity as a review before a quick quiz.  Hopefully my class will be able to handle the activity especially just coming off of homecoming week...

Anyways, in order to implement this activity, the key will be to deliver clear and concise directions.  Its basically a matching game but there are different parts to mix together.  It can get very confusing and I can see myself giving directions and then 5 minutes later having 20 children yelling at me saying they don't understand.

The benefit of this fun little activity? its not book work! Lately when my class pisses me off, I set them to work in the books. THEY HATE THIS.  I on the other hand love it.  Not copies and minimal management issues.  So this will be yet another opportunity for my kiddos to prove me wrong and show me that they can handle fun activities.  Plus I am giving a quiz the same day and this will be a good review.

let's see how this goes!

"Repeat after me!"

It sounds simple but it is easy to forget.  In class a few weeks ago we were told to remember to get the students to repeat instructions back to you after you have given them.  I remembered people telling me this over the summer, but as with a lot of things that we were told this summer, I seemed to just forget.  Anyways, following class, I started to make sure that I asked the class to repeat back what I just said.  In recent days I have been doing more interactive activities (mainly to keep me sane...) and I have started to make sure that I have my class repeat my instructions.

So why is this so important?  Because it does not matter how fun I make an activity, my students never listen to my instructions the first time.  Is this really an issue found only in the Delta? No of course not! The average student, hell the average American does not hear what you have to say the first time you say it.  Thus by repeating the instructions back, I am ensuring that the students are listening and perhaps if you didn't hear it the first time, then maybe you will hear it the second time.  Trust me, there is nothing more annoying than giving directions 10 times.  But also, repeating instructions help you to see if the students are actually comprehending what you are saying.  Perhaps there is a step that you left out or that was not clear. Then you can correct it before you let everyone go and everyone has the same problem.

It sounds silly, but yes, remembering to ask the children to repeat back the instructions was one of the most helpful things I learned from class the other day.

Is Ms. Jones Fair?

Last Friday I posed this question to all of my classes as their warmup.  The results were not really surprising or unexpected.  Quick rundown:

-       Majority say I am unfair à no shock there!

-       The question stated why and most said because she gives check marks à again no shock and I am sorry nothing is going to change either because check marks are necessary.

-       The good kids said I was fair

When I put up the transparency it was so funny.  I had kids who REFUSE to do work writing! Everyone can write when it’s criticizing the teacher, but no one can COPY notes. I had kids saying,  “A few sentences? Man I can write an essay!”  I just laughed and said, “You may write as much as you want in the time given.”

I did like this exercise.  I think it gave the students a chance to voice their opinions.  Whether valid or not, it makes them feel like the teacher is listening to them.  I also got some great feed back.

Although I said I was not shocked by most of the responses, there were several that stuck out:

1.     One student in my fourth block who had a major attitude problem with me but has recently been showing me as much respect as she would her mother or grandmother.

“Ms Jones she is okay..She is fair cause she allowed me 2 pull up my grade and I just want to tank you so much..I really didn’t like you at first but know you are a very cool person but thank you again Ms. Jones.”

2.     A student who I want to help desperately but needs me by his side the entire class.

“No she isn’t fair cause I don’t get that much help so I just sit here and fall asleep.”

3.      Anonymous

“No. You always write checks. Never get nothings done. Don’t let us sit anywhere. Just aint right.”

4.      A lovely (black) girl who just misses too much school

“Yes she is because she teaches very great. It’s just that the kids do not want to listen.  And I feel that that is not her fault it’s the students fault.  In my 4^th block I cant get my lesson cause the kids wont shut up and be quiet. To me she’s fair. We just have a load of ignorant black children in our 4^th block class.

I plan to make a slideshow for class Monday and at the very end have a couple slides where I pull out some of the responses.  I want the students to see that I read what they had to say and perhaps we can discuss things as long as the conversation doesn’t get out of control.

What I have taken from this exercise:

-       The kids did point out my inconsistency in giving check marks.  I know I need to be fair and everyone who breaks a rule gets in trouble.

-       I also do realize that I need to get around to everyone, but this is a balancing act and requires them to change their behavior ie. the reason I can’t make it around to everyone is because I have to stop and deal with behavior issues constantly.

-       Some students don’t understand why they get a check mark.  I need to be more clear either with my rules and expectations or more clear when I am actually giving a check mark.

My Biggest Challenge?

Waking up in the morning! Ha.  Well in some ways this is true.  Waking up each morning after a bad day is hard, but I think this is really covering up a larger issue that I am dealing with – a very monotonous schedule.  This is my first full-time job.  Up until now, I have been in school myself.  My day-to-day life was very flexible.  But now I do the same thing each and every day and it all revolves around school.  Yes I try and give myself Saturdays off, but you can’t help the random thoughts about school.  I have even started dreaming about school!  It’s so consuming and sort of boring? The actual job isn’t boring, but the routine is.  I can’t be as spontaneous as I would like.

Monotony has been a personal struggle.  Thinking about my struggles in the classroom is a whole other bag of chips.  A quick list may work better:

-       By the end of the day, I am exhausted, the kids are exhausted and everyone is acting up ten times worse than I imagine they would if I had them in the morning and to make matters worse my room is hot and smelly from a long day.  I really struggle with treating my 4^th block fairly. I tend to get short with them.  I know they are tired but what they fail to understand is that I am too!! I stand all day and I have to be in that room all day.  If everyone would just shut-up then a) there wouldn’t be so much hot air in the room b) I wouldn’t waste so much time disciplining and I could help you more and c) I would be happier and less mean. So there is definitely room for improvement on everyone’s behalf during 4^th block.

-       Of course classroom management needs to be improved…basically I need to be more consistent on consequences.   EVERYONE who stands gets a check not just every third person.

-       Third block using the bathroom!  Here is the situation.  At the beginning of the year we went to the bathroom post lunch.  The little rascals decided they wanted to lock themselves in the bathroom and start banging on the doors and making a ruckus. Silly them – I took away bathroom privileges.  So some __(adjective)__  girls decided to complain to the assistant principal about this and they told I must allow them to go to the bathroom after lunch.  After telling them how my class acted when they were given that privilege, they said okay let them go 2 at a time.  FABULOUS – now I get to have children in and out of my room for 45 min.  That’s not disturbing at all!!! So now I say that you can go during independent work only.  Its still a mess because then kids complain about not having enough time for the work.  Moving on to the next challenge…

-       Getting kids to make connections.  For instance, you going to the bathroom when you don’t have to = less time for your work in the classroom.  What about: if everyone would follow directions, Ms. Jones wouldn’t have to spend so much time giving check marks.  Or here is an excellent one: YOUR BEHAVIOR IN CLASS EFFECTS YOUR GRADE. 

I think just about every single “challenge” I am currently facing is something any first year teacher would face no matter what kind of school district they were in.  I am struggling with things, but I suppose I must also point out that there have been improvements from Aug 4^th…thank goodness!