Welcome to My World

I am no longer "Alicia." I am now Ms. Hall. Let me introduce myself as such.

I am learning what it means to be a teacher. The experiences this semester aren't completely new; I was in a classroom a few months ago as an observer. This time, however, I am actually a part of the classroom. The students call me "Ms. Hall" instead of "Ms. Alicia," and already I can tell a difference in the way they respect me. They see me as an authority figure rather than a friend, a teacher rather than a student.

I'm seeing so much at the school I'm at right now. It's a school that caters to low-income students, a majority African American. Students there are already having sex, they're drinking, they're in gangs. And they're no older than fifteen. The good thing about this is that school is offering them a chance to not be like their neighbors and families. One little girl, who just turned 14 two weeks ago, has goals written on her binder: "This year, I won't have sex, I won't drink, I will hang out with the right people..."

It's scary that these kids know more about life than I do, definitely more than I did at their age. They can articulate the feelings and thoughts of others better than any college student I've met so far. In their every day lives, they are required to read people and survive; it's no wonder their character analyses are so articulate.

This journal will hopefully be a place where I can do a bit of metacognition about what I'm learning and experiencing. I wish I would have started it sooner.

For now, I'll just leave with a thought I wrote down at the end of my Educational Psychology class today.

There is so much that we can learn from our students, and one of the main reasons for this is that they are not afraid to be creative-- they are not afraid to be wrong.

I keep thinking about two students at my practicum and how they do nothing in class but doodle. What would happen if we allowed that? What if we gave them a place where they were allowed to draw and be creative? I think not only would it expand their creativity, but it would give them the motivation to do better in their other classes.

Instead of giving kids an outlet, we suppress them with medication and over-structure. It's really sad.

Broken Thoughts from my Experience Thus Far

From Week one of my Practicum experience (2/9-2/13):

-The students in Ms. Barksdale's class at Jason Lee are mostly 'highly capable', performing above average. This is SO DIFFERENT from where I was at Woodbrook, where the population was mostly military. The things Ms. Barksdale does with the students is really making them respect themselves and their education. Before they even know who I was, they were expected to introduce themselves and give me a firm handshake.

-Ms. Barksdale gives rubrics for every assignment. Yesterday, they shared with my why rubrics help them. Some people say 8th graders can't understand rubrics, but these students really knew how to use them and why it is important and beneficial.

-GLEs are written on the board every day as well as a schedule and an objective. I think it helps that they knew why they're doing what they're doing.

From Week 2 of classes and practicum (2/16-2/20)

-Community building comes from inclusion. Everyone needs to have the same high bar set in order to succeed, and everyone needs to feel comfortable in their environment. As a teacher, I need to challenge my students and expect the best from them. To build that comfort zone, I can do something similar to what Jan did by not singling a person out, but letting everyone talk to feel comfortable. One of the students in class missed the first day where we introduced ourselves, so instead of singling her out to introduce herself, the teacher, Jan, had everyone say one thing about themselves before she had to introduce herself.

-On Wednesday, I noticed extreme diversity at Jason Lee, especially in my practicum classroom. I realized that I notice race now more than I ever have, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Instead of thinking that everyone is the same and completely equal as I previously thought, I'm starting to see that there are differences of all kinds, and that includes race. I can use the differences to be more accepting of the differences in culture, mindset, and privilege.

-I met one of the classes for the first time on Wednesday. After introducing myself as a future Middle School teacher, Ms. Barksdale asked the class if they had any advice for me. They said:

• Keep an open mind
• Stand strong
• Stay organized
• Don't be a push-over
• Don't be TOO mean, but be strict

The fact that they could articulate advice for me amazed me. This group of "high risk" kids is performing at a highly capable level and they're able to understand lifer from another's perspective. This realization is going to make me the best teacher possible.

-Some of the kids remembered by name, and I've been making a point to remember theirs. Names are relationship building, and building a realtionship with these kids is going to help us both be successful, teacher and student.

From Week 3 of classes and practicum (2/23-2/27):

-Grouping students seems to be a common practice, even after all we know about how negative it can be. It's really important to group students in a way that gives them the best environment to learn.

-It was really eye opening to see that my values tend to cluster around rules and consequences. I think of myself as a little more passive... but it's good to be able to embrace different management styles that I'll be able to use in my classroom.

-Things to remember:

• amount of time on task=achievement
• be aware of which students you focus on
• be positive about change to make students more comfortable.

-Interesting story: Found a student passing notes. Asked her to put it away until the end of class, and she looked like she hated me. After class, I told her upbeatly, "thanks for putting that away earlier" and smiled. She really perked up and doesn't hate me now. It goes to show that POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT rather than NEGATIVE DISCIPLINE are very effective.