Teacher Reflections

From my first week of teaching…

“The basic structure of [that] Friday’s class was to finish reading the first part of the novella [“Herman and Alice”] and then run silent conversations where small groups would be tasked with making claims that other groups would be required to respond to. When it came time for the execution, I became overwhelmed by the students’ not understanding my directions. I had done five minutes of modeling, though I knew I had done a poor job explaining it. I had them jump right in, which resulted in five or six students needing me at the same time for clarification for the remainder of the period. As such, I had difficulty keeping track of time and facilitating the activity. A couple students said that they were bored; many others looked bored and unengaged. We even ran out of time to debrief. I felt hopeless in trying to talk to everyone at once. I felt like I was doing everyone a major disservice by running such a terrible lesson.”

From one month in…

“My non-negotiables list has yet to be expressed aloud, but it would include creating a community of respect (no put-downs or teasing; this has been mostly fine) and saying and being firm on “no” responses to requests for a bathroom or drink (fine all but once, when I caved after I did not want to get into an argument in class…I should have just said “no” and “that’s final). I find my biggest area to improve as being confident in saying or responding to a student with what I need them to do/not do. As [Mr. Weyler] told me, I need to communicate X, let the student know that X is important, and move on. The problem is that what I read and hear is in discordance with how I act; it is much easier to say I will act than it is to follow through.”

During an epiphany in early November…

“[I] saw an example of some powerful learning taking place. Late in my class, I volunteered an example of my own memoir writing for students to view and critique. This was something that I had not done in class before. Students really seemed to “take” to the conversation. I had asked students to read my rough draft of a memoir, one that was purposely written to be critiqued, and offer suggestions for how to make the writing stronger. Several students, including several who rarely speak in class […] were suddenly engaged. / ‘Mister, you should add somebody talking there!’ / ‘Add in something about what happened when the door slammed! What did you say?’ / ‘The ending is boring. Maybe you should add a moral or lesson or something.’ / This was organized chaos. I gave students the voice to critique my own writing. I was particularly impressed that they talked about, and used terms for, dialogue, imagery, and details. The students seemed empowered. The best part was that this allowed me to deepen my expectations for the students’ memoir writing. Now that they had proved to me that they knew about dialogue, for example, I wanted to see it in their writing. After all, I argued, it would not be fair to tell me about these wonderful writer’s tools but not to use them in their own memoirs. No one argued. And now, as I begin looking at their memoirs, I am seeing some of the things they asked for in my writing.”

After the New Year…

“I feel that we have come a long way in the past three weeks. Once again, the combination of the fresh start of a new year, combined with my renewed sense of confidence in my abilities and my students’ love of You Don’t Know Me has led to significantly more authentic and engaging class time. I reflected, following my students second quarter reflections, in fact, on how students’ attitudes are shifting in a positive direction. For example, more than half of the first quarter reflections used the phrase “You gave me ____” (a bad grade, for example). This quarter, though, the phrase never came up. Students were writing about what they “earned.” Several who had been disciplined for misbehavior, usually talking out of turn or being rude, took it upon themselves to say that their behavior was bad (in one case, “atrocious”).”

We keep moving into February…

“I was really impressed on Thursday when, having read the penultimate chapter of You Don’t Know Me, with the fight scene between John and his father who is not a father, the students pleaded to keep reading. “Mister, can we read one more chapter?” Leah asked. “Let’s read it,” Steven said. I took a vote, and fourteen out of nineteen wanted to continue reading. We actually finished the book ahead of schedule, and I know it was genuine interest because I told them that the reading would not be homework that night if not completed. I think we hit a lull last week when we stopped for the mini-mini-unit, had the snow days, and had to read a much slower section of the book. Now we are past that, and doing well.”

And in April…

“…the juniors this week have been strong. […] On Tuesday, we had the best conversation of the year in any discussion I have had as a teacher. At the end of a scene where Stella is contemplating whether to go with her sister Blanche or with her husband Stanley, I made an impromptu move to bring this situation back to students’ lives. I asked students what they would do: choose a romantic partner or a best friend. I also asked them to consider if it mattered whether that friend was also a sister (or sibling). Students were getting really into the conversation—I am calling this my Oprah A-ha moment—and I heard from ten students in a typically quiet class. The best part was when the principal, Ricci Hall, came in to deliver a message to a student. On his way out the door, I asked Mr. Hall what his take was. Students piped in that they wanted to know. Mr. Hall said it was an interesting question for him in that he would choose his wife, because she is his best friend. Students gushed. Then, after Mr. Hall left, we continued to talk about the choice. Students were evenly split. […] The remainder of the week, we had similar insightful conversations and I am so pleased to see progress…”

Student Reflections

Many mentors have said—regarding English, teaching, or otherwise—that it is important to “show, not tell.” In an effort to take this sage saying to heart, I wish to provide a few comments from my students’ reflections first to second quarter in the freshmen group.

Selection of Quarter 1 Commentary from 9C…

• “I am not content with my grade because I try my best on all my work, I have all my work in, and I complete everything.”
• “I am doing great all by myself.”
• “The teacher makes me mad and you don’t know how to explain things so we understand.”
• “You should stop repeating things and let us work on our things instead of 10 minutes going over the instructions.”
• “I put in average effort because I didn’t really try.”

* * *

Selection of Quarter 2 Commentary from 9C, students correspond by number to those above and were given the same questions…

• “I want to change my attitude around and be positive!”
• “Maybe it’s my attitude that’s giving me a 92.” (N.B., She wanted a 97.)
• “My attitude in this class was horrible. I would not listen and I would have a negative attitude toward this class.”
• “To be honest, I would get off topic sometimes.”
• “My attitude was normal, yes, I follow along with classwork.”

I have seen an increase in students taking responsibility for their actions and attitudes. One of my major beliefs, which I communicate to all my students, is that attitude matters. In the job market, being a positive influence and team-player goes further than they might imagine in high school.