Also, please, please read this short article from The NY Times (and also check out the Times features that I've linked in the right hand toolbar). It looks like good days are ahead for you, teachers, if you can stick it out through the tough beginning years...
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Hey Ninjas!
Today was a great first day in high school. Michael gave us a grand tour of the school buidling and we got to meet a ton of teachers and we even met the principal...they are all very nice and welcoming. Setting up our schedule for being in the school was pretty easy too. The morning seemed to go by so fast! We watched a senior class of cinema lit which was super cool and fun and then we watched a senior comp level class who were pretty darn interesting. Classroom management was key in that classroom. Michael allowed them to talk a little but then pulled the reins back in. I think a lot of classroom management has to do with give and take. I give a little, they might try and take a little more, so knowing when enough is enough is important. After observing the classes we sat with Michael again and talked about some students and what their situation in the class was. One student for example knows that he is not going to graduate and so he doesnt put in any effort at all. Another girl blurts out completely inappropriate things that she thinks are insightful into the conversation. An example would be today while talking about the graphic novel Maus and the beating of the people the girl asked something about if a gay person liked to be whipped would it still be used as a source of punishment? Almost everyone in the class was floored by her question and Michael responded that it really had nothing to do with any of that. I was surprised that a senior would say something like that. Michael told us that she was a smart girl too, and did not have any disorders that would make her say things like that, she just liked the shock value. CRAZY! After class in the teachers room we heard the story of a first year teacher whose student told her to F off the other day in class and how she was unsure of what to do with him. She said that she didnt want to seem like she could not handle her class to the administration but she really wanted some action taken. I really cant wait to go back tomorrow and eat in the teachers room and see the inclusion class and EVERYTHING!!!! YAY high school!!
Have fun Ninjas!!!
Allison,
It's great to hear your excitement booming off the page, and I am so happy to hear that Michael made sure your first day at NPHS was a good one. I especially appreciate the SMART observation you make, in your post, about that elusive devil, "Classroom management." I think you are right on the money when you say "it is about give and take." As the teacher loosens up, so do the students, and then you play the game of "reeling them back in" and gaining some control over the group. In order to successfully manage a class, especially in high school, it is SUPER important that you become a person who can, indeed, GIVE and TAKE. That means being flexible, humble, and human.
I am SHOCKED by what the senior girl said in front of you two, and had she said that in my class, I would have stopped and made it a teachable moment. When students do anything to spread hate or myths or ignorance, I feel a professional imperative to STOP it. Also, do I need to point out that she was making fun of torture during the Holocaust? That she was making fun of the persecution of gay people? Good God. I am happy that there wasn't a "scene" and that Michael put a lid on her. What a first day!
Looking forward to hearing from the rest of the crew...
Rich--Jason Ryan already wrote me about your awesome Frankenstein tie! ;-) YAY!
my post about the first day was really long so I posted it on my page for anyone who would like to read about it
First period Mr. G, or "G" as all of the students call him, gave us an awesome tour around the building. He took us to each floor and explained how the classrooms were set up. He even talked about the gym, the auditorium, plays that go on, and other stuff that is not just English! He is making sure we understand the entire dynamic of a high school rather than just a high school English class. Mr. G also took the time to introduce us to many teachers on the way. I really feel like he genuinely cares about our experience and ensuring that we get a lot out the most we possibly can out of it. He invites us to have lunch and talk to other teachers in the teachers room (I'd say we do a lot of listening...) We are learning a lot of things that are experienced based, and its great.
After our tour was over we observed Mr. G's Cinema Lit class that he co-teaches with Lisa Pasinelli - greaaattt class - they tie movies into everything and have some good discussions. it is also cool to see the way that he uses technology in his classroom, which he does in his English classes in addition to Cinema Lit.
Next we went to his senior level comp English class. The students are pretty laid back and get along with Mr. G. well. He relates to them and they definitely speak their minds...
Prompt: What makes the world go round? (This was a suggestion from a student which was cool)
But the responses!!
They went from gravitational pull...to "Grey Goose"... Seniors in high school... I'm not sure how many times my jaw dropped that class from hearing things students in that class said. But this is it, real high school experience, I guess I forgot what it was like to be there.
Hmph. That was day one in detail... Some side notes from the rest of the week...
-Yellow Sticky Notes is an AMAZING little video I suggest that everyone in the world should you tube it...
-We observed Mrs. Thomas's class (she teaches freshman) because Mr. G. has a free period and wanted to make sure we still got to observe something meaningful (see he cares!)
-A girl got accepted to RISD and Mr. G. gave her a huge hug and said "see, those are the moments that make it all worth it..."
-A lot of students think money makes the world go round...
-The Cinema Lit classroom is an awesome atmosphere
-OMG!! Sharing your journal twice in Mr. G's class counts as a 100 test grade! yay! and some students STILL don't share! WHY!?
-The students that do share their journals are very open
-OH! and in class...students...sleep, do their hair, curl their eyelashes, read other material, have their own conversations, and rap about everything.
-BUT- they also engage in really meaningful conversations once Mr. G. gets them going. They ask good questions and it was obvious that they were all genuinely affected by MAUS which is what they are reading in class right now.
OH and today (Wednesday) Students in the inclusion class did a 3-2-1 which was cool, this was the first day we observed them. They also watched the "I Have a Dream Speech" and some were really touched...
Mr. G. was talking to us about one student in the class and said that he has it rough and he once asked Mr. G. "If one of your parents leaves do they ever come back?" Heart. Wrenching.
Freshman are cool, even though teacher seems to not want them, they are energetic and fun I enjoyed observing them today.
And Mrs. Thomas did a comma lesson, and I definitely learned a thing or two.
To end this crazy blog post, which I am NOT going to reread - it is what it is - I just want to say, I am learning a lot, every single time I am in that school. Mr. G. has our best interests in mind and teaches us about ALL aspects of the school, class management, time mamagement, dealing with students, everything. Of course it's about English, but it's about so much more.
I JUST WANT TO REPHRASE SOMETHING... third comment from the bottom about freshman, I did not mean for it to sound like teachers don't want freshman - What I mean is that teachers seem to want to teach the upper grades in high school, I imagine it is because the transition from middle school to high school is difficult - I still think they are fun and although the transition must be taxing, they still come to school to learn! Yay freshman! they are one year out of eighth grade...which is middle school, which is probably why I like middle school too haha ok done ranting. C-ya Monday NINJAS!
Night and day. Absolutely NIGHT AND DAY. Becky and I had classes spanning from a low-level seventh grade to a high-level eighth grade at Ricci. Here, we're only seeing seniors. The senior skills class is a lot to try to take in; it's pretty much a research/senior project free-for-all. That's not to say Rita doesn't have control, but maybe that she doesn't need it. The students are pretty amazingly on-task. Maybe that's because it's April, maybe it's because those projects are due, in full, the Tuesday after break, but I was amazed by the lack of MySpace, Facebook, etc going on at those computers. One student volunteered for us that MySpace was blocked, but according to Rita, other things, like YouTube, are not.
On the whole, NPHS is a lot more peculiar than I'd been aware initially. I'm going to jump ahead here for a minute because I first became aware of this oddity through the lack of blocked websites, but it was only reinforced by how their common planning time is handled. Tuesday, Rita was not in school, but one of the other teachers she's close with, Madonna, let us observe her class and the common planning time that day so that we hadn't come to the school just to leave again. Madonna pulled out an agenda and a binder filled with sign-in sheets. Apparently the teachers are required to sign in to their own common planning time and take notes on their discussion for the administration. I found that to be a little Big Brother-ish, particularly in light of the fact that their discussions are prescribed to begin with. It was all very strange to me.
Getting back to Monday, though, Rita's senior inclusion class also blew my mind. Again, we have to bear in mind that this year is more than half-over for them, but there was noooooothing in that class that suggested to me that it was anything unusual. They weren't the least bit unruly, nor was there any confusion or hesitation in participation. The class centered on a carousel activity very relevant to their lives. The first giant post-it asked what their dreams were for the future. The second asked for one thing they could do to advance those dreams. The third and final one asked them why they thought they were or weren't on the right path. She distributed standard-sized post-it notes for them to write their answers on (usually they would write directly on the butcher paper, but today Rita told them that she intended to do the same activity with her other senior class), and they were completely quiet as they considered and answered the questions. The discussion that followed revealed a series of serious, thoughtful answers. After class, Rita explained to us that they NEVER would have given these answers, or been so quiet, at the beginning of the year. I only wish I could have seen the planned follow-up to that lesson. I need to remember to ask her if it was connected directly to other things in class, or if it was just connected to their lives, a checking of the proverbial pulse of the class.
After that, Rita gave us an animated tour of the parts of the building most relevant to her sphere. It's interesting to have seen the school from Jill Usenia's perspective as well as from Rita's. Some places overlapped, like the English office and the main office, but the hallways I saw each time differed, and this time, I saw the teacher's room off of the cafeteria.
I'm really looking forward to getting to know her inclusion class better; based on scheduling, we'll see them much more often than her other senior class. They have so much personality. I find it really hard to comment after only one day in the classroom, and due to a family emergency on Rita's part, that's all I've got to go on right now, unfortunately. I can't wait for their stupid spring break to be over!
As of right now, things are looking pretty good in my classrooms. The Freshmen classes that I am working with are really enthusiastic about most things in class, including having me around, which is encouraging. I walked in right during a "drama movement" as I call it, meaning that all of the classes I am sitting in on are reading some play or another. I got to watch some videos about Shakespeare, and even The Crucible with Daniel-Day Lewis (BECAUSE IT IS MY NAAAAMMEE!!!!). The sophomore classes are similar in terms of what they are studying, but I am getting a "to cool for school" vibe from them. This reminds me of myself back in the day so I am not to worried about interacting with these students. In fact, I joined a poetry circle with the class and we all shared some poetry with each other. These students are pretty good at writing poetry. I felt like I needed more of the class that they are taking.
I am yet to have walked around the school, but I am guaranteed a tour upon my return. So far, the best part about the high school experience was being able to check out the curriculum book that all of the teachers have. At first it seemed overwhelming, but Mrs. Kane and I talked about it for a while and it seems that the teachers have a lot of different books and topics to cover which allows fora lot of creativity. It is even organized as to when the topics should be covered and strategies to complete units. I have got to get on Julius Caesar for when we get back, it's going to be good!
My first week at NPHS was great. Ashley and I were priveledged to see the senior classes that Rita had. As Ashley has already said, Rita has a senior inclusion class, some reg "comp" classes, and her senior skills class. In total, Rita has 5 classes that she teaches daily. The teachers there also have hall monitoring duty at a specific station (also very Big Brother-ish).
I did like the kids though. It was great to see the two sides of the spectrum, seventh grade, eight grade and now twelfth! The kids, as ashley said, were very self sufficient which enabled Rita (and Madonna) to just take care of the questions that came up after the initial instructions.
There was one student that I saw texting three seperate times in skills. I told Madonna, who seemed surprised, and I think she talked to the student?.?. I know the policy is that if they are caught with a cell phone they get detention or suspension or something, but from what I have seen so far the kids have cell phones on them at all times and use them often.
I even had my stepdaughter texting me on my first day there telling me that her friend, a 9th grader at NPHS, saw me and says HI!! I couldn't believe that she, and my daughter were texting me during school. and to make matters worse, getting me involved by texting me???
I'm not sure how to solve this little problem. The teachers class size is very large and they can't have eyes on all at all times. Any answers are greatly appreciated.
All-in-All though I had a wonderful first week. My wheels are already spinning as to what lesson I will do with the inclusion class. FUN!!!
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