I don't know what's happened to the year so far, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the fact that March is almost over...
I feel like just yesterday I looked at the calendar (provided by my CT as a Christmas present and it's wonderful, you guys) and it said "January". Now, I'm facing down a colloquium that's due in three weeks and the end of my spring semester at UNH. HOW HAS THIS HAPPENED?! Graduation from UNH is in under two months! Granted, I'm still going to be taking some courses over the summer, but I'm walking in May.
I don't want to leave my internship. I may have had some ups and some downs, but I love this whole teaching thing. Fingers crossed that I get a job doing this next year (although... not teaching means a trip to Food and Wine festival with my dad and a few others in October...).
I just finished my second solo week and it went well. We're chugging along nicely toward the end of the year. Children's Lit is just finishing up their unit on fantasy stories and will be transitioning into fairy tales next week. British Lit just finished Frankenstein and is moving into the Romantic poetry before we finish that unit and move into the Victorian era. I'm really excited for what I have planned for the Victorian time period. I had to be creative because I don't want to spend too much time on it, even though it's my favorite era, because I want to get to 1984 before the end of the year.
The colloquium is coming together. It's outlined, but not typed, and I've got a couple more elements to finish up. I want to use an entire quarter of assignments in my data set, so I'm waiting until grades are official to crunch those numbers. Grades close Friday, so I should be able to have numbers done and explained by the end of next week.
What's killing me is my class in Manchester. I'm really struggling to get everything done for that class. But it has to get done somehow, right?
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
A World of My Own
I know it's been a while since my last update. I've found that teaching two classes gives me much less time for reflection on my experience because I spend more time reflecting on my lessons, which isn't something I'm very inclined to do on this blog.
That said, right now I'm working on two of my favorite stories. Children's Literature is reading Alice in Wonderland and British Literature is tackling Frankenstein. I love both of these stories deeply.
Anybody who knows me well would be able to tell you that Alice is my favorite story. It's such clever nonsense that the book manages to entertain my again and again. It's absolutely wonderful to see my students experiencing the same enthusiasm (for the most part) for a book that I enjoy. It's been mountains of fun helping them work through the jokes that Carroll weaves into his text. Some definitely went over their heads, but then, I don't know that I expected them to get some of these jokes. A true understanding of about half of Carroll's jokes require an understanding of life in the Victorian era, which these students don't have because we're not a traditional literature class. I've given them some instruction, but for the most part, we've been looking at how Alice is a fantasy story and what makes it appropriate for children. We did have a tea party last Friday, though. I definitely enforced Victorian tea rules (the students weren't very happy about that).
As for Frankenstein, this novel just fascinates me to no end. Not only is it by a female author, but it's one of the first modern novels ever written AND it's science fiction. Mary Shelley adds so much detail to her text describing characters and their motivations. We're reading the novel in conjunction with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" because of the influence that poem had on the creation of the novel. We've also looked into the story of Prometheus in Greek mythology because the subtitled to Frankenstein is The Modern Prometheus. We are just about halfway through the novel right now and a lot of my students are amazed at how much they're liking the story.
I'm still struggling with one of my students. It's like he's just completely given up on doing any work and I really wish I knew how to help him. I know that he's capable of doing the work that I assign--he managed it last semester--but now it's like he's protesting me. Even if I give my class time to do their work in-class, he'll sit there and just stare at the blank page rather than even try. It's very frustrating. And the worst part is, he's not going to pass the class if he keeps this up. He's already failing beyond hope for this quarter (grades close in two and a half weeks) and once I put in the grades for the assignments he's missing and has already told me he's not planning on turning in, it's going to be even worse for him. He chose this course over other junior English classes. He came in talking about how interested in British literature he was. Now, he's just not even making an effort. I don't understand him at all, but I'll keep trying to find ways to encourage him to work.
That said, right now I'm working on two of my favorite stories. Children's Literature is reading Alice in Wonderland and British Literature is tackling Frankenstein. I love both of these stories deeply.
Anybody who knows me well would be able to tell you that Alice is my favorite story. It's such clever nonsense that the book manages to entertain my again and again. It's absolutely wonderful to see my students experiencing the same enthusiasm (for the most part) for a book that I enjoy. It's been mountains of fun helping them work through the jokes that Carroll weaves into his text. Some definitely went over their heads, but then, I don't know that I expected them to get some of these jokes. A true understanding of about half of Carroll's jokes require an understanding of life in the Victorian era, which these students don't have because we're not a traditional literature class. I've given them some instruction, but for the most part, we've been looking at how Alice is a fantasy story and what makes it appropriate for children. We did have a tea party last Friday, though. I definitely enforced Victorian tea rules (the students weren't very happy about that).
As for Frankenstein, this novel just fascinates me to no end. Not only is it by a female author, but it's one of the first modern novels ever written AND it's science fiction. Mary Shelley adds so much detail to her text describing characters and their motivations. We're reading the novel in conjunction with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" because of the influence that poem had on the creation of the novel. We've also looked into the story of Prometheus in Greek mythology because the subtitled to Frankenstein is The Modern Prometheus. We are just about halfway through the novel right now and a lot of my students are amazed at how much they're liking the story.
I'm still struggling with one of my students. It's like he's just completely given up on doing any work and I really wish I knew how to help him. I know that he's capable of doing the work that I assign--he managed it last semester--but now it's like he's protesting me. Even if I give my class time to do their work in-class, he'll sit there and just stare at the blank page rather than even try. It's very frustrating. And the worst part is, he's not going to pass the class if he keeps this up. He's already failing beyond hope for this quarter (grades close in two and a half weeks) and once I put in the grades for the assignments he's missing and has already told me he's not planning on turning in, it's going to be even worse for him. He chose this course over other junior English classes. He came in talking about how interested in British literature he was. Now, he's just not even making an effort. I don't understand him at all, but I'll keep trying to find ways to encourage him to work.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
New Semester, New Class
We've entered a new semester here at the high school. I've picked up a new class to teach: Children's Literature.
So far, I like it. It's much different from my small British Literature class (although, I did just gain a student in that class so I have 9 now!) in more ways than one. First off, it's a much larger class (20 students). Secondly, it's an unleveled class (meaning that it's not "College Prep" or "Advanced" or "General", it just exists as a class anyone can take) so I have students of all abilities. Third, I have to approach it differently; Children's literature is almost as much art and creative writing as it is a study of literature.
Right now, we're easing our way into the semester with picture books. The kids spent the last week looking at Caldecott Medal-winning picture books studying art styles and what makes a picture book a GOOD picture book. We're starting to look at the text of picture books now, too. This means thinking of what kind of vocabulary authors use, how to lay out the text on the page, and even what amount of text belongs on a page.
The students have also just started a project researching an author-illustrator. In singles or pairs, each picked the name of an author-illustrator out of a hat and will be looking at that person's writing style, art style, and doing biographical research. I've given them until the 21st of February to finish the project, which includes a poster and a 1-2 page paper on their person. I think that length of time is more than fair enough to analyze six picture books and write a 2-page maximum paper.
British lit is in full swing right now. As I mentioned, I got another student (plucked him out of the other section of British lit) and he's fitting in much better with my group than he did with the other one. The only downside is that I still have only one girl in my class. I worry that she feels isolated--especially since a few of the boys like to tease her. But she's bright so I think she can handle them.
As far as what we're covering in that class, we've just entered the Restoration--and I don't plan on staying here for long. We read works by Jonathan Swift last week and this week including two parts of Gulliver's Travels and all of "A Modest Proposal" in order to look at satire as an element of literature. The class is working on their own "modest proposals" and should be handing them in tomorrow by midnight. The idea of the "modest" proposal is that it isn't modest at all--Swift's focuses on solving poverty in Ireland by using babies as a food source (ergo bringing in income to the families that sell their children for slaughter, being a food source for families who may otherwise not be able to afford food, etc;). The proposals are all completely satirical; nobody should actually find them to be reasonable solutions, but instead they should point out some injustice in the world and shed light on it in an extreme manner.
After finishing Swift and satire, we'll be looking briefly at Milton before we move into the Romantic era and crack open Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
As for me, I'm re-taking a class I didn't do very well in the first time I took it. The downside is that it's in Manchester so I have to commute there two days a week which is really cutting into the time I have to work on my colloquium and philosophy of education papers--let alone the time I have to plan for the classes I'm teaching.
This is going to be a truly busy semester.
So far, I like it. It's much different from my small British Literature class (although, I did just gain a student in that class so I have 9 now!) in more ways than one. First off, it's a much larger class (20 students). Secondly, it's an unleveled class (meaning that it's not "College Prep" or "Advanced" or "General", it just exists as a class anyone can take) so I have students of all abilities. Third, I have to approach it differently; Children's literature is almost as much art and creative writing as it is a study of literature.
Right now, we're easing our way into the semester with picture books. The kids spent the last week looking at Caldecott Medal-winning picture books studying art styles and what makes a picture book a GOOD picture book. We're starting to look at the text of picture books now, too. This means thinking of what kind of vocabulary authors use, how to lay out the text on the page, and even what amount of text belongs on a page.
The students have also just started a project researching an author-illustrator. In singles or pairs, each picked the name of an author-illustrator out of a hat and will be looking at that person's writing style, art style, and doing biographical research. I've given them until the 21st of February to finish the project, which includes a poster and a 1-2 page paper on their person. I think that length of time is more than fair enough to analyze six picture books and write a 2-page maximum paper.
British lit is in full swing right now. As I mentioned, I got another student (plucked him out of the other section of British lit) and he's fitting in much better with my group than he did with the other one. The only downside is that I still have only one girl in my class. I worry that she feels isolated--especially since a few of the boys like to tease her. But she's bright so I think she can handle them.
As far as what we're covering in that class, we've just entered the Restoration--and I don't plan on staying here for long. We read works by Jonathan Swift last week and this week including two parts of Gulliver's Travels and all of "A Modest Proposal" in order to look at satire as an element of literature. The class is working on their own "modest proposals" and should be handing them in tomorrow by midnight. The idea of the "modest" proposal is that it isn't modest at all--Swift's focuses on solving poverty in Ireland by using babies as a food source (ergo bringing in income to the families that sell their children for slaughter, being a food source for families who may otherwise not be able to afford food, etc;). The proposals are all completely satirical; nobody should actually find them to be reasonable solutions, but instead they should point out some injustice in the world and shed light on it in an extreme manner.
After finishing Swift and satire, we'll be looking briefly at Milton before we move into the Romantic era and crack open Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
As for me, I'm re-taking a class I didn't do very well in the first time I took it. The downside is that it's in Manchester so I have to commute there two days a week which is really cutting into the time I have to work on my colloquium and philosophy of education papers--let alone the time I have to plan for the classes I'm teaching.
This is going to be a truly busy semester.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Flying Solo
I'm on day two of my first week completely solo will all five classes. Yesterday wasn't so bad, though. Due to a small error in timing, I'm finishing up some of my CT's units rather than starting my own mini-units with the classes. Right now, I'm finishing Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns with the World Lit class, finishing Hamlet with the morning section of British Lit, starting "North by Northwest" with the Film Studies group, introducing alphabet books to the Children's Lit students, and ending my unit on Much Ado About Nothing with my section of British Lit.
I'm finding that the two classes which are the hardest to teach are World Lit and Film Studies. The World Lit class, I think, may be too "advanced" in maturity for some of these students, particularly the boys. A Thousand Splendid Suns is an incredibly well-written book, but it also deals with very serious issues like spousal abuse, war, and religious rights. The girls all seem to get that these are serious things--perhaps because in the book, it is the female characters who bear the brunt of the abuse and heartache which is perpetrated by the male characters and a male-dominated society. The boys in this class, though, don't seem to get it. Sure, a few do, but there is a group of boys (athletes, specifically) who manage to crack jokes and laugh during class. I've yet to figure out what's funny about women being forced to stay at home and be servants to their abusive husbands.
The Film Studies class is hard for a different reason. This class is full of students who just seem to not care about school--they see Film as an "easy A" their senior year. They goof off on their work, they talk and joke incessantly--even during tests! Several students refuse to give up their cell phones during tests, to the point where they lie and say "I don't have one." Well, they definitely have one when I end up taking it five minutes later because I caught them using it to text their friends during the test. One student is so attached to his phone that he will actually argue with you about why he is special and shouldn't have to give it up. I remember a time when I actually got him to give up the phone (with my CT's help) and he unplugged his headphones, turned the phone off, carefully closed all the flaps on his ultra-heavy-duty Otterbox and told us that if there was "one scratch" on the phone, he would make his parents sue (can you say "spoiled brat"?). Then, he proceeded to throw the phone into the box! After going on and on about how he didn't want it broken and we should take care of it, he goes and throws it rather than placing it gently.
Then, also in Film, there's a pair of boys who will not shut up. I swear, I could give them a test and tell them to take it, but if they were the only two in the room, they'd take a zero on it because they wouldn't get any work done. One of them can't make up his mind on what his name is and comes in with a different one every day--and he won't answer to anything but is nom du jour. He also thinks he's some kind of hot-shot like a cross between Jonah Hill and that kid that plays McLovin'. Except he doesn't realize that he's just obnoxious.
I suppose I'll have to get used to students like them because with the way kids are being raised now, I don't think that mentality is going to change. There's just no respect any more. There's no sense of where the line is between being funny and being absolutely annoying. I think that part of the problem is also that they know I'm an intern, not a fully-paid and licensed teacher so they push the boundaries and think they can get away with all sorts of things they wouldn't be able to get away with if my CT was teaching. So far, they think they've gotten away with it. But I get revenge in the worst way: I assign essays.
I'm finding that the two classes which are the hardest to teach are World Lit and Film Studies. The World Lit class, I think, may be too "advanced" in maturity for some of these students, particularly the boys. A Thousand Splendid Suns is an incredibly well-written book, but it also deals with very serious issues like spousal abuse, war, and religious rights. The girls all seem to get that these are serious things--perhaps because in the book, it is the female characters who bear the brunt of the abuse and heartache which is perpetrated by the male characters and a male-dominated society. The boys in this class, though, don't seem to get it. Sure, a few do, but there is a group of boys (athletes, specifically) who manage to crack jokes and laugh during class. I've yet to figure out what's funny about women being forced to stay at home and be servants to their abusive husbands.
The Film Studies class is hard for a different reason. This class is full of students who just seem to not care about school--they see Film as an "easy A" their senior year. They goof off on their work, they talk and joke incessantly--even during tests! Several students refuse to give up their cell phones during tests, to the point where they lie and say "I don't have one." Well, they definitely have one when I end up taking it five minutes later because I caught them using it to text their friends during the test. One student is so attached to his phone that he will actually argue with you about why he is special and shouldn't have to give it up. I remember a time when I actually got him to give up the phone (with my CT's help) and he unplugged his headphones, turned the phone off, carefully closed all the flaps on his ultra-heavy-duty Otterbox and told us that if there was "one scratch" on the phone, he would make his parents sue (can you say "spoiled brat"?). Then, he proceeded to throw the phone into the box! After going on and on about how he didn't want it broken and we should take care of it, he goes and throws it rather than placing it gently.
Then, also in Film, there's a pair of boys who will not shut up. I swear, I could give them a test and tell them to take it, but if they were the only two in the room, they'd take a zero on it because they wouldn't get any work done. One of them can't make up his mind on what his name is and comes in with a different one every day--and he won't answer to anything but is nom du jour. He also thinks he's some kind of hot-shot like a cross between Jonah Hill and that kid that plays McLovin'. Except he doesn't realize that he's just obnoxious.
I suppose I'll have to get used to students like them because with the way kids are being raised now, I don't think that mentality is going to change. There's just no respect any more. There's no sense of where the line is between being funny and being absolutely annoying. I think that part of the problem is also that they know I'm an intern, not a fully-paid and licensed teacher so they push the boundaries and think they can get away with all sorts of things they wouldn't be able to get away with if my CT was teaching. So far, they think they've gotten away with it. But I get revenge in the worst way: I assign essays.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Cultural Insensitivity
I am honestly appalled by the amount of cultural insensitivity that I see as I watch various classes as part of my internship. This is especially present in the World Literature class which my CT teaches. Specifically, there is a pair of boys who seem to take every opportunity to mock the cultures and people they're reading about. While watching a video about the horrible treatment of widows in India, these boys danced in their seats in a caricature of what they think a Hindu dance would be. The did the same while watching a video about how some families in India kill their children if they're girls because of how expensive girls are to raise in their society (this is due to the dowry they pay the husband's family at marriage even though the practice has been outlawed).
It astounded me that these two boys would be in the classroom, laughing and dancing as such horrific practices were explained to the class.
I see the appropriation of culture every day, it seems. The Native American dreamcatcher has become some great symbol of the hipsters. I've seen girls with tattoos of dreamcatchers who couldn't even explain to me what it was. I see bands using battle headdresses on clothing as part of their merchandise lines. It seems that there is very little awareness of the difference between appropriating somebody else's culture and being respectful of it.
What's even sadder is that most of the perpetrators I see are people who could be labeled as "privileged white upper-middle class." These are the same students who think violence is cool and who can't keep their hands off their phones for more than five minutes. One student even outright admitted that she gets anxious if separated from her phone. I'm going to stop here because I could write whole novels on the problem of cell phones in school.
But for now, I just want to remind people that just because you think something is funny because it's not your culture and you're not used to seeing it as normal, doesn't give you the right to mock it.
It astounded me that these two boys would be in the classroom, laughing and dancing as such horrific practices were explained to the class.
I see the appropriation of culture every day, it seems. The Native American dreamcatcher has become some great symbol of the hipsters. I've seen girls with tattoos of dreamcatchers who couldn't even explain to me what it was. I see bands using battle headdresses on clothing as part of their merchandise lines. It seems that there is very little awareness of the difference between appropriating somebody else's culture and being respectful of it.
What's even sadder is that most of the perpetrators I see are people who could be labeled as "privileged white upper-middle class." These are the same students who think violence is cool and who can't keep their hands off their phones for more than five minutes. One student even outright admitted that she gets anxious if separated from her phone. I'm going to stop here because I could write whole novels on the problem of cell phones in school.
But for now, I just want to remind people that just because you think something is funny because it's not your culture and you're not used to seeing it as normal, doesn't give you the right to mock it.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Culture These Days...
My students had to turn in their final papers for the quarter last night by midnight. I received papers from all but two of my students, but surprisingly I got a paper from the one student who consistently fails to hand in his work. It was a very nice surprise to wake up and have an e-mail from him in my inbox with an assignment attached. We'll ignore the fact that the e-mail looked like this:
I don't know what exactly it is about the "yolo" craze, but it bothers me like almost nothing else. Oh, well. At least I got a paper out of him. The two who failed to hand in work will get stern talking to's when I see them again on Friday.
I don't know what exactly it is about the "yolo" craze, but it bothers me like almost nothing else. Oh, well. At least I got a paper out of him. The two who failed to hand in work will get stern talking to's when I see them again on Friday.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Time, Time, Time
These last few weeks have been so hectic. I taught the King Arthur unit in my CT's other section of British Lit (the section I don't normally teach) so I was teaching two classes instead of just one, which was a system shocker. That, plus the additional hecticness of Junior standardized testing which has rearranged the entire schedule of classes for the high school has just led to me being a discombobulated mess.
The King Arthur unit went pretty well with the other class. I was slightly disappointed to find so many kids not willing to turn in their work, though. I only usually have one or two (though granted, that's about 1/4 of my class) who fight me when it comes to turning in work. But over half of this other class didn't turn in their paper assignment. I was also a bit put out when, during our debate on media accuracy in portrayal of the Arthurian Legend, most students didn't want to participate. In addition, they struggled much more than my students did in the debate.
I have 8 College Prep level students in the class I teach. In a class of 22 (11 Honors, 11 CP) students, they were unable to come up with the same caliber of argumentative evidence and work as my 8 CP kids. I was very disappointed (especially in the Honors students).
As for what this week holds, I'll be continuing to work with my CP students on their Medieval Romance argumentative compare/contrast essays. I'll also be popping in to guest-teach a class on Alice in Wonderland with my CT's Children's Literature class today. I'm really excited for that because anybody who knows me would be able to easily say that Alice in Wonderland is my favorite story of all-time.
The King Arthur unit went pretty well with the other class. I was slightly disappointed to find so many kids not willing to turn in their work, though. I only usually have one or two (though granted, that's about 1/4 of my class) who fight me when it comes to turning in work. But over half of this other class didn't turn in their paper assignment. I was also a bit put out when, during our debate on media accuracy in portrayal of the Arthurian Legend, most students didn't want to participate. In addition, they struggled much more than my students did in the debate.
I have 8 College Prep level students in the class I teach. In a class of 22 (11 Honors, 11 CP) students, they were unable to come up with the same caliber of argumentative evidence and work as my 8 CP kids. I was very disappointed (especially in the Honors students).
As for what this week holds, I'll be continuing to work with my CP students on their Medieval Romance argumentative compare/contrast essays. I'll also be popping in to guest-teach a class on Alice in Wonderland with my CT's Children's Literature class today. I'm really excited for that because anybody who knows me would be able to easily say that Alice in Wonderland is my favorite story of all-time.
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