Successes and Why I teach.

Warning: This is my obligatory “feel good” teaching post. In our prompts for our weekly blog posts, the last idea written was “successes”. This was a topic I initially avoided because I cringe when I hear all of the mushy things that teachers say about why they teach. However, As this year comes to a close, I actually feel inspired to make a list of the things that keep me going when the year starts to get tough. SO…

1. Teaching has never felt like a job to me. This may sound cliché, but it is true. When I am in my classroom or even in my free periods, I never feel like I am in the wrong place or am looking at the clock, waiting to get out. I am actually bored and a bit bummed out when my students are not in my classroom. This year has highlighted that for me. We work on a two-week schedule, and every other week I have free periods until 2:10 in the afternoon. During grad school, this was a great time to get work done, but by 2:00, I was so excited when students started trickling in. They, of course, were exhausted and this was last period. However, I always find a way to get the students up and moving for that period.
2. The extracurriculars. Coaching, leading outdoor trips, watching my students in the plays, musicals, chorus or jazz band. These are all things that I love about the school where I teach. I have never been a part of a community where I work 12 hours a day and then volunteer to come back to support my own students. They are so talented at what they do, and it makes me proud to teach the students when I get to see what they accomplish, or the fun I have on the many different trip that I go on with them
3. And obviously, the students. I have  had days where I am dragging my feet into school, but as soon as the students walk in, I find it impossible to be grumpy or tired. They are what give me the motivation and energy to get through the day.

So there it is, my final mushy blog post of the year. I am so glad that I have completed my masters and I look forward to improving myself as a teacher for the rest of my professional life.

Extra Help

Student Ability is a tricky thing. I think that all students have the ability to learn, but I also think that students need the right tools that work specifically for them in order to make it happen. I have an interesting class composition because it is an IB class, but it is standard level, which means I have both high and low achieving students. This means I have to differentiate every assignment, activity and assessment. For assessments, I have found that the most effective way to differentiate for my students is to give them short answer questions. This allows for more flexibility in answers, and I emphasize questions that allow students to use their own examples of the content so that they can answer in a way they are most comfortable. They are allowed to use bullet points on the tests and for comparisons they can use charts. In class activities, I have the students sit in assigned groups that are arranged with a mixed level of achievement in mind.

At my school, we have tools for students with learning differences that come from a number of different sources. First, we have the learning specialists and a learning center, of which I am a part of. I help in the writing center, which is designed to have students bring their papers for guidance and proofreading help. In reality, I end up helping students with math, science or writing. These students often come in convinced that they are “never going to learn [insert material here]”. When in reality, they need a one-on-one, step-by-step walkthrough of the material. It is moments like this that make me think that students can learn just about anything, given the time and the extra help. The problem with some of these students is their ability to complete the material on their own. Sometimes, we hit the roadblock of a complete lack of motivation from the student when they leave. But that is conversation for another blog post.

Office hours are another tool that students have at their disposal at our school. Recently, I have had students come into my room during office hours to complete work simply because my room is quiet. It is interesting when a student is resistant to extra help, comes to my room to work and then asks for me to proofread their work. I have had a few students over the years do this which has ended up helping these kids in the long run.

Formative Assessments

Before I began taking classes and Stevenson, I had no idea what a formative assessment was. I did implement some type of formative material, but I don’t believe that they were as effective or utilized to their full potential. I knew that quizzes were a good way for students to see where they were, but I did not attach rubrics to large projects and I definitely didn’t have any reflective activities. The ability to implement formative assessments has increased my ability to teach materials and allows student to feel valued and listened to in the classroom. It also serves as a confidence booster for many students because it allows them to physically see the material that they have learned over the course of a lesson or topic.

One of my favorite formative assessments has been the KWL sheets, which I am going to try to use for every topic next year. KWL stands for what I Know, what I Want to know, and what I have Learned. In the K column, students write what they know, regardless of whether their “facts” are correct or not. They then write down any questions they have regarding the topic they are about to begin. After the lesson or unit is completed, students look at their KWL sheets again to reassess what they have learned. This allows students to reflect in a very productive way, and can be fit into a short, 10 minute segment at the beginning or end of a class period.

Another thing that I have learned to use over the last two years has been entrance and exit tickets. I learned about exit tickets in the second course at Stevenson, regarding curriculum, and realized how important they are to track the progress of a class. Exit tickets, which I now try to implement at a quick, 2-3 question drill at the end of class, allow me to see how a class as whole is doing with that day’s material as well as check on individual students to see if they are confused or even paying attention to the lessons. This allows me to do things like take 5 minutes during the next class to clarify any misconceptions, rearrange seating for a student if they are distracted or distracting a classmate, or maybe give a short pop quiz at the beginning of class to keep students on their toes.

Entrance tickets are something that I learned from my University Mentor, and are something that I use at the beginning of labs now, any time we have  lab day. I post the lab packet days before the actual lab with 3-5 questions regarding the main ideas and safety procedures to make sure the students are paying attention to the most important things. This also ensures that the class can complete relatively complicated labs in a 70 minute long-block. Students know that they are not allowed into the room during a lab day without handing in the entrance ticket. This has had a profound impact on the way I run labs and I am truly grateful for this strategy.

Formative assessments are important to the inner workings of a classroom and have had a very huge impact on the way I teach. It is one of the things I am glad I have in my pocket now!

Summer Reading

                         One of the most argued things right now among faculty is how we do summer reading. Currently, summer reading works like this: students and faculty choose a book to sponsor for the summer. When the book is approved, the sponsor may set up a meeting in person or online to facilitate a discussion. A number of teachers have argued that departments or classes should be able to require a book. However. The argument among faculty is somewhat of a waste of time because our principal, who was an English teacher, has made the rules and believes in as much autonomy for the students where it can be placed. I understand both sides of the argument. In the faculty’s corner, there are classes that would greatly benefit from required summer reading. For example, my course is a two-year course and I could have students read something to help retain that knowledge that would be lost over the summer. I have tried asked to assign Silent Spring as summer reading, but was turned down. The argument against this is that most students either wouldn’t read it until they return from summer or would try to cram it in right at the end, defeating the purpose of summer reading altogether.

Despite the missed utility of assigning summer reading, I have actually enjoyed sponsoring a book. In the past, I have sponsored Dune By Frank Herbert and Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen. Both books have had a decent number of students that participate in my sponsored books and the discussions have been pretty great. In a way, it also works like teacher coach dynamics in that it allows me to meet students that I otherwise would not have met.

So, while there are two sides to this issues, I will make the best of what we have until the rules change. By the way, I have chosen to sponsor How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro. I picked this book up at a teaching conference this year, and have been meaning to read it. I think it will give me some awesome material for my biodiversity and conservation lessons. I guess one added benefit of the autonomy is that it forces me to read books on my reading list!

Summer Trip to Arizona

Before I had started teaching, I did an internship with the National Park Service as a bio technician for Tuzigoot, Montezuma Castle and Montezuma National Monuments, about an hour North of Phoenix, AZ. During that 6 month internship, I familiarized myself with the local ecology which I used in my work and in working with local high schools in educational programs. Having lived there, I learned the area fairly quickly, figuring out where the best camping spots and hiking was in the area. Last year, my coworker and I decided to use this “insider scoop” to design a trip to Arizona for our students.

            The idea for the trip came from a frustration shared between us that our school offered many trips to Europe and Asia, but students manage to graduate from our school having never seen any of the major Naitonal Parks West of the Mississippi River. Last summer, he and I took a trip out to scout out the trip. We started in the Grand Canyon, hiked a few different trails for three days and then headed down to Flagstaff, AZ to camp in a national forest where we visited Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monument. In the last days, we visited Sedona and camped next to the three monuments where I lived.

            We learned a number of things on that trip that made me very glad that we did the first trip without students. First, we decided that we will do the trip in reverse. This is because I overexerted myself in the first day and between the dry climate and the altitude, got hit with altitude sickness very badly on day two. Starting the trip low and going high is the logical choice to do this. To make a long story short, we were able to essentially let the trip plan itself by being in the area for seven days. It was hard work and much less of a vacation that our colleagues joked that it was. We will be bringing at total of ten people, including me and my colleague this June. There will be three teachers total with seven students. The faculty going on the trip were chosen to allow for the most educationally diverse experience possible. I will focus on the local american and ecology of each biome we will be hiking through. My coworker, a chemistry teacher, has a vast knowledge of western American Geology, having grown up in Santa Fe. The third teacher is a PhD candidate for Central American Studies and knows a significant amount about the migration of the Hopi tribe up through the American Deserts.

            This combination gives the students one of the best experiential and interdisciplinary experiences that we can offer at our school. In the future, we plan on offering this trip for academic credit, where the students will pick a presentation topic to teach during one of the nights at the campsites. This will allow for the students to take a more active role in learning about the area they are travelling to. To say I am excited about this trip is an understatement. I have even been asked by the administration if we would consider doing a Faculty and Admin trip next summer!

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Grading

When I tell people that I am a high school teacher, the most common reaction I get is some comment about how they would never be able to handle dealing with the teenagers. I disagree, of course, because if a teacher does not like dealing with students, what is the point? One would think that this explanation would be obvious, but what I have seen since I began teaching has proven that not to be the case. Obviously, the kids are my favorite part of teaching.

The truth is, my least favorite part of teaching is the grading. To me, it is a time-consuming, mindless task that always seems like such an immensity painful task.  It takes me an hour of bumbling around at home to start grading something. Once I start, it goes by relatively quickly and I am always frustrated with how long it took me to get started. So, it is merely the thought of completing it that discourages me. Recently, I have taken to allowing students to grade each other’s quizzes, which I then double check, but this has cut down on my burden of grading significantly. One of my coworkers uses an extreme method for homework. He has a policy that state if a homework or paper is not graded within a week's time, that assignment is an automatic A. It helps to hold him accountable for a timely turn back period. I have found that spending Saturday mornings at my favorite coffee shop is the best way for me to get work done. The barista there knows my name and order now, which is awesome! So, I really just need to change my mindset to one that reflects the reality of grading: when I sit down to get it done, it's not that bad and it really doesn't take that long.

When I first started teaching, grading was also a major point of anxiety for me. I saw every poor grade as a reflection of my teaching. I automatically assumed that I had done something wrong of a student failed a test or quiz. It was incredibly stressful and took me an entire year to setting with the fact that as long as I am preparing a lesson and taking the time with students that need help, that the grades were their responsibilities and not mine. The key to ensuring that this is true is to keep very good track of your lesson plans. When I do that and a student or parent claims that their low grade was due to “things we never went over”, I am able to show the student in writing where the material was covered.

When grading, I avoid bias by taking breaks. I have found that if I grade for more than 45 minutes to an hour, I start grading harder or easier, depending on my mood. This leads to biased grading and inconsistencies that the students see, especially when it is on a test or quiz. It is important for me to walk around or at least step away from a screen or work for 15 minutes every hour to ensure that I am taking the proper amounts of brain breaks.

Grading is a necessary evil in the world of education. As I become more experienced in my teaching, I have found ways of lessening my burden and streamlining the grading process. This is key to keeping me sane as a teacher! 

The Teacher/Coach Dynamic

As the spring season closes, it allows me to reflect on the importance of the student/teacher dynamic at St. Paul's. I have discussed this with my friends that teach a public school, and their immediate response is along the lines of "But you get out of school so late!". It's true, during the fall I am not home until 6 and during the spring, we are home after 7. However, I think it is a minor cost for the value that it provides at school in the classroom. Time is really the only negative aspect of a teacher/coach dynamic in school. Being a coach allows me to establish a rapport with students that I normally would never meet or have anything in common with. I have had students that I have coached but never taught come to me for extra help in their Science, or even other classes, simply because they respect me as a coach.

This same dynamic also helps when a student in my class is not doing well academically or behaviorally and I have trouble motivating them. I am easily able to contact their coach (or theatre teacher, if they are more arts inclined) to reach out and help that student. There have been a number of times where a student avoids meeting with me, but I can reach out to a coach who can chat with them on the field or back stage, in a much more informal setting. The teacher/coach dynamic also relieves some of the pressures other schools have with grades and athletics. Because our coaches are mostly teachers, there is never any question as to whether academics or sports comes first. If a student is missing significant amounts of work, coaches have no problem placing them in Afternoon Study Hall to miss half or all of practice after school. This, above all else, is a fantastic motivator for students to focus on school before their athletics.

I have rarely heard a coworker at our school complain about the time commitment for coaching. When teachers from other schools ask about the extra work that is put in, it is very easily justified!