My Summative!

As the semester comes to a close, and the bittersweet finale of the Innovation Lab experience draws near, I wanted to be able to mention all of the major themes I found valuable and resonate most with me, and I think that I was able to do that with my concept map. In it, I basically thought over the entire experience this semester, from the first class in a windowless room in Horace Mann, to presenting my most valuable experiences to a room of fellow colleagues, professors, teachers, and administrators. This semester, to me, has been a massive progression and learning curve for me. Coming in, I was anxious about how we would function as a class, riding the bus every Thursday with Steve from RIC to Central Falls, and going out, I feel anxious that we will no longer do that (though I hope to maintain a relationship and a presence at the high school).

            One of my biggest and most profound changes this semester is developing and adapting a professional identity. While I am still changing, only having taught a few times in a real classroom, I feel like through observing and having a sort of constant mentor-like role from those involved with the Innovation Lab has really changed my perspective on teaching. I had a lot of trouble coming in developing an essential question, and it even took me a month or two into the semester to figure out what that was, mostly because I was still surveying who I wanted to be as a teacher. Observing and adapting different parts of many teachers we observed has helped drastically with figuring that out, as well as debriefing and sorting through those observations with Dr. Horwitz, Josh, Kim, Dr. Gallo, my classmates, and the many others who helped along the way.

            Another big thing for me this semester was figuring out how to properly plan and manage for effective classrooms. Of course, I haven’t applied most of what we learned yet, but I feel comfortable talking, at least, about things like backward design, building scaffolds for students, gradual release, and managing a classroom positively. Working with the student panel helped in this aspect, because it reassured me that students want creative lessons, not just busywork. Students want to learn, and want to grow. Teachers need to recognize this and not fault students when behavior becomes a problem. As Vice Principal Silva said, “Every day is a new day.”

            Building holistic educational relationships was another aspect of this course I found resonates with me. I’ve spent so much time in the education program learning pedagogy, issues in modern education, and lesson planning, that I hadn’t given much thought to building relationships with parents yet. It’s funny, because the parent-teacher relationship is such an integral part of every student’s life, and I honestly hadn’t given it one thought until we met and talked with parents. That was awesome, because now I know that parents want the same things we want: great lesson plans, and passion for educating their children.

            As for my most valuable experiences this semester, three come to mind. The student panel was probably my favorite portion of the entire course, and I wish we had gotten to speak with them for much longer than we did. They spoke so eloquently about what they wanted in a teacher; what they expected for us in regards to preparation and dedication. I felt inspired and energized by their enthusiasm for learning. Secondly, I loved the talk we had with Troy about developing relationships with students. Finding things in common with students to develop relationships, recognizing that students have bad days and that you need to move past them, and just overall having an awesome outlook on what can sometimes devolve into an authority game between teacher and student. Lastly, my third, but not last valuable experience was just walking into the classroom as the teacher for the first time at Central Falls. I felt great; energized by the experience of teaching real, living students who say “good morning” to me and want to learn from me. I can’t wait to teach again.

            As a conclusion, I’d like to thank Dr. Horwitz and Dr. Gallo for engineering the partnership between RIC and Central Falls and say that I am proud to have been part of the first class of students to experience it. I also want to thank Josh, Kim, all the teachers who let us observe their classes, and the students at Central Falls who served as awesome learning experiences in their own way and inspired me to become the best teacher I can.

Breaking Down Parent/Teacher Barriers

       To be perfectly honest, when it comes to teaching, parents make me a lot more nervous than students. As a coach, I've gotten a fair amount of experience cooperating and talking with parents, and it has been mostly positive. Its the two or three percent of parents who want things that simply don't make much sense that I'm worried about. This is in the realm of sports but is an example of a foundational disagreement I've had with a parent that couldn't be resolved with a compromise: I had a student who played for my basketball team who had suffered a concussion. As required by the school I coach for, I have taken extensive concussion training and protocol, and I knew that this student absolutely had to be cleared by a medical professional before I could even let him practice, never mind play in a game. However, this parent was vehement that the student get into the game, and stormed off with their child in tow in the middle of a game when I told them that it was not an option, and wasn't up for debate. I didn't see that student again.

        Overall, however, I think that once you make an obvious effort to connect with parents, the relationships that ensue are 99% positive. As Principal J said, teaching is not a job, it's a lifestyle, which means that you need to develop a communal relationship with parents, students and teachers alike. Serving as a guide to the Annenberg protocol yesterday for the parents went a long way for me to demystify the aura of parents as some sort of roadblock to the student's success. Parents just want their children to get the best possible education, just like you do. It was also rewarding to hear what these particular parents wanted in an ideal teacher, because while their opinions were different, they were also very similar. Inclusion, excellent lessons, and a drive to develop great relationships with every child is at the top of their lists, as I'm sure it is for most parents. I also think a good idea to develop better relationships with parents and students would be to set a time every week where you go to a local coffee shop or something and let parents and students know that if they want to talk about anything in a discreet and non-school setting that I'm there. I suppose I'll determine once I am a real teacher if I actually have time for that.

In Anticipation of Teaching

         At this point in the semester, I am itching to finally get in front of the class and teach, rather than observe from the sidelines. While I have enjoyed being able to play the complacent role of observer rather than classroom leader, and definitely have gained a lot of knowledge just from watching students learn, at the end of the day, I want to teach. There have been so many little things I've picked up on and noted this semester that I am jot down and use in practicum, student teaching, and beyond, and I really want to just try them out on my own and see how it works. While I am confident in my ability to deliver a high-quality lesson, I am also a little bit nervous. In anticipation of becoming a social studies teacher, I've taken mostly American History, economics, and political science courses at RIC, and now have signed on to teach a course that I have virtually no knowledge of, History of Technology. This prospect seems a little worrisome, but after doing hours of observation in that class, I've gained confidence that I can develop two lessons that succeed in both student learning and developing my own identity as a teacher.

          As Nate wrote in his blog earlier this week, the best way to succeed at something is to embrace the discomfort that comes with not being awesome at it immediately. Throughout my experience coaching sports, I've definitely noticed that when some of the kids on my teams can't get through a drill perfectly the first time, they shut down and don't want to build on their first failures to get better the second time. As future teachers, we do need to be able to embrace the discomfort that comes with teaching our first lessons in front of real students and reflect upon that experience afterwards. That is the way to solidify and internalize what went well, and to weed out the things that didn't go so well. Maybe you didn't plan enough material to cover the amount of time in the period, or a question you asked fell flat when you tried to turn it into discussion; these things are going to happen to every teacher, every week. I do hold high expectations for myself in delivering my lessons, but at the same time, I know that they will not be absolutely perfect, and that's okay. I will learn from my discomfort the first time and create a positive experience out of it.

"Flipping" Classrooms

           A topic in the realm of educational theory that seems to have become popular recently has been "flipping" the classroom. For those that don't want to follow the link, flipping is basically the idea of switching activities for the students between the classroom and outside school. For example, in a traditional classroom, the teacher delivers a lesson, whether through direct lecture instruction or planned indirect instruction. In a flipped classroom, the teacher will have uploaded that lecture session or content that was to be taught in the classroom to a database the students can access. Some teachers use blogs, some have YouTube channels for their lectures, and some create dropboxes and things like that for students to follow along with the curriculum. Students, in theory, watch the lectures and read course material as homework prior to coming into class the following day. Then, the teacher is free to facilitate discussion and create projects that students will work on in class where they used to have lecture.

           There seems to me to be a number of pros and cons to flipping your classroom. First, you would have plenty of time in class to work on creative work and skills applicable outside the classroom. You could have students basically running their classtime, with the teacher only existing as a facilitator of discussion and monitoring work. Also, the lectures and course material would always be available as a guide to students who were behind or absent. In this sense, flipping your classroom seems like a great idea. However, I do see quite a few cons to the practice. First, you would have to absolutely, positively sure that your students are self-motivated enough to keep up on lecture videos and work outside of class. If even a few students ignore the out-of-class work, you would have to provide them direct instruction in class, fracturing your best-laid plans. Also, it would require a huge amount of work to provide lectures that fit all learning varieties. You would have to plan separate lectures for ESL students who might have extra questions or difficulty understanding, as well as students with IEPs. Also, you would have to become an expert on presenting a lecture format that students actually like. If you've ever tried to watch forty-five minutes or an hour of someone just talking, it is painful. Overall, I think to be successful in flipping a classroom, it takes a teacher who is extremely motivated, students who are extremely motivated, and a really well-thought out infrastructure for providing material. The video above shows a teacher who is really good at delivering material, and who seems to have success with her practice. It is an intriguing process, but one I might not touch for a few years, until I get comfortable planning great lessons and managing the classroom effectively.

Observations, 11/14

          Today was the first time I actually scheduled additional time to come and observe at District C, and I was fortunately able to observe one teacher, Mr. S, for a full 2+ hours. This was really an excellent experience, as I was able to pick up on the subtle classroom management things that this teacher uses in order to curate the most effective classroom climate. For example, he has a very precise and set routine when it comes to student behavior. Every class, students enter and sit down, at which point they copy down an agenda that has already been written on the board. This way, students can anticipate what will be expected of them that day, as well as see clear learning objectives so they know that the lesson has a quantifiable endpoint. I asked Mr. S about how he has set up his classroom and maximized student engagement, and the answer he gave was pretty simple, yet effective. The very first week, students are told exactly what the expectations of them are, and this is something that he keeps consistent every single class. I was able to jot down a number of other little things that he does in order to maintain a respectful, productive climate as well that I think I can use when I teach my lessons at District C. This way, students still will respond to the same cues they normally would; for example, when students get too loud or distracted, Mr. S jingles his keys as a cue to quiet down and give him their attention. Since this is a routine they clearly know well, I can use this when I teach so there isn't any variation in management style. Overall, I was really glad to be able to observe a little longer so I could notice more of the subtle things each teacher uses to aid his/her lesson.

          Another of the things we got to do today, which was awesome, and really illuminating, was the student panel. These kids seemed lightyears beyond their respective ages when it comes to maturity and intelligence. The question Mr. L posed at the end-if we know what students want in a teacher and what they want in challenging assignments, why don't we have more teachers that match these wants; was a question that seemed obvious, but really is quite complex. What happens from the time a teacher candidate graduates to the time in which they are not doing there absolute best for their students? From what I asked the students, I was able to create in my mind exactly what they are looking for, and thats what I will strive to be; a teacher who wants to develop great relationships with students and provides cohesive, challenging and engaging curricula. It will take hard work and infinite practice, but that is our responsibility as future teachers.

Creating a Sense of Community at School

        The more we visit District C this semester, the more I recognize the sense of community within a sea of diversity in their school setting. It seems like there is a cohesive system of communication between the teachers, the administration, the parents, and of course the students. We've discussed with Vice Principal S the means the administration takes to ensure positive relationships with parents, even if he/they have to visit reluctant parents at home to make sure they are in the loop. Ms. C, a teacher at District C brought beef stew to a parent who was incapacitated with an illness whose child was suffering as a result. Last week, Ms. G, a former student and resident of District C, and current teacher at District C illustrated how she goes about developing a sense of community within her classroom and the school as a whole. It really seemed like she went above and beyond, and the example she spoke of in which she encountered a student who had literally never finished a book in his life, and subsequently was able to engage him in reading by developing a caring relationship with him was eye-opening and inspiring. If teachers and administrators everywhere saw their students and parents as compassionately and as lovingly as Ms. G saw hers, more schools would have a really positive and diverse academic community.

        So, the element I've taken away from that sense of community and cohesiveness that District C displayed is that beyond just supplying excellent and nuanced lessons for my students, I need to develop positive relationships with them and their families. As the principal of District C said, teachers need to be empathetic of their students, not sympathetic. I thought that was a profound statement in that once teachers cross the line into feeling bad for their students, their performance suffers. The best thing we can do for our students is not to show pity, but to make excellent lessons and develop supportive and constructive relationships with students and parents.

My Essential Question

        How can I foster a love of learning in my classroom? That is the simple, yet foundational question I have settled on as an essential question to my development as an educator. It is my belief that children love nothing more than learning and exploring; I always think back to my experiences in elementary school, when I was excited to go to school and play with plants and ant farms and draw. This might not seem like essential learning at the time, but it truly is a love for learning, albeit one we do not acknowledge. We measure adequate yearly progress, and how well a student does on tests, but do we instill a love for learning in students? I remember a quote from Carl Sagan, the famed astronomer and educator, that resonates with me as it relates to this topic:





       While this particular quote is about science, it can really apply to any facet of the educational process. I remember volunteering in first-grade classrooms when I took FNED 346, and also in my own father's second-grade classroom. These students are happy to be at school, curious about the things they are learning. This probably is a generalization, but I feel like the love for learning that occurs at such an early age is inevitably lost somewhere along the way to the graduation ceremony and diploma presentation. Save for a select few , maybe a half-dozen or so teachers at most, I never quite felt that curiosity and yearning for knowledge in a classroom as a high school student. These, of course, were the classrooms that I look back on as the classrooms that helped push me to study education and want to teach myself. How can I replicate those classrooms, and that atmosphere of active, electric learning that I experienced?
        Another educational theorist who's opinion I hold in high regard with this topic is Sir Ken Robinson. While I don't quite have the space here to explain why his theory on education is so prescient to me, I can post a TedTalk in which he explains it pretty well. Yet another theorist and educator whose philosophy I subscribe to is Ernest Morrell, who gave an inspired speech last semester on how to create "revolutionary love" in the classroom.
       So, while my question is basic, the scope is large and complex. So many teachers have tried and failed to create such an atmosphere, and whether the failure was their own fault or otherwise, this problem needs to be fixed. Again, my question is, how can I do that? Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.