We Learn By Teaching

Before

Well, what can I say? It's been another great week in Room 129. I'm still adjusting to running three eighth grade classes, but I can't complain. The kids continue to be wonderful, and we continue to form and strengthen our relationships every day (which I think is the best part of teaching). It's hard to believe that I'm just finishing up my fifth week of student teaching. Where is the time going?! I've seen my students enter my classroom on day one, and now I've seen all of the different activities they've become involved with (newspaper club, art club, football, volleyball, student council, etc.). Just as I feel myself growing, it's been great to see the students progress as the school year goes on.

After

On Monday, students took their Language Arts MAP tests. MAP tests are used by the district so that staff and teachers are able to assess student progress over time. The MAP tests look at both individual students and Northwood Middle School as a whole. While Mrs. D. took students to the computer lab to complete their tests, I spent the day in the classroom grading the students' binders. We require that students keep a binder in the classroom to hold their handouts, worksheets, etc. There are five major sections in the binders: journal writing, sentence patterns, spelling, DOL/grammar, and writing assignments. I graded their binders on a number of things, including the following: Were binders easily identifiable from the outside? Where are five sections (and all current assignments) included in the binders? Were student drawings, contracts, and song lyrics included at the front of the binders? Binder checks were out of 30 points. Many students receive full credit, but even after prompting students for over a week to have their binders completed and set up in a particular order, some students received low grades. After I graded their binders, I put them neatly on the shelf (as you can see in the Before photo). By Tuesday, this is what the shelf looked like (see the After photo). You can't even imagine what the shelf looked like by Friday!

A couple of weeks ago, the school principal, Mr. W., brought us news that because of high class volumes in the science and social studies areas, the district was willing to place a new teacher in the school to alleviate some of these numbers. You would think that everyone would be jumping for joy at the news, but along with the new teacher would come some major changes. The teachers took a vote, and the majority was in favor of bringing on the new teacher. But in order to make the necessary arrangements, each student would have to receive an entirely new schedule. Unfortunately, there was no easy way around this. The administrators were unable to simply pull a few students from this period and move them to that period. Being five weeks into the school year, I spent the first half of the week crying over this massive schedule change that was coming our way. I had already met my students, learned their names, and familiarized myself with their learning styles. We were forming relationships, learning about one another, sharing jokes. I was devastated to learn that I would be losing some of my students to other teachers.

Tuesday was the last day of our regular classes. Mrs. D. and I spent most of the day mourning the loss of our current classes, as did many of the students. While there was a handful of students who I became especially close to, I was extremely upset when I learned that one student in particular, Lauren, was moving to a different Language Arts class. Lauren walked into my first class on the first day of school shaking. She was new to Northwood and afraid of her new surroundings. Instantly, we connected. I explained to her that I was new as well and that it would take some time for us to adjust. Hesitantly, she put her trust in me, and within about a week, she had found her place at Northwood (just like I had). At the end of first period on Tuesday, I went over to Lauren and knelt beside her desk. I thanked her for being such a wonderful student and wished her luck in her new class. I explained to her that student teaching was a very important step in a new teacher's life and that I would never, ever forget the impact she had made in my life. As soon as the words left my mouth, she began sobbing, telling me that she didn't want to leave my class. I had never felt a connection like this with a student before, and for the first time in my life, I realized that I was capable of making a difference in students' lives. I consoled Lauren and assured her that we would see each other often. Toward the beginning of the school year, I learned that Lauren didn't know how to write in cursive, so I created a packet for her to begin working on writing out her name. On Wednesday, she came into my class and asked if we could meet during Skills Lab (study hall) to work on her cursive writing. Being thrilled at the idea, of course I said yes. So for the past three days, we've gone down to the library and begun working on her cursive writing. I told her to choose a book from the library, and we've also begun reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. At the end of the day on Friday, Mrs. D. told me that she didn't think Lauren wanted to meet with me to practice writing; rather, she just wanted to spend time with me. I can't think of any words to describe how this made me feel =)

Up until the day of the schedule change, I had been feeling pretty down about the whole ordeal. I was worried that the new students wouldn't like me. I was anxious about having to learn new names and reacquaint the new students with the way I ran the class. I was confused as to how I would get the students to take me seriously from day one - I already had the classes in my control, and I didn't want to lose that control simply because the kids weren't familiar with me being their teacher. I found a quote this week that really hit home in regards to this situation: "The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; and the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity." Rather than sulking around on Wednesday, I was glad to find that there were many benefits of this schedule change. For example, I was now given the opportunity to get to know and form relationships with my new students. After all, Northwood is only so big. I would see my previous students almost every day.