Building a Transformative Teacher

Classroom Management Plan

- Be Sincere in All You Do

This is another way of saying put your best effort out there all the time.  In attempting to develop students who are ready for college, or the work force it is important that we teach them the importance in taking pride in their work and always giving their best effort.  the beauty of this type of "rule" is that somedays a students best, or most sincere effort, may be 75% rather than 100%.  If they are honest with them self then this idea has served its purpose.

There is really no disciplinary consequence for tis "rule", rather a natural one.  If students do not give a sincere effort hen they have no one to blame when they do not see the outcome they desired.  

- Be Respectful

This rule applies to self, others, and property.  It is important to teach the students that even if you disagree with someone you can still have respect for where they are coming from.  Being respectful of others also means allowing others the right to learn.  This rule encompasses the idea of not fighting with others.  It also encourages respect for the teacher, which we all will appreciate.  We have all noticed students who become bored and begin writing in books or on desks.  We should be teaching them that property that does not belong to us is to be taken care of and not destroyed.  This lesson will carry out into other areas of their lives. 

Depending on the level of disrespect, consequences may include writing a formal apology, staying after school to clean desks (or whatever property was destroyed), phone call home, stepping outside the classroom for a certain amount of time, or a visit to the office.

- Use Appropriate Language

Students are encouraged to use academic language in order to practice it, since it is not being used outside the classroom.  This also means there is no cursing in the classroom.  The classroom is a sanctuary for the students and teacher and needs to feel safe.  Harsh words, cursing, does not create that atmosphere.  I hear a lot of cursing outside the classroom and I want to enforce that that kind of language is not appropriate in the academic realm.  Hate speech will not be tolerated.

Students will be warned the first time, unless the offense is something that needs to be dealt with more extreme measures (Hate speech).  Students who use hate speech in the classroom will be removed for a enough time for the teacher and student to discuss the comments made.  A phone call home in order to set up a conference with student and parent will made on first offense of hate speech.  After the first warning students will be asked to write a brief statement explaining their reason for using such language.  A third offense will result in a phone call home.

- Be Ready to Learn

This means that when you walk through the doors into the classroom all distractions are left outside, to the best of the student's ability.  Students are expected to bring books, homework, notes, etc, everyday to class.  Students are expected to have cell phones on silence as well as ipods off and earphones out.  If students have something going on that is going to be a distraction (family, boy/girlfriend) students will need to bring it to my attention (I do not need to know specifics, but need to be made aware that life is distracting them so that I can have a heads up to any lack of attention).  

Students who fail to follow this will see the effects when grades come around.  Students will have cell phones taken until the end of the day on first offense and on second offense parents will need to come pick them up.  Same goes for ipods.  

- Be Willing to Take Chances and Make Mistakes

I believe it is imperative that students be willing to make mistakes.  We all learn from ours and others mistakes so it is important that students are willing to take those chances to be wrong in front of their peers.  This rule also means that the teacher has a responsibility to establish an environment in the classroom where students feel safe enough to do this.

This is a learning community issue.  Students not willing to take these chances will not gain as much from the class as could have been gained.

Rethinking Schools: Teachings Revolving Door (Extra Credit)

This article caught my attention simply because of the title.  I have been working in the education field for 10 years and have heard on numerous occasions the problem of holding onto new teachers.  This was my understanding of the development of BTSA.

The article addresses the issue as one that has no answers.  Teachers leave for many reasons: pay, resources, lack of respect, etc.  The article focused around low-income schools and the problems they face.  As of 2004-05 the average salary for a teacher was about $32,000, however, for high-poverty schools this amount was lower.  The students at high-poverty schools end up getting teachers that have little to no experience so they have not yet developed effective teaching strategies, and it is at these schools that creativity and experience are needed most.  As the opening biography highlighted, many teachers go into the profession dreaming of being the next Mr. Escolante from Garfield High School (reference to Stand and Deliver).  The problem is that teachers are not prepared for what they are going to experience in these schools.  A program similar to medical residencies is being explored.  This would be a one year program where teachers are trained while on the job in these schools.  Seems to be an interesting idea, and is one that is supported by President Obama.

I think it is important to try and address the issue of retention, however, I also feel that if someone does not have their heart in it they shouldn't be there.  I think the problem really starts at the recruitment level.  It seems that almost anyone can become a teacher and there is really no filtering process in place.  I have many friends who have tried to do other things in life and failed so teaching became a safety net to fall back on.  To be honest, I have lost friends because of this attitude.  I don't believe retention is the issue, I think its getting the right people.  We should be doing more to find the teachers and encourage them to study to become teachers.  I knew I was going to be a teacher since I was 10 years old.  I know that this is my calling in life and I respect it more than I could every put into words.  I have spent years working with youth trying to find the right age group for me to work with.  These are the strategies we should have in place to secure teachers.  I think teacher prep programs need to have higher expectations form their applicants.  Tutoring is wonderful, but have you worked with all levels, in and out of the class?  Do you know what age group you will be most effective with, or are you trying to get your feet wet with student teaching.  Personally I think its too late at this point to decide what age group to work with.  It will not surprise me when half the teachers from the year's program are out in a few years.  What about schools like National, or Phoenix, where students are "buying" their credential?  I will get off my soap box, but one last comment, we need great teachers not warm bodies.  We need to design some sort of filtering process to guarantee that we get great teachers, then train them, then give them support.  Pay is simply a sign of respect, but I know any real teacher doesn't concern themself with pay.  My greatest compensation has not been monitory, it has been the letters from previous students that still come on my birthday.  The students will tell you if you have impacted them not a paycheck, and to me that is at the heart of every great teacher.  Retention comes from the heart not from surrounding someone with mentors.  Just my humble opinion.

Rethinking Schools: Teachers Evaluating Teachers

A very interesting concept.  Although not discussed in the article, this seems to be the model for BTSA, or at least what i have heard about BTSA. 

The teacher's union in Cincinnati developed this program in order to address the question that was being asked about whether anyone really cared about incompetent teachers.  The program is designed to take experienced teachers out of the class for two years to work with new teachers, mentoring them and provided assistance.  However, controversy arose when the union decided to also write in the contract that these experienced teachers would also work with veteran teachers that were not effective teachers.  These teachers were recommended for "Intervention" and were given two years to improve.  The consulting teacher has the authority to recommend firing the veteran teacher, or not hiring the new teacher.  Many unions outside Cincinnati feel that this puts too much power into the hands of these consulting teachers and can strain the relationship between teachers.

The plan seemed to be successful.  The article only refers to the piloted cases dating back to 1991.  What I found really interesting is that the teachers were noticing more teachers not making the grade versus administrators.  This idea was captured in the article which referred to a teacher, "Like many teachers, she felt the traditional evaluation process was a joke."  The consulting teachers were more rigorous in their observations and then stuck around to assist the teacher, recommending workshops, planning, and even doing demonstration teaching.

This article really brings to the surface the idea that teachers are very sensitive people.  It is amazing the obstacles this program had to overcome to be implemented.  If we as teachers are really in the profession to help students then why would we ever be offended by receiving help in becoming better.  With all the jobs I have help in my life, this profession stands above the others when you discuss the idea of further training or collaboration.  The atmosphere I have experienced in education the past ten years is that many teachers feel they have it down and don't need anyone else telling them how to do it.  What makes us so special that we feel we have mastered something that can never be mastered.  Every class we will ever teach will be completely different than any other.  What works one year is not necessarily going to work the next.  If we as new teachers enter this field with the same feelings of this is my class and this is how I do things, we will not affect the change that we have been talking about all year.  It is imperative that we come with open minds, ready to learn what needs to be learned, and always continue to pursue new techniques and strategies.  I know I talk about sports a lot when talking about education, but I feel they go hand in hand.  Look at any great athlete: Tiger Woods, Tony Gwynn, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Joe Montana, etc, each has/had a coach that instructed their performance.  These guys are said to be the greatest at their sport and they still had coaches helping them improve.  WAKE UP TEACHERS!!!  I don't care how good you think you are, you can always improve.  GET OVER YOURSELF!!  If you don't want to improve and work at this profession, get the hell out of it and go do something else.  This isn't about you or your ego, it is about the students and making a better world for tomorrow.  

Week Four Reading Response

Chapter 1: Groupwork as a Strategy for Classrooms

What is groupwork?  this chapter defines the notion of groupwork as group of students working together to accomplish a task.  The group must be set up in such a way that all members can have a voice (contribute).  The task can be accomplished at the discretion of the group, however, they are accountable to the teacher for the final product.  The chapter also provides research on groupwork, citing that most teachers feel it is better than individual work.  

I can honestly say I still have not seen a good example in the schools.  We practice groupwork in the program, and most of them seem do be done well.  However, I contribute the success of the groupwork in the program to the fact that we are all here to learn, we care, and we have been successful in school.  For the kids we are trying to impact and help succeed, I havent seen good examples.  Its the same as it was when I was in school.  Groups are set up by the teacher and one or two of those group members end up taking all the responsibility.  Needless to say, there is always a few students who love group work because they do nothing and get the A.

Chapter 2: Why Groupwork

Kind of wrapped up in the title of the chapter.  This chapter spends time selling the idea that teachers should adopt the technique of groupwork in the classroom.  The author makes note that one large benefit of groupwork is that students will be given more time to work on ideas and concepts, while also holding each other accountable (if done correctly).  This is a huge asset to teachers since we are always trying to all students involved.

We have talked extensivley in the program about groupwork.  It has become a punch-line in some of the circles.  As I stated earlier, I still have not seen good examples of groupwork.  I tried to incorporate it into my CP1 expereice and saw that it can be a great tool to be used.  I did learn that the ideal group size is three students; this helps encourage participation from each student in the group.  At Oceanside groupwork is attempted everyday in every class.  In my humble opinion it still is not being done right.  I know my goal for this semester is to try to find my personality for groupwork and practice it often.  This is the time to try and fail, and as I always say, we learn best from our mistakes so make big ones.

Chapter 3: The Dilemma of Groupwork

This chapter discusses the challenges that teachers will encounter when designing groupwork activities.  These challenges include 100% participation and the inevitable "A" student taking control and doing all the work.  The chapter discusses some of the reasons students take these roles on and how they can impact the group positively and negatively.  The author refers to these as "status" and lists them as: status ordering, academic status order, peer status, and status characteristic.

I think I have experienced academic status order more than any other.  To this day it seems when we get into group projects the academics dictate who bears the brunt of the work.  For me, anything to do with math I take charge because it is easy for me, however, if we are doing a reading and writing component I slouch down and try to fly under the radar.  I saw this with my students at RBV during CP1.  As much as I tried to delegate responsibilities inside groups, certain members always emerged and did most, if not all, the work.  Some because of their personality, but most because they were good at math and could get the task done quickly.  I have also noticed in my experiences that students just dont know how to work in groups; this is another area we need to focus on with our students.

As I mentioned, I have noticed students just dont understand groupwork and how they play a role in it.  I think we need to spend more time discussing ideas and techniques rather than just doing groupwork.  We are all good students in this program, we have succeeded in school and probably have all been that "A" student who took charge in groupwork.  We need to take a step back from doing it and start learning it.  If we spend time learning the techniques and then being given time to try them then reflect, I think we would learn more become more successful including it in our classrooms.

Week Three Reading Response

3.  What is an ethnography?  I have been wondering that ever since the assignment was introduced.  I can break down the word so I would assume it means something about ethnicity and geography.  I was close; according to the reading it means writing about the nations.  I learned that this will be a very difficult assignment for me to complete.  It is very important that we present all the information gathered equally, and without bias.  I am very opinionated at times and I feel it will be difficult to present information I dont agree with.  Perhaps the way to look at this is that I am presenting a study and not an opinion.  This led into another idea that I learned, and feel will be important in completing the assignment, and that is being reflective of the findings.  This is more than just getting answers to survey questions.  to really benefit form the study you must reflect on the responses and try to determine what is really being communicated.  This will also help in organizing how the information should be presented.

2.  After reading and discussing the direction of the ethnography with my team I began to realize that I can actually impact the answers to my questions.  In other words, I can skew the results of the questions by asking the question in such a way that the response is what I want it to be, or close to it.  I also began to realize that I have even more power than that because I can ask the people I choose which again would skew the results of the study.  How do you decide what information is valuable and what isnt?  There are so many directions an ethnography can take, but how do you choose the information that is going to benefit others?

1.  Because this is so new to me, I had never heard of something like this until this class, I would love to see other ethnography's to see how they are done.  What would be really cool is to see an older ethnography of the school I'm doing so I can see the similarities and differences.  I wonder how you can find that information?  Im sure if its been don its on the net.

Week Two Reading Response

The chapter in Disrupting School really hit home for me in a couple different ways.  First of all, I felt a lot like Rob when I was in school.  As I was growing up I wasnt always the biggest kid in class.  I was what many call a late bloomer.  My 6th grade teacher really saw the potential I had for mathematics and science; he challenged me to go beyond the class, teaching myself.  I remember getting through Algebra 1 in 6th grade.  However, my personal life wasnt something to be admired.  i was in trouble quite a bit and that stigma was attached to me as I went into Jr. High.  Anyway, as I went on in school I was encouraged to do sports, let my anger out on others in a competitive manner.  When I was  Junior in High School I was a bigger kid because of the path that was laid out for me, however, I hated it.  Rob struggled in school and no one gave him the time to help him do better; the teacher had 120 students in 5 classes.  I felt similar in that all people saw in me was a big dumb jock.  Not one of my teachers took the time to see someone who admired intellect and wanted to be one of the more intelligent students.  I pleaded for honors and other opportunities, but nope, I was suppose to be an athlete not a scholar.  

I loved reading the part about the young girl who was several grades behind her class and refused to read and write.  the teacher took the time to learn about her student and notice she seemed to enjoy movement.  The teacher encouraged the student to do the alphabet to dance and then sat back and watched the student take off and begin to excel.  This is why I chose to get into education.  I vowed to never let a student just sit in my class.  I will always work to find ways for every student in my class to at least have a chance to learn.  I am a teacher and therefore it is my duty to challenge all my students and provide them all an opportunity to gain self confidence.

I have to say I hate the way schools have become so focused on standards.  There are ups and downs to the standards movement, but in my opinion its not being done right.  As the chapter discussed, this has helped solidify the "traditional" methods of teaching.  Why change how things are being taught, thats the way its always been done.  This philosophy is more present in younger grades, especially mathematics.  Teachers are intimidated by math and therefore teach it only one way.  Why?  In my opinion its because they want to score well on tests.  It happens in high schools now too.  teachers know their jobs are on the line and that the principal is only interested in scores, not if the students are thinking and learning.  I know I will spend my entire career fighting this idea, but I will not ever shape my teaching around some stupid money making test.  Let me and my colleagues, in the trenches, design authentic assessment that shows thinking and progress, not memorization.

I agree in theory with the idea that teachers teach a certain way so those learners are attracted to them.  I am not here to say I am a great teacher, however, in all the years I have worked with students I have had maybe a handful that truly did not learn from my teaching style.  I have simplified it to simply showing energy and passion.  When students see the passion you have for something, and they respect you, they will do whatever they can to excel in your class.  I have had students breaking down my door at lunch to sit with me and work on their problems.  I am always trying to improve my technique and strategies, but for me, I have seen energy and passion go a lot further than trying to meet 8 different learning styles.  Much of it comes, I believe, from the relationship a teacher has with his/her students.

Perhaps it is because of the programs I have seen used in schools, or whether I am still technologically illiterate, I do not feel computer-based learning is the answer.  I just dont think that allowing students the freedom alloted in computer-based learning.  Dont get me wrong, there are benefits, but I just dont see taking out the human element of a teacher.

Finally, other than computer-based techniques, since the chapter was all about diversifying teaching techniques to accommodate more students, how do we do it?  I was thinking maybe we find the learning methods of students and match them with teachers that would help them more, instead of a random draw for who your teacher will be.  I would like to see if there is a school or research, that has looked at that idea.