Lesson 1: Not the easy path. On Friday, one of my colleagues and I were contemplating a field trip. This trip would be excellent for our yearbook and journalism students. Lots of workshops that give them specific details on what we do. A GREAT opportunity. Then we realized that the date of the field trip was on an early release day. Suddenly we contemplated dropping the whole thing just because we would miss 2 hours of staff development.
Now, here's the lesson - at least for me. For a moment I was ready to do what was easy instead of what was right. It is easy to forget about the trip and stay at school. It isn't so easy to push forward and try to convince the leadership team that this is a worthwhile venture. Lesson learned.
2. Lesson 2: Embrace the artsy-fartsy. Ok, so I've never been one of the teachers who always has some groovy activity with every lesson. Some things you just have to learn - cut and paste days just aren't my style.
I have a 4th period (last period of the day) standard English class of 28. They are tired, ill, worn out - basically done with school for the day. And I have to teach them the American literature canon! Last year, I noticed a lot of 4th period standard classes and the ones that were the best behaved were the ones who had artsy-fartsy assignments (much to my dismay).
Today, I revamped an assignment on coat-of-arms and made it relevant to a time period. Students could work alone or in pairs to create a coat-of-arms that represented the time period we just finished. The idea is to have a closing activity for the time period which will allow them to review their notes and the material studied. I gave out the assignments and the kids went right to work. They were coloring, looking up clip art on the computer, talking about their project - everything I wanted them to do.
So, Lindsay, I must admit that there is, in fact, a time and a place for the art projects. I think that time and place is 4th period!
The lesson is don't discount what you haven't found success in before. Each group needs different methods of instruction. I guess now I'll have to buy more colored pencils!
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ReplyDeleteOh my goodness.....oh my goodness!! I can not believe THE Dawn Everette...my department chair...the teacher of the year...of the decade...said those words. For 3 years you have called me the artsy fartsy English teacher, and I've been telling you IT WORKS! No, it is not suitable all the time, but I'm telling you - you want retention? Give them a project - they'll tell you 3 months from that point what they studied in that unit because they will remember the project! :) Love you lady!! I'm honored that my teaching style has seeped into you just a little bit ;)
ReplyDeleteAlways listen to new tricks from your teammates and try applying them to your situation. I had 10 student interns over the life of my teaching career. I learned new things from each of them and made my teaching more effective each time I had one assigned to me. The more your students are involved in class time, the more they will retain. Don't believe something won't work until you try it with a specific group or class. You are moving into this school year with a good balance of questioning yourself and trying new things (which sound like they are being accepted by the students eagerly). Keep at it - I'll check back often to keep encouraging you. Too many good teachers burn out - hopefully infusing new and fun ideas into your teaching will help you decide that the classroom is the place for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pep talks. They mean so much to me right now. I find myself grasping at straws some days and walking on sunshine the next. I guess that's teaching, right?
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