The Beginning of the End

 
     This week my CT and I have begun teaching Hamlet to the eighth graders. They are reading a "middle school version," in which the text is condensed to make room for easier comprehension. The way in which we are approaching reading this text is by assigning students characters to read and having them come to the for the room to act out their part. Although this is not an in depth reading of the play it will familiarize students with the language and provide them with an abundance of background knowledge for when they fully take on Shakespeare in High School. Also, we have been showing movie clips of the play so that students can visualize the scenes as they act them out.

     What I have learned most from this week has been my recent role as a teacher in an after school credit recovery program. This program was designed to provide credit to students who have failed the previous semester. We meet Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 2:30-4:00 for three weeks. Although very challenging it is a great opportunity to gain experience with some of the most challenging students and to work with them in a small group setting. On the first day I had all the lesson plans for the week laid out in my mind, however, once I found out it was all boys I knew that I would have to change things around and that the classroom environment was going to have a different aura since there are no girls. My class consists of six sixth grade boys who either have behavioral or motivational issues, which lead to the previous failures. My biggest obstacle with this class is definitely classroom management! Since it is all boys, a small group setting, and an afternoon class they tend to view it as somewhat of a recess period. There is one boy who it the number one RIT kid in the grade who has been acting completely out of control and making it almost impossible for the other kids to learn. I decided to meet with his team of six graders to get some advice as to how to deal with the situation. It’s great to know that I have the help and support of his teachers along with those in charge of discipline even though not much seems to motivate or intimidate this student. His behavior has been better but tends to get back to being disruptive after the first half hour. I spoke to him one on one after class the other day to tell him that I want him to pass sixth grade but that this behavior cannot continue and to see what he himself thought we should do about it. He didn't really give me an answer but instead got a little shy and more respectful when I brought it up, which makes me somewhat hopeful that if more respect is there then the behavior will at least become less disruptive.

     While half of the boys are perfectly behaved the other half tends to feed off of each other and get into arguments by yelling at one another for being the main cause of disrupting the class. What I've realized through working with these challenging boys is that if I want them to actually work then I need to form the content 100% around their interests. While doing a journal prompt on "Whether or not sports players get paid too much?" they all were extremely engaged and well-behaved! Since this isn't a typical class and all students who attend automatically pass even if they do not do any work I will approach it differently than planning for a regular class. Working in such a small group setting had allowed me to form a bond with the boys despite some of the management issues. They like sports, the military and debatable topics so that is what I will focus on in an effort to get students who typically do nothing to at least become engaged in something.

     On a scarier note, the school went into lockdown yesterday afternoon; 15 minutes after credit recovery program began. The boys were fully engaged and actually very well behaved before the lockdown alarm sounded off. It took about twenty minutes before we knew that it was a false alarm and that everyone was safe. Although some of the boys can't stop screaming at each other in class they were fully compliant and quiet during the lockdown, which showed me a different side of them. Experiencing my first lockdown was very scary but gave me experience as to what I should do in that type of situation and gave me insight as to how I react in an emergency. My CT and I were discussing how years ago if such an alarm went off everyone would simply assume it was a false alarm but that sadly, in today's world, judging by the looks on all of our faces during the alarm, everyone panics and expects it to be real.

     I'm excited for the next two weeks to come and want to make the best out of my time spent with my students. I'm also very excited to try new things with the credit recovery boys to test out what can work and what does not work with even some of the most unmotivated and disruptive students in the sixth grade. I am actually really glad that I am faced with this challenge as I know I will learn from it more than I ever would if I was working with the "typical" behaved and somewhat motivated students.

 

First Conference

This week at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School I had the opportunity to attend my first parent teacher conference. This conference was far from the stereotypical idea of the parents coming into the classroom to speak with the teacher for a certain amount of allotted time. This conference was set up in the form of a Renaissance fair, in which parents would come in and take a gallery walk of students work and then speak to teachers if needed. All week long students have been creating the scene in which their Renaissance topic would have taken place in. For example, those who chose cooking as their topic created scenes that depicted kitchens, food cabinets, or ovens. The final poster boards consisted of a variety of scenery ranging from castles, torture chambers, art galleries, Italian dinner parties, museums, weddings, etc. It was amazing to see students who typically have behavioral issues and refuse to do any work being so focused and motivated to create their scene. This week of building and creating scenes allowed my-self to see a whole new side of these students who typically get sent out of the classroom. This made me realize that even though writing and reading may not be a student’s specialty that does not mean they are not capable of succeeding at other tasks within the content area.

            It was great to meet student’s parents and speak to them about their concerns and interests in their child’s academic lives. Knowing that your not the only one hounding a child to complete assignments is a great feeling. Seeing parents who so involved and strict with their children was reassuring to myself as a teacher to know that many students do have a strong and challenging support system at home. Although I could not speak to parents too much regarding their children due to the fact that I would have to have had more time with them it was still a great experience to introduce myself and interact with parents.

            It’s hard to believe how fast time is flying by! After these next few weeks the next time we will be in the classroom will be without the support and comfort of a CT. Although this is a little intimidating I am becoming more confident in myself as a teacher as each day goes by.