1st Year Teaching

I did not start teaching in August like most teachers, I was hired in the middle of the year and had to jump in running! The students had their routines, their idea of what History was like, and I had to step in and fill in the shoes of their teacher that had to quite unexpectedly! I have been teaching now for 8 weeks and, wow... what a crazy ride it has been! I can totally understand now what people mean when they say that your first year as a teacher, you will just try to survive!! While I am learning a lot every day, new teaching methods and strategies, things that work and things that don't...it can be very overwhelming at times as a first year teacher!

Crazy in Love

I recently just got hired at a middle school in Springdale, AR.... I got hired in the middle of the year, after the teacher had to leave unexpectedly. The students had a substitute teacher for about 2 or 3 weeks that let them run wild! Another teacher said it was like a movie at one point, she walked in and there were 7th grade boys wrestling in the middle of the classroom, one kid was doing pull ups on the door frame, girls were loudly socializing in the corner, and then there was the sub.... reading quietly in the corner as if nothing was going on! So, when I walked in on the first day, I had a pretty "rough" group of kids that needed to be reminded of what it meant to be in a real History class!

It has been crazy...but I am in love with my job! I work at one of the most challenging schools a first year teacher could work. The student population is about 70% Hispanic and Marshallese student population compared to the 30% Caucasian population. The majority of the student population are considered by the state to be "poverty" level. I am stepping into their world every day... When I walk out of my front door, I have left my world and entered into theirs. It has been a very humbling first few weeks, crazy.... but I am in love!

Columbus Day

This past Monday, October 2nd was a national holiday in the United States - in celebration of the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival to the "New World" or Americas in 1942. Many students are not actually aware of what the holiday celebrates, so being a History teacher, why not relate the day our country celebrates... to school?

7th grade students were assigned to draw a picture of what they thought Columbus Day celebrated. They each had to explain their drawing to the class, and why they drew what they chose. Afterwards... I read what Columbus Day really celebrates - then the students were assigned to draw another picture of what they understood the celebration to mean after hearing it be explained. Students were then paired into groups and each group had to examine each of the members drawings and creatively come up with a way to present their drawings to the class!

Students need to learn how to work together in groups, and to collaborate with others! It's also important as teachers to keep assignments "fresh" and allow students to show their creativity!

Gianna Jessen Abortion Survivor

Watch this moving video and respond. Do you agree? Do you disagree? What do you like about the video? What do you not like about the video?

This is a bold video, and one that can easily spark debate. But in my History class, I believe that it is very important to stay up-to-date with "current events". This allows my students to watch, listen, and observe - and formulate their own opinion about current issues that surround them every day. So, is it a bold assignment? Yes. Does it cause my students to step out of their comfort zones and stretch their thinking? Yes. And that, is part of my job description.

Honor the Flag

A Day We Can't Forget...

It has been 9 years since the tragic day of September 11, 2001 - a day that has gone down in history and will always be remembered. As an assignment for my students, I asked them to write about that day. What do they remember about it? Where were they when it happened? Did they know anyone that was there, that died, that experienced it? How did it effect them? Such a tragic day needs to be remembered and discussed to not lose sight of how it not only effected the people in New York that day, but how it effected our country and how the effects still echo today.

Don't be a Control Freak....

Being in a classroom with high school students all day... you learn very quickly that you cannot control everything!! These are almost 18 year old students that are just dying to be "free" and make their own decisions, and many days, they do...in the classroom! But, as a teacher, we cannot get stuck in that mind set that we are suppose to and have to control their every thought, response, and motivation to do good in our class! The authors of Asking Better Questions remind us that "you can't control thinking, your job is to generate thinking." We can't control the seniors who are bursting at the seams to get out of school, we can't control the juniors who are so anxious to be in the seniors shoes, and we can't control the sophomores who are just trying to figure everything out and fit in! But...we can control our ability to teach to the best of our ability every day. We can strive to motivate and spark interest and thought in the classroom, rather we have a room full of seniors, juniors, or sophomores!

What makes a good teacher?

There are many definitions of what it means to be considered a "good teacher"... Some say a good teacher is someone who makes learning fun, or someone who connects with students and keeps their attention. I really liked the way authors Morgan and Saxton described what their opinion was of what it meant to be a "good teacher" in their book Asking Better Questions. They said "a good teacher capitalizes on the innate feeling by attracting, maintaining, and satisfying the attention of learners while giving them something worthwhile to think about."

I Wanna Be...

I have been a substitute teacher for the past year, and have started yet another journey as a substitute teacher this year. As a sub, you learn pretty quickly that when you walk into a teacher's classroom, it doesn't take long to find out how their students view them as a teacher. I believe that student's reflect the standards and practices of the teacher. In other words, I feel that if a teacher has set the standard high for classroom behavior, the students will continue to live up to that standard, even in the absence of their teacher. So when I walk into a classroom and the students are not as "behaved" as I would prefer, it makes me wonder about the teacher. Another example that I hear quite often when students are assigned work in class, is "we never do anything in this class" or "this class is a joke". Maybe comments like that make me frustrated so much, because I have been searching for a teacher job for over a year, and have promised myself, that when I find one, I will not take my job lightly or make my class "a joke".

It is our duty and responsibility as teachers, to make the most out of our time with students. Why call yourself a teacher if you are not going to carry out the duties of a teacher?

So, this I guess could be a part of my profile.... I am a teacher, who promises to make the most of my time with students when I am blessed with the opportunity to educate and impact lives.

Making Sense of History...

I read somewhere today that "Students begin to make more sense of history when they they use facts to help them understand important changes people have experienced and how changes contribute to problems people confront. Learning about these changes helps students better understand human society and what we have to deal with today." (Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learners, Doug Buehl)