8 posts from July 2008

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Free-Spirited Writing

First, I would like to give a disclosure:  The feelings expressed here are not representative of the beliefs of MTC, its administrators, or affiliates.  These are my own thoughts, representative of my own beliefs and opinions, being expressed in the form of free (spirited) writing.


You want to know what scares me most?  I used to be afraid that I'd be alone for the rest of my life.  Then, I accepted that "fact" for a year, before meeting the love of my life and marrying him a year later.  Before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't amount to anything, having wasted four years' education in an expensive financial institution/college ($30,000 annually) to be left with what I considered to be nothing: no job options, no connections, and student loans to repay.  (Depressing, huh?  It gets worse...)  And before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't get to leave Mississippi and attend my first college of choice in Atlanta; thus, being trapped in Mississippi and forced to deal with its backwards ways of thinking for the rest of my life (Currently, my husband and I live in Ridgeland, MS).  

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but I've noticed that fear has had an important impact in my decision-making over the past four years.  And, of course, it was not fear alone that influenced my decisions.  It was usually coupled with it's best friends: anxiety, stress, and depression.  

Now, I see my fears as blessings in disguise.  You see, I have a profound belief that everything happens for a reason.  And I am convinced that my then defense mechanism: fear, has began to manifest itself as faith.  Going back to those things that frightened me.  It's okay to be afraid.  Fear is a normal emotion, but one that should be dealt with with special attention; otherwise, that fear would manifest itself as one or all  of its other allies.  As I look back on those times, I realize that being afraid took more work and more energy than having faith.  In essence, I came to the same result (as was meant to happen), but being afraid made the journey miserable instead of exciting.  I did not realize my blessings, and was afraid because they were not in line with what I wanted for myself.  

My fear is on another level: now I "fear" that I will not recognize God's blessings and use them to show His light, not only for myself but for others as well.  I'm afraid that I will continue with this vicious cycle of fear, instead of continuing to believe in myself and having faith.  I'm afraid of continuing to live in fear.

God gives us just what we need.  And for that reason, I try using every moment of every day to see what His plan is for me, knowing that it is better than my plan for myself.  That's why I'm here: to do God's will by educating and enlightening His people to want a better life for themselves and to use those blessings they reap to help others.

This may sound easy, but it's definitely a challenge; however, I'm ready to reap the benefits that faith provides and fear deprives.  

Are you ready for that challenge?

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This Summer...

This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students.  At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year.  I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size.  So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.


Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful was having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have.  They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom.  They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting.  If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom.  I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good.  Now, here's the bad and the ugly.  What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself.  I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation.  My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:
 
1.  The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss.  Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.
2.  MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends) as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from).  I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems.  MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that).  

Now, these are just suggestions!  But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

1 comment

This Summer...

This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students.  At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year.  I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size.  So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.


Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful where having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have.  They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom.  They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting.  If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom.  I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good.  Now, here's the bad and the ugly.  What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself.  I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation.  My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:
 
1.  The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss.  Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.
2.  MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends), as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from).  I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems.  MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that).  Now, these are just suggestions!  But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

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Picture Me Doing More Teaching!

And a great job at it, if I don't say so myself.  Everyone who knows me knows that I am my worst critic.  So, when I say that I've improved, I must have been motivated to say so.  Need proof?  I have 50 minutes and 18 seconds of footage (footage that is STILL painful to watch...read "Picture Me Teaching" for more info) to prove it! 

The video recording of my lesson for July shows that not only has the delivery and break-down of my content improved, but my entire demeanor in front of the classroom has changed.  I appear more comfortable and confident and I do a sort of "half-turn" when writing on the board, so my students don't even dare talk lest they want to see my evil stare (moo ha ha ha!).  Also, my students appear more comfortable interacting with me when I ask questions; whereas before, I had to randomly call on students for participation. 

Another improvement I noticed was in my transition from different activities during the class period.  Before, I would leave too much room for classroom management problems because the students weren't working while I was getting prepared for the next topic/activity in the lesson.  Now, I can notice a definite change in the flow of my lesson, where free time is a minimum and working/learning is are occurring.  I'm still a little shaky in this area, but I have almost eliminated any down-time from my class periods. 

All in all, I'm on my way to being what I consider an ideal teacher!

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Number One Improvement Need: Questioning Techniques

Okay, okay.  I'll be the first to admit that I can be a beast at arguing a particular point, and a house cat when it comes to formulating the correct questions to support that point.  The basis of my teaching stems from my own accounts of the relevance of the material.  And I just ask my students over and over (and over & over...) again, whether or not they comprehend what I've stated.  So, how do I know my students understand?  Most of the time, I don't know.  And most of the time, they don't understand.


For the past two weeks, I've been banging my head against the wall trying to think of what I was doing wrong.  I mean they SEEM to understand, but their grades would show a definite gap in learning.  I could not fathom how to bridge that gap.  Finally, I realized that my problem was not how I presented the material; it wasn't even about how I explained the material.  My problem arose from the fact that I did not know how to ask the right questions.  

Asking leading questions - or questions that direct the responder to the answer you're trying to get to while eliminating alternative answers - was the answer to my problems!  I have seen a grave improvement in my students' understanding and recollection of the material, since using this questioning technique.  In seeing the effectiveness of using leading questions, I plan to integrate them throughout each of my lesson plans.  

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Three Important Thoughts from my Team Leaders

My team leader for the second session of summer school at Holly Springs High School, Ashley Johnson (aka- AJ), is awesome!  She's just as great as - if not better than - my self-proclaimed OCD team leader from the first summer session (thanks J. Fiel!).  Truthfully, I have learned much of the same aspects of teaching from both teachers, which reiterate the importance of mastering these skills:


1.  The majority of teaching is redundant:  An effective teacher teaches a particular topic in different ways, to cater to the different learning styles of the students.  So, the material must be broken down as much as possible and taught at least two different ways each class period, to ensure each student understands the material.  

2.  Rarely put your back to your students:  This is pretty obvious, but very hard to implement when you get into the groove of teaching or when writing on the board; however, this is very important to master because it could possibly cause a classroom management issue.  If you can't see your kids, you can't see what they're doing.  Which, leads to numero tres!

3.  Do not punish your student for a behavior you did not see him/ her do:  After a while, you will develop a knack for knowing who is talking as if you've got eyes in the back of your head.  However, until you grow that sixth sense, it's important not to fully rely on its accuracy (or lack thereof, in my case) in disciplining your students.  Doing so will cause an uncomfortable classroom environment, and could lead to future classroom management problems.

Thanks guys! I'll continue to work on these problem areas, and hopefully I'll be just as great a teacher as Ms. Johnson and Mr. Fiel.

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Pictures: A Day in My Life

Cj1
Cj4
Cj3

 

One cup of Coffee:  ~ $1/day

(with gas tax, ~$3/day)

 

 

One Breakfast of Champions:  ~ $2/day

(champions = teachers)

 

 Finally getting sleep after a day of teaching, disciplining, classes, and the dreaded "LP" words (lesson planning):  PRICELESS!

 

Some things aren't important in life.  For every thing else, there is teaching.

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Picture Me Teaching

When I began watching the video of myself teaching, my first reactions were those which I cannot disclose here (lets just say, there were some body parts that appeared way larger).  It took me a weekend and three days to watch the remaining footage.  I had to force myself to watch the rest, because I just couldn't take my eyes off this enormous body part; consequently, I can't imagine a class full of teenage boys resisting the urge either.  So, the first thing I realized I needed to do was exercise more.  I'd be way more healthy and I'd have a better chance of my students focusing on the material we uncover in class, instead of focusing on me.


As I continued watching the video, I realized I have a great poker face.  I found myself recalling what was going on in my head while teaching the lessons, and they did not mimic my facial expressions or body language.  This is good because if something goes wrong or doesn't turn out quite like I expect it, the students don't realize that fact.  Regardless if adrenaline is pumping full force through my veins, my students will never be the wiser.

I also noticed that I have a very bad habit of twirling anything and everything I can get into my hands (dry erase markers, pens, overhead markers, erasers, the clipboard, and my hair- all during the 50 minute class period).  I've always had a bad habit of twirling things and while I don't think it will dissipate soon, I do need to alleviate the frequency of the habit, so that I won't distract my students. 

Luckily, my lesson turned out great that day.  Even though I couldn't get the videos to show during the first five minutes of class on our video day (with no backup plan), I realized that I hold my composure well under pressure. [Did I mention I was getting formally evaluated on this very day?]  Additionally, I connect well with my students, though I could use more work delivering the material.  So, I'm actually on okay teacher (the specifics of lesson-planning keep me from claiming to be "good" at it).  

Speaking of lesson planning, I hear practice makes perfect; so, I'm about to get more practice in that area right now.

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Christina Jordan

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Christina Jordan
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