As I stated in my previous post, Phyllis K. Lerner was our guest speaker on 12-10-11. She led the class through two activities after telling us about the struggles of her past few months and her future plans to volunteer work in India teaching teachers. Phyllis has always been forthcoming with us, but I really appreciated her candor and trust with telling us about the happenings since last we met.
The first activity she led us through is one about names. This would make a great introductory lesson (in the first few weeks of school) or a good lesson when discussing identity. Phyllis introduced the activity by speaking of the variety of different names we have, including: first, last, middle, hyphenated, second, nickname, pet name, etc. These all have different purposes when they are used. There is a history, a backstory, to possibly all of these names which a person might have. Our task was to think of a story about any part of our name. After modeling an example of how this could be done, she had us take a few minutes to think of a story about some part of our name. Then we went around the room telling our stories. This really resonated with me and seemed to be a way to engage the students in a facet of themselves they had not considered and interact with their parents about something very profound.
I would like to spend a bit more time focusing on the second activity. This one was much more meaningful and tailored to us. It began with us creating a "list of lessons learned since fall semester classes and interning." After that we organized some of these thoughts with a graphic organizer and shared what we had. I will list an extended but still incomplete list of my "lessons learned" so far:
1. The value of humor
2. The ability to be flexible
3. Able to bend with students
4. The need for research and data-informed decisions
5. Having a set of non-negotiable limits in class (when a student needs to be kicked out)
6. The need to include collaborative group work
7. The difference between students working individually in a group and students collaborating to reach a common end
8. Teaching to 75-80% of the class
9. Functioning in a class you do not like or see the use in taking
10. Working with people/teachers with different perspectives, goals, strategies, and approaches
11. Teaching students who will not be English Majors in college
12. Teaching students who don't love ELA or literature
13. Working across different grade levels
14. Learning 75 names
15. The importance of names
16. Losing/changing everything you know
17. The importance of keeping an even demeanor
18. The need to be excited
19. Not letting students dictate my mood
20. Figuring our whose classroom it is: the teacher's, the student's or some of both (Thoughts? Comment!)
21. "It's not personal, just business"
22. Necessity of repetition
23. Necessity of modeling
24. Need to engage/motivate students before the lesson
25. Recognize the fun in class and maintain it
As I said, this is an incomplete list that I will try to get closer towards complete. Many of these were ideas I had heard/seen/understood to a certain point, but I definitely gained a much deeper understanding during these past six months. I don't know if it is even possible for me to articulate all of the small lessons I have learned this year, though. I could almost write a post about any one of these topics, some I may even do just that. If anyone remembers their first year teaching and the lessons they gained from it, feel free to post them below.
Jake, I really like your question about whose classroom is it. You have had the opportunity to participate in two classrooms. Do you see evidence of the possibilities for a classroom to feel like it belongs to everyone? Are you hoping for your classroom to feel like it is both? If so, what kinds of approaches will you take? During your planning period when you return, I suggest that you visit Mr. Douglas' classroom for a couple of days.
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