(It's true--on our grading program there's a little
scroll-down window that shows us how many times a parent or a kiddo has
checked grades. A parent can even sign up for free notifications. If I had a kid I'd be so glad to know what was up, because, according to most of the parents I conference with, teens are, ahem, less than communicative with them, something that hasn't changed since I was a tyke. If I were a kid, I'd be checking all the time.)
MONDAY: I pass out the announcement for our next salon, our culminating event after analyzing Lord of the Flies, and I can't believe my ears: actual groans and grumbles. Really? You guys don't want a luau? (do not let them see you wilt. do not take this personally. do not think about all the lumpia you won't be eating do not do not do not) Not really, they say. Does this mean you didn't like the first one? NO!! they explode sincerely.We loved it! But this one seems like too much work, and we have so much going on in our other classes. OK, no salon, but you will each need to do your own music assignment independently. Again there are some groans, but I don't care--I want to try this activity: each student has to choose a song that she thinks fits the text and then document it to death. I show them my example with citations from our text:
The Who: Baba O'Riley written by Pete Townshend Out here in the fields (The whole text is on an island—“out here”) I fight for my meals (Jack hunts for meat: 68) I get my back into my living (Ralph and Simon build huts: 50) I don't need to fight (Piggy is always right, but can’t To prove I'm right fight back when antagonized or questioned: 71) I don't need to be forgiven (Jack apologizes once—never about Simon or Piggy: 72) Don't cry (Ralph cries for the death of Piggy only in the end: 202) Don't raise your eye (Roger is furtive, doesn’t make eye contact: 22) It's only teenage wasteland (No adults on the island except a dead one: 95, 96)
THURSDAY: We share the songs--"Demons" by Imagine Dragons was selected by four students, two have written about "The Eye of the Tiger," and the class clown has chosen "Don't Stop Believin'." I ask them if this was easy or difficult, and it turns out it was challenging on a surprising number of levels. I will definitely try this again next year. Kids learn documentation, learn how to support their thinking, and as S. put it, "To put on paper our ideas and connections in a way that would make sense to the reader."
I don't usually post full articles that others have written, but this one validated some of the struggles I have personally, daily struggles that John Q. Public is ignorant about.
Teaching isn't Rocket Science. It's Harder by Ryan Fuller
In 2007, when I was 22, I took a position as an aerospace
engineer working on the design of NASA’s next-generation spacecraft. It
was my dream job. I had just received a degree in mechanical
engineering, and the only career ambition I could articulate was to work
on something space-related. On my first days of work, I was awestruck
by the drawings of Apollo-like spacecraft structures,
by the conversations about how the heat shield would deflect when the
craft landed in water and how much g-force astronauts could withstand. I
couldn’t believe I wasn’t just watching a documentary on the space
industry—I was inside it.
I was extremely motivated during my first year of work. I got in
earlier and stayed later than most, and I tried to learn everything I
could from my more experienced colleagues. The work wasn’t easy. Our
team was trying to re-engineer, with modern technology, something that
was designed in the ’60s. As a design engineer, I had to integrate the
efforts of several different groups that often didn’t talk to each other
or even get along very well. My deadlines haunted me like a thousand
nightmares. Over the course of the next few years, though, I received
awards and exceptional performance reviews, and I gained the respect of
my colleagues, some of whom had been in the business for about as long
as I had been alive.
Because I’ve worked as an aerospace engineer and later as a teacher
through Teach for America—this is my second year of teaching 11th
grade math and robotics at Sierra High School in Colorado Springs—I
find the public perception of both careers to be fascinating. When I
tell people that I worked on the design of a NASA spacecraft, their
mouths drop and their eyes pop, and their minds are no doubt filled with
images of men in white lab coats running between rocket engines and
blackboards filled with equations of untold complexity. Most people will
give aerospace engineers tremendous respect, without having any idea
what they actually do.
But no one can fully understand how difficult teaching in America’s
highest-need communities is until he or she personally experiences it.
When I solved engineering problems, I had to use my brain. When I solve
teaching problems, I use my entire being—everything I have. A typical
engineering task involves sending an email to a colleague about a
potential design solution. A typical teacher task involves explaining
for the fourth time how to get the variable out of the exponent while
two students put their heads down, three students start texting, two
girls in the back start talking, and one student provokes another from
across the classroom.
As a teacher, I must prioritize the problems of getting the
distracted students refocused and stabilizing the cross-classroom
conflict before it escalates into a shouting match or worse, all the
while making sure the learning of the other 25 students in the room
doesn’t come to a complete halt. I also must address these problems in a
consistent, respectful way that best serves the needs of the students,
because if I don’t, the problems will increase in number and become more
difficult to solve.
As an engineer, I dealt with very complex design problems, but before
I decided how to solve them, I had a chance to think, research, and
reflect for hours, days, or even weeks. I also had many opportunities to
consult colleagues for advice before making any decisions. As a
teacher, I have seconds to decide how to solve several problems at once,
for hours at a time, without any real break, and with no other adults
in the room to support them. There are days of teaching that make a day
in the office seem like a vacation.
One of the biggest misconceptions about teaching is that it is a
single job. Teaching is actually two jobs. The first job is the one that
teachers are familiar with; people who have not taught can pretend it
doesn’t exist. The tasks involved in this first job include lesson
planning, grading, calling parents, writing emails, filling out
paperwork, going to meetings, attending training, tutoring, and
occasionally sponsoring a club or coaching a sport. The time allotted to
teachers for this work is usually one hour per workday. But these tasks
alone could easily fill a traditional 40-hour work week.
clapping chalkboard erasers takes up all my time these days
The second job is the teaching part of teaching, which would more
aptly be called the performance. Every day, a teacher takes the stage to
conduct a symphony of human development. A teacher must simultaneously
explain the content correctly, make the material interesting, ensure
that students are staying on task and understanding the material, and be
ready to deal with the curve balls that will be thrown at her every 15
seconds—without flinching—for five hours. If, for some reason, she is
not able to inspire, educate, and relate to 30 students at once, she has
to be ready to get them back on track, because no matter what students
say or do to detract from the lesson, they want structure, they want to
learn, and they want to be prepared for life.
I experience more failure every five minutes of teaching than I
experienced in an entire week as an engineer. Giving a presentation to
NASA about how the thermal protection system of a spacecraft is
connected to its primary structure is a cakewalk compared to getting 30
teenagers excited about logarithms. A difficult moment in engineering
involves a customer in a big meeting pointing out a design problem that I
hadn’t considered. The customer’s concerns can be eased with a
carefully crafted statement along the lines of, “You’re right. We’ll
look into it.” A difficult moment in teaching involves a student—one who
has a history of being bullied and having suicidal thoughts—telling me
that she is pregnant 30 seconds before class starts. What carefully
crafted statement will help her?
Moments of success seem to come less often as a teacher, but when
they do arrive, they can make up for all the failures: the excitement on
a student’s face when she understands a concept after lots of struggle;
the feeling of exhilaration when all the energy in the room is directed
toward the day’s lesson; the shared laughter between teacher and
student at a joke that only they understand. Sometimes successes doesn’t
strike until later, as when I found out that a two-minute presentation I
gave on petroleum engineering changed the career path of one of my
students. In each second of her chaotic day, a teacher has a chance to
transform the lives of young people for the better. How many aerospace
engineers can say that?
In teaching, a person can be extremely competent, work relentlessly,
and still fail miserably. Especially in the first year or two on the
job, success can seem impossible. For people who have been so successful
up to that point in their lives—failure is a difficult thing to face,
especially when that failure involves young people not being able to
realize their full potential in life.
Because of all this, sometimes teachers in high-need communities
think about leaving for other professions. As someone who quit his job
designing a NASA spacecraft during a severe recession without any clear
plan, I understand the power of doing what feels right to you—you have
that choice, that privilege. Just don’t forget about the ones who don’t
have much in the way of choices and privileges. Don’t forget about the
ones that don’t get to choose what school they go to. Who don’t get to
choose who their teachers are. Who don’t get to choose how the students
around them act. Who don’t get to choose what kind of environment they
were born into. Don’t forget about them. They’ll be there Monday
morning. A version of this post originally appeared on TeacherPop, the blog of Teach for America corps members.
Ryan forgot to mention the lack of time for reflection and bodily functions. Don't laugh--if I had twenty minutes immediately after each class to reflect on what went right, to record successes and failures in my delivery, to straighten up, to get that email to a parent ASAP while the student behavior is fresh in mind, to ready the room, to gather my thoughts for a bit, or to sit in silence after a raucous class activity, of course I'd be a more effective teacher. And one can only dream of using the facilities when one needs to....
Shimmer body mists,
candy, two lotion bottles
And.....a stuffed turtle!!!
This bounty she gave
despite her low grade, despite
her classroom silence
And so the truth, proved
once more, that teachers can't know,
can't guess, whom they touch
G. handed me the giant box, heavy, shifting, right before lunch (all kinds of sweet things have happened this year with period four, right before lunch). I hugged her and told her I'd open it on Christmas morning. "No, open it right now," she urged, eyes shining.
Uh oh, I'd better put on my "appreciative teacher face" because sometimes kids give the darndest things, even things I can't identify, and I have to step diplomatically and enthusiastically through emotional land-mines.
But this time, I was blown away. Every one of the items was something G. would love to keep for herself, but she gave to me out of love. I know her family doesn't have a ton of money, but whatever they gave her for shopping, she had poured so much on to me that I got a little dizzy and my eyes leaked. I looked up at her and her face was beaming, gratified that she had overwhelmed me. Big hugs, and off she went.
And so I know now that G., despite the tug of war grade between a D and an F, despite her stream of Fs on tests, despite me routinely asking her to re-do assignments because they don't make sense, despite her lack of voluntary participation in class--loves period four as much as I do.
