The First Two Weeks

This is not my first year teaching English. This is not my first year teaching English to high school students. But it IS my first year as a full-time 11^th grade English teacher. This is what I've learned so far.

1. Assign homework at the beginning of class whenever possible. This is the only way to guarantee you have time to give students adequate directions on how to complete it. If they are working on an activity toward the end and don't finish that, you could always instruct them to finish it for homework in addition to the original homework assignment.

2. Always make at least ten extra copies than you think you'll need. The reality is that you will probably need 30 more.  

3. Seating charts can be a battle that isn't worth fighting unless you already know the students. Otherwise, 1) you might put students together who don't mix well, and 2) some students will take advantage of the fact that you don't know them by name yet. During the first week, your rosters are probably inaccurate – some students who show up on it are no longer in the school, and some students show up to your class even if they're not on it. So the seating chart you created on the first or second day will have gaps due to non-existent students and will indicate no place for new students. Some students will sit with their friends until you call them out (which you can't really do, if you don't know their names). Some students will be absent two days in a row and forget where their seat is, and because you've only met them once, you'll forget, too. All kinds of inconsistencies will ensue, and it's not worth the challenge of keeping it all together. They will appreciate the fact that you trust them to handle themselves well in groups they choose on their own. (A post on the pros and cons of seating charts is coming up!).

4. Don't let any homework go unchecked. Follow up on everything. It's the most effective way to ensure that homework gets done. Be sure to explain to students that if a homework assignment is not done on the day it is due, it is their responsibility to let you know when they've completed it.

5. Set protocols at the beginning of the year. If there's a specific way to complete a recurring activity, teach it in the first week. That way, they know how to do it with minimal instruction when it is assigned in the future. 

EXAMPLE: In my humble opinion, the best tool a student can use to define new words is a working knowledge of etymology. Therefore, the way we will define new vocabulary in my class is by analyzing and synthesizing the roots that make up the word. We practiced breaking a word down together by separating it into parts that we recognize, defining those parts, and putting it together again, understanding the conventional and literal meanings behind the word. Then, students received a handout (copied from an etymology textbook I used in a college linguistics class – probably the most useful textbook I bought as an undergrad) containing 12 or 14 Latin words, the forms we use in English, and their meanings. We read through the meanings of Latin roots, then looked at examples of those roots functioning in English words. Students then had to figure out the meanings of the English words based on the Latin roots. This is an activity that will be repeated regularly, and it is largely these words on which our vocabulary tests will be based.

6. Don't budge. Don't make exceptions. As soon as you make an exception for one student, they will expect you to make exceptions for all. And if you slip, if your consistency lacks or jumps even once, they will call you out on it. It's tough, but don' let it happen.

7. Build relationships with each student. Address them in or out of class by name and on a personal level. Don't try to be their friend, but show them that you recognize them as individual human beings, not just kids in the class.   

8. Keep things as simple for yourself as possible. If you see all classes on the same day, that's the due date for the major assessment. If the assessment is late, the highest grade it can possibly earn is a C. No exceptions. Aim to get through the same activities and the same amount of work with each class, with minor variations to provide multiple access points when needed.

9. Don't be afraid to talk to other teachers about any problems you're having. You are not the first, nor will you be the last, to meet the very same challenges. They've been where you are, and they can provide a wealth of information and ideas. Some of them won't work - it's your path, and you are your own person - but they can help you find what will.

10. Understand that if you're a teacher, it's been at least four years since you were in a high school classroom, and things have changed a LOT in that time. I'm a bit old-fashioned in some aspects of my philosophy of teaching and sometimes recoil at the idea that I have to earn my students' respect. After all, I've got eleven years' life experience and seven years of education on them (at 27, I already do a lot of “back in MY day...” to myself and among peers/colleagues), and when I was in high school, we respected our teachers by default. When we were given an assignment, we never questioned it or refused it. We may have whined and complained to each other, but that was our task and our grade depended on it, so we did it. But that was the early 2000s; in ten years, several factors (which I'd like to explore in a future post) have contributed to a world that's been gutted, leveled, rebuilt, and repainted since the last time you'd been there. And if you love teaching and working with young minds, you learn your way around.

In sum:

CONSISTENCY IS THE BEST POLICY. Students respect those teachers who are consistent, who don't violate their own policies. This is sometimes a tough balance to achieve – you want the students to like you, and if they make a complaint or request, you want to oblige them, but in the long run, that will only have adverse effects; it will require you to make exceptions to your policies in their favor, and that's the surest way to lose both their respect and trust. Once you find your rhythm though – the policies, strategies, and approaches that work for you – it should be easier.

 (I haven't gotten there yet. When I do, I'll let you know. But don't hold your breath; it will take years).

Oi vey!

I just reread the post I made about students being obsessed with creativity, and how badly I seemed to condemn it, and how that is so NOT me, and how the most recent post shows that.

So let me lay down a few truths.

I love creativity. I am all for incorporating more creativity in school. But since I'm just a student-teacher, and my time for the unit has been allotted, and I have to finish by a certain time and I have to make sure students write complete short stories, I felt the need to focus on the parts of it. Also, that is the way I was taught to write in the workshop I took in college. Creativity was secondary to form. And...I liked it that way, because it taught me to put my fragmented ideas into a sensible, resonating, structured piece. I was happier with it when it was organized and made sense, rather than when it was original and jumpy and twisted and...just didn't really seem believable.

However, I want to be a writer, and I recognized that it was in the area of structure, not ideas for the heart and soul of a story, that I needed the help. So perhaps I found that class more rewarding than others did, and that method of teaching more helpful than I would have a sort of "ooooh be creative, have fun, write about bunnies taking over the world!" kind of focus.

So...I am going to ask my cooperating teacher if I can have one more period to talk about the stories with the class. So that they understand the need for depth, heart, soul, and feeling, and not just the structure. If I had more time, we would have spent it delving into the content of the stories and not just their structure. I also probably wouldn't include as many assignments in the unit - the poetry and short stories I would absolutely keep, and the monologues too, but I would eliminate the advice columns (though I think I have a rather brilliant lesson with which to teach them) and the editorials. I might sort that into a journalism/nonfiction unit instead.

I just don't want anyone to think (you know, in the off-chance that someone is actually reading this) that I discourage creativity. How could I be a writer and do that? It must have been the particular mood I was in that influenced that little speech. I absolutely encourage imagination and invention. I want my students to like writing. I just don't want them to go around writing things that don't make sense, and, I guess last week, that was more important than anything.

So go ahead. Go write your stories about pink bunnies taking over the world - just make sure they are compelling characters with a clear conflict that is resolved by the end!