In the Middle

I am still trying to figure out middle school. It IS different from high school. Many of you are thinking, Duh! I'm still figuring out the steps to learning for early adolescents.

Last week my teaching assignment was changed. Instead of team-teaching 8th grade science and social studies, I'm team-teaching 7th grade Language Arts. It's hard to make such a change after a month of school, but these things happen.

I'm sorry to leave the science classroom, because that is a new subject for me and I was looking forward to that experience. Mr. Spence and I were developing into a good team. I'm also sorry to leave social studies, because History is my first love, and I believe that students become better people by studying the impacts of events and decisions on individuals in the past. Mr. Tegen is a dynamic teacher who seeks, first and foremost, to engage the students in learning. I can learn a lot from him. Language Arts is also good, though.

This class, with Mrs. MacBride, starts every day with independent reading. The students can choose a book to read from her extensive collection, or can bring reading from outside. They have sticky notes to place their questions and ideas on the pages, and a review form to complete when they are done. It is a pleasure to see students engaged in a book, even if many of them struggle with reading.

Mrs. MacBride is the LA Department Chair, a highly organized, very knowledgeable teacher. I'm a little intimidated by her experience. She knows the curriculum, and how to teach it. Thank goodness there is still room in the 7th grade curriculum for independent reading. I've been reading a lot of articles and commentaries about the NCLB debate, and the costs associated with the standardized curriculums of standardized testing. From the opinions I have read, many teachers feel like they have become standardized, too.

I found myself alone in the classroom on my second day in Language Arts, as Mrs. MacBride was absent. I asked the students to suggest a book for me. The catch was they had to convince me to read it. Half the class raised their hands. I choose three at random. One girl said just that she "liked" the book. One boy said a book was "educational". I guess he thought I'd like a book that was educational. A third girl called me to her desk before answering. She wouldn't speak out loud to the class. "I like this book because it's really sad," she said. "But please don't tell the class I like a book with sadness in it." I would have liked to continue that conversation. She's thinking about what she's reading.

Then I sat down at a chair in front of the room, and began reading. I read for ten minutes silently to myself. I figured that if I had asked them for a recommendation, I'd better act on it. Some of the kids just watched me read. So I smiled while reading, and raised my eyebrows, and sighed out loud. Honestly, I don't know what I read, I was concentrating so hard on how I looked while reading. Maybe during independent reading some of our students are also faking it, just trying to look like they are reading. After a couple of minutes, I forgot I was being watched and just started reading. When I looked up next, most of the heads were on their own books. I guess it got boring watching me. A few minutes more, then we moved onto the rest of the lesson.

I took the recommended book home, and read the first three chapters. It isn't really sad yet, but I'm hooked. And when I'm done, I'll whisper to this student, "I liked the book (or didn't like the book). Thanks for giving me your recommendation. Can we tell the rest of the class about it?"

I think I'll write some notes and put them in the books students are reading, to ask them a question. I can leave a blank note, in case they want to answer. Independent reading is most satisfying when you share your experience with someone else.

Independent reading is the second step to independent learning. The first step is finding the courage to ask questions.

The more I teach, the more questions I have. The more questions I have, the more I need to read. The more I read, the more I need to share it with someone else. All steps to my learning.

Posted by at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just took two days off from school. My husband and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary - 25 years! I have been married more than half my life. It has passed so quickly, and usually happily. It's the only thing I've done for that long - except for mothering.

In my school, like most any school, a lot of the teachers have many many years in the classroom. I look around and see combined centuries of experience. I like to take advantage of their experience - I now have only 3 years in - by asking questions and seeking advice. I celebrate the past through these teachers. These teachers are practical and knowledgeable. But some of our long-term teachers are not very enthusiastic, and react dubiously to new ideas. I hope I am not offending anyone, because I know experienced teachers have often "heard it before", and know why something may or may not work in the school. I'd just like to see a more positive attitude. I may seek out long-term teachers for information, but I don't go to them when I need an emotional lift.

I like to talk to the new teachers, the ones just arriving in the classroom from college or from other careers. These new teachers, without the experience, ask great questions and aren't afraid to answer their own questions with new ideas. They are enthusiastic and energetic, and arrive each morning with a positive face. Sometimes they come to me for an emotional lift, and I can give it to them by pointing out the markers of classroom success - a student who is excited by the class, or a procedure completed well. One of our new special educators struggled to write her first IEP, and when she was done, she was able to help another educator complete the same process. New teachers like to share, because they are eagerly gathering information and tools from others. I embrace the future through our new teachers.

I'm the older teacher, without much experience, who tries to come in with a positive attitude each morning and a smile for each professional in my building. I try to get help when I need it and give help when someone else does. I'm keeping my spirits up, and hope I can do something for yours.

After 25 years of anything, you can grow jaded, even bored. You can forget what's good and dwell on the bad. My husband and I spend three days together, enjoying the company, sharing memories. We also spent time talking about our dreams for the future, and what we could do and what we couldn't do. OK, no waterfront beach house in my future. But maybe we could do longer vacations, in faraway places. We might even get some new ideas. We have a lot of experience together, and we're trying to look ahead with enthusiasm. We're having a party this weekend with friends old and new. A hug to my husband for a nice anniversary.

Celebrate the past, embrace the future, and keep your spirits up. Advice for my husband and myself, and for my school.

Posted by at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

School's in full swing, yet I feel as though I'm just getting started. I am organizing files, reading the materials for class, trying to remember all my student's names. I'm also trying to remember all the faculty and staff names at my new school - Southern Middle School in Lothian, Maryland. Lothian is a rural/suburban community. The school is surrounded by beautiful open farm land, although housing developments continue to be a cash crop for our community. A good portion of our students live in mobile home parks. Some of our families live in expansive waterfront communities with all the privileges of boats and piers. The economic diversity is interesting, as you can never assume a student has a computer at home, or has travelled to the ocean, or has parents who read fluently. You can't assume there are pencils at home to bring to school. I can't assume a student had study time on Sunday afternoon, because the family may be out on their boat until late. I'm learning never to assume.

Our school team responds well to this economic diversity. We have a teacher, Ms. Manders, who collects school supplies at the end of the year as lockers are cleared out, and gives gently used pencils and notebooks to students in need in the fall. Our counselors spread the word if a child needs clothing. Many teachers keep some kind of snacks, for the student who is hungry. We also try to be aware of the student whose economic position is changing -- when a parent loses a job, a home, or a spouse. Economic shock is hard on a middle school student.

Understanding diversity also means I have to be patient when a student doesn't understand what it might be like to have physical needs (because they have everything). Or when they talk too long about their jet ski and their dirt bike, annoying their peers who don't have such expensive toys. Beyond these money issues, I have a lot to learn about the students as I adjust to a middle school population (instead of high school).

Here's my first-month observations:
Some of my students are still of childhood in body and mind; others are adult-figured and of maturing brain. Some are mature of mind and childlike in appearance - so their contributions in class sometimes surprise me.
Some of my students can't read and write more than a few words. Some are ready to be pushed into more rigorous academics. I have to develop better differentiation skills.
Some boys have not yet heard about deodorant. Some kids don't have washing machines to keep their clothing clean. I can't always tell why they smell unpleasant, so I am developing greater sensitivity and knowledge about poverty and personal issues.
Most of the students are still afraid to use a bad word in school (at least where an adult can hear it).
Most are still proud to get something right in class, or to earn a good grade on an assignment.
Most show their frustration openly on their faces, instead of the blank looks or heads-down I saw in high school. That makes it easier for me to see who needs help.
Most of the students are friendly, and look me in the eye as I pass in the hall, even if they are not in my class.

I am enjoying middle school so much. I thought I would miss the excitement of sporting events, but I am excited to hear about the local rec league teams. I remember what it was like when my children played for the Shady Side Seahawks. I am learning a lot about this age group, and realizing just how much more I have to learn to be a successful middle school teacher and administrator.

I'm more interested in the students than in the files and materials to be read. I'll admit it. So I use Sunday afternoon for organizing paperwork and learning the lesson. Monday morning I'll be there for the kids, ready to be involved with their lives.

That's why I'm teaching, for the human interest story I get to experience every day in school.

Posted by at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

First week is over. Whew!

As a Department Chair, I teach only one 8th grade class a day. Blue day is Social Studies, White Day is Science, but the group of students is the same both days. The teachers are different -- I co-teach with two general educators. I am the constant between the two classes.

In Social Studies, Day One was all the usual administrative stuff. That was followed with brainstorming about the American identity, and brief writing of notes and a paragraph of prose. The "paragraphs" were various lengths, from one phrase to a full page. Day Two we took the students to the computer lab and used software to design a graphic organizer for our brainstorming material. We led the students through it -- so everyone's graphic looked just alike. After the visual design, we asked the students to open a text document and write a prose paragraph. Basically, over two days, we had them write on the same topic twice.

I saw an interesting thing. Because the graphic organizers looked just alike, the prose sounded just alike. Each student wrote basically the same paragraph. The paragraph contained the material we wanted them to absorb, but the format did not allow us to evaluate learning. It was a no-fail assignment, because we made sure everyone did it just right. But we couldn't tell if they learned anything.

It reminded me of when I taught preschool children, and every now and again we made a nice "Mommy Project". I would buy materials, and the kids would follow the directions, and we'd wind up with identical, almost perfect, little projects. Mommies are usually pleased with those kinds of things. But you know and I know that the kids didn't learn anything from doing it.

When the social studies students had finished their paragraphs, we collected them for review. Two students had paragraphs which didn't match -- they grew bored waiting for everyone else to follow directions and just went ahead and wrote. They had unique ideas, in a unique structure, and wrote in their own voice with some spark of intelligence. I know they understand the ideas. A couple of students wrote paragraphs of three sentences that were less thorough than the ones they wrote on Day One. Uh oh, I think we took synthesis away from them. They're now thinking at a lower-order of skill.

So how do I fix it? Day Three, take your two paragraphs and put it all together in a meaningful way? Or do we just disregard both of them? I'm learning towards the latter, because neither one represents the students' best efforts. But there was an important benefit to the lesson which isn't obvious from the learning objective:

The students now know who the teachers are, what our basic classroom procedures are, and what our first area of inquiry is about. They know how to use the computer lab and the graphic organizer software. They know the two teachers in the classroom will help them when asked, regardless of their learning abilities. They know they have to try. These are valuable things to know.

The first Science class was a similar list of administrative tasks. The students sat dutifully filing papers and writing information as required. The only spark of enthusiasm came when a student muttered to someone else, "Why do we need science, anyway?" and I asked the whole class to answer. They had good answers, which let me know that they may be interested in our subject and are willing to participate.

So next time, in both classrooms, we can work on something new without telling the student exactly what he needs to put in his brainstorming, graphic organizer, and paragraph. He'll have to think about what he's doing, and the knowledge he's gaining, and put it all together in a way that will demonstrate understanding. He'll consider (and answer) just why we need this material, anyway?! THAT will be a learning experience. Hey! I'm learning, too.

Posted by at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)