Observe and Reflect in Middle School - Week Two

More excerpts from my Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows weekly reflections as they continue their first weeks of full immersion field experience in an urban Indianapolis middle school.

“This is getting interesting.”

“Last week everyone was happy and smiling when it was all fun and games, but now that there is work to be done a few cracks appear in those once smiling faces, and we can see personalities popping out.”

"I look forward to seeing the kids every day. They are a mystery. I never know what they are going to bring each day. That makes it exciting. It forces me and the teachers to stay on our toes and be prepared for the unexpected.”

“I went around (to the students) and did a lot of one-on-one help. I felt like I was struggling with word assistance in ways that should have been easy to understand. Maybe this is something that just takes practice. Maybe you just learn ways of saying things that work???”

"We had our first opportunity to grade papers. What an experience! … We had some papers where the children were supposed to write in complete sentences. Do you give credit for sentences that start with a capital letter but have no punctuation at the end? How much credit do you give for sentences where nine sentences end in periods, but one sentence doesn’t? Since it is the beginning of the school year, are you more lenient because they are getting back into the groove of school or do you play hardball?”

“Is anyone else tired when they go home?”

“I’m hoping to get some practice with classroom management and discipline. I feel like that is one particular area where I will need a lot of practice. …Maybe I’ll get lucky and the kids will be bad this week so I can get a lot of practice.”

“It was sad to think that after four days of school a student had five documented offenses that prompted a call home.”

“Our teacher uses seating charts to place students in the most appropriate seat to make them successful. (Our teacher) continues to change the seating charts as some of the seat assignments have not worked as well as anticipated.”

“We collected their (first assignment) from the previous day. Several students did not seem to have theirs with them. It seemed odd to me that so many would ‘forget’ on the first one.”

"Throughout the week I started to feel more and more satisfied with my decision to teach.”

Indianapolis schools start their school year in mid-august. These excerpts are from the school week dated August 17-21st.

Observe and Reflect in Middle School - Week One

After a beautiful fun filled summer vacation from all things education, it's time to get back to work.

This fall I have the pleasure of coaching 6 Woodrow Wilson Science Fellows during their full time field experience at an urban middle school in Indianapolis. These 6 individuals were accepted to this program for an intensive year of teacher training which will result in a masters degree in education. They are each given a $30 thousand stipend to ease the transition and they commit to teaching science or math for 3 years in a high-needs urban or rural Indiana high school after graduation.

They range in age from 24 years to 69 years with a variety of professional and academic experiences. Currently they are placed in pairs with mentor teachers at Northview Middle School in Washington Township. They are divided between one 8th grade classroom and two 6th grade classrooms. Each week they submit a weekly reflection to me - here are some excerpts from the first week:

“The first two days of meetings were both boring and overwhelming.”

“I learned that one teacher was hired the Friday before the teacher work day due to a teacher being promoted to be an assistant principal. What did I learn? I may be hired at the last minute and have minimal time to prepare my classroom etc. That thought is creating some anxiety to me as a first time teacher.”

“I’ve determined that for the most part, adults are not that much different than children. They don’t all work great together, they still complain, and they tend to have a slight grudge against authority.”

“It was a really tiring week. I had to exhibit a level of alertness that I’m not used to doing. I am getting better of being aware of more things, but still could use some more practice.”

“The first two days of classes were exhausting: a constant stream of new faces, names, procedures, etc.”

“I’ve also noticed that there are a lot of subtle skills involved in teaching, particularly in classroom management.”

“The students took me by surprise. They are more mature and more with-it than I expected.”

“I am really working on learning students’ names. I remember from my volunteer experiences how much it means to kids to be recognized and called by name.”

"I was nervous!"

I truly look forward to the observations and reflections of these budding educators as the semester progresses.