Makes me wanna gag and hurl. The students at Harvard are by-and-large herded into careers that put people before profits (shoutout to my boy Philip Parham '09 who appears in the video, however). It relates to another discussion going on as well.

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I feel that the learning goal that was most effective for me involved teaching the Middle Passage to my 8th graders in U.S. History (prior to 1877). Very simply, this lesson was highly effective because I showed the students a movie as oppose to talking to them (lecturing?) or giving them something to read. The students were glued to the TV screen and actively asked questions about what they saw in front of them. I've been conflicted about using movies in my class as the main means of instruction in any particular lesson. However, in light of this lesson, I've come to see their utility in teaching certain material. The collective audio and visual representation of historical events in conjunction with the fact that the average teenager in this country--or adult, for that matter--spends many more hours each day watching television than reading. I guess the students just get more out of that.

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A favorite song of mine.

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Coaching the first-years has been a bit of an awkward endeavor for me. Part of the awkwardness comes from my feelings of inadequacy as a teacher myself. I've only been in the profession for a year...only been working on a degree in curriculum and instruction for a year...so why am I qualified to give advice to others entering this daunting profession? Also, I've worried whether or not the feedback that I give is actually objective (i.e. things that would benefit them regardless of my own teaching habits) or subjective (i.e. things that I correct them on because, consciously or sub-consciously, I witness them do differently than how I would). I've rationalized my legitimacy in coaching on the ground that even though I only have one year of experience, that one year is a mountain (or at least a sizable hill). The experiences that I've had over the past 12 months may not make me a Zen master of coaching, but I still have valuable advice to offer others due to the rigor of experience entailed in that crucial first year.

I think that I am a fair, honest, and supportive instructional coach. Really. I try to be, at least. The importance of being fair stems from the aforementioned tendency amongst some coaches or instructors to chastise others for doing things unconventionally or not exactly like that particular coach or instructor taught them. I'm more of the persuasion that if it works (i.e. helps students learn, keep them engaged, or whatever) then do it. I am honest since I often repeat my mother's mantra, "honesty is the best policy." My mother can't stand dishonesty and I inherited her abhorrence for it. It only prolongs the eventual revelation of the truth, in my opinion. Honesty is the best way to help out those who you are coaching because you pinpoint both strengths and weaknesses of what they are doing. It should come from the vested interest that we as second-years have in the success of our first-years at becoming great teachers who are in classrooms throughout the state. That's wassup. Finally, I would like to think that I'm a supportive instructional coach as I really do try to listen as much as--if not more than--I talk. I want to be a source of venting for the first-years and acknowledge that their frustrations, troubles, and the like have been experienced by many and give them pointers that will help them persevere. Whether that's passing them a bottle of rum or assisting them with a lesson plan I want to be a part of their support system not just now, but throughout their time teaching.  

My coaching techniques are definitley reflective of how I was coached growing up. I think that my greatest coach was my mother. She has been very fair, honest, and supportive throughout my years and I owe much of my success to her. Coaching techniques that she used on me years ago still have an impact on me. They have also impacted my own teaching in that I'm more self-conscious of doing things that I might have cautioned my first-years not to do. One major thing is speaking with one's back to the class. Sometimes this is apt and ok...such as if you're writing on the board with your back to the class and a student gets out of their seat and/or starts talking. By knowing the student's voice you can direct them to get back in their seat and back on task without turning around. Simple. Other times it's not a great idea...such as if you're answering a student's question or giving students an explanation of a concept recently covered in class. Gauge the situation carefully. Outside of this, I don't think coaching has impacted my own, personal means of instruction. Who knows, however. I may steal some tactics from the first-years.

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...we make a move and act a fool when we up in the class....

FIRST YEARS WITH LITTLE TIME ON YOUR HANDS, JUST READ THIS: THE BEST AND MOST SUMMARY ADVICE THAT I CAN GIVE YOU IS TO BE BOTH FAIR AND CONSISTENT IN YOUR CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. THAT'S IT.

Now get back to lesson planning...nubes...

My classroom management this year was...different. Oftentimes it was horrible by a number of teachers' standards. Those are often the teachers who yell, degrade, and abuse (literally...in more ways than one) students. I'm not for any of those practices in the least. At the beginning of the year I started off with the philosophy that I would just "keep it real" with my students through-and-through. If they broke a rule, they received a consequence. If they did something especially good, they got a reward. If they said something funny (APPROPRIATELY funny, that is) I'd laugh. I did a fairly good job at going up the ladder of consequences but a pretty terrible job at doing the same for rewards. That's not cool. Also, none of my students ever got that custom t-shirt at the top of my rewards list if the students turned in 30 tickets. The reality of the classrooms that Teacher Corps puts us in is that you *have* to be an a-hole in order to have great classroom management. The sad reality is that students respond to teachers who are really, REALLY hard on them because that's often what they're used to. Anything less is an open invitation for anarchy at worst or at least controlled chaos more consistently. Philosophically and practically, I could not bring myself to be a dictatorial teacher  in many instances and thus, my classroom management suffered.

Surveying my prey.

Regarding my other recent post I have to acknowledge that, in part, my classroom management woes contributed to so many students failing my class. If your class isn't attentive and under control then very little learning will happen in the classroom. It's actually amazing how much we were able to accomplish on certain occasions when only one, crucial student was absent and/or suspended. Lovely. At times I would dole out no consequences when a bunch of students were talking or not staying on task or joking around. Other times I would kick out a bunch at a time...seven or more on numerous occasions. Not good (return to the top of the post...CONSISTENCY IS KEY). Note that students who have major academic deficiencies and students who are academically far beyond the other students will most likely give you your major and consistent disciplinary issues, first-years. The students who have academic deficiencies often act out to draw attention away from said academic deficiencies and, sometimes, to get put out of class (especially academically rigorous ones with teachers who don't give excessive breaks...mine!) and eventually sent home where academic burdens are non-existent. The students who are far beyond others academically act out because it's cool, to draw attention away from their academic astuteness (which often detracts from their social capital), or because they're simply bored with school.

Test time for first period.

A big issue that came up with my classroom management at the junior high level this past year was the fact that I do not paddle or, in any other more creative way, strike students. I don't feel like I have the social justification to hit a child. Perhaps legal in some instances, yes, but I do not feel right doing it. I think that last year I blogged about "the state" statutorily monopolizing legitimate violence against "the people" or something like that and, as an agent of the state, I cannot bring myself to beat poor, Black children and expect them not to fight back, rebel, and/or abhor me and that which I stand for. Strange, since I want them to develop these feelings towards the state though....

One of my whiz kids.

Next year, I plan to reform a few things. Firstly, I plan to have detention as my third consequence as oppose to the student calling home and explaining to their parent or guardian what they did wrong. I did not have a student call home one single time and this was in part due to my inability to turn my back on my room without them doing something crazy. Secondly, I plan to contact parents more often about disciplinary issues with their children and keep a better tally of infractions. My oft-plugged favorite teacher website (TeacherEase.Com!!!) does a great job of this as behavior logs--accessible by parents and printed out on progress reports--are one of the features there. Thirdly, I need to follow my own advice and be more consistent with my punishments and rewards. I can't emphasize how tough this is in the modern day Mississippi secondary classroom but I also can't emphasize how necessary this is to be a successful teacher. Also, I still believe in the mantra that "you catch more bees with honey than with salt" or something to that effect so I may try to over-reward them more than over-consequence (?) them. This could be disastrous. Or, this could be logic supported by science.

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Last week the social studies crew came up with a curriculum map for MTC Summer School 2008. With so much material to cover sometimes it's hard to determine what to teach. We're trying to put a year's worth of material in a summer and some things will inevitably get left out but our task was set before us and our task we attacked. This was perhaps the biggest challenge faced when developing the curriculum map, however. A second challenge that we encountered while developing the curriculum map was what order to put different lesson or objectives in. This past year I used a chronological curriculum map for my U.S. History I course (i.e. Native American groups, arrival of European explorers, "settling" of the U.S., etc.), a regional curriculum map for my world history course (i.e. unit on North America, unit on South America, unit on the Caribbean and Canada, etc.), and a straight-up objective-by-objective curriculum map for my Mississippi Studies course (i.e. objective 1a for a few days, then 1b, then 1c, etc.). Each had their benefits and drawbacks though so determining which is best is not a very easy task.

These curriculum maps that I developed this past year were not very beneficial. Firstly, I was all-but derailed from all of my curriculum maps by February and thus came to the understanding that like my fellow Igbo man Chinua Achebe once famously wrote, "things fall apart." Secondly, the course that we are teaching this summer is the U.S. History II course that Mississippi juniors take and only Rob has ever actually taught the course during the regular school year. Thus only one of the three second-years know what the course outline actually looks like over a year's time. A third reason why my curriculum maps were not beneficial is because I wanted the curriculum maps that we used during summer school to be the result of group effort and consensus--not just the transplanting of my vision for what I did with my students in Humphreys County onto our summer school students and my fellow MTC teachers. For these reasons, I did not find my curriculum maps made during this past school very beneficial or applicable to what we're doing in Holly Springs this summer.

Hopefully from the curriculum map that we developed our first years can see what one looks like and get solid inspiration on how to model their own based on ours. That's the goal.

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While grading final exams for my 1st period U.S. History I class I came across this gem in response to the question, "What was the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation?":

It help freed slaves in many ways alot of time. Mr.Amutah I know I was a bad student but if you can forgive me for everything I would be alot nice. So can you please give me a passing grade so I can continue my basketball skill.

Half credit on the answer. The correct response, as we'd gone over numerous times before, was that its theoretical impact was that it freed the slaves in the areas of "rebellion" (namely, the South). This was its purpose. However, the practical impact was that it did nothing since Lincoln no longer had political control of those states in rebellion--they were part of the Confederacy under President Jefferson Davis. One could have also written that it changed the motive of the war for many people in both the Union and the Confederacy.

Moving right along....

(Note: This student's negative behavior log, which I keep [yay, TeacherEase!], has 18 entries--he's definitely in the top three of my students in this regard. Everything ranging from "Kept his head down for most of the period as we read about slavery's statistics and watched part of Roots" to "Acted a fool during the state MCT2 test including: 1) running in the classroom and jumping up towards the intercom, 2) running outside on the way back from lunch, 3) repeatedly talking/cracking jokes after being told time and time again to stop. The day I pass him is the day I pass on. Into the afterlife. FOREVER.)

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Today I ended my first year as a teacher in the Mississippi Teacher Corps. As I had hoped for last year when I was going through my final year of college, I was placed in the Mississippi Delta--Belzoni, Mississippi to be exact. Words cannot explain all that I have endured this past year as a teacher. By far, this has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

I am tired and shall now gather up my things (in both my high school and junior high school classrooms), head home (after walking two blocks down the street to where I parked my car...far away from would-be last day student vandals) and go to sleep (after catching the itis from eating some of the cheesburgers that I will cook upon returning home...mmm...cheeseburgers). More later.

- Mr.Amutah

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Hypothetical situation #1:
You have a student who honestly tries hard to do their work, consistently comes to school and turns in assignments on time, and is never a behavior problem. They are one of the "smart" kids and participate in a number of after school clubs because one of their best friends from their neighborhood does and, at some point, someone just might have told them that they too were academically superior. The students is a complete joy to have in your class and always asks to help with little things that you're doing such as passing out papers or cleaning up your room. Quite nice.

Problem: The kids is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Despite attempting to do the classwork most of their assignments are graded as D's and F's since the student rarely follows directions to assignments, really struggles with reading comprehension questions, and cannot write cohesive paragraphs using standard English. At the end of the nine week period after all is said and done the student ends up with a 69 average. You have told the students time and time again that you do not and WILL not give out any points extra on a report card just as will not take any away. Although the students will not know this, you can change her grade. Only you will bear the knowledge of having violated your principle. What do you do?

Hypothetical situation #2:
After a long day at work you are invited to a party at a social club in the small, rural town where you teach and live. You're not sure who has invited you but you think, "Hey...I'm 22!" and decide to go. You hear that this is where the elite of your town party so you're looking forward to it as an opportunity to meet and mingle with these so-called "elite." Upon arrival at the party's venue the first person you see is a student of yours. A star student. Actually, one of the star students at the school. You soon find out that the party is a birthday party for the student's father. She is helping set-up and music is playing inside the social club while alcohol is being brought in by the caseload. The student's father thanks you fervently for coming and says that once the kids leave you should let loose and get down (meaning drink, dance or do more with the scantily clad women on their way, and engage in weekday/work night tomfoolery). To top it off your principal, a good friend of the birthday man, soon shows up and pours himself the first of what may be numerous alcoholic drinks as he slaps you on the back and addresses you in an informal and friendly manner the likes of which you've never seen from your boss. It could be a long night. What do you do?

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