25 posts tagged “education”

The research article that I read was "The 'Building Tasks' of Critical History: Structuring Social Studies for Social Justice" by Wayne Au. It was published in Social Studies Research and Practice in July of this year. In the article, Au looks at two case study lesson plans by social studies teachers who actively seek to raise the consciousness of their students around social justice issues. The author utilizes discourse analysis where people "use language to operationalize certain 'building tasks' in order to express meaning, ideology, values, and other aspects of our identities in a given situation." Au concluded that these lesson plans were quality classroom pedagogical devices due to their service as vehicles for students to critically question social relations historically and in the present-day context. In doing so, he dismissed the claims of some that lesson plans stifle the true learning process by assuming that the planning and executing instruction occurs in some sort of linear fashion to a "predetermined endpoint."

Today, I attended my younger brother David's graduation from The Lawrenceville School. I haven't been to a high school graduation in quite some time. Both of my years at Humphreys County High School I have not attended the graduation ceremony due to my ardent belief that the majority of students who were to have diplomas conferred on them were undeserving. In part through fault of their own, though more egregiously through the fault of the adults around them charged with their educational nurturing and intellectual development. Myself included, at times. Regrettably.

The Lawrenceville School is quite the educational institution. An elite, northeastern U.S. boarding school where my little brother's schoolmates include the family members of royalty, comedic icons, corporate titans, and others. The campus is laid out over 800 acres of prime suburban real estate in beautiful Mercer County (my county!) and Lawrenceville is one of the top feeder schools for the venerable Princeton University just a 10 minute drive up Route 206 past the governor's mansion, Drumthwacket. Students at Lawrenceville enjoy the benefits of a first-rate education fed from an endowment of over $200 million. I can recall conversations with my little brother where I remarked with awe that he should appreciate going to a school such as Lawrenceville where students who are barely teenagers can choose from a wide swath of courses in departments ranging from the staples of History and Mathematics to the specialties of Visual Arts and Religion & Philosophy. It is to be enjoyed, definitely.

The Lawrenceville School

Whenever I visit a school such as Lawrenceville I get reminded of the benefits that accrue from exposure to such a cast of schoolmates, instructors, and administrators who are in touch with the very levers of power of our world. I get reminded that many of the students David went to school with these past years were very different than students I attended high school with less than 10 miles away in inner-city Trenton at Trenton Central High School. For instance, the first student who was honored had a good five minutes of verbal praise heaped on her academic performance, community leadership, and relentless selflessness by the school's headmaster before receiving the first graduation prize of the morning. Another young lady who was honored established an award for a faculty member on campus, led three Hurricane Katrina relief trips, and had over 600 hours of community service under her belt in addition to being in the running for the school's valedictorian. Finally, the valedictorian at The Lawrenceville School was a remarkable young man who amassed 24 A+'s while at Lawrenceville along with several A's and one, lone, embarrassing A-. Similar to what I was inculcated with after I escaped my desperation in Trenton to the luxuries of Harvard, students here are told from Day 1 that they will one day run the world. Surely, this is a scary prospect for students at 13 and 14 just as it was for me at 18. However, tis true.

In thinking of what students at The Lawrenceville School are being set up for I cannot escape looking at students on the other side of the meritocratic coin. Students who are not receiving first-rate educations that carry a price tag of over $120,000 over four years. Students who do not attend schools with students of diverse racial, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds. Students whose campus is full of cracking concrete, cramped classrooms, and misfunded (not underfunded, mind you) facilities in the middle of "nowhere." These students are those who I teach with the Mississippi Teacher Corps. At best, a chunk of the students I teach will get local service industry jobs at small restaurants, catfish plants, or the supermarket. A few will become the top dogs in Humphreys County as teachers or will conjure up the money and determination to leave Humphreys County as so many of them seem to want so badly. Most, however, will join the ranks of the baby mama's and deadbeat dads who drink alcohol more than water and party more than they read changing little of their educational level, socioeconomic status, or weekly habits from the time they're 15 until they're 50.

I am a firm believer that there has to be some way to reconcile these two dichotomies. I'm not sure if I've found the remedy exactly but there is an interesting prospect on deck. More on Tuesday....

This high school in L.A. is "turning around" after being made into a charter school. Interesting read. Leaves me hopeful.

I'm teaching the basic tenets of capitalism, stock market theory, and the like the week when all this is happening.

Who says history doesn't have any contemporary relevance?

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.

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.

...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.

...I think I've found a job.