In My Wildest Dreams

My name is Ms. T, and I am a US Marine!

Oh yea, right--that's not entirely true. But, I do have to say that I, for the first time since I've been here, did have to pull out the whole Michelle Pfeiffer/Dangerous Minds bit out on one class today. Today was the second day of specializations (I mean, specialisations), which is kiwi for subject areas--meaning, today was the second day that kids left their homerooms for other classes. Anyway, Ms. A and I have two Year 7 classes and one Year 8 class. Today the year 8 class refreshed my memory of the HUGE differences between the ages of 11 and 13. 13 year olds, as you know, can be a little testy. They were relatively okay, just not where I want them to be on the second day as far as listening to instructions and following them without threats. Consequently, two of them stayed for lunch detention and we had the typical Ms. T chat, which they may become more familiar with than they like. It goes something like this:

Please copy and answer the following questions.
What did I do that was inappropriate?
What does inappropriate mean?
Why was my behavior inappropriate?
How can I modify my behavior so that I can be more successful?
What does modify mean?
What does it mean for you to be successful?

One child's response was that, yes his behavior was inappropriate, but he did it anyway because he "likes to." So I said, "Hm. Let's consider that idea. Sounds kind of cool. Let's all do what we feel like when we feel like it from now on." And, we, of course, had a little discussion about what kind of world that would be.

I am so grateful for this class, however, because I was getting spoiled by my other two classes--one being my homeroom so we have a natural "bond," and the other being very motivated by praise and positive reinforcement. This class is a good reminder of what it is like to really teach, especially in an inner city area. I feel that I will need to be consistently reminded of this if/when I go into teacher education--b/c the realities are that if you don't take the FIRST MONTH to firmly and consistently establish respect, community, authority, boundaries, procedures, etc, you will NEVER be able to implement these awesome instructional strategies that we learn about in teacher ed programs. SOOOO, this class will not do science the whole period on Monday. The first half of the next class will be a discussion and practice of rules and procedures. And, included in that lesson will be practicing how we line up, how we have a discussion, how we follow instructions, etc... but, even with that said, I also know that next week's lunch periods will be full of detentions for those who need a little extra help getting the picture :).

Other than that, I had an excellent day. And, even with the one more difficult class, it was still nice. I've feel that I've finally come close to mastering the concept of not taking things personally as a teacher. Kids will be kids. And, like I said, it was a good reminder. Thinking of asking Ms. A if I can teach that class from here on out until I leave...They weren't really that poorly-behaved, either--but just pushing the limits enough to see whether or not they can. The trick is not to let them. At all. Then we can become one big happy family. Well, one big family, at least, 'cos families aren't always happy, are they? But they are always families...

Oh, and the lesson I taught was COOL. We had fun. We learned about volcanoes. First, I read them a Maori legend about The Great Battle Between the Mountains. Then, we watched an interactive slide show that I created on volcanoes in New Zealand. It was pretty cool. They got to see photos of familiar neighborhoods in Auckland that have been built on volcanic remains/extinct volcanoes (Mt. Eden, One Tree Hill, etc). After that, the students labeled and colored (coloured) maps of New Zealand and identified all the active volcanoes. Then I was hoping to have the students make up their own volcano legends, but--well, map-labeling takes a bit more time than I expected.

posted by Sara @ 7:49 PM