Love is in the air, my friends. One of my girlfriends is getting married tomorrow. Sigh.
In honor of love and marriage and long walks on the beach, I decided to post a mushy love poem. While it’s not appropriate for my kiddos, I still love it enough to share with you. It’s called, “This Type Love,” by a poet named Shihan. Shihan is a very popular poet in the spoken word community, and if you google him, you’ll find lots of other great poems. Enjoy!
I have had the same nightmare (with few variations) for over a week now:
Apparently, time has escaped me, and I find myself at my school on the first day, unprepared. I always start off in some conference room having a pow-wow with the principals and other teachers. They encourage me and tell me that I am going to do fine. Then, we all walk to our classrooms as a group. The students are already in the classroom when I arrive, and I am surprised to see that my 7th graders are 16 year olds!
I begin to become very nervous because I have not prepared adequately for the day. I don’t have the seating chart posted, I don’t have the syllabus prepared, and I don’t have the policies and procedures in place yet. I can feel my heart pounding my chest, and my voice is cracking from my fear. The students know that I am inexperienced and scared out of my mind, and they laugh at me.
Finally, I attempt to get the students in their assigned seats, but they are uncooperative. They won’t tell me their names, and all they seem to want to do is talk with their friends. By now, I am frustrated beyond reason. I am still standing in front of the class, trying to establish so order, but the students are now out of their (unassigned) seats and goofing off.
It is at about this time that either my AP or principal (depending on the day) come into my classroom to check in on me. They are horrified to learn that I cannot manage the students by myself. They get the students under control and hand the class off to me again, but not before they request a meeting that afternoon to discuss my qualifications.
By this time, I usually wake up covered in sweat, relieved the dream is over.
OK, I need a pick-me-up this week. Today’s poem is called “Monsters” by Poetri. Poetri is quiet possibly one of the funniest poets I have encountered. I guarantee you will smile.
When I present a spoken word performance to students, I always introduce it with a a few questions related to the content of the poem. Usually, these questions are a way to get the students to think about the topic and start to invest themselves in it. Students are more likely to understand content when they understand that it is relevant to them. Here are my questions for this poem:
1. Why are monsters scary?
2. If a monster attacked a person, do you think it would kill him/her?
3. How could you protect yourself against monsters?
Enjoy!
Yesterday was the last day of school for my county. I stood by my window and watched the kids running of the bus and thought, “The next time you are in school, I’ll be there, too.” It was a rush to think that finally, after nearly 6 years of trying, I will be a teacher in a matter of months. I don’t think there is anything else as important as that to me right now.
I recently received an email from my Collaborating Teacher from my student teaching experience. During student teaching, she and I developed a wonderful relationship, and we have remained in contact over this semester. She has been one of my biggest fans and supporters this year, and I love seeing her name in my inbox. She emailed me to tell me of the happenings at Student Teaching Middle School during the last week of school and to tell me that a former student has asked her every day if I was coming to visit him on the last day of school. He’s not the only one, she says, who asks about me on a continual basis. I don’t care who you are, that news would make anyone happy.
I became a teacher because I love working with students. Obviously, my students mean the world to me, and six months after our goodbyes, I still remember them daily. But lets be real, students didn’t become students because they love working with teachers. There are an infinate number of other things students would rather do than sit in my class and learn about Language Arts. So when I learn that previous students still ask about me and miss me, I know I meant something to them. It’s not unrequited love, after all.
On a terrifying note, I had a dream last night of the first day of school. I was not prepared for the students, and they took advantage of that and ran all over me. I could not get control of them by myself, and I had to get the help of another teacher. I actually woke up in a cold sweat this morning. I know this is normal for new teachers, but it’s still unnerving. What am I going to do with a roomful of 12 year olds when I’m all by myself?!
Today’s poem is called “Everybody’s Heard,” by Floetry. These women are extremely talented, so I think you’ll enjoy the performance.
When I present a spoken word performance to students, I always introduce it with a a few questions related to the content of the poem. Usually, these questions are a way to get the students to think about the topic and start to invest themselves in it. Students are more likely to understand content when they understand that it is relevant to them. Here are my questions for this poem:
1. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you think our lifestlyes are affecting our envoirnment?
2. How do you think our envoirnment tells us it is in trouble?
3. What efforts can you make to help out our envoirnment?
This is the sixth and final post in a series titled, “What Can I Do About Bullies?”
Guideline 5: Be a Teacher Your Students Respect
Ok, I’ll admit it: I love Oprah. Lump me together with all those predominately white, over the age of 55 ladies (true stat), I don’t care. From her book club to Dr. Oz, everything she puts on her show always seems extremely important to me. And I know I’m not the only one: 7.4 million people watch the show daily. Ms. Winfrey has the power to turn Americans away from beef, encourage millions to become more charitible, and more recently, help a certain democratic candidate gather up some much-needed votes.
If you have a book or film to promote, a product to sell, or an issue to discuss, don’t even bother spending the millions of dollars required for appropriate marketing. Just find a way to get on Oprah. Your book will become a bestseller (unless, of course, you pull a James Frey), your movie will become a box office smash by the weekend, your product will fly off the shelves, and your issue will be the talk of every town for weeks to come.
Oprah’s influence is astonishing and impressive, because people respect and trust her. She is an inspriition to many becuase of her past. Millions look up to her and want to be like her. She has been honest about where she came from and where she wants to go, and people therefore admire her for being real. Even if you don’t like her, you can’t help but to respect her for all her accomplishments.
In many ways, the teaching profession sets us up to be mini-Winfreys. Depending on how we relate to our students, we can have captivated audiences for hours each day. While we teach the content, we can simultaneously share ourselves with our students.
Cal Teacher Blogger recently discussed the importance of teachers sharing their stories with students. When teachers share their stories and open up to their students, they become real people in the eyes of their students, not just teachers. Students who know that you are real with them and care about them are more likely to listen to and respect what you have to say. When this happens, your power and influence in the classroom is comparable to Oprah’s.
Throughout my student teaching, I worked hard to present myself as a real person to my students. While still maintaining an absolute professional behavior, I shared stories and broke down those walls that the students and other teachers had built. When students began seeing me as a real person who had a husband and two dogs and liked to joke around and have school-appropriate fun, I noticed a dramatic change in the power I had over them. I gave up the teacher-on-the-pedestal image and embraced one of a role model. I could break up talkative students with a disappointed look, I could squelch inappropriate behavior simply by saying, “Oh, that’s not cool, guys.” I could even sway the majority of the class to use positive peer pressure on a disruptive or disrespectful student. My power felt limitless because the students trusted and respected me.
For any readers who followed this series: thanks for bearing with me as I learn and exercise different ways to better my blog and my writing. If you are interested in learning ways to improve your blog, Joel over at So You Want to Teach is providing some great pointers. I really enjoyed writing this series, because it reinforced in me my values of classroom management and how to handle middle school students. and who knows? Maybe you were able to take something away from this series as well.
This is the fifth post in a series titled, “What Can I Do About Bullies?”
Guideline 4: Celebrate Successes and Forgive Failures 
The year is 1996. I am sitting in 6th grade Math, the class I have been struggling in throughout the year. I just can’t comprehend the content, no matter how hard I try. My teacher conducts class in the typical lecture/quiz style on a daily basis. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that she will call on me every day for an answer I don’t know that cripples me. Perhaps it’s the total embarrassment I know I will face when my name gets called, and I get the answer wrong. I just wish I could be more like Jenna — she always has the right answer.
Because I really am a good student and have a good work ethic, I study my math textbook every night for hours. I read and reread lessons, I practice the problems over and over again, but I never seem to grasp the content. I have A’s in all my other classes, but I can’t earn higher than a C in this class. I study hard, only to fail the tests. I hate seeing the F scrawled across my test in thick red ink.
I will struggle with math the rest of my academic career. I will shy away from activites that require any sort of computation. I will break out in cold sweats every time I sit in class and hear my name called. I suffer the same as many of my peers around me, but I feel so isolated that I won’t realize this until I actually begin teaching students and see myself in them.
Perhaps your story is similar to mine. Have you ever failed in front of your peers? If you have, I know it wasn’t a fun experience for you. It may have scarred you much like it scarred me. Even if you’ve never faced failure and the embarrassment and ridicule that proceeds it, I know you would never want any of your students to experience it.
The worst kind of bullying I see on a day-to-day basis is the teasing that follows a wrong answer or a failure. Middle School is a crash course in survival, and the best way children learn to survive is to put others down. Think about it: as screwed up as you think you are, isn’t it nice to believe there’s someone else who’s even more screwed up? Kids will go to great lengths to beat others down. As teachers, we should create enviornments that feel so safe children don’t feel the need to fight for survival.
I know that last statement sounded pretty new-agey and a little, “Let’s all hold hands and love each other,” and I assure you I’m not usually like that. But there comes a time, I believe, when a little bit of feel-good is necessary. In education, healthy competition is a good thing, but mean-spirited bullying is not.
Joel had posted the video below a while back about a new classroom management technique. It was met with responses of criticism and interest (as any new technique would be), and I will not share my opinions of the technique as a whole. But I do want to discuss one aspect that I think is extremely vaulable in the classroom: celebrating success and forgiving failures. Here’s the video:
In the video, you’ll see the professor call on a student in class and ask him a question. When the student answers correctly, the class celebrates with a “10 finger woo.” The 10 finger woo is a silly one second party, but it allows the students to celebrate the student’s right answer. Later in the video, the professor calls on a student, and she does not get the answer right. Instead of criticizing her, the class, in unison, says, “It’s cool,” and continues on with the class. There’s no embarrassment and no time for others to make fun of the student.
You may think the 10 finger woo and the “It’s cool” are too silly to use in the classroom, and that’s fine. But I encourage you to find a technique you are comfortable with to celebrate student successes and forgive student failures. Creating a classroom enviornment where students feel safe to learn and contribute is a skill good teachers possess. When students become a community within the walls of your classroom, you’ll witness teamwork like never before. Learning is a process, not a destination, and when we focus on giving the right answer more than working towards understanding, we do our students a disservice. Students don’t fail when they provide wrong answers; students fail when they chose to quit trying. That is a lesson we need to teach those bullies who are just waiting to jump on the kid with the incorrect answer.
This is the fourth post in a series titled, “What Can I Do About Bullies?”
Guideline 3: Enforce Your Rules
Don’t park in a fire lane. Always wear your seatbelt when the car is moving. Don’t drive over ____ miles per hour. Always use your blinker when turning or changing lanes. Always stop at a stop sign. Always stop at a red light. Yield to oncoming traffic. Pedistrians have the right-of-way. Always drive a safe distance behind the car in front of you. Do not drive over 25 mph in a school zone. Do not pass a school bus that is dropping off or picking up kids. Turn on your headlights when it rains. Do not make a U turn here.
Do these rules look familiar? They are rules we see everyday on the road. And regardless of how unimportant we may think some are, they were created so that drivers may travel safely. I laughed as I typed out those rules, because it dawned on me that my husband has broken every one of them at least once in the 5 years we’ve been together.
Here’s something you should probably know about me: I follow rules. No matter how insignificant a rule is, I believe it’s in existance for a reason, so therefore it must be important. My husband, on the other hand, gets a sick satisfaction out of breaking rules, especially if I’m around to freak out. He believes a rule should be relevant to him in order for him to follow it. “Speed limit” is actually the minimum speed you should drive. Stop signs can be rolled through. Red lights can be run if no one is coming. What’s a blinker? You get the picture.
He will openly admit he breaks the rules because he knows he probably will not get caught. And most of the time, he won’t. There are roughly 323, 600 drivers in the city of Atlanta and only 304 sworn police officers in the entire Fulton County (the largest county in Georgia). If I do my math right (and remember I am an English teacher), that’s 1064 Altanta drivers per 1 Fulton County police officer. Obviously, the county is ill-equipped to enforce driving laws. What does that mean for my husband? He can keep on driving however he wants, because the chances of him getting caught are slim.
In our classrooms, we must make sure we enforce our rules much better than my local police department. When rules are not enforced, citizens (or students, in this case) become comfortable with breaking them. Students are masters at finding ways to break or skirt the rules set before them. The way we deal with rule-breaking determines how well students follow rules in the future.
If every driver in Atlanta got a ticket every time s/he sped, there would be few drivers willing to speed. If 
every driver in Atlanta got a ticket every time s/he parked in a fire lane, more people would be willing to walk the extra 20 yards to Wal-Mart. If every student was disciplined every time s/he spoke without permission, acted disrespectfully, or refused to follow any rule, students would be less willing to test the rules.
We must be careful and consistant in enforcing rules. That’s what gives us our power in the classroom. When we begin to “let things slide,” we give up our power. And believe me, kids will not know how to deal with that power. The classroom will not be a safe place in which to learn if students run the show. Class systems will form, and bullies will emerge to assert their power on others weaker than they.
So you see, our kids are depending on us to take charge! When a student becomes violent with another, discipline! When kids verbally abuse others, discipline! When girls gossip about an outcast, step in and break it up! Bullying is common in middle schools because we allow it. If we refused to allow bullying in our schools and provided appropriate punishment for the deeds every time they occured, we would see a decrease in such misbehavior and an increase in learning time.
This is the third in a series of posts titled,”What Can I Do About Bullies?”
Guideline 2: Establish Rules and Procedures
I am currently experiencing the new school orientation process as a teacher, so I will use it as my example since it’s so fresh on my mind. Think back to the first time you were introduced to your place of employment’s policies and procedures. If your school was anything like mine is, you were no doubt bombarded with page after page of appropriate conduct, dress, discipline procedures, county or district policies, standards you were required to teach, etc.
Schools have a specific way of doing things, and when you join the team, you are expected to follow the procedures set in place. Sometimes, the expectations may seem extreme or over the top, but they were set in place in order to insure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. When grades are due, you know exactly what to do. If a student injures him/herself in your class, you know there is a prodecure to follow. When confronted by the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other, you know what your school expects of you, and you hopefully act accordingly.
Schools (or other businesses, for that matter) don’t run smoothly and aren’t successful because naturally well-behaved people work there. Businesses run smoothly because everyone knows what is expected of them, and they are given the means to perform appropriately. I will argue this is how well-managed classrooms run as well.
You’ll remember Guideline 1 for dealing with bullies required teachers to behave in the same way they expected their students to behave. My second guideline is to establish a safe and respectful learning environment from the very first day of school. How do we do that? Through the policies and procedures we set on the very first day of school.
I’ve always been told the first week of school is the most critical week of the entire year. This one week will determine how your students behave in your classroom and whether they accept you as the leader or lead the class themselves. When a teacher leads the class, the class is disciplined, well-mannered, and democratic. When students lead the class, the class is disrespectful, chaotic, and it takes on an “every man for himself” attitude.
I only have 6 class rules, but I have a packet of procedures I expect my students to follow. Most procedures are common sense, but it is still very important that I publish them and present them to every student. I intend to be very vocal in my expectation that all students treat each other with respect while they are in my classroom. Respectful behavior is the underlying desired result of all the policies and procedures I set in place. Without a doubt, students will know how I expect them to act, so they will not have the excuse that they ”didn’t know.” Rules are posted in the classroom, so students are always reminded of them. Rules are also continuously enforced, which I will discuss tomorrow.
Below are a few of the topics my procedures cover. Each was created in order to establish a positive and safe learning envoirnment.
1. What to do before class starts.
2. What you should do if your pencil breaks in the middle of class.
3. What you should do if your were absent.
4. How to celebrate student success and forgive student failures.
5. How to contribute to class discussion or group work.
So to wrap this up: Young or old, we all need to know what is expected of us in order for us to be successful and feel safe. No matter what students might tell you, they need and even crave the structure that rules and procedures provide. When the teacher is in charge of the classroom, s/he determines the appropriate way children are to behave, and s/he will use rules and procedures to obtain the desired behavior from students.
I have been looking forward to today all week long!
Today’s poem is quite possibly my favorite poem of all time. It’s called, “This Beach” by Oscar Brown, Jr. I suggest you watch it twice. The first time I watched it, I thought Mr. Brown was talking about the Battle of Normandy, but I came to realize that’s not so.
When I present a spoken word performance to students, I always introduce it with a a few questions related to the content of the poem. Usually, these questions are a way to get the students to think about the topic and start to invest themselves in it. Students are more likely to understand content when they understand that it is relevant to them. Here are my questions for this poem:
1. What do you know about the Battle of Normandy?
2. Oscar Brown, Jr. uses the the beach as an extended metaphor for death in “This Beach.” What event or object could you compare your life to?
3. How do young people’s thoughts about death differ from older people’s thoughts about death? How are they similar?
Here’s the poem. Enjoy!
