Monday, December 7, 2009
Question 6
question 5
Question 4
Monday, November 30, 2009
question 7
This experience has had a significant impact on the way I see the school system and a teacher’s role in the classroom. Even though I would not teach the exact same way my VIP’s teacher did, she still provided me with a great foundation that I could use to further my teaching skills. As I worked with kids in a group and on an individual basis to improve their reading and writing skills, I also was able to gain knowledge and teaching techniques from this experience. Since, the children I was working with had been behind in English, three or four years, I learned how to be patient and demanding at the same time. This was a technique that I had observed the teacher in my class performing. She showed the kids that she was expecting hard work from them but was very understanding when they had not understood something they did in class. My teacher has been teaching English for ten years in every academic level. I was able to grasp another technique while in her class and that was how to keep control of an unfocused or frustrated class. This teacher would give out daily behavior and participation grades that would give those students more incentive to behave and add thoughts to the class. Observing and interacting in a classroom with an experience teacher has advanced my teaching identity. I know what direction I want to go in as a teacher. I want to be a teacher that has their class ask critical questions and stimulate group solutions that benefit all students in the class. The teacher I had observed was not a critical teacher but she still provided me with skills and showed me how I would want to guide my class. However, I do think that since the students were a few years behind in the subject that they could not participate to the class with critical discussion because they had not learned any necessary skills in English. I also discovered that I would like to teach in a diverse school. I would like to teach in this kind of environment because these students and schools need teachers that care and want to make a difference. Usually diverse or urban schools have a shortage of funds, which adds to the problem of under achievement. Critical teachers are needed everywhere in the school system but especially in diverse schools. I would like to be a teacher that could provide students the skills they need to advance in the classroom but also how to be involved in a complex democratic society. I feel my teacher identity has already grown a significant amount in the few short months I have been involved in the school system. I am excited to move on and build on the small base of knowledge I have gained about myself and other teachers.
Friday, November 13, 2009
question 1
The school I am volunteering at is a fairly newer school with some advanced technology in the classroom but not as much as the middle school I attended a few years ago which was not a diverse, urban school. The classroom I have been in has a lot of behavioral issues, so it is setup to control the attitude of the students. The desks are more spaced out from each other all facing the teacher’s desk and there is also a restitution desk for the child who is chronically misbehaving. The classroom is decorated with rules and guidelines for the kids to see at all times so that if they misbehave they know the consquences. The older grades in the middle school are on the top floor and the youngest grade on the lower floors. The kids all have lockers in this school but are only allowed to go to their lockers twice a day; once when they get there and once at lunch. I believe they do this to control any fights during school hours. Also, all the teachers are in the hallways when they change classes to prevent fighting. My first day in the school there was a fight between two 8th grade girls in the hallway during the period change even with the teachers in the hall. Almost all of the kids in this class have behavior sheets that have to be filled out every day by every one of their teachers to try to tract and improve their behavioral issues. I feel this school is designed to prevent major events of misbehavior and fighting but also promote respect and trying their best based on the way they run their school in and between classes. I feel most of the teachers there including the one in my classroom do not support a critical democratic pedagogy. I feel this way because the behavior of most of the kids in the classroom makes it difficult to try to give them any sort of import in the direction of the class. Also, since these 8th grade children are already 3 years behind in reading and writing skills Ira Shors philosophy will not work. I also got that response from the teacher in the classroom. This is a very diverse class that has somehow been passed through prior grades without learn the necessary skills to build to be successful in later grades. I think this school also values improving their skills to pass the standardize testing each year. The teachers have to dedicate a significant amount of time to try to prepare the kids for these tests when they are 3 years behind what the test is asking them to comprehend. Sadly, little time is left for critical thinking and questioning which results in these kids not being able to prepare to live in a democratic society. This school seems to be underfunded in critical teachers because of standardize tests and behavior issues that disrupt the flow of the classroom. Lastly, the school and the teachers want only the best for their students and I can tell that from being in this teacher’s classroom for only a few weeks. This school works hard to help these kids but just do not have enough time or money to make a big enough impact.